Retro Gamer

Wood is Good!

So this is a quiet little project we've been working on few a while, a full wood fixed axle version of the Gamer!

We partnered with Jon Gates on this one. Jon is one of the folks who made yoyo what it is today.

Among other things, he literally invented the bind. Back before bearings, a yoyo demonstrator got irritated by this kid who knew all the tricks and kept wanting me, he taught Jon how to throw his yoyo without the string attached. Jon then got irritated that he couldn't' get it to wind back up, and proceeded to figure out how to bind!

These days he's working on perfecting the ancient art of hand turning wooden yoyos.  You can check out his work on his website. He's out of stock at the moment due to a move, but bookmark the page and check back to score one of his designs when you can!

I contacted him over a year ago with the idea of a fixed axle wooden gamer. He made a bunch of protos, we tested, and picked this fantastic design.

The only problem - life got in the way and he only made 30. Of those, 24 are hitting the wild Friday, April 15th at 5pm Pacific Time exclusively at Rain City Skills.

Here are some photos of the finished Retrogamer as well as a couple "work in progress" photos Jon sent me!

Each yoyo comes in a box engraved with the Retrogamer logo, the usual string and stickers, and some vintage arcade game tokens!

Specs

Weight - 34g
Width - 30mm
Diameter - 51.5
Axle - fixed wood 

*Note - the axle is glued in place for durability reasons, this yoyo can not be taken apart.

*Note #2 - While this was built to high quality standards, wooden yoyos can be fragile, we recommend playing with this yoyo over a soft surface with lots of space to avoid whacking it into things. Especially your head.

*Note #3 - Each yoyo is unique. While the photos show roughly what it'll look like, the lines and colors in the wood will vary slightly.

*Note #4 - Someone needs to tell Jeremy he likes writing extra notes too much