Adam Brewster's Anti-Yo Worldwide Video Yo-Yo Contest - Submission 1

Alrighty folks!
Let's show off and learn some stuff at the same time shall we?

Today's topic for learning? The yoyo trick, "Deep Dungeon"

This trick is something I came up with that is inspired by tricks of Mark Allen and John Ando - and I hope you like it!

Author's Note #1:
I hope to go back (within the next week or two - as of 02/13/08) and do an in-depth video tutorial that goes step by step so you can follow along at home. But for now, since there's a time constraint (and I am in this contest to try and win,) I will write up this text description that should at least give you a good idea - and maybe get you all the way through the trick!

Author's Note #2:
I realize that this is an Anti-Yo x Instructables sponsored contest - I also realize that I was throwing a Yoyofactory G5+, and that I was wearing a Caribou Lodge Yoyo Works tee-shirt. I hope that any viewers of this will not find it in bad taste, as I really just like all of those companies and want to represent the "scene" of yoyoing more than just a single brand.

Author's Note #3:
I'm left-handed, so if it looks funny - I aplogize. On the plus side, when the in depth tutorial vids come out, all you righties will simply be able to mirror the motions that I'm doing!

Written for Lefties:
Step 1: Land a trapeze.

Step 2: Set yourself up for a magic drop by wrapping the string around your left hand, but instead of just doing the traditional "L" shape with your forefinger and thumb, wrap the string around your entire hand.

Step 3: Send the yoyo over the back of your left hand in a clockwise swing.

As this is happening, a layer of string from the top of the gap of the yoyo will be "rejected" - this is the traditional trick element known as the "magic drop" or "Spikey's magic drop".

This will cause the yoyo to land on one of two strings in front of you - as you are doing this step, be sure to land on the one farthest away from you.

Step 4: Pull your right index finger out of the hold and use your left hand's fingers to pinch the string wrapped around your left hand's palm while making a clockwise whip motion to send the slack of string around and behind the yoyo.

Step 5: Land the slack string farthest from you (assuming there are no twists in your slack loop from the whip) into the gap of the yoyo, once the whip has passed behind the yoyo.

Step 6: As the yoyo changes direction and starts to swing upward in a slightly counter-clockwise direction, take your right hand index finger and slide it down the string coming from your left-hand thumb. Continue this motion very quickly into an underpass that goes behind the yoyo.

The string you have just "underpassed" does not "land" in anything here, but this is simply a move to properly position your hands for the coming steps. Towards the end of this underpass, make sure you slide in the rest of your right hand's fingers (except for the thumb).

After the underpass is complete, your left palm should be facing you, with your left fingers pointing right.

Your right hand should be in a cupped/scooping position with your fingertips pointing toward you.

Step 7: Bring your right hand down and toward you, in a semi-circular motion, as the motion continues, your right hand will slightly start to move away from you.

As this is going on, the yoyo and strings mounted in your left hand will pass through a "gate" created by your right hand's motion. This is very reminiscent of "Rock the Baby".

(This type of maneuver is called a "Folding Gate". The move was independently pioneered in string tricks by a few players toward the end of '07/beginning of '08, but was named by the one and only Drew Tetz.)

Step 8: After the yoyo has passed through the gate, pull your left hand out of the mount - before you do this, you will feel like you have a big mess on your hands.

If this is done successfully, you will find yourself in a backwards trapeze/underneath trapeze with your right hand above your left, both palms facing toward you, right fingers pointing left, and left fingers pointing right.

Step 9: This next move is both simple and tricky. It's very similar to steps 7-8 so if you figured those out, this shouldn't be too much trouble to figure out either.

Cup your your right hand the same way you did for the first folding gate, and do a very similar semi-circular motion. This time however, instead of going straight down and out. Go down and slightly to the right, and stopping before the yoyo passes through the gate.

At this point, you'll want to stop when your right palm is facing down, and change gears ever so slightly, to thread the string coming up from your right pinky into the right side of the yoyo's gap.

Step 10: At this point, it will look like there are two "trapezes" sitting on your left hand. One will be on the right of the formation, sitting on your left hand's fingertips, and one will be on the left side of the formation sitting on your left wrist. Gently gently gently slide the trapeze loop on your fingertips out.

Even with a very unresponsive yoyo, it is likely that the yoyo will want to snag here so be sure to be smooth. (avoiding humid conditions/fresh string helps a lot here too)

After you've dropped the loop out, you will likely be holding the trapeze that was on your left wrist, over your left wrist, and in your right hand.

In other words, it will now look like you've just got a trapeze over your left wrist, but your right hand will be holding the loop of the trapeze up above your left wrist in the air.

Step 11: This next part will feel awkward and unnatural - and that's because it is.

Even when doing this next part smoothly after step 10 as one motion, you'll find this the most knot-prone part of the whole trick. You've been warned!

If everything up to this point was done correctly, you'll find that while your right hand is holding the trapeze loop in the air over your left wrist, your left hand fingertips will be pointing to the right - with your palm facing you.

Now then, turn your palm away from you, and assuming your middle finger is an arm of a clock and pointing to 3 o'clock, move your left hand behind the yoyo (ie. closer to you) just like a clock's arm so your fingers travel from 3 o'clock to about 8 or 9 o'clock.

As this is happening, at about 6 o'clock, start to turn your hand so that instead of your palm facing away from you, it starts to face your left armpit/elbow and goes on until your hand is bent at a 90degree angle with your left fingertips facing your chest.

This motion unwraps a string from underneath the yoyo and frees the yoyo up for the next part of the trick.

Step 12: Now then, here we turn our attention back to the trapeze loop we've been holding in the air with our right hand.

Scoop the trapeze loop down and thread the string coming from your left middle finger (the string segment tied to your hand) into the right side of the yoyo gap. After you've done this, pull your right hand out entirely.

This will leave you in another trapeze around your wrist. (but wrapped differently so we can do different things with it!) Just to reiterate - at this point, everything should be on your left arm/hand and your right hand might as well be in your pocket.

Step 13: Okay, enough right hand resting. Back to work!

The trapeze over your left wrist now has three string segments. Left, middle, and right. The left and middle form a trapeze loop, pick up the loop with your right hand and push it left so it's moving toward your left elbow.

Once the loop is positioned above your left elbow, take the middle string and lift it up out of the mount, (The middle string is the one wrapped around the axle.) and land it on the left string.

If done successfully, this will leave you in a backwards trapeze that is mounted over your right pointer finger - like in the end of step 8. I personally use this point in the trick to slide the loop into the gap for a bind, but feel free to repeat steps 9 and beyond, or go into something completely different!

Anyhow, if you do it the same way I do - you've reached the end after you bind.

Congratulations!

I hope you enjoyed learning this trick, and I hope you'll enjoy throwing this trick even more.

Written for Righties:
Step 1: Land a trapeze.

Step 2: Set yourself up for a magic drop by wrapping the string around your right hand, but instead of just doing the traditional "L" shape with your forefinger and thumb, wrap the string around your entire hand.

Step 3: Send the yoyo over the back of your right hand in a counter-clockwise swing.

As this is happening, a layer of string from the top of the gap of the yoyo will be "rejected" - this is the traditional trick element known as the "magic drop" or "Spikey's magic drop".

This will cause the yoyo to land on one of two strings in front of you - as you are doing this step, be sure to land on the one farthest away from you.

Step 4: Pull your left index finger out of the hold and use your right hand's fingers to pinch the string wrapped around your right hand's palm while making a clockwise whip motion to send the slack of string around and behind the yoyo.

Step 5: Land the slack string farthest from you (assuming there are no twists in your slack loop from the whip) into the gap of the yoyo, once the whip has passed behind the yoyo.

Step 6: As the yoyo changes direction and starts to swing upward in a slightly clockwise direction, take your left hand index finger and slide it down the string coming from your right-hand thumb. Continue this motion very quickly into an underpass that goes behind the yoyo.

The string you have just "underpassed" does not "land" in anything here, but this is simply a move to properly position your hands for the coming steps. Towards the end of this underpass, make sure you slide in the rest of your left hand's fingers (except for the thumb).

After the underpass is complete, your right palm should be facing you, with your right fingers pointing left.

Your left hand should be in a cupped/scooping position with your fingertips pointing toward you.

Step 7: Bring your left hand down and toward you, in a semi-circular motion, as the motion continues, your left hand will slightly start to move away from you.

As this is going on, the yoyo and strings mounted in your right hand will pass through a "gate" created by your left hand's motion. This is very reminiscent of "Rock the Baby".

(This type of maneuver is called a "Folding Gate". The move was independently pioneered in string tricks by a few players toward the end of '07/beginning of '08, but was named by the one and only Drew Tetz.)

Step 8: After the yoyo has passed through the gate, pull your right hand out of the mount - before you do this, you will feel like you have a big mess on your hands.

If this is done successfully, you will find yourself in a backwards trapeze/underneath trapeze with your left hand above your right, both palms facing toward you, left fingers pointing right, and right fingers pointing left.

Step 9: This next move is both simple and tricky. It's very similar to steps 7-8 so if you figured those out, this shouldn't be too much trouble to figure out either.

Cup your your left hand the same way you did for the first folding gate, and do a very similar semi-circular motion. This time however, instead of going straight down and out. Go down and slightly to the left, and stopping before the yoyo passes through the gate.

At this point, you'll want to stop when your left palm is facing down, and change gears ever so slightly, to thread the string coming up from your left pinky into the left side of the yoyo's gap.

Step 10: At this point, it will look like there are two "trapezes" sitting on your right hand. One will be on the left of the formation, sitting on your right hand's fingertips, and one will be on the right side of the formation sitting on your right wrist. Gently gently gently slide the trapeze loop on your fingertips out.

Even with a very unresponsive yoyo, it is likely that the yoyo will want to snag here so be sure to be smooth. (avoiding humid conditions/fresh string helps a lot here too)

After you've dropped the loop out, you will likely be holding the trapeze that was on your right wrist, over your right wrist, and in your left hand.

In other words, it will now look like you've just got a trapeze over your right wrist, but your left hand will be holding the loop of the trapeze up above your right wrist in the air.

Step 11: This next part will feel awkward and unnatural - and that's because it is.

Even when doing this next part smoothly after step 10 as one motion, you'll find this the most knot-prone part of the whole trick. You've been warned!

If everything up to this point was done correctly, you'll find that while your left hand is holding the trapeze loop in the air over your right wrist, your right hand fingertips will be pointing to the left - with your palm facing you.

Now then, turn your palm away from you, and assuming your middle finger is an arm of a clock and pointing to 9 o'clock, move your right hand behind the yoyo (ie. closer to you) just like a clock's arm so your fingers travel from 9 o'clock to about 4 or 3 o'clock.

As this is happening, at about 6 o'clock, start to turn your hand so that instead of your palm facing away from you, it starts to face your right armpit/elbow and goes on until your hand is bent at a 90degree angle with your right fingertips facing your chest.

This motion unwraps a string from underneath the yoyo and frees the yoyo up for the next part of the trick.

Step 12: Now then, here we turn our attention back to the trapeze loop we've been holding in the air with our left hand.

Scoop the trapeze loop down and thread the string coming from your right middle finger (the string segment tied to your hand) into the left side of the yoyo gap. After you've done this, pull your left hand out entirely.

This will leave you in another trapeze around your wrist. (but wrapped differently so we can do different things with it!) Just to reiterate - at this point, everything should be on your right arm/hand and your left hand might as well be in your pocket.

Step 13: Okay, enough left hand resting. Back to work!

The trapeze over your right wrist now has three string segments. Left, middle, and right. The right and middle form a trapeze loop, pick up the loop with your left hand and push it right so it's moving toward your right elbow.

Once the loop is positioned above your right elbow, take the middle string and lift it up out of the mount, (The middle string is the one wrapped around the axle.) and land it on the right string.

If done successfully, this will leave you in a backwards trapeze that is mounted over your left pointer finger - like in the end of step 8. I personally use this point in the trick to slide the loop into the gap for a bind, but feel free to repeat steps 9 and beyond, or go into something completely different!

Anyhow, if you do it the same way I do - you've reached the end after you bind.

Congratulations!

I hope you enjoyed learning this trick, and I hope you'll enjoy throwing this trick even more.