SHOWCASE Vol.1 in Pictures

photo credits to: Andrew Lin, Colin Wan, Hong Aun Lung & Ko Hwee Ngee

Spinworkx King of the Spin 2013: Knockout Tournament

At the premier SHOWCASE competition, we decided to hold another of our newly labeled 'King of the Spin' friendly/fun contest for everyone who were in attendance at SHOWCASE Vol. 1. This mystery competition would allow Spinners from varying levels to participate in and have fun at. None of the 'point-whoring', string hit conventions from regular competitions. So in this blog entry, we will detail how it all went down and what the participants needed to do to be crowned the King of the Spin for 2013.

The first round, there were 23 competitors and all of them were forced to challenge each other at the same time with a Long Sleeper contest. Sounds simple right? The catch was that they needed to do it with the non-dominant hand.

After the non-dominant hand Long Sleeper contest, 5 participants were eliminated, leaving us with 18.

The 18 competitors were:
1) Muhd I'zzun
2) Norman Wee
3) Brian Low
4) Colin Wan
5) Brena Cheong
6) Ian Chia
7) Thawhir Iqbal
8) Hong Aun Lung
9) Kenneth Bay
10) Alexander Teo
11) Khoo Kian Chew
12) Sean Hung
13) Wee Teng Ee
14) Sciran Vikneswaran
15) Ian Loh
16) Karthikeyan
17) Marcus Koh
18) Chua Wei Xuan

From this point, it was a head-to-head elimination with (1) VS (2), (3) VS (4) and so on.

For the first battle, the participants needed to go head-to-head in a Kendama face-off. For the Kendama face-off, we had Razi (of KendamaSG) and Malcolm Chiu (of Duncan Crew Singapore) as facilitators to ensure the tricks were done right.

There were 9 matches, and for some, there were clear winners. For others, there was a fierce back and forth battle. What the participants had to do was to compete against each other in a Kendama mini trick ladder. The trick sequence was Big Cup followed by Small Cup followed by Base Cup followed by Spike followed by Cup to Spike followed by Lighthouse (If they could reach up to this stage).

Competitors had to go one at a time and accomplish the tricks set out in the ladder till one person misses and the other completes the trick. The person who missed would be knocked out.

So after a fiercely contested battle, yet fun with lots of laughter, the final 9 were:
1) Muhd I'zzun
2) Colin Wan
3) Brena Cheong
4) Thawhir Iqbal
5) Kenneth Bay
6) Sean Hung
7) Wee Teng Ee
8) Ian Loh
9) Chua Wei Xuan

Since there were only 9 remaining, and we needed 10 for a head-to-head, the 'knocked out' pool of participants were given a second chance to face off in this very same Kendama ladder and the victor was Khoo Kian Chew, making up the 10th spot in the Quarter Finals!

For the Quarter Finals, the participants had to do something unconventional. Before beginning, they were told to go grab a pair of looping yo-yos. Once they were done, they had to pick just one of the two yo-yos and were told that they needed to go head-to head, seeing which participant could do the most number of Braintwisters on a looping yo-yo.

So the battles were:

1) Muhd I'zzun VS Colin Wan
2) Brena Cheong VS Thawhir Iqbal
3) Kenneth Bay VS Sean Hung
4) Wee Teng Ee VS Ian Loh
5) Chua Wei Xuan VS Khoo Kian Chew

Each of the battles saw the participants share, give tips and help out each other but at the end of the day, there had to be a clear winner from each round and so the 5 that progresses to the 2nd Quarter Finals were:

1) Colin Wan
2) Brena Cheong
3) Sean Hung
4) Wee Teng Ee
5) Chua Wei Xuan

From these 5 Spinners, one needed to be eliminated to make up the Semi-finalists.

So what did they have to do? They were instructed to grab a pair of 1A yo-yos. The catch was it could not be the same yo-yo. So in everyone's mind, the next challenge was going to be a 3A showdown. But yet another curveball was thrown at the competitors when they were told that they needed to use 1 of the 2 1A yo-yos as a counterweight. The trick they had to do was the most number of 360s with one yo-yo spinning, and the other used as a counterweight attached to that yo-yo.

This was a tough challenge that had 2 Spinners (Colin & Brena) with zero 360s done. However, Sean went on to show everyone that this could be done, with eleven 360s! After a quick tie-breaker of another 5A trick challenge (most number of Electric Fans) with 2 1A yo-yos, the final 4 were decided.

So the semi final showdown was:
1) Colin Wan VS Sean Hung
2) Wee Teng Ee VS Chua Wei Xuan

For the semi finals, the head-to-head battle was a simple, yet fun one. The participants had to use Duncan Ignites to see who could 'bowl' the yo-yo the furthest away from the starting line. Simple, Straight-forward and with clear cut winners.

The finalists moving on after the 'bowling' contest were,

Finals: Colin Wan VS Chua Wei Xuan

The winner of the Finals was told that they still had one more showdown after they won, going up against the King of the Spin 2012 - Darrell Mitchell in the final battle.

So for the finals, Colin and Wei Xuan had 3 tries to see who could get the most number of Rocket to the pocket as possible. After a quick decision to see who goes first, Wei Xuan was chosen to be the first. After 3 attempts, with a tough time due to his incredibly skinny jeans, Wei Xuan managed to hit 1 successful Rocket to the pocket. Colin was up next and only had to do 2 Rockets to the pocket to be crowned the winner for the King of the Spin 2013.

With ease, Colin managed to hit 2 Rockets to the pocket with 1 spare attempt.

So the ultimate victor of the 2013 King of the Spin tournament goes to Colin Wan!

The Bonus battle of the night pitted the 2012 Winner Darrell Mitchell against newly crowned 2013 Winner Colin Wan. The challenge was to see who could do the most number of Offstring catches with an Ignite within 3 attempts. After a quick decision on who to go first, Darrell was up. Within the 3 attempts, Darrell managed to hit 2 Offstring catches within the 3 tries. Then, Colin was up. Within his first attempt, Colin managed to hit 2 Offstring catches to tie with Darrell. Needing just 1 more Offstring catch within 2 attempts to be the ultimate winner, as fate would have it, Colin missed both attempt 2 and attempt 3, leaving the battle in a draw. So it was up to sudden death on who hit their offstring catch and who missed.

Darrell going up first, hit his first Offstring catch. With the pressure mounting on Colin, he threw the yo-yo up and down it came, narrowly missing the string and gifting the ultimate King of the Spin to 2012 Winner, Darrell Mitchell.

Once again, congratulations to Darrell, who narrowly beat out Colin in the final Battle, and will go up against the 2014 King of the Spin Winner.

Look out for the next Spinworkx King of the Spin Tournament in 2014!

But before then, there will surely be more fun-filled activities to look forward to and till then, keep Spinning!

photo credits to: Andrew Lin, Colin Wan, Hong Aun Lung & Ko Hwee Ngee

SHOWCASE Vol. 1 Freestyles

1A Champion: Marcus Koh

1A 1st Runner-up: Ian Loh

1A 2nd Runner-up: Thawhir Iqbal

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X Champion: Sean Hung

X 1st Runner-up: Kwan Jun Jie

X 2nd Runner-up: Lee Wei Ting

Check out the rest of the freestyles here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgjCTH_Essz14e2FebL_W2dk4h2aKPPb8

Spinworkx Around the World: Thailand

Back to Thailand we go for a short getaway, plus to grace sOMEThING WORLD Bangkok. Being in Thailand is always fun, seeing how the people of Thailand are friendly, kind and very cultural. Furthermore, the Thai people are united and it is nice to witness the Thai spirit when groups get together for any activity whatsoever.

The Spinning scene in Thailand is growing not just in terms of players, but also skill level. Although, sOMEThING WORLD Bangkok only showcased the 1A aspect, it was nice to see the creativity and unique take on performance that some of the Thai players brought on stage.

During our visit, we also went to the famous weekend Chatukchat market to be all touristy and soak up the atmosphere, food and of course, shopping! Here are some photos of our trip to Bangkok, Thailand for the second time this year.

SHOWCASE Vol. 1 Results

SHOWCASE Vol.1 Sequence

Spinworkx First Mount #19 - Rancid Milk Mount

The Rancid Milk Mount is performed whenever the Spinner is looking to do the trick, Rancid Milk. Originally created by Spencer Berry, Rancid Milk still holds its place as one of the most famous, modern, technical string tricks around. Players around the world still continue to learn and perform Rancid Milk as a staple string trick, and Rancid Milk was formerly used as one of the compulsory tricks in Japan. Again, the Rancid Milk Mount is yet another variation of the Triple or Nothing Mount. This Mount slightly modifies the Triple or Nothing, adding the use of your thumb AND middle finger, making the overall Mount slightly more complicated.

If you have not practiced the Triple or Nothing Mount or the Houdini Triple Mount, we would recommend that you go back and master those before tackling the Rancid Milk Mount. 

Let's see how the Mount goes.

Throw a straight and hard Breakaway, and stick out your non-throwing hand thumb, just like the Houdini Triple Mount. Let the string swing around your thumb and continue over to your throwing hand index finger.

Throughout the duration of the whole trick, keep all your fingers, except your thumb/index fingers, tucked in at all times. If any other fingers are sticking out when performing this trick, the string may catch on other 'sticking-out' fingers and prevent you from hitting the Mount.

Now, with the yo-yo moving from your non-throw hand thumb to your throwing hand index, let the yo-yo string rest on the top of your throw-hand index finger and then allow it to continue around to your non-throw hand middle finger.

Once the yo-yo goes around your non-throw hand middle finger, immediately tuck in that middle finger, with the string wrapped around it (DO NOT let that string segment around your non- throw hand middle finger drop off!!) and stick out your non-throw hand index finger. This step may take some time getting use to due to the strings on different fingers and the need to move out and tuck in various fingers. 

Then, let the yo-yo continue to go around and over to your throwing hand index finger (again). Now, you should see that on your non throwing hand, there is 1 string segment around your thumb and 1 string segment around your middle finger. Your throwing hand should have 2 string segments around your index finger.

Finally, let the yo-yo swing back around to your non-throwing hand index finger and land on the string like how you land a Triple or Nothing.

Once the yo-yo has landed onto the string, bring your hands closer to each other so that the yo-yo sits comfortably on the string without tilting or falling off. At this point in time, your Mount should look exactly like in the following picture.

Rancid Milk Mount

The Rancid Milk Mount is slightly more difficult than the Triple or Nothing and Houdini Triple Mount. If you are not able to pull if off initially, keep working on it and practicing and sooner rather than later, you will be able to perform it consistently.

A few pointers to take note of when learning the Rancid Milk Mount:

1) Tuck in all your fingers that are not needed while performing the Mount so that the string does not get caught where it is not supposed to.

2) Remember to aim and maneuver the yo-yo to precisely where to want it to go. You control the yo-yo movement, don't let the yo-yo control you.

3) If you are having trouble landing the yo-yo while it is spinning, try swinging a 'dead' yo-yo first to gauge the distance apart that your hands need to be to land into the Rancid Milk Mount.

There you have it, #19 of the Spinworkx First Mount project.

If you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note here, or shout out to us at our Facebook page.

You can also show off your Rancid Milk Mount or Rancid Milk trick by tagging us on our Instagram Page, with @spinworkxsg #firstmount. 

Till the next installment,

Keep practicing, keep spinning!~

Spinworkx Trick Collection #5

Yet another gem of a trick from our close friend from Malaysia!

Spinworkx First Mount #18 - Houdini Triple Mount

The Houdini Triple Mount is simply a variation of the Triple or Nothing Mount. This Mount slightly modifies the Triple or Nothing, adding the use of your thumb to widen the dimension of trick possibility.

The difficulty of landing the Triple or Nothing carries forward to the Houdini Triple Mount. If you are comfortable and able to hit the Triple or Nothing each and every time, then the Houdini Triple Mount should not be too difficult for you.

Let's go on to describe the Mount.

Before we begin with the lengthy description, note that the Houdini Triple Mount is combining both the Houdini Mount with the Triple or Nothing.

So throw a breakaway and stick out your non-throwing hand thumb, just like the Houdini Mount. Let the string swing around your thumb and continue over to your throwing hand index finger.

Throughout the duration of the whole trick, keep all your fingers, except your thumb/index fingers, tucked in at all times. If any other fingers are sticking out when performing this trick, the string may catch on any other finger and prevent you from performing the Mount.

Now, with the yo-yo moving from your non-throw hand thumb to your throwing hand index, let the yo-yo string rest on the top of your throw-hand index finger and then allow it to continue around to your non-throw hand index finger.

Then,  let the yo-yo go around your non throwing hand index finger and continue over to your throwing hand index finger (again). Now, you should see that on your non throwing hand, there is 1 string segment around your thumb and 1 string segment around your index finger.

Finally, let the yo-yo swing back around to your non-throwing hand index finger and go around the finger and land on the outer-most string like how you land a Double/Triple or Nothing.

Once the yo-yo has landed onto the string, bring your hands closer to each other so that the yo-yo sits comfortably on the string without tilting or falling off.

The Houdini Triple Mount, just like the Triple or Nothing, is not an easy Mount. So once you are able to land it consistently, give yourself a good, deserved pat on the back for a job well done!

A few pointers to take note of when learning the Houdini Triple Mount:

1) Tuck all your fingers in (except your thumb and index fingers) while performing the Mount so that the string does not get caught in other fingers.

2) Before landing the yo-yo on the string to complete the Mount, try to push all the string segments that are already around your fingers to the back, and land the yo-yo nearer to the front of your index finger, making it easier to land.

3) If you are having trouble landing the yo-yo while it is spinning, try swinging a 'dead' yo-yo first to gauge the distance apart that your hands need to be to land into a Houdini Triple Mount.

The Houdini Triple Mount is not commonly seen in tricks. However, with the amount of string segments you get to play around with once you are in the Houdini Triple Mount, you will definitely have many combo ideas that you can innovate from there. Keep trying different things, getting into different holds or mounts and put on from there.

Hope you enjoyed #18 of the Spinworkx First Mount project.

If you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note here, or shout out to us at our Facebook page.

You can also show off your Houdini Triple Mount by tagging us on our Instagram Page, with @spinworkxsg #firstmount. 

Till the next installment,

Spin, create & innovate!~

Spinworkx Trick Collection #4

Yo-Yo Setup of the Month: YoYoFactory Shutter (Jason Lee Edition)

Everyone appreciates good playing yo-yos, and everyone loves affordable yo-yos. But when you get a great playing yo-yo that is also incredibly affordable, you know you have got a winner. When YoYoFactory first showcased pictures of the Shutter, everyone knew it would be a good yo-yo, but when the price was released, Spinners just could not believe it.

Well, neither could we!

And here is our Yo-Yo of the Month for November.

Shutter (Jason Lee Edition)

YoYoFactory has been putting out quality yo-yos for a decade now, and the Shutter is just another shining example of how they have grown in terms of quality products and exceptional price points. They always give players the best yo-yos that they could have ever wanted.

The Shutter is the signature model of YoYoFactory Contest Team member Gentry Stein. However, this version that we are featuring is the special edition Jason Lee Shutter, that has the logos and graphics of a digital camera, just like the one Jason brings with him on his travels around the world.

Any Jason Lee model from YoYoFactory looks incredible. The Shutter is no different. It is in a shiny, cutting-edge black that makes it look more stunning and refined.

Taking a look at the face of the Shutter, you can see that it looks just like how the dials on a digital camera looks like. The various settings and option logos to optimize and capture the precise picture that you envision in your head. A very nice and deliberate touch that YYF did was to include and incorporate their logo amongst all the other logos.

The gap profile of the Shutter is a gentle H-shape, giving the Shutter more rim-weight and this translates into longer spin times and greater stability. Despite having a H-shape, the Shutter feels comfortable in hand and even with a hard throw and bind, it does not hurt the hand. The inner walls of the yo-yo has a steeper slope to allow the yo-yo to hold spin-time well when the Spinner is performing horizontal style tricks.

As the Shutter is a Champions Collection model, it comes with YoYoFactory Champions Collection 3-color string. However, for our setup, we preferred the slightly thicker strings that sOMEThING had to offer. The Yellow sOMEThING strings provided the yo-yo with tighter binds and more solid throws, and that was our choice strings to go with the Shutter.

The Pads that were used in the Shutter is the CBC White Silicone pads. These are the original pads that came with the yo-yo, and we felt that it provided us with the exact response we needed.

The regular bearing that comes with the Shutter is fine, but we wanted optimized performance from this Championship winning yo-yo, and we wanted the best. So we chose to use a gold Centre Trac bearing in the Shutter, and after a throw of 2, we knew it was the perfect choice. The gold Centre Trac bearing is unresponsive and requires practically no maintenance due to the gold coating. Long and smooth spins are a breeze for the gold Centre Trac.

Not only does the gold Centre Trac bearing perform incredibly well, it looks great too. Nice and shiny, and definitely something that will capture your attention. If you are looking for a large bearing to throw into your contest or daily throw, do consider getting the gold Centre Trac.

The gold Centre Trac bearing also compliments the black body of the Shutter very well. It definitely makes the entire yo-yo shine (just like gold).

Taking a closer look at the inner face of the Shutter and we can see the signature of Jason Lee, YoYoFactory Team member and probably one of the longest members in YoYoFactory since the start. Jason has a unique, smooth and distinct style of yo-yo play, making him one of the most respected and looked-up-to players in the world.

The opposite face of the Shutter is just like the shutter of a camera.

The Shutter is stable, long-spinning, smooth on the string, and looks and plays great. Furthermore, this Jason Lee edition just makes it that much sweeter. If there is one version of the Shutter that we had to choose, it will definitely be this one!

The Shutter fits comfortably in the hand, and even with a hard throw and an immediate bind, it hits the palm softly and does not hurt like other H-shaped yo-yos do.

The Shutter is a beast of a yo-yo. It handles any type of string trick with ease, and it just keeps the Spinner pushing the limits of what it can achieve. Furthermore, for the price, it is definitely one that you absolutely cannot miss out on.

We cannot say enough good things about the Shutter. Definitely one of our favorite throws, and one yo-yo that we encourage everyone to try, pick up and purchase with confidence.

Shutter

1) YoYoFactory Shutter

2) CBC White Narrow Silicone Pads

3) 100% Polyester sOMEThING String (Yellow)

4) Large Gold Centre Trac Bearing

That brings us to the end of this segment of our Yo-Yo Setup of the Month. But before we head on out, check out what Gentry can do with his Shutter. Not one, but two videos to showcase what the Shutter is able to pull off.

Let us know YOUR Yo-Yo Setup of the Month. Drop us a comment below, leave us a message on our Facebook Page with the title - My Yo-Yo Setup of the Month, or tag your setup with a picture on our Instagram Page, with @spinworkxsg #yoyoofthemonth. 

Till next time, 

Spin like a champion!

~