While the history of yo-yos goes back to ancient Greece, the first US patent for a similar toy called a bandelore was not issued until 1866. It was not named a yo-yo until an article was published about Filipino toys in 1916. Th natives of the Philippines were experts at making and using the toy and the first yo-yo toy company was opened by native Pedro Flores in California in 1928. 
 
When Donald Duncan saw the toy in 1928, he purchased the toy and the company. Luck, Wisconsin, became the Yo-Yo Capital of the World when he moved his company there in 1946 and produced 3,600 wooden toys per hour, using a million feet of maple wood per year for his creations. In 1962, the company sold 45 million yo-yos – in a country with only 40 million kids! The yo-yo even travelled to space twice, in 1985 and 1992, on the Space Shuttle.