Category: yo-yo

Paul Escolar was an extremely talented yo-yoer and artist who passed away in 2021. Though I met him through yo-yoing, I was always a huge fan of Paul’s illustrations and line work. The dude was a genius with a sharpie.

I’m excited that the folks at Method Made are putting together a show based on Paul’s work. The show opens tonight, April 20th, at 4:20 pm at 2544 Mission Street in San Francisco.

More details and artwork here https://www.tmmdl.com/collections/paul-escolar-in-memory

I had always hoped to film an interview with Paul about his art and the influence he had on the yo-yo community, but I missed my chance. I regret that, but I was able to find a rare interview with Paul about his art (which is republished here with The Method Makers approval) https://doctorpopular.com/the-method-makers-interview-with-paul-escolar/

And here is a great video about Paul’s influence on yo-yoing:

Ever since Yuta Ogawa debuted Boingy Boing in 1998, the trick became an instant classic. Every yo-yoer tried putting their own spin on the trick, like MarkMont’s “2nd Gen Boing” from 2004 or Rei Iwakara’s “Boingy Boing Switch“. My personal Boingy Boing goal was to be able to invert the Boingy Boing and keep it going. I struggled on this for years because I assumed that I’d need to switch the motion from my throw hand to my non-throw hand. I spent years trying to refine that motion, but finally figured out that I could easily do the trick without switching my dominant hand.

Here is my tutorial for Boingy Boing.:

And here are some other Boingy Boing variations from around the web:

And here is a great tutorial on the basic Boingy Boing:

Our next San Francisco Yo-Yo Club is at 3pm on Saturday, March 16th. We’ll be at Yerba Buena Gardens, but we’ll move it inside the Metreon food court if it ends up raining. Players of all skill levels are invited to join! We hope to see you there and it sounds like the weather is going to be amazing.

If traveling by BART, the Gardens are a short walk from both the Powell + Montgomery Street stations. The CalTrain Station at Fourth and Townsend is served directly by MUNI with stops on Third Street at Howard and at Mission. There is lots of parking downtown, but I encourage taking mass transit if possible for the easiest experience.

I recently went to KitTea Cafe in San Francisco and tried my best to entertain the cats with my yo-yo skills. Here’s what happened:

Thanks to Max (aka Edition Yo-Yos) for filming, Courtney from KitTea for allowing me to hang out and film, and my sponsors on Patreon.com/docpop for making these videos possible.

I recently posted three tricks that all start with Double Or Nothing. A few folks have asked me to share tutorials for these three elements, so I thought I’d round them up here.

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Straight Jacket Escape

Wow, I just realized I’ve never posted a tutorial for this trick on Youtube, but I have published one on Patreon. You can watch that video here (even if you aren’t a subscriber).

Straightjacket Escape is a move that starts from a Double or Nothing, but then converts into something that looks like a Mach 5 mount. Usually I like to do this mount, then release the yo-yo from the mach 5, but it can be used for all sorts of other things too.

Purple Monkey Dishwasher (Double Or Nothing Variation)

Purple Monkey Dishwasher is a move where you start in a wrist mount, hop the yo-yo up, then quickly move your hands above and around the yo-yo before catching it back on the wrist mount. It’s like a jump rope. I shared a full tutorial on Purple Monkey Dishwasher, plus some variations at the very end of this video:

Here is another slow mo version of it:

@doctorpopular I was so happy to finally land this on video. The song is an original song i wrote with a friend last year. #yoyo #yoyotricks #slowmotion ♬ original sound – Doc Pop

Gerbil Or Nothing

Gerbil or Nothing is a variation of Skin The Gerbil that takes place entirely in Double Or Nothing.

And here’s another one that shows the steps a little slower:

Hey all, I’m hosting another yo-yo meetup in San Francisco today. This one is going to be in the Yerba Buena Gardens (near the Metreon) on September 30th, between 2 and 4:30pm. All are welcome!