A responsive yo-yo comes back with a tug. An unresponsive yo-yo has a wider gap and low-friction pads, so it only comes back when you bind, wrapping extra string into the gap.[7] Many starter yo-yos can be set up either way and grow with you. The YoYo Wiki’s beginner guide recommends starting with 1A (one-handed string tricks), buying a 10-pack of string, and keeping a spare set of response pads.[14] Brand new? Start with our How to Yo-Yo guide.
Shapes
Imperial (classic): narrow with a thin gap. Old-school tricks and looping.[17][15]
Modified: narrow and rounded; the most popular shape for two-handed looping (2A).[15]
Butterfly: a very wide gap for string tricks; usually loops poorly.[15]
Wing: evenly distributed weight for speed and stability.[17]
H-shape: weight pushed to the rims for stability and spin.[17][15]
Wall details like straight or stepped walls keep the string from rubbing and slowing the yo-yo.[18] See our Yo-Yo Science page for the physics.
String length and the slipknot
A good starting length reaches from the floor to your belly button.[19] Tie a slipknot at the end and wear it between the first and second knuckle of your middle finger. Always wear the slipknot before you throw.[1]
Materials
Plastic is cheap and tough; aluminum is denser and smoother; bimetal yo-yos add steel or brass rims for more spin.[16]
Part 2
Styles of Play and Their Gear
Players group tricks into styles. A true style needs different equipment that makes new tricks possible, which is why each style has its own gear.[59] The World Yo-Yo Contest awards titles in five styles, 1A through 5A, plus Artistic Performance.[72] Many smaller contests combine every style except 1A into one open division.[60]
How each style is judged at contests, including what scores points and how X Division combines styles, is on the How to Yo-Yo page.
How the styles came to be
Classic “0A” casually meant one-handed looping tricks, where beginners started before 1A, 2A, and beyond.
Late 1950s Photos show demonstrators doing basic two-yo-yo tricks, like a sleeper in one hand and a trapeze in the other.
Late 1990s Contests had only A and AA divisions. “3A” began as a joke extending the naming, and it stuck.
1997–98 The Henrys Viper’s rubber shells help popularize offstring. Team Hyper Viper tours Japan with the Hyper Viper.
1998 Mark McBride debuts Velvet Rolls at the U.S. Nationals, starting modern 3A.
1999 Steve Brown debuts freehand (5A) at the Bay Area Classic, using a counterweight.
2000–02 Worlds holds an “X” division for tricks outside 1A and 2A.
2003 Worlds splits X into separate 3A, 4A, and 5A divisions.
2012 Ed Haponik throws one wooden fixed-axle yo-yo for the entire year.
2019 Haponik and others reclaim “0A” for modern responsive and fixed-axle play.
Sources: Classic and 2019, Haponik’s blog[75]; late 1950s and 1990s, the YoYo Wiki[59]; offstring[68][69]; 3A[66]; 5A[73]; Worlds divisions[72]; 2012[62][76].
The numbered styles and the gear each one uses
Style
What it is
Typical gear
0A Modern responsive
One responsive yo-yo. Stalls, regens, stop-and-go’s, kickflips, and shoot-the-moons, with stalls often in place of string-trick mounts.[75][71]
A fixed-axle or responsive bearing yo-yo; a classic Duncan Butterfly is fixed axle.[61][78] Cotton string suits responsive play.[5]
1A String tricks
One yo-yo, string tricks. Advanced 1A yo-yos are unresponsive and return with a bind.[59][71]
0A: once a casual name for one-handed looping.[75] Modern responsive grew from Ed Haponik’s fixed-axle play, his “Fixed Friday” video column with Drew Tetz on YoYoNews, and the 2018 bandalores project with Doctor Popular and Kyle Nations. Spencer Berry designed the Walter and Theodore for his own responsive style.[61][62]
1A: the classic sleeper and string tricks. Ball bearings (Tom Kuhn’s SB-2, 1990), then wider gaps and silicone, made unresponsive play and the bind standard.[2][71][110] Hiroyuki Suzuki was the first to win back-to-back 1A World titles (2005). Canada’s Jensen Kimmitt was the first 1A World Champion from outside Japan or the U.S. (2010). Korea’s Mir Kim set the highest-scoring 1A freestyle, 99.7, in 2023.[72]
2A: looping is old. Loop the Loop was once a contest tie-breaker, won by whoever threw the most loops.[108] In the late 1990s, A and AA were the only divisions.[59] Shinji Saito has won the 2A World title a record eight times.[72]
3A: Mark McBride created Velvet Rolls in 1998 to win a yearly bet with Steve Brown: who would first invent a string trick with two spinning yo-yos. He used stock Yomega Wing Force yo-yos and debuted it at the U.S. Nationals in Chico, California.[66] Kentaro Kimura’s 2009 routine is called the greatest 3A routine of all time, and Hajime Miura won 3A and 4A in the same year (2018).[72]
4A: Henrys, a German juggling maker, built the rubber-shelled Viper around 1997–98. Dave Schulte and Jon Gates toured Japan as Team Hyper Viper, and the CoroCoro Comic manga magazine spread their tricks. That inspired Hironori Mii to found Team Off-String.[68][69][126] Schulte wrote an early offstring article in 1999.[67] Rei Iwakura threw a flawless 4A routine at the 2014 Worlds.[72]
5A: Steve Brown, 1999.[73] Brazil’s Rafael Matsunaga won the 2003 5A title, the first World title for a player from outside Japan or the U.S.[72] Takeshi Matsuura has won seven 5A World titles.[109] Chris Neff created “free throwing,” a 5A variation that uses the environment.[59]
AP: an open performance division where teams can compete.[60] In 2012 Switzerland’s inmot!on became the first team from outside Japan or the U.S. to win AP, the first World title for European competitors.[72]
0A: a style and a mindset
Ed Haponik spent 2012 throwing only a single wooden fixed-axle yo-yo, the SPYY “eH,” a year that inspired many players to reconsider fixed axle.[62][76] In 2019 he posted a short “manifesto-esque” text, first written for Doc Pop’s Stringburn zine, that begins “ups & downs, throws & catches, stops & go’s, sleepers & stalls.” In it he describes modern responsive and fixed-axle play taking back 0A “not as a contest designation, but as a counterpoint or counterbalance.”[75] Bryan Figueroa and Haponik made a 0A logo, and the YoYoExpert forum keeps a dedicated 0A thread.[77][75] Haponik has called it “a yoyo style and a mindset.”[78]
For short responsive tutorials, the YoYo Wiki points to the bandalores project, with Drew Tetz, Ed Haponik, Doctor Popular, and Kyle Nations.[61]
Why the styles have numbers
In a 2019 forum post, YoYoExpert founder André Boulay traced the names after asking around: early contests had just A and B divisions, meaning championship and beginner. As string tricks got good, 1A and 2A split one yo-yo from two. Mark McBride and others joked that two-yo-yo string tricks should be 3A, since 1 plus 2 is 3. Hironori Mii picked 4A for offstring partly because “four” can be read “yo” in Japanese, making it the “yo division.”[176] Ed Haponik added that Alan Nagao of Team High Performance first came up with the A and AA designations, and that 0A was never a contest division, just a way to describe the basics.[176]
Sub-styles worth knowing
Slippery Eel: freehand without a counterweight. Its limits led Steve Brown to invent 5A.[59]
Doubles: two yo-yos on one hand, invented by Steve Brown in 1999 and popularized by Tommy Gun.[59]
Soloham: two offstring yo-yos in one hand, first shown by Takahiko Hasegawa in 1998 and scored within 4A. Atsushi Sakata played the first full Soloham freestyle at the 2004 Worlds; Hajime Miura did it again in 2019, helped by an easier bind technique from Rei Iwakura.[59]
Möbius: tricks inside the opened slipknot on two fingers, created by Doctor Popular in 2000.[59]
Washing Machine, Go West, and Sumo: popping the yo-yo in and out of an untwisted string loop.[59]
Astro, Sliding Counterweight, and Double Dice: 5A with a second weight, or one that slides along the string.[59]
Doc-Pop style: 4A with a paper clip on the string as a light counterweight, a free way to try it.[59]
Tourniquet: the slipknot around the upper arm and a very long string, from Jensen Kimmitt in 2010.[59]
1/2A: slightly unscrew the yo-yo, grab one half while it sleeps, and the other half keeps spinning on the string. Created by Joshua Yee in 1999.[59]
1.5A (Dualstring): a second string tied to your non-throw hand, with no yo-yo, for fake-3A effects. Daisuke Shimada, Kai Kitayama, and Zammy are known innovators.[59]
Hydra, Cherry, and Asquared: two yo-yos on one string. Japan’s “Cherry” joins them with a counterweight; Asquared uses hubstack yo-yos like the G5.[59]
Loaf style: John “John-Bot” Russeth’s one-handed tricks inside a split-bottom mount; the Boingy Boingy is its best-known trick.[59]
Möbius offshoots: Dualbius (2A), Triobius (3A), Offbius (4A), and Astrobius (5A); full-loop play ties a short string into a single loop.[59]
The big numbers: 7A puts counterweights on looping yo-yos (it never caught on); 9A is freehand offstring, with a counterweight on the string and the yo-yo loose (Ryan Lai); 13A (sometimes 10A) is double freehand from Steve Brown, played by Rafael Matsunaga; some call one offstring yo-yo per hand 11A.[59][177]
1AD and Apparatus: a sliding die on a finger-tied string, and tricks that use parallel bars as part of the play.[59]
Double Dragon: one yo-yo with two strings, one per hand, shown by Ky Zizan at the 2013 Worlds. Rei Iwakura’s 2008 Worlds AP routine used a counterweighted version, sometimes called Rei-Dragon.[59]
Part 3
Connections to Other Skill Toys
Yo-yo belongs to a larger family of skill toys. “Juggling” can mean more than tossing balls: it also covers props like the diabolo, devil sticks, and poi.[138] Many players pick up several, and they’re all welcome at our meetups. For lessons, see the kendama, spin top, poi and flow arts, and juggling links on our Resources page.
Yo-yo and juggling grew up together
Juggling shops sold yo-yos. Infinite Illusions sold juggling equipment from 1986, added yo-yos in 1989, and hosted the World Yo-Yo Contest in Orlando from 2000 to 2013.[129]
Juggling makers built yo-yos. Henrys, a German maker of diabolos and juggling clubs, designed the Viper to look a little like its diabolos.[126] Duncan shipped trick CDs with its line of yo-yos, tops, juggling equipment, and footbags.[133]
Clubs mix it up. The College for the Easily Amused, started by Doctor Popular, is a skill toy club.[131] The Kansas City Juggling Festival brings yo-yo players and jugglers together each year.[144] The Congress of Jugglers hosted a yo-yo workshop in 2025.[145]
Diabolo and 4A
The diabolo grew out of the Chinese yo-yo, first recorded in China’s late Ming dynasty (1572–1620). The Western yo-yo has an independent origin, but both keep spinning through conservation of angular momentum.[135] Diabolo tricks resemble offstring, and advanced diabolo borrows freehand ideas.[125] Diabolo on a loop of string opens up yo-yo-style slack tricks.[135] 4A’s Soloham, two offstring yo-yos in one hand, looks and feels like running two diabolos.[59] Stu Branoff developed a Diabolo Sports Ladder and has run it at the U.S. Nationals.[128]
Poi and 2A
2A teachers borrow poi’s rhythm terms. YoYoTricks.com teaches two-handed looping in same time, split time, and quarter time, practicing each like a poi player.[139] The Eskimo yo-yo, despite its name, plays more like poi.[132]
Kendama and 0A
Kendama may descend from the French cup-and-ball game bilboquet and took its modern form in Japan.[136] Kendama USA, the first U.S. kendama company, was founded in 2006.[136] Players see kendama influence in 0A’s back-of-the-hand balance moves, and 1A string ideas showing up in kendama.[140] Players have posted kendama-inspired “dead whips” on fixed-axle yo-yos[141] and advise “kendama squats,” bending the knees, to buy time on 0A stalls.[142] Experts use the same knee bend in kendama.[136] Some contests, like the United YoYo & Kendama Contest, run both.[146]
Astrojax, begleri, and 5A
The Astro sub-style of 5A takes its name from Astrojax.[59] Astrojax, invented in 1986 by Cornell physics graduate student Larry Shaw, plays like a cross between juggling, yo-yo, and a lasso.[137] Its maker, Active People, also made the [YO]² yo-yo line.[130] Swiss player Jan Schmutz, a 2A competitor who also plays Astrojax and diabolo, won the 2012 World AP title with inmot!on.[127] A 5A counterweight weighs about 10g, similar to some begleri beads, so players have strung counterweights together to try begleri.[147]
Spin tops
Chris Neff took first place in spin top at the 2016 World Yo-Yo Contest.[143] Doctor Popular designed the P213, a yo-yo and spin top hybrid.[134] Neff also wrote one of the most-read beginner guides on the YoYoExpert Forums. He warns that almost everything about learning tops feels backwards at first. Here are the highlights.[194]
Getting started with spin tops
Bearing tip or fixed tip: bearing-tip tops give beginners more time to set up tricks. Fixed-tip tops are easier to maintain, open up different tricks, and stand themselves up straight as they spin, but they spin for less time until you learn to regenerate.[194]
Size and weight: a top 2 to 2.5 inches across is easiest to learn on. Heavier tops can be easier, as long as the weight sits low and at the widest part; weight in the center cuts spin time. Lighter tops are kinder to your TV.[194]
Tips: metal tips add bottom weight and stay pointy longer, but they’re harder on floors and toes. Wear shoes while learning tricks like the Drum Beat.[194][195]
Tape two-piece tops: wrap electrical tape twice around the seam where the crown meets the body, going with the direction of the spin, so it doesn’t crack.[194]
String length: it depends on the top, not your height. Neff’s starting points were about 60 inches of regular string for tops like the Duncan Imperial, and about 64 inches for the Duncan Bearing King and Rip Cord.[194]
Check your string: throw with a steady release. If the tip lands pointing the same way as your toes, the string is too short; if it points back at you, it’s too long.[194]
The throw: hold the top with the tip pointing straight up and the button lower than the wind. Pivot at your shoulder, with no elbow or wrist, and throw slowly. Neff’s rhyme: “slow, no elbow, and not too low.”[194]
Balancing a top on your hand: it’s the opposite of balancing a bat. Move your hand in the direction the tip is pointing, not the way the top leans.[194]
A wobbly plastic top: press a pea-sized blob of poster putty inside the cap and move it around the rim until the top spins smooth.[194]
String care: unbleached, tightly twisted cotton works best. Wash a dirty string with your laundry, skip the fabric softener and the dryer, and let it air dry.[194]
Keep Exploring
How to Yo-YoThrows, first 100 tricks, contests, glossary
