Skin the Gerbil is one of the first tricks I created that really caught on. I found it in late ’99 (or early 2000) close to the same time I found The Matrix, which has a very similar feel. Within a few years, Skin The Gerbil had become a fairly standard required trick at many contests. Nowadays it’s known as a great trick to learn for players who are just learning horizontal yo-yoing.
At the time I created it, there was an intermediate trick called “Skin The Cat”. I thought that was a really weird name, but nobody else seemed to care, so I called my trick “Skin The Gerbil”. Apparently that was too extreme because yo-yo contests just shortened it to “Gerbil”.
The trick never really needed a theme song, but I made one anyways! You can download the theme song and use it in your yo-yo videos here.
If you are a yo-yoer, check out this month’s Classic Trick Remix challenge on YoYoExpert. It’s Skin The Gerbil.
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