YoYo Player

Steve and Mark sit down and talk through the beginning of 5A - how it started, what inspired it, and discuss the full starting history of this unique style of yoyo play. 

Mark & Steve discuss the Bill Liebowitz Classic, known as the BLC, a former regional yoyo contest held in Los Angeles, California. They talk about contest culture in general, an old beef from when the two of them didn't agree on something for like 10 years, and where they think contests should be heading. Apologies for the audio quality. We know a lot about yoyos but we have no idea wtf we are...

Mark & Steve discuss the Triple D Classic, a one-off yoyo contest they ran in Los Angeles in the early 2000s. It was in a punk rock dive bar, had three bands playing between divisions, no scoring system whatsoever, and all the parents started drinking at noon. It might have been the best contest ever. 

Mark and Steve settle in to talk about the filming of the Duncan 2004 Philippine National YoYo Contest DVD. It was a whirlwind trip to Manila filled with yoyo players, toy historians, strippers, balut, and more good times than you can shake a stick at. 

Our second episode story is dedicated to Mark McBride's origin story. Find out how a film student in Tallahassee wandered into a comic book store in Los Angeles and ended up becoming a professional yoyo player who would eventually go on to create 3A-style yoyoing , one of the five divisions of play at every yoyo contest in the world. 

Our first episode story is dedicated to Steve Brown's origin story. Find out how he went from homeless in Tallahassee to becoming a professional yoyo player who would eventually go on to create 5A (counterweight) style yoyoing , one of the five divisions of play at every yoyo contest in the world. It's a hell of a story.

YoYo Player is a podcast about the modern history of yoyoing from two of the guys who helped make it.  Before the global yoyo boom of the late 90s, two guys in Florida sat in the back of a kite store and dreamed up what would eventually become significant foundational advancements to the art, sport, and promotion of yoyo play.  Almost 30 years later they're looking back on where it all s...