Introduction to Off String Yo-Yo Tricks

Series Summary

The history of the Yo-Yo is a long and sordid tale, beginning in the Philippines sometime before 500 B.C. Once possibly used as a weapon, the Yo-Yo developed into its modern form in 1866 when it was patented under the name “whirligig”. With a ridiculous name like whirligig, it's no wonder the dizzying disks didn't take. Finally given the respectable name of Yo-Yo, the children's toy achieved ridiculous heights of popularity in the 1920's and then again in the 1960's. Advances in Yo-Yo technology in the 1990's saw yet another resurgence of Yo-Yo culture, sparking the World Yo-Yo competition held annually in Florida to showcase a variety of Yo-Yo tricks. Yo-Yo's can also be seen in film and television, though most often as weapons for small, animated children.

In this free video series, our expert will demonstrate how to do off string Yo-Yo tricks. In this unique form of Yo-Yo play, the Yo-Yo is not attached to the string, and tricks are performed while the string is being help by the player. Let our expert show you how it's done with easy to follow instructions on how to do an off string toss and catch, a snap start and a brain twister Yo-Yo trick. You will also learn how to do a behind the back Yo-Yo trick and a Volcano Yo-Yo trick. If you have some Yo-Yo experience and want to learn some new tricks, let our expert show you these off string tricks that are sure to impress your friends.

Video Transcript

"ANDRE BOULAY: So, we're going to talk about off string yoyo play. This is actually yoyoing without the string connected to the yoyo at all. Yeah, it's only connected to your hand. It looks just like this like so. You got a string. You got a yoyo. It's not connected. We're going to talk about how to put it on and throw it in minute. But I do want to show you. There's different kinds of off string yoyo. This one actually has rubber, molded onto the center yoyo itself. And you'll notice because of that rubber, it makes the yoyo a lot a wider. It is going to be a lot easier to catch when you go to learn. Another great thing is it's durable. If I drop this on the ground, it's just going to bounce right off. It's not going to break the yoyo. It's going to keep it going for a lot longer than if I was just doing this with the plastic yoyo. So, that's off string play and it was highly developed in the past, three or four years or so. It's still fairly new. Much like freehand when you go to a contest, it's actually one of the more competitive divisions today. It's definitely a lot of fun to watch. That's off string."