CompanyYo-yo BrandEst. 1994–2014
SuperYo
SuperYo was founded in 1994 by Arne Dixon, a former Duncan yo-yo demonstrator who had spent years performing and teaching at schools across the United States. Based in Lynnwood, Washington, the company was notable for owning its entire manufacturing process end-to-end, including all machinery — a rarity among small toy manufacturers of the era. SuperYo initially produced all its yo-yos domestically in the USA, later outsourcing portions of production to Chinese factories as the boom years wound down.
The company’s product philosophy was engineering-forward. Several SuperYo models introduced genuinely novel mechanisms: the patented IntelliGap axle system allowed string gap adjustment by twisting the halves without losing small parts; the Typhoon introduced the first plastic ball bearing in a production yo-yo; and the Samurai featured one of the first ceramic bearings in any production yo-yo, along with diamond-finish CNC-machined aluminum halves toleranced to ±0.0005″.
SuperYo was deeply embedded in the late 1990s yo-yo performance and competition circuit. In 1999, Arne Dixon produced “Kickin’ Tricks,” a landmark instructional video featuring Doctor Popular, Jennifer Baybrook, David Capurro, and Steve Brown, shot on location at the 1999 American Nationals and the 1999 World Yo-Yo Contest. The Samurai held a documented sleep record of twelve minutes and two seconds at time of release.
From the early 2000s onward, SuperYo became closely tied to The NED Show — Dixon’s educational character-building assembly program for K–6 schools. The NED acronym (Never give up, Encourage others, Do your best) became the company’s primary identity. The yo-yo brand faded as NED Show yo-yos became the main product output, with production appearing to wind down entirely by the mid-2010s.
