I have been selling yoyos since 2005. One recurring problem when selling yoyos is customers not understanding the difference between a responsive and an unresponsive yoyo. They are very different! A parent will often buy an unresponsive yoyo for their child based on its looks and price, not understanding that their child may not be able to use it.

If choosing a yoyo, please make sure that the yoyo suits the abilities of the player!

Responsive yoyos are the ones many of us older folk are familiar with – you throw the yoyo, it goes down the string and then climbs back to your hand, perhaps needing a “tug” when at the bottom of the string to get it to return. It is “tug responsive”. Simple.

Unresponsive yoyos are designed for advanced tricks by experienced players. Unresponsive yoyos are designed so that after being thrown they hang on the end of the string spinning, and do not return to the hand even if tugged. This allows for a whole new range of yoyo tricks, such as whips and lacerations. They only return to the hand if something called a “bind” is used. But - binding a yoyo is a whole new skill that takes time to learn. Not so simple.

Despite trying to make it clear if a yoyo is responsive or unresponsive on my yo-yo product descriptions, I still get occasional emails from irate parents saying their child cannot use their new yoyo. Their brand new yoyo must be “poor quality”, or “defective”, because it will not return to the hand. Unresponsive yoyos are designed to behave like that and a lack of buyer knowledge can lead to frustration on both sides.

Today I had just such an email from an annoyed father who bought two expensive advanced unresponsive metal yoyos for his young son, who was a self-proclaimed “yoyo expert”. Unfortunately, the “expert” son could not use the advanced yoyos. After many emails between us I think the father and son are now happy, though the son has some new skills to learn. Here are some of the tips I shared with him.

If my listing says something like "These are advanced unresponsive yo-yos. Binding skills are required. Not for sale to children under 14 years old" then this yoyo is not suitable for a beginner. I am trying to make it clear that the yoyo is for experienced yoyo players only. The player will need to know how to bind an unresponsive yoyo OR be willing to learn.

If you do accidentally buy an unresponsive yoyo for a beginner, there are tricks you can do to make the yoyo more responsive. The yoyo FAQ on my Skilltoyz web site has some great tips

https://skilltoyz.com/yoyo-help/

How to make a yoyo more responsive: https://skilltoyz.com/yoyo-help/#noresponse

Double or triple looping the axle to make it more responsive: https://skilltoyz.com/yoyo-help/#doubleloop

Information on binding https://skilltoyz.com/yoyo-help/#binding

How to make a yoyo sleep https://skilltoyz.com/yoyo-help/#longersleep

Your child might be an expert with traditional responsive yoyos that just go up and down, but playing with unresponsive yoyos requires a whole new skill set. They can with a little time and patience learn how to bind. You Tube is very good for learning the basics of unresponsive yoyo play. These are very good tutorials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8pmieoAi4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAtGnUtv6Ps

I hope this helps someone, somewhere.
Pete