From One Drop:
“We knew we wanted to continue the “State” series of semi-responsive yo-yos and had various ideas in the works but no firm decisions had been made until we were approached by Deep State Superfan, Jeff Atwood (better known as @codinghorror on the forums). Jeff and his family are philanthropists who started a project called “Stay Gold, America” to keep the American Dream alive for everyone.
https://blog.codinghorror.com/stay-gold-america
They are dedicated to doing things where everyone wins. Jeff says, “Winning does not have to come at the cost of everyone else. That’s just not true. We live in a time of incredible abundance, yet in this Second Gilded Age, more of the wealth is in the hands of fewer people than at any other time in US history.”
His family donated large amounts of money to various charities immediately, and as a longer term strategy, funded Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) studies in rural counties, providing direct cash transfer to those in need. By extension, they are helping to create and support local American manufacturing businesses. Specifically in the case of One Drop YoYos, they have contributed to the creation of the Deepest State and the whole yo-yo community wins: the Deepest State has become a reality faster than we originally planned and the retail cost of the first run will be lower than usual. The Deepest State is a great example of how everyone can win if we have the will. We don’t have to accept the zero sum game idea that if someone is winning, someone else is losing. We can make choices where everyone wins and this is exactly what Jeff’s family is doing.
In terms of the design, we started talking to Jeff and as it turned out the ideas we had for it were similar to what he was thinking and wanting in a modern semi-responsive yo-yo. We both agreed the Deeper State was an improvement on the Deep State with its wider gap and more curvy catch zone. With that as a starting point, we decided to bring back Side Effects, make it wider and even more curvy with a bigger catch zone. We didn’t want to add too much to the width to keep it from becoming something like a Panorama. We wanted it to still be a narrow semi-responsive yo-yo that still felt okay in your pocket but had a larger catch zone to make it easier to play. In honor of Devo, a great band that spoke on related themes, we felt that shipping with Energy Domes was the move. There is a documentary about them on Netflix that Jeff highly recommends:
https://www.netflix.com/title/82052197
Jeff also supported Matt at YoyoStringLabs by funding a unique run of neon yellow/orange high visibility strings that evoke the glow of ‘staying gold’ – retaining those youthful ideals we were all born with for the rest of your life. Each Deepest State in the first run will include one of these.
The first run has four solid colors:
Gold (of course), Blue, Red and Clear.
$59
Stay Gold, America (gold base with blue and red splash) to honor the American dream
Spacious Skies (blue base with clear splash)
$75
We fully support what Jeff’s family is doing to share the American Dream, which includes helping fellow Americans build businesses that proudly create unique, high quality products right here in the United States. It is a deep honor to do this collaboration with Stay Gold, America and to highlight their important work.”
