About This Object

This is a yoyo that the contributor bought after his first class at Indiana University. The class was an art history class about puzzles, cryptograms, and other playful academies. He feels that it is a great conversation starter and stress reliever!

From the Contributor

The class was interesting. All of his first emails he sent out were in cryptograms. He was sending us puzzles to see if we were preparing for the class or not. [My fascination] with puzzles started when I was young. My grandparents, well, my family in general, always solved the crossword puzzles every day in the newspaper. When a puzzle went unfinished, we would sit there for hours and just stare at it and try to figure it out… I found that [this yoyo] connects me with a lot of people. It’s a conversation starter! It’s good for networking and things like that. But, I use it as a stress relief most of the time. I’m prone to throwing things when I get angry, and this is something I can throw and it won’t break anything. [It] comes right back. I’m in theatre, and during our tech process we spend long amounts of time in the building, and things get stressful. I tend to [yoyo] during our breaks as it relieves stress, relieves tension, so I can go back with a fresh mind and be ready to go. —Phillip Snider