Learn how to play diabolo

A diabolo is a rubber spool you spin on a string between two handsticks. You throw it, catch it, and keep it spinning while you work tricks around it. Also called a Chinese yoyo.

Yes. Chinese yoyo is the common English name, diabolo is what the discipline is called. Same object, same tricks.

The old Chinese version was wooden and hummed as it spun. Modern ones are rubber with a metal or bearing axle.

Because it is spinning. Once a spinning diabolo is even slightly off straight, it keeps tilting the same way - that is physics, not a fault in your throw or your diabolo. Learn how to correct the tilt.

To level it out

• Tilt the stick on the low side down
• Let the string slide toward the high side
• Keep the diabolo moving while you correct
• Fix it early, a small lean becomes a big one fast

Ball bearing. It holds its spin, so you get more time per throw and more room for mistakes while you learn. The Starter Diabolo Set comes with one.

That does not make fixed the lesser option. A fixed axle will not cover for sloppy technique, which is exactly why it teaches you - and it runs silent, with nothing to wear out. Most players end up with both.

Yes. The string runs between them, and everything you do to the diabolo goes through the sticks.

The Starter Set comes with lightweight plastic sticks - what most players learn on. Aluminium handsticks are the upgrade: more precise and more durable.

First spin, about a minute. Throw and catch, an afternoon. The first ten tricks on this page, a few weeks of short sessions. Vertax takes most people a year or more.

Yes, and most players do. It needs no partner, no court and no net - just a flat space and a ceiling high enough to throw under.

The SkillAddicts app gives you the order to learn in, which is the part that is hard to work out alone.

It builds coordination, timing and patience, and it works outdoors with no screen. The first spin is easy enough to land on day one, which is what keeps children with it.

Start on a flat surface with clear space overhead and around you.