The Yo-Yo, a Fad that Passes the Test of Time

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The yo-yo, like the term ‘cool’ is still around in 2022. Even with the bulk of millennials locked in the Svengali-grip of an interminable assembly line of ever newer electronic gizmos and increasingly sophisticated computer games today, the humble yo-yo has held its own. Not only that, looking back in time, the 20th century experienced regular peaks in the craze for yo-yoing. Why so perennially popular, well cost is one factor, they are an inexpensive, universally-available toy – and uncomplicated, simple to use if not necessarily that simple to master the more elaborate tricks. And they are highly portable, small transportable objects that slip easily into pockets al la the 21st century smartphone...in the 1960s “golden age of yo-yos”, the spinning disc on a string performed the same time-filler function as today’s iPhone or Samsung mobile phone卂.

Those of us who grew up in the Sixties probably associate the yo-yo with America and with Coca-Cola who product endorsed the yo-yo to the max, but the history of the toy predates the US and its slick marketing by vast epochs of time. The precise origins of the object and of the name are nebulous...one candidate for its genesis is Ancient China but the archaeology of antiquity reveals the earliest recovered evidence to be in the pottery of Ancient Greece. There are several contending theories as to the term’s origin, one is from the French word jou-jou (‘toy’)乃, another posits a Filipino origin of the word “yo-yo”, meaning in Tagalog “come back”  (‘History of the Yo-Yo, Valerie Oliver, Museum of Yo-Yo History, www.yoyomuseum.com).

Pedro Flores

The Philippines is also credited with the begetting of the modern yo-yo. Immigrant Pedro Flores brought the first Filipino-made yo-yo匚 to California in the 1920s and made the toy commercially successful in the US. An enterprising businessman Donald F Duncan bought Flores’ company and the Duncan brand name became synonymous with the yo-yo over the next few decadesᗪ. By copyrighting the name “yo-yo” Duncan strangled competition, monopolising the market, with extremely profitable results – selling a cool 42 million of the gadgets by 1962. The Duncan empire came crashing down with a thud in 1965 after a US court squashed it’s patent on the yo-yo. Duncan Toys went “belly-up” and in the aftermath the world was flooded with cheap (mostly plastic) yo-yos. 

Over the years manufacturers have innovated with the yo-yo to keep it fresh and contemporary to the juvenile and adolescent market, employing gimmicks such as yo-yos that glow in the dark like a solar beacon, personalised yo-yos, product identification with popular culture and TV icons, etc. Value-adding technological improvements made the toy gadget spin faster or longer, eg, the wing-shaped Duncan乇 Trans-Axtion in 1999.

Yo-Yo 101

While the rudiments of the yo-yoing craft remain a staple of the pastime—“the breakaway” and ‘sleeper’ throws and the popular tradition-honoured manoeuvres or tricks like “Walking the Dog”, “Rocking the Baby” and “Loop the Loop”—for the more serious yo-yoist new and more complicated string tricks are continually being developed千.

Endnote: Diverse uses of the yo-yo  As a toy the yo-yo has been more than a plaything for children, it has been embraced by all ages and by all classes and by many cultures (including royalty – eg, the Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), the Dauphin of France). Recorded accounts and paintings show it have also been employed through history as a stress-reliever. A further suggested use applied to hunters in 16th century Philippines who attached a rock to a yo-yo-like implement to hurl at animals for food (‘Yo-Yo’, www.collections.vam.ac.uk).  

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卂 for Fifties and Sixties kids it also acted as a sort of vade mecum in the same way the smartphone does today

乃 in 18th century England they were called ‘bandalores’

匚 modified so that the cord looped around the spindle, magifiying it’s spinning capacity

ᗪ Duncan moved the company’s headquarters to Luck, Wisconsin, to give it close access to the area’s hard maple, the optimal material for the wooden yo-yo...thus Luck became the “yo-yo capital of the world”

乇 after the Duncan Co folded, Flambeau Plastics Inc acquired the ‘Duncan’ brand name 

千 there’s even a “world championship” of yo-yoing, next stop the Olympics?