Pedro Flores's modern yo-yo
Yo-yo moderno de Pedro Flores
- Date
- 1928 · confidence high
- Place
- Santa Barbara, California, United States
- Credited to
- Pedro Flores (Filipino immigrant) and Donald F. Duncan
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Pedro Flores opened the first yo-yo factory in Santa Barbara in 1928 and popularised the toy with demonstrations. Around 1929-1932 the businessman Donald Duncan bought his company and the brand and turned it into a mass craze.
The toy is much older (Greek yo-yo discs c. 500 BC, the 18th-century bandalore). The story that Flores copied a Philippine hunting weapon is an unproven legend. The name 'yo-yo' is sometimes attributed to Ilocano or Tagalog, also without proof.
What it led to
- the yo-yo craze of the 1930s (Duncan)
- competition contests and tricks
- modern bearing-based yo-yos (sleeper and ball-bearing)