This is Takayasu Tanaka who won the West Japan Yo-Yo championship in 2005 with this performance. This decidedly low-tech toy requires a tad more coordination than does twitching the controls of a video game controller. There was once, however, an arcade game based on it.

Collect all the dots on a level while avoiding enemies. The dots are placed on the playfield in patterns that change from round to round. You move from dot to dot by moving the joystick in the direction you wish to go, which shoots out your Yo-Yo string which grabs onto the next dot in your line of fire.

The little wooden thing on a string has been around a tad longer, though.

History of the yo-yo
The origin of the yo-yo is uncertain, but it was most likely developed in China. However, others would argue it was first used in Greece and still others would argue it was neither used in China nor Greece.

A popular yo-yo myth is the claim that is it an old Filipino weapon. The story describes a hunter with a large rock acting as a heavy yo-yo waiting for something to pass below, usually game and other small animals. At the correct time the yo-yo would be thrown at the creature being hunted. If the hunter missed he/she would get another opportunity. Physics of the yo-yo make the story highly unlikely, because a lot of the energy of a throw is lost as the yo-yo descends and if the rock hit anything it would not have enough energy to return. There is no documented evidence for this story. Although the yo-yo has been in the Philippines for hundreds of years as a popular toy, this story seems to have been made up, and became well known due to its retelling by Duncan yo-yo demonstrators in the 1930s. Although untrue, this story has been repeated so much it has become a legend…..

So, what time will Pimp My Yo-Yo be on?