I think as a juggler watching Kendama is quite interesting. Just the same as I could watch 3 ball tricks or any technical manipulation skill endlessly. But the "man in the street" just wouldn't find it entertaining at all.

I do believe it's possible to make anything fun and entertaining though. I do a short 1-1.5 minute routine using a ball stick (made by Beard here in the uk). It's quite similar to some of the tricks used with a kendama, only much bigger. It always goes down well.

So maybe in the hands of the right performer it would be possible to create an entertaining routine.

I think it would be a nice prop for close-up juggling. Magicians have cards, jugglers tend to be restricted in a close-up environment.

Do any of you guys do close-up work as a juggler?

I don't think there is anything I can do as a juggler that would qualify as close-up... 3 scarf juggling is the nearest thing, maybe?

Interesting point about close up juggling. String tricks with a yo-yo can't be seen from too far away. Unlike, say, club juggling.

Crystal ball manipulation seems to me to be the best "close up juggling". Not that I do it.

Guy Heathcoate is great, but I wouldn't call him a pro yo-yo-er. We great respect to Guy, I would have thought that he's a very skilled and talented hobbyist who maybe does the odd gig.

Arron Sparkes does a lot of yo-yo stuff. He is putting out a dvd with Sam Veale.
They both also work for yo-yo companies on their promo teams.
Their website is http://www.insideloop.co.uk

Apparently the toy companies are pushing yo-yo really hard at the moment trying to make it the big toy of the moment.

I was simply going on guy's website which is very yoyo heavy. Also the last few times I've seen him live it was doing yoyo.

I stand corrected if he makes a living doing other stuff.

I'll check out the website you mention, sounds interesting.

It's not about the number of tricks you can do. It's not about the difficulty of the tricks.
It's all about entertaining.
Check out this article and watch the video.
I found this to be brilliant!
yo-yo artist
(My good friend, Zeemo the Magnificent, sent the link to me. It made my day. I'm inspired!)
Do any of you know "Kenny"?

"sometimes we laugh so hard we don't actually get to the green stuff"

And he's surprised people weren't interested in his show and is no longer touring!

Hey, if you make em laugh enough you might not actually have to do any yoyo tricks either!!!

I really hope this was a hoax. Because if this guy's for real I actually feel quite sorry for him. He's obviously spent a lot of time and money on creating his show. The website actually looks really nice and professionally done. And he's also quite good at marketing. According to the artical he managed to talk himself onto a number of shows. He just doesn't seem to be able to do anything with it once he's there.

If he actually had a good product to sell he'd be unstoppable.

Maybe he should manage someone with talent?

Andy Kaufman lives!

LOL!!!

Now there was a legend!

There's actually a book on the history of the yoyo (not a very long book) that I read years ago. Boom and bust, boom and bust, that's been Duncan's history since the beginning. If "nobody" is doing it now, just wait a year or two.

The yo-yo was originally created as a weapon, just like nunchuks, and I heard somewhere that nunchuks are a form of object manipulation/juggling. Does that mean the yo-yo is too?

Is the yoyo a form of object manipulation?

Well it's an object that you manipulate, so I guess it is.

I was always unsure as to whether the yoyo was really used as a weapon. I heard this as a kid, but according to http://www.yo-yos.net/Yo-yo%20history.htm this is not true.
 "Another popular but fabricated story of the yo-yo is that of a centuries old Filipino weapon.   The story is about an assailant in a tree with a heavy oversized yo-yo waiting for a victim to pass below.   At the critical moment the yo-yo would be hurled at the victim’s head presumably rendering him unconscious.     A near miss would still allow the assailant a second opportunity.    Physics of the yo-yo make the story improbable.   Although there is no question that the toy existed in the Philippines for centuries, as a popular toy, there is no documented evidence that it was ever used as a jungle weapon.    The story was popularized by Duncan yo-yo demonstrators in the ‘30s, many of whom were from the Philippines.     It was a great story and helped to sell yo-yos, but it has been repeated so often that it has become an urban legend."

I have also heard that it originated in the Philippines in the 1500s and that the word yo-yo probably means come-come or something similar. However I've also been told that it was also Chinese dating back to about 1000 BC.

The article I linked to above does also mention that the earliest documented evidence is from Greece around 500 BC. I guess we'll never truely know the answer to the who invented it question.

I do some simple yoyo tricks at my kids parties often. I like the yoyo because it is so small and portable. You can't do diablo effectively in a living room because of roof height, but the yoyo is small, portable, and allows a few tricks. I envy the guys who can do it well, but unfortunately it is only a very small, and occasional, part of my show.

Tony, does the yoyo go over well at kid's parties? What kind of tricks are you doing with it?

Tony,

Have you tried the Henrys Micro Diabolo?

This looks like their Viper yoyo, only it's a diabolo. Dead small and great for living rooms. I do a lot of string tricks rather than throws and catches in a living room situation.

I always do diabolo in living room parties as well. Lots of tricks you can do low.
I useally use a little less heavy diabolos in living rooms (mr babache eagles intead of henrys circus). Don't know feels safer but probably mostly an in-my-mind thing

The henry viper I find quit hard to handel. Maybe you have to get used to the thing?

Japanese call Kendama an art that was played in Europe including at the French court of Henry III in the mid XVIth century under the name of Bilboquet and only reached Japan in a recent past. The addition of the two side cups are definitely a nice Japanese idea but the initial art of the ball and the string is definitely European. Thus when in Europe let's keep it with its name of Bilboquet instead of reimporting an art of ours under a different name.

I didn't know that. I always thought it was the same, or at least similar to, the old English game of ring and peg.

I've actually done contact juggling in close up situations including table hopping. I usually do some close-up magic, then produce an acrylic ball and do a short contact juggling routine. I've also done some palm spinning at tables, but I usually limit it to four balls, as it's about as much as I can conceal on me comfortably. The nice thing, is when you're profficient enough, so long as you stick to moves that you're very comfortable with, dropping isn't much of a problem. I've also gotten some excellent tips due to doing the contact juggling.

I've also done a little bit of three ball juggling in some close up situations, but there's a bit more risk of dropping, so I don't do it very often.

I laughed when I saw this thread... haven't had a yo-yo in my hands in at least ten years!