Slow Burn: Decoder Ring | Mailbag: Yo-Yos, Sandboxes, and Encores

Date: December 17, 2025
Host: Willa Paskin, Slate Podcasts
Guests/Contributors: Sebastian Medense, Evan Chung, Alex Lang, Aileen, Max Friedman, Dave Schulte (“Dazzling Dave”), Dale Oliver, Brian Wise, Travis Andrews, and more.

Episode Overview

In this playful and curious holiday mailbag, Decoder Ring dives into listener questions about the surprising histories and cultural significance of three everyday phenomena:

1. The mysterious school yo-yo assembly craze
2. The origins and decline of sandboxes in children’s play
3. The ritual and reality of the rock concert encore

Each segment uncovers unexpected backstories, reveals hidden economic or cultural machinery, and captures nostalgia and change in American youth experiences.

1. The Mystery of the Yo-Yo Assemblies

Starts at 03:46

Listener Question

Sebastian Medense recalls a formative childhood memory in which an enigmatic “yo-yo man” appears at his Catholic grade school in Billings, Montana, dazzling students with tricks and selling yo-yos en masse. Decades later, he wonders: “Who was that yo-yo man—and why did this happen?” (07:07)

Memories & Phenomenon

• The yo-yo show arrives unexpectedly, with a charismatic demonstrator performing advanced tricks (04:25).
• Yo-yos were sold directly to children who were excused from class (05:17).
• For a week, “all we did was try to replicate the demonstration that the man had done because he made it look so easy” (05:57, Sebastian).
• Within days, the craze wanes and the yo-yos are abandoned at home (06:32).

How Widespread Was It?

• Evan Chung relates similar memories at his public school in Chicago—yo-yo fever, distraction, and eventual banning (10:33).
• Even The Simpsons spoofed the phenomenon in a 1992 episode, “Springfield Elementary” (11:06).
• The team begins to uncover the deep roots and mechanics of the school yo-yo assembly, seeking out real yo-yo masters.

The Professional Yo-Yo Man

• Dave Schulte (“Dazzling Dave”) has made a living doing school yo-yo assemblies for over 25 years (12:00).
• “I’ve been to Japan, Korea, France, Australia, all over the US doing yo-yo assemblies and demonstrations” (12:36, Dave).
• The routine is intense—multiple shows daily across different schools (12:52).

The Origins Story

• The popularity of school yo-yo assemblies traces back to Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant who popularized the toy in America in the 1920s via live, captivating street demos (14:01).
• Rob Penaeus, biographer, notes: “Maybe he didn’t invent the yo-yo, but he made the yo-yo what it is today” (13:55).
• Flores’ marketing strategy: “Kids needed to see a yo-yo in action” for it to sell (16:28).
• Duncan purchased his company, scaled up the “yo-yo man” strategy, and built a marketing empire by the 1950s (18:29).

From Playground Outlaw to In-School Science

• In the ’50s, demonstrators were banned from school grounds, often chased off by teachers or even police (20:59).
• Yo-yo culture went bust in the 1960s as mass TV ads replaced grassroots demos, eroding the magic and leading to the Duncan company’s bankruptcy (22:59).

School Yo-Yos Redux: The 1990s Boom

• Demonstrators like Dale Oliver pivoted to presenting yo-yos as science education, offering assemblies for a fee or for free if schools agreed to sell yo-yos after (24:23).
• “The cost is $800 unless you sell yo-yos for a week after we leave, then it’s free. ... 98% of schools took the sell-the-yo-yos option.” (24:53, Dale Oliver)
• The 1998 peak: “More yo-yos were sold in 1998 than any other time” (26:05, Dave). It was a patchwork of local crazes sparked not by media, but by these school events (26:45).

The Controversy & Legacy

• Up to 65% of schoolkids would buy a yo-yo after an assembly (28:14, Dave).
• Some see the practice as commercial exploitation of a captive audience, others as harmless motivation and community-building (29:00, Willa references The Simpsons).
• Dave: “Well, you’re going to turn your TV set off? It’s just another avenue ... Except we just figured out a new way to ... Instead of paying for television commercials.” (29:36)
• The experience lingers for decades in the memories of kids who attended—part marvel, part mystery, a minor but memorable sales phenomenon (30:15).

2. Why Do We Have Sandboxes?

Segment starts at 32:49

Listener Question

Aileen from Alameda wonders: “When and why did we start corralling children into boxes of sand?” (32:49–33:02)

• She reflects on backyard turtle sandboxes, questions the wisdom of bagged “sanitized” sand, and notes the irony considering their proximity to actual beaches (33:24).

The German Roots of the Sandbox

• Alexandra Lang, design critic: “Sandboxes come from Germany” (34:18).
• 19th-century educator Frederick Froebel—the inventor of kindergarten—believed in sensory, experimental learning for children (34:50).
• Outdoor play included herb gardens and then, via one of his followers, the first sandbox (“Sandkasten”) in 1850s Germany (36:08).

The Pedagogy of Sand

• “Sand is incredibly malleable ... you can basically do whatever you want with sand. ... [It] lends itself to the maximum amount of childhood creativity” (36:32, Alexandra).
• Sandboxes break free from kindergartens into public sand gardens in Berlin by 1850—“way more fun than a sandbox because it’s bigger” (37:26).

The American Playground & Sand’s Decline

• Urban reformers imported sand gardens to America in the late 19th century for children’s health and safety (38:51).
• The first American sand garden opened in Boston in 1885; these were key in the movement for dedicated, safe children’s spaces (39:20).
• With the standardization of playgrounds, the sandbox shrank in size and significance, becoming a way station for toddlers rather than a centerpiece (39:55).

Safety, Suburbanization, & Turtle Sandboxes

• From the 1970s on, lawsuits and maintenance challenges (vermin, animal waste) led many urban sandboxes to be removed (41:01).
• Enter the private, backyard turtle sandbox—the Little Tikes turtle, launched in 1979, solves the cover problem for worried parents (42:35).
• Alexandra: “The beauty of the urban playground ... was that you could end up playing with so many different kids. … [Now] it’s really limited in its social value and size” (42:59).

Sandbox Today: Status Symbol & Virtual Metaphor

• Sandboxes are now mostly found in the fanciest, best-funded playgrounds (43:49) or private backyards.
• In digital culture, “sandbox games” like Minecraft echo the creative, open play lost as real sandboxes become scarce (45:31).
• Alexandra: “It’s one of the ironies that as the number of [real] sandboxes in the country has diminished, there has been a rise in sandbox [video] games” (45:31).

3. Why Do Rock Concerts Always End with an Encore?

Segment starts at 48:34

Listener Question

Kate from Indianapolis describes the predictable “last song/leave stage/wait/come back/play real hits” ritual, and asks: When did the encore shift from genuine to scripted? (49:07–50:53)

Origin: The Classical Encore

• Max Friedman (producer) traces the practice to opera houses in the 18th century, where audiences would shout “Encore!” and demand a favorite piece be repeated—often in the middle of the opera (51:22).
• Brian Wise (musicologist): In Mozart's day, audiences would force arias to be repeated, sometimes doubling the opera’s length (52:04).
• By the early 20th century, encores were banned in serious opera houses for interrupting the dramatic flow (53:29).

The Piano Recital and “Encore Hounds”

• Encores lived on in recital culture; star pianists like Rachmaninoff would be mobbed to play multiple pieces after a show (54:03).
• In 1937, Joseph Hoffman gave 18 encores at Carnegie Hall (54:45).

Rock and the Ritualization of the Encore

• Early rock concerts (’50s) were tightly scheduled multi-artist shows with no space for encores; even Elvis was refused one (“Elvis has left the building”) (56:03).
• Spontaneous encores occurred at events like Woodstock—Jimi Hendrix had to improvise material when called back on stage (56:52).

From Surprise to Scripted Theater: The Arena Rock Era

• Woodstock’s success led to bigger concerts and grander expectations (57:17).
• Michael Walker (music journalist): “The labels did not know the audience was ... that size for rock and roll music ... They realized there was a lot of money they were leaving on the table.” (57:45)
• Alice Cooper’s 1973 “Billion Dollar Babies” tour made the encore a fully choreographed piece, with staged endings and “return” (59:04).
• By the late ’70s, even holdout bands like The Who and The Rolling Stones had adopted the scripted encore—“at this point, nobody really wants to break that tradition because you don’t want to piss the audience off, especially if they paid all this money” (60:55–61:03).

Modern Attitudes: Authenticity, Nostalgia, and Critique

• Travis Andrews (Washington Post): Noted in the 2010s that more bands are forgoing encores or satirizing them as “stupid as shit” (62:23, Pup and Frankie Arrow).
• “Bands were saying, ‘why are we doing something so inherently fake when the whole idea of music ... is authenticity?’” (62:55, Travis).
• He sees the tradition as nostalgia—a break for artists, a shared joke, a sometimes still-thrilling highlight (63:28–63:55).
• Giving more music is also good business: “Live shows are basically the only way musicians make any money these days. ... You need to make people feel like they got their money’s worth.” (63:55, Max)

Memorable Modern Example

• Listener Kate describes Lady Gaga starting her encore backstage, removing makeup while singing—revealing “literally behind the facade” and offering a twist on the ritual (64:33–65:20).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Sebastian Medense (on the yo-yo assembly):
  “This guy steps into your life, shows you the wonder of yo yos, recedes back into the shadows, and you’re left wondering for 25 years the meaning of it all.” (07:07)

• Dazzling Dave:
  “I bring the yoyos with me and I do the show, and I teach them ... and I say, hey, kids, if you’d like to buy a yoyo, you can buy one.” (28:14)

• Alexandra Lang (on sand):
  “Sand is incredibly malleable. … It lends itself to the maximum amount of childhood creativity and ... a minimum amount of adult input.” (36:32–37:07)

• Travis Andrews (on the encore’s downfall):
  “If you’ve seen us before, you know that we don’t do encores, because encores are stupid as shit ... If you clap, we’re not coming back.” (62:23–62:28)

• Kate (on Lady Gaga’s encore):
  “She’s sort of singing the song as Stephanie instead of Gaga. ... That is a really incredible way for that show to end. I love it.” (65:11–65:20)

Segment Timestamps

• Yo-Yo Assemblies: 03:46–30:47
• Sandboxes: 32:49–46:03
• Concert Encores: 48:34–65:27