GEEZ!,remember when yo-yo's and people who could rock on one were really cool!? they were HUGE when iwas in grade school-one of the smothers brothers was a yoyo WHIZ and they called him the yoyo man or something like that. he could do all sorts of tricks-walk the dog,around the world,etc.thats when a toy was kid-powered(no batteries or electricity)and most important imagination powered.you learned to practice,be patient,compete.those were the days.

Great memories of these. Our grade school went nuts over them. I can see the kids at recess. Doing the tricks etc. I remember I had a blue, and a green one.

Duncan Yo-yos were first marketed in 1968. The 1970s proved to be the heyday of Duncans. They ranged from ordinary wooden ones to Butterflies that were battery powered to simulate neon lighting.The prices ranged from a dollar for a plain woodie to five dollars for a battery-run Butterfly. Interest in yo-yos died out with the influx of video games in the early 1980s. I have one TV commercial for a mid-priced Tournament Edition Yo-yo from 1971. Duncan had a low advertising budget in the early years, as this was from a local (syndicated) cartoon program. 1972 to 1975 were the peak years for Duncan, or yo-yos in general.

My older brother and I had a bunch of these. As a kid, it was hard for me to get the hang of it, and my brother was much better. We had an Imperial, a Butterfly, a GITD version, and one that lit up w/ batteries. I remember I was trying to master the basic up and down of it when I was about 6 when it smashed on the floor! The batteries popped up and it cracked the outer lens. My older brother was less than thrilled.

I had a Duncan butterfly.

It was brought to my attention that Duncan yo-yos actually go back to 1929, starting with the Imperial and Butterfly models. 1968 was when Duncam merged with a little-known toy conglomerate named Flambeau, and that was when the more sophisticated yo-yos began emerging on toy store shelves. As previously stated in 2012, Duncan TV commercials were seldom seen on Saturday morning network cartoon shows. Duncan still went on the cheap by advertising on the local, or syndicated, market. Occasionally, ads were published in Marvel or DC comic books.