Walk the dog. Shoot the moon. Rock the cradle. An ancient toy, updated with a '90s spin, is the hot craze in this up-and-down world of fads and children.
What goes down may come up - or sleep or creep or loop - these days. Yo-yos, around since the ancient Chinese and Greeks, are back in high-tech designer style. Small enough to slip into a pocket and slip out during recess, yo-yos can get confiscated at some schools."Teachers have the largest collection of yo-yos in the country," says John Stangle, president of the American Yo-Yo Association.
But these aren't the yo-yos baby boomers tried after tossing down their hula-hoops. In this "world of yo," the colorful wheels on a string cost more and do more. The classic versions remain, but today's yo-yos are hardly simple.
Yo-yos now can include transaxles, clutch systems, ball bearings and brake pads. One - the popular "Brain" from Yomega Corp. of Fall River, Mass. - returns automatically to the user's hand. Their names are as fancy as their workings - "Fireball," "Turbo Bumble Bee," "Viper" and "Terminator Tornado" - have joined more standard choices named "Butterfly" and "Imperial."
Many souped-up yo-yos have maintenance requirements. Playmaxx, for example, cautions users of its $30 to $35 Turbo Bumble Bee to guard against dirt and water to help protect the toy's ball bearing and brake pads. And while a thrifty $3 to $5, the most-wanted versions are from $10 to $50. Some yo-yos even carry a $100 price tag - not a toy to toss in the kitchen drawer after a few spins.
Yo-yos never go away but seem to rise in popularity every few years, say toy analysts. "It's a basic toy with a fresh spin," says Frank Reysen, editor of "Playthings" magazine, a trade publication. "Certain toys come back over the years and then fade."
Yo-yos started this upward spin one to two years ago nationally, depending on whom you talk to and where they live. Analysts estimate yo-yos are a $50 million to $100 million a year business. Predictions on how long yo-yos will stay popular range from a few months to two years. Manufacturers, Rey-sen says, will try to keep interest soaring with new twists to the basic wheel on a string.
Store owners compare the interest to that for Beanie Babies, but with a twist. While adult collectors are often as interested in a particular Beanie, the yo-yo rush is "kid-driven," says Lynda Blankenship, owner of Smart Toys and Books in Knoxville, Tenn. "These are 8- to 13-year-old kids coming in looking for yo-yos."
Eight-year-old Tyler Mottern and his 12-year-old brother Kyle have eight yo-yos between them.