YOMEGA'S PULLING THE STRINGS; MASSACHUSETTS YO-YO MAKER ROCKING TOY INDUSTRY'S CRADLE.Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire Around the world is more than a yo-yo trick for Yomega President Alan Amaral. The lawyer turned yo-yo entrepreneur is head of a thriving company that ships millions of the 2,400-year-old toy to every corner of the globe. The simple toy, so popular 35 years ago, has come back. It's one of the hottest items this summer. And Yomega is cashing in on the craze. Playthings magazine says yo-yos are one of the top five best-selling toys this summer. There are even Internet sites where yo-yo players swap tips and yo-yo clubs that meet weekly to polish tricks. The fad is especially big in - you guessed it - California. ``I think it's one of those basic toys that has its ups and downs ups and downs pl.n. Alternating periods of good and bad fortune or spirits. ups and downs Noun, pl alternating periods of good and bad luck or high and low spirits , and there are years when all of a sudden it catches on,'' said Frank Reysen, editor of Playthings. ``People tend to go toward solid, basic toys when there are no other toys that dominate the market.'' Aimed at ages 8 and up, Yomega yo-yos appeal to a ``pretty broad age group,'' Reysen said. ``Something like yo-yos transcends all age barriers,'' he said. ``It spans a lot of generations.'' Yomega yo-yos are the high-tech models that kids - and aging baby boomers See generation X. - are waiting in line for around the country. The Brain is Yomega's biggest seller. At $11, it's about twice the price of a wooden Duncan, but it has a clutch that pulls the yo-yo up at the last minute. That allows a rookie to perform the sleeper and other tricks without tangling the yo-yo at the end of the string. Yomega makes a total of eight models, priced at up to $30 for the top-of-the-line Raider model, which Amaral calls the ``Lamborghini of yo-yos.'' All of them are made of hard, see-through plastic and have a modular design In the context of systems engineering, modular design — or "modularity in design" — is an approach aiming to subdivide a system into smaller parts (modules) that can be independently created and then used in different systems to drive multiple functionalities. that lets you take them apart to replace the string. ``A child shouldn't be frustrated by a knot in the string,'' Amaral said. Yomega also sells an array of yo-yo gear - holsters, extra string, videos and yo-yo oil. Privately owned by Amaral and his siblings, Yomega doesn't break down its books for outsiders. The company is very much a family business. Amaral claims that his company has jumped ahead of Duncan Toys, of Middlefield, Ohio Middlefield is a village in Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,233 at the 2000 census. Geography Middlefield is located at (41.461310, -81.076769)GR1. , long regarded as the world's No. 1 yo-yo maker. Whether or not that's the case, Yomega definitely is the hot yo-yo this summer. In some cities, Yomega yo-yos are as hard to find as Beanie Babies. One store in a San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden suburb recently had a 200-person waiting list for the Brain. ``The demand has been phenomenal,'' Amaral said. The yo-yo dates back at least 2,400 years to ancient Greece The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. 750 BC[1] (the archaic period) to 146 BC (the Roman conquest). It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western Civilization. , Amaral said, when it was called ``a noble toy to dispel the fatigue of thinking.'' The first yo-yo was reportedly brought to this country in the 1920s. Yo-yo crazes swept the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. in the '40s and again in the early '60s. International sales account for about 35 percent of Yomega's business. The company's yo-yos are especially popular in Japan, where yo-yo mania is rampant. ``With these yo-yos, anybody can be a star,'' he said. That said, the company president picks a Fireball fireball, very bright meteor leaving a trail in the sky that can remain visible for several minutes; often a distinct sound, perhaps caused by very low frequency radio waves, is associated with it. yo-yo out of a factory bin. ``The concept here is that you have fast, long spins which enable you do all these kinds of tricks,'' he said, demonstrating the man on the flying trapeze An act involving two trapezes: the catcher's bar and the fly bar. The catcher's bar is at one end of the rig. The fly bar is more central. At the opposite end from the catcher's bar is a pedestal. In the act, the flyer jumps from a pedestal holding on to the fly bar. , a trick with flips, spins and a breakaway throw. Amaral is just getting warmed up. His performance moves easily from loop-the-loops to the creeper creeper, common name for members of a family of small, inconspicuous birds related to wrens and nuthatches. They are found in wooded regions of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. , walking the dog and rocking the cradle. Amaral said he started practicing yo-yo tricks when he was quitting smoking. The company's yo-yos are sold through toy, specialty, hobby and museum shops, including Brookstone, Sharper Image, FAO FAO, n See Food and Agriculture Organization. Schwartz and L.L. Bean. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Color) Yomega President Alan Amaral rocks the cradle with a Fireball yo-yo at the company's plant in Fall River, Mass. Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service |
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