QUESTION: How does a yoyo “sleep” at the bottom so that you can do tricks? What makes a yoyo actually work?
ANSWER: A big difference between a real yoyo and the cheap ones you sometimes find at a dollar store is the string.
…Yoyo Tricks
What’s a Good Beginner Yoyo?
QUESTION: I want to start learning some easy yoyo tricks. What’s a good beginner yoyo that I should use?
ANSWER: That’s a “tricky” question! There are lots of good yoyos out there, and it’s hard to just pick one. Here’s some advice on how to choose.
…Yoyo Trick: How to Throw a Time Warp
A time warp is a yoyo trick that you can do once you’ve mastered the around the world.
The time warp is basically an around the world, followed by a backwards around the world – all in one motion.
Simply throw an around the world, then whip your hand around and to a backwards around the world. Then catch the yoyo.
This video will show you how to do this trick. It’s easy. If you can do an around the world, you can do a time warp. It might take a little practice to get the backwards around the world down pat, but you should be able to do it with ease.
How to Throw a Lindy Loop Yoyo Trick
A lindy loop is like a double trapeze. In fact, it’s not like it, that’s exactly what it is.
When you throw a lindy loop, you’re going to start with a trapeze and then follow it with another trapeze.
This yoyo trick is not to be confused with a double or nothing. There’s no multiple wrap around motion like the one you’ll see in a double or nothing. When you throw a lindy loop, you throw a trapeze, and then flip the yoyo over again so that it’s another trapeze, then double it off the string and back to the palm of your hand.
This video will show in you in real time and then in slow motion. If you’ve got a trapeze down, throw a lindy loop, and add a little flare to your yoyoing.
Yoyo Trick: How to Throw a Pinwheel
A pinwheel is kind of like a hybrid between a breakaway and a trapeze. To throw a pinwheel, you want to start off by throwing a breakaway.
After you’ve done this, stick your finger out as if you were throwing a trapeze. However, instead of catching the yoyo on the string, you are going to let the yoyo swing around the string 3 times in a circular fashion by using your index finger and the string.
After the yoyo has completed its rotations, simply bring it back to the palm of your hand.
This video shows you how to do just that and gets up close on the finger movement so there’s no confusion.
You can do a pinwheel in front of you instead of a sideways one like we demonstrate here, but be careful…it’s an easy way to whack yourself in the head. The sideways pinwheel will eliminate this risk.
Yoyo Trick: How to Throw a Brain Twister
The Brain twister is a cool looking yoyo trick. In addition to looking cool, it’s actually fairly easy.
The first thing you’re going to want to do is throw a real fast sleeper. Then you’re going to take your index finger from your free hand and push it forward into the string.
After you’ve done this, bring your yoyo hand down, and then thread the string into the notch of the yoyo that’s facing you. This will create a double string.
Take the double string and pull it toward you and upward as well. Use your yoyo finger to do this. Take your other hand and push it forward and down. This will result in an upward motion for the yoyo, and then it will quickly swing away from you.
After you’ve done this, take your yoyo finger hand toward you, while simultaneously pushing your other index finger out in front of you. Because of this, the spinning direction of the yoyo will reverse, and it will propel itself over your index finger.
Release and then wake it back up.
This yoyo trick actually sounds a lot more difficult than it looks. Once you see it for yourself in the video, you’ll have no problem getting it down with the quickness. So watch and enjoy. Once you master the flip once, see if you can do it two, three, or even four times. This will always go over well when showing someone a brain twister.
How to Rock the Baby
Rock the baby is a traditional yoyo trick, and a really fun one to do once you’ve mastered the sleeper. It’s a popular trick, so it’s inevitable that whenever you are around people, someone will ask you to do this trick. You could do a difficult trick like The Matrix, and someone still would say “cool man, can you rock the baby?” So, it’s definitely a crowd pleaser.
Here’s how you do it: First, throw a sleeper. Then grab the string with your free hand. Next, use your yoyo fingering hand and grab the string about five inches above the yoyo. This will make an upside down triangle shape.
Flip that triangle right side up, and use your free hand to push the triangle out, creating the base. Swing the yoyo back and forth between the triangle a few times. Then when you’re done, release back into a sleeper and wake the yoyo up.
If you need practice, the nice thing about this trick is that you can practice making the triangle shape with a dead yoyo. You can do that first and then once you get used to the motion, practice it with a sleeping yoyo.
This is a great trick to learn. We’ll show you how to make the triangle step by step in this video as well.
How to Throw a Breakaway Yoyo Trick
The breakaway is a foundation trick. It’s going to lead to lots of other tricks, so you definitely want to learn it.
This trick is basically part of an around the world, except you throw a semi-circle in front of you. So throw the yoyo out to the side, let it sleep, sweep it around in a semi-circle and then let it come back to your hand.
This foundation trick will lead to learning tricks like a trapeze or a double or nothing, so make sure to practice this well.
Yoyo Trick: How to Throw Around The Corner
Start by sleeping the yoyo. Then place the string behind your elbow. When you do this, the yoyo should hang behind your arm. Use your free hand to pluck the string. This will wake the yoyo up, and it will swing back around over your elbow, and you will catch it.
That’s all there is to it. We’ll demonstrate in this video and show you the trick in slow motion, too.
How to Throw the Around the World Yoyo Trick
The around the world is a great trick to learn.
To throw an around the world, you want to throw a forward pass, but when the yoyo gets to the end, it’s going to stay asleep. From there, you want to swing the yoyo all the way around in a big circle while the yoyo sleeps the whole way around.
When you’ve made a full rotation, jerk on the string and return the yoyo back to your hand.
It’s got to sleep the entire way to be an around the world, so make sure the yoyo is sleeping. It’s that easy.