The Rise of Grind Tricks

by Crazy Ivan

There was a time when Grinds were a technicality.  When we tried to categorize all the tricks together, we noticed that there was no category where the Dark Slide really fit.  We could have just modified the definition of Centrifugals (and to a large extent, that's exactly what we did), but this trick certainly didn't belong with moves like the Snake, the Crane, the Roller Coaster, the Vert... these moves were all about the Myachi being stationary.  The Dark Slide starts on the Elbow and ends on the back of the hand.  That's hardly stationary.  What's more is that there's no use of centrifugal force in the Dark Slide, so it's pretty inaccurate to lump it in with a category with that name.

So we created a new category and called it "Grinds".  That made sense from a skateboarding/tech-deck perspective and it sounded like a cool addition to our list of categories.  But the solution created a problem of it's own, obviously.  You can't have a "category" that only has one trick in it.  So we set about coming up with a couple more grind tricks.

The first several were pretty easy.  We reversed the Dark Slide (which is easy to come up with but pretty hard to accomplish) and we use the other obvious elbow to hand and hand to elbow slides.  We ended up with about a dozen tricks that we could call "Grinds" and we were satisfied with the idea that we were done there.

Over the intervening years, Grinds was the one category of tricks that I would constantly forget when I was trying to list all of them.  I hardly ever used any of them in my shreds (except the Dark Slide) and virtually never taught any of them.  On rare occasion, a new one would be invented.  Off the top of my head, the only ones I can think of that were created during this period were the "Wrist Twist" and the "Mind Grind", though there were probably a couple of others.

The slow pace of this categories growth really ended when Monk came into the game.  He started using a few of these moves and shortly after that Mav showed up and rolled with it as well.  These two guys (along with Animal) were really defining what was "cutting edge" in Myachi at the time so their interest in Grind tricks quickly transferred to a movement-wide resurgence.

But I don't want to overstate this renaissance.  It was still a pretty minor category and the "re-opening" of that box was so subtle and small that it went unnoticed.  Mav would come up with a new trick and I would say, "Cool, now there 26 grind tricks".  Monk would come up with two variations and not to be outdone, Animal would come up with 2 more and suddenly we're over 30.  But that still leaves it the second smallest category with only basic flips and spins behind it.

So, up to this point, the timeline of Grind tricks looks something like this:

July 2004 - Butter comes up with the "Dark Slide".

Sept 2004 - We realize we need to add "Grinds" as a new Trick Category.

Sept 2004 - Kid, Big Dog and I come up with half a dozen or so basic Grinds.

All of 2005 - Nothing happens

All of 2006 - Nothing happens

All of 2007 - Nothing happens

March 2008 - Monk and Mav get into forearm Grinds.

And over the next few years, not much more happened.  The category swelled a bit more, but even today there are fewer than 100 Grind tricks that have actually been mastered by anyone I'm aware of.  It's still a small part of a large game and I'm not aware of anyone who is really focused on that element of the game right now.

But a second renaissance might be occurring right now.  I've actually only noticed it over the last couple of months, so it could well be an anomaly.  Perhaps there are just a few new Grind tricks out there that people are excited about and maybe a month from now they will start to drop off the radar again.  Perhaps some new breakthrough in Portals or Splits will distract everyone and the cutting edge Grind tricks will be pushed aside, left unmastered for a few more years.

The fact that I'm writing this blog belies the fact that I don't believe that to be the case.  I don't think we're seeing an anomaly, but rather the beginnings of a major shift.  It's probably no coincidence that I'm seeing a rise in Myachi Masters (and a few really skilled Maniacs) doing Grind tricks at the same time that the whole world is seeing a surge in the popularity of Contact Juggling.  Contact Juggling is nothing new at the house of skills (I've been doing CJ longer than I've been playing Myachi, after all) but the reaction that people have to the grind tricks might be changing as they grow more familiar with CJ as an art form.

Whatever the reason, it feels like Grind tricks are reaching something of a critical mass.  I've seen this happen in the past with Splits, Portals, Merges, Matrices and High Body Strikes.  Once there is a sufficient repertoire of tricks in any category, everyone starts to gravitate towards it.  It becomes a fundamental part of being a well rounded Myachi player and then, as all the many talented people who play this game start focusing on their deficiencies in that one category... BOOM.  Suddenly the tricks grow so quickly that we can't even name them all.  Hundreds of extraordinarily skilled people are all adding their own flavor and what was once an afterthought is soon a major player.

But, of course, I could also be misreading the tea-leaves.  But I'm sure that even if this second renaissance isn't happening now, it will happen in the future.  This is just too broad a category of tricks to be left so unexplored.  The fact that they're all insanely difficult has been a barrier to pushing the envelope when it comes to Grind tricks, but I remember a time when the same was said of Portals and Matrix variations.  And in today's world I've met at least 3 people who could pull of a legitimate Matrix at age 7.

I guess the take-away here is that whatever the future holds, you probably need to get to work on your reverse Dark Slide...

Next Series Teasers

by Crazy Ivan

First things first.  We aren't even close to the next series.  Series 5.4 is in the works (along with what I would assume will be 5.4x), but the process is a maddeningly slow one and we're not on the verge of having these things on store shelves by any measure.  The whole process takes months and months to complete and the largest portion of it (the part where they stick the Myachis on a boat and send them across the ocean) takes the longest by a big chunk.  We haven't even gotten to that part yet.

So consider this to be the first "teaser trailer" for a Summer Blockbuster.  You know, the one that comes out in October of the year before and shows you just the tiniest clip and a little snippet of dialogue and frustrates the heck out of you because it's reminding you that you still have to wait another 9 months to see the movie in question.

This method seems to work really well for the Hollywood studios, so I figured we'd give it a try.  I've been observing the formula for decades now, so I think I've pretty much figured it out.  You start with some little tidbit of info that doesn't answer any questions, but instead it raises a bunch of new ones.  It's like when we found out that Bane was going to be the bad guy in Dark Knight Rises.  Did that mean that Batman would get killed in this one?  Did that mean they were going into the whole Future Batman thing?  Did that mean Batman would spend half the movie recovering from a broken back?  (Sorry, I'm a Batman geek)

So in the interest of raising a few questions without answering any of them, here is my "Teaser" for the new series:

Responding to calls from the Maniacs, this series will have a lot more diversity in the fabric department.

And that's all I'm giving you.  That's it.  Just a little tease.  And see how that raises questions that it doesn't answer?  As any Myachi Maniac knows, the last few series have been all (or nearly all) corduroy so when I say "diversity in the fabric department", obviously that means a few non-corduroy sacks.  But how many?  I did use the words "a lot more" rather than "a bit more" or even simply an unmodified "more".  So how many is a lot?

And while we're on the subject, notice how this is all completely ambiguous anyway?  All I said was that there would be more fabric diversity, but I didn't even hint at what fabrics.  There are, of course, dozens of non-corduroy fabrics that we've used in the past, so I could be referring to any of those, but there's no guarantee that I'm even talking about fabrics we've used historically.  It could be that we're using some totally new fabrics.  There's just no way to tell with nothing but that brief, non-specific statement.

This is, of course, only the "Teaser Trailer".  Like any good marketing campaign, I'll be following this up with a slightly longer version that gives a bit more detail while still raising even more questions.  So be sure to keep checking back with us...

Paddle Grips

by Crazy Ivan

I've written remarkably little about the Battle Paddles on this blog up to this point.  One of the shameful reasons is that I simply haven't been blogging all that often in the time since they came out, but there's far more to it than that.  The real reason I haven't written about them more is that they're hard to write about.

Up to this point, there isn't really any commonly accepted lingo with regards to the Battle Paddles and before we can really start talking about them, we have to define our terms.  Now, I don't want to write a 5,000 word diatribe where I name all the tricks, parts, holds, traps, etc. for the Paddles.  That would be overwhelming and thus useless.  Instead, I think the right approach is to parcel things out and define them as we go.

I figured the best place to start would be the same place you start if you get a new set of Paddles: Putting them on.

There are four distinct fasteners on the Paddles and a total of six individual loops.  As you get more and more comfortable, you'll find that you're not always using all 6 loops or all 4 fasteners.  Instead, you come to find that some tricks are possible only if you use a certain combination of these loops.

These various ways of wearing your paddle are referred to as "Paddle Grips"; as in, what particular way are you gripping your paddle.  There are 15 possible combinations that you might use and while some of them would very rarely be used, it's best to be thorough.  If there's one thing I've learned in my time as a Myachi Master is that you should never set limits on creativity.

Below I'm going to breakdown all 15 possible Paddle Grips, but before I do, we need to define our terms a bit.  The photo below should help.

Here you see what we call a "Full Grip".  All four grips are being used.  The hand is fully bound up in the Paddle in every way we intended to be possibly.  This is the type of grip that you would normally start with so this is where we'll start.

You'll notice too that I've added a number to each strap or loop.  The 1 refers to the wriststrap, the 2 to the thumb loop and so on.  Below, I'll be referring to each grip by a number.  A 134, for example, would be a grip that uses 1 (The Wriststrap), 3 (The Pinky Loop) and 4 (The Finger Strap).  So this would refer to a grip where the thumb is left loose.

This might seem confusing at first, but as we go, you'll see that it's much easier than referring back to the individual straps over and over again.

1234 - The Full Grip

This is, at least at this point, the "standard" paddle grip.  It's the best one to use if you're playing a sport that requires running up and down a field or a court, as it's the strap that leaves the paddle least likely to slip as you move.  The drawback to this grip is that it doesn't offer much wrist movement and thus isn't the best for freestyle or net sports.

123 - The Trapper

This is a grip where the wrist, the thumb and the pinky are strapped in but the fingers are left loose.  This is not used very often, but it does allow for some really cool traps between the backhand and the paddle and thus may eventually become a common grip for table games.

124 - The Sentinel

This is the grip that I use most often and is the best grip if you'll be wearing your paddle for a long period of time.  In this one, everything is strapped in except the pinky.  It's basically a small trade off where you lose a bit of control and gain a bit of comfort.  It's definitely recommended if you plan on wearing your paddle for eight or nine hours a day.

134 - The Hitchhiker

In this grip, you use everything except the thumb loop.  This allows for some spectacular pinches, but it leaves the paddle pretty loose on the hand.  It's much harder to catch long distance and high speed passes so it is mostly used in freestyle, but could also be useful in some court games or Fu related games.

234 - The Free Flow

Here, you're using everything except the wrist strap.  This is a very common grip for freestyle, as the wrist strap can impede the flexibility you often need for swaps, body crosses and centrifugals.  It's also more comfortable over a long period, so for many Paddle sports, you'll find yourself using this grip.  The major exception is something like Myachi football where you're running down field a lot.

12 - The Ebert

This is a rarely used grip where only your wrist and thumb would be strapped in.  I can't think of many advantages to using this grip, but I'm not prepared to say that there aren't any yet.  It just means we need to explore a bit more.

13 - The Dr. Evil

This is even more unconventional than the Ebert.  Here you would forego the finger straps and the thumb loop and use only the wrist strap and pinky loop.  It's hard to imagine a grip that would leave you with less control (except the single strap grips below), so I feel common in saying that this will remain the least used double strap grip.

14 - The Talon

Although I haven't used it much myself, I can immediately see the utility in using only the wrist strap and the finger straps.  You won't have as much control as you would with your thumb in, but it allows for a lot of quick tilt on the paddle, which could come in handy when playing table games.  It could also make for some cool freestyle capabilities, though they seem like they'd be pretty tough to pull off.

23 - The Surfer

Another option I'm just throwing in to be thorough.  Here you would be using only your pinky and thumb and you'd probably only be doing it because you hadn't tried it before.  I can't imagine what advantage it would give you, but it would be really hard to control and the paddle would be really likely to slip off your hand.  Oh yeah, and it would probably get uncomfortable pretty quick.

24 - The Free Form

This is one of my favorite grips.  I probably use it third most often after the Sentinel and the Full Grip.  Here, only your fingers and thumb are strapped in and the wrist and pinky are left free.  It is the single best grip for freestyle, as it allows for a full range of motion and all but the most specialized centrifugal moves.  It isn't a very good grip for sports, though, as it doesn't offer you enough control for passing.

34 - The Scout

Another grip used strictly when freestyling, this one uses the finger strap and the pinky loop while leaving the wrist and thumb free.  It is certainly not as common as the Free Form, but it does have advantages in certain paddle-trap moves and thus I use it occasionally in the course of a day of jamming.  It is difficult to control and becomes a bit of a strain pretty quickly, so I wouldn't recommend it for long periods.

1 - The Free Hand

There's really only one reason to use this, but the reason is awesome enough to justify its inclusion.  You have almost no control of the paddle here, as only the wrist is strapped in.  In fact, normally when you use the Free Hand grip, you don't even strap the wrist down very tight.  This allows the paddle to swing pretty much freely, rotating around your wrist.  This allows you to toss the Myachi up, swing the paddle out of the way and then free style on your bare hands for a minute.  A quick throw and a difficult twist later and it can be back on the paddle.

2 - The Slap Stick

There isn't much of a reason to include this one (or the next one for that matter) as you will probably never use them of see anyone else using them.  This is a grip where only the thumb is strapped in and isn't recommended for freestyle, traps, field sports, table sports, net sports, fu, or any other possible Myachi endeavor I can think of.  Again, only adding it to be thorough.

3 - The Renegade

See above, except instead of just using your thumb, you're just using your pinky so you have even less control of the paddle.  Again, this one isn't really recommended for anything and is just being included to be thorough.

4 - The Python

Ah, finally we get to the reason why I bothered to include single strap grips on this list in the first place.  You'll likely never use the three grips listed above, but this one comes in really handy for a lot of freestyle tricks.  In fact, this is the only grip with the paddles that will allow you to do a Snake or Crane.  This would, of course, be strapping in only the fingers and leaving the wrist, thumb and pinky free.  It's certainly the grip that offers the most range of motion and thus some of the coolest freestyle possibilities, but it is useless for sporting and traps.

---

Alright, so now that we have the basics out of the way, I'll be able to easily refer to various Paddle grips as we talk about the different games and tricks we've developed with them.  I'll probably throw down at least two more blogs about the nomenclature along the way, but with this primer I'll feel comfortable launching into some of the more complex stuff without needing illustrations.

Oh, and get to work trying out all those grips you hadn't considered yet...

Ultimate Myachi: The Ultimate in Myachi

by Crazy Ivan

Bones brings a lot to the table when it comes to Myachi Mastery.  He's got sick foot skills, amazing creativity, solid grinds, great multi-Myachi work, the kind of personality that forces people to have fun against their will, a passion to learn new stuff, an insatiable appetite for perfection, a sophisticated sense of humor, an eclectic interest in skill toys, a really cool mop and some of the best portal tricks in the game.  But if I had to choose one attribute that was his most valuable from a Myachi perspective, it would be his initiative.  He's not just an ideas guy, he's also a guy who gets it done.

A perfect example of this took place a bit more than a week ago.  I logged onto Facebook and saw that I'd been invited to a new FB group; Ultimate Myachi.  I was immediately intrigued and checked out the page.  It was something that Bones had dreamed up and done.  The idea was to play a version of Ultimate Frisbee (which is technically just called Ultimate and the people who play it aren't shy about reminding you of that) using Myachis and Battle Paddles.

The first game ever took place on Monday in Central Park.  Unfortunately, the scheduling did not allow me to make the first game so I can't give you the play by play that the game deserves, but from all accounts it was crazy fun.  Bones, Kid Myach and Mav were all present and several local maniacs showed up for it, including one we hadn't seen for years (shout out to Caffeine).  They all gave the game hugely positive reviews.

From what I understand, there was a huge learning curve involved in the first game so it took a minute for everyone to get the hang of the rules, the strategies and the fast paced catches on the paddle.  But by the second half there were some highlight goals, steals and passes that everybody was talking about the next day.

We'll be playing again next week and anyone who is within driving/walking/subwaying distance of Central Park is invited.  We'll be bringing plenty of Battle Paddles so don't worry if you don't have a set.  We're already expecting a much bigger turn out for the second go-round so it's entirely possible that we'll have two games going side by side next week.

Bones hasn't set the date next week (he's probably waiting for me to write the schedule for next week, which I'll be doing tonight), but when I have the date it'll be posted here.  Or you could just join the Ultimate Myachi page on Facebook.  Then you'll know as soon as I do.

Consider this blog to be a bit of a preview for the game.  I hope to post a more detailed breakdown next week that will include the rules of play, some pics and some video of a game in action.

And if you have a fun idea for a Myachi game or a Myachi sport, let me know.  While we've got a group of maniacs together who are looking for a workout, we'd love a chance to try something new.  If you have any ideas, leave them in the comments section below.  Or go all Bones with it and just make a FB page, announce the game and do all the leg work to make it happen.  That's even better.

The Wild Eagle Myachi: A Pakisack First

by Crazy Ivan


We knew they were coming and we knew that they'd be pretty sweet, but even our most optimistic hopes underestimated the new customs we got in for Dollywood this summer.

As our regular readers know, Dollywood opened a sick new winged coaster this year called the "Wild Eagle".  It's all the buzz among the roller coaster enthusiasts, so Dollywood came to us to see if we could help them out with some exclusive branded merch for the new ride.  We were happy to oblige for several reasons.

So we ended up making 12 new sacks altogether.  We did 3 "Dollywood" branded sacks in Pink, Blue and White.  That's something we've been wanting to do for a while anyway as a way of commemorating all of our history with Dollywood and the Dollywood brand.  It's been a big part of Myachi history and it seems only right to have their logo emblazoned on a sick Pakisack.

But the Wild Eagle ones dwarf the Dollywood sacks in sheer awesomeness.  We did them in 9 color combos including 3 different camouflage sacks, a White, a Black, two Blues, a Pink and an Orange.  All of them our proudly decorated with the "Wild Eagle" logo and all of them are sick jammers immediately.  Two of the cammos are a fabric type we've never used from Pakistan and though it doesn't have the quintessential grip of the traditional soft suedes, it does have the characteristic instant yumminess that we've come to expect out of Pakisacks.

But there's also something we don't usually expect out of Pakisacks: Keychain loops.

That's right, for the first time in the history of Pakisacks, the Keychain Loop is making a comeback.  This will probably be a temporary thing (don't expect all Pakisacks to have KCLs all of a sudden), but it certainly makes a cool addition to this summer's exclusive offerings.  Not only are these sacks all 1 of 100, but their value goes through the roof by adding something never seen before in that type of sack.

Right now these Myachis are exclusively available at our booth in Dollywood and many of the most popular colors will no doubt sell out there.  At only $8, it's a spectacular way to own a piece of Myachi history at a fantastic price.  Of course, this also assumes that you're near enough to Dollywood to make that happen.  If you have to buy a plane ticket from Switzerland to pick one up, the price doesn't seem as affordable I'll admit.

But if you miss out on them this summer, keep a close eye on this blog.  We may have a few leftovers after the summer ends that will wind up as prizes for a few of the "Back to School" contests we've got in mind for Fall 2012.

Oh, and sorry that I didn't include pictures.  They'll be up on our FB page soon.

Dollywood 2012

by Crazy Ivan


Sorry it's been so long since I updated this thing.  I've been out in Pigeon Forge with Bones orchestrating Myachi's triumphant return to Dollywood.  They've added a new (and extremely awesome) roller coaster, given us a better set up and invited us back to rock it once more.

I know there are quite a few or our regular readers who are in driving distance of Dollywood so I hope to see all (or at least most) of them at one of our upcoming contests.  If nothing else, you have to stop by and meet Digit, Myth, Sticks and Beast, the new Myachi Masters in Training that are accompanying us on this little adventure.

Not enough to entice you?  Keep in mind that Lucky will be showing up in a couple of weeks and we hope to have Hard Kore back and rocking it out shortly after the Fourth of July.  And if that's not enough to get you out to see us, perhaps this POV video of Dollywood's new coaster will do the trick:

Back to Dollywood Once More!

by Crazy Ivan


Things can change pretty quickly for you when you're a Myachi Master.  A week and a half ago I thought I'd be spending the summer in New York and as it turns out, I'll have to spend it hanging out at an amusement park in the mountains.  I guess I'll just have to adjust.

It's no surprise to me at all that Myachi is going to have some presence at Dollywood this summer.  We have a really good friend and longtime maniac/parttime Myachi Master that lives down there.  His name is Digit and he's been in the game as long as I have.  He has sick skills, he's been a performer since he was 12 years old (magician) and he lives really close to Dollywood.  So he got a bunch of his buddies into the game and we were planning on letting them handle Kidsfest for us this year.  They're more than qualified and we have so much going on in the city this year that there was no way we could spare 6 Myachi Masters for 7 weeks like we did last year.

But then we moved a few things around, got a sick deal on a nice place to stay and started rethinking things. With a team in place there, we wouldn't exactly have to sacrifice half a dozen Myachi Masters on the event.  We could just send a couple to help get things going.

Well, long story short, we'll be sending a couple of different teams of Myachi Masters.  Each team will be staying for a couple of weeks and then coming back home to help us with the stores, summer camps, boot camps, birthday parties, events, team building workshops, street fairs, trade shows and tournaments that we have scheduled up here over the next 7 weeks.

The first Myachi Master duo heading down will include Bones and me*, and when we leave, Lucky and Bamboo will be replacing us.  I'll keep things up to date on the blog once we know exact dates.  Bones and I are flying down early Thursday morning to get things set up for Kidsfest's start this Friday.  I think we'll be there for three weekends, so if you're anywhere near Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the next 3 weeks, be sure to swing out and see us.

And if you need more motivation than the Myachi stand, I should remind you that Dollywood opened it's new winged coaster this year and it looks awesome:

Sure, it looks awesome, but I think I might have to ride it
17 times before I'll be able to say for sure.

Any of you who were reading this blog at about this time last year probably know how much I love this place.  It's smack in the middle of one of my favorite places on the part of earth I've explored and it's also the place where my life as a Myachi Master began.  So not only will I get to revisit the roots of the life I take for granted now, but I'll be able to do that with the backdrop of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.

It's gonna be a good summer.