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Flying Disc Museum

flyingdiscmuseum.com

38 points1970-01-0123 comments

While not exactly a disc, my favorite flying toy was the X-Zylo. Limiting the discussion to flying discs is like saying you can't talk about snowboarding when discussing skiing. We used to break open glow sticks and pour the juice to the inside of the ring so you could see this thing fly in the dark. It was much more visible if you were watching from the "sidelines" vs improved visibility when it was coming at you.

https://www.wmctoys.com/products/x-zylo

These are fun.

I have a real "ultimate" disc I bought as a fundraiser for a university team. Its amazing how well it flies compared to the cheap light disks. (Its heavy but really goes).

My other favorite is the aerobie "super disk". Its not the ring like disk, but more like a "frisbee" disk. I play with my nieces and its easier to throw and has a kind of softer outer ring so easier to catch.

https://aerobie.com/en_us/products/795861500140

I play disc golf and it's fascinating all the different flight characteristics discs can have. I can't remember the last time I threw an Ultimate disc though.

Fun fact - the popular coffee maker AeroPress was also borne out of Aerobie.

My totally anecdotal sense is that at least casual Frisbee(tm) use has declined a lot. I don't have a big data set but I just don't see them being tossed around as much as I used to in parks and so forth.

It's interesting how recreational activities can go out of style for no particular reason. Rollerblades/inline skates is another one in the US. It was popular for a period and you rarely see anyone skating any longer.

I agree, seems like largely a boomer trend (my uncle is still pretty good with the fraz approaching 70). Disc golf is growing I think though. I’ve probably had greater peaks of fun just playing catch in the sun, but golf does give you goals, progression, and something to do alone (as well as lots of different disc designs to think about/buy).

I think of frisbee as being at its peak in maybe the 70s and 80s although organized ultimate frisbee probably came in later in the cycle and maybe was fairly common even after the peak for casual recreation.

ADDED: As you and others note, I guess disc golf is actually a fairly big thing although I confess I've never actually played it.

You should give it a go!

You can get an Innova starter set for around $20 at your local sporting goods store, and those 3 discs can/will last you a long, long time. Once you buy your first non-starter set disc, you may become addicted to buying discs you'll never throw, haha.

On what might have happened with rollerblading:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVB6ef9JWSk

Thanks for sharing.

Most of that feels like a very extreme sports lens on the topic though. My experience of rollerblading was as mostly a 30 something where a bunch of us would do evening skates on the bike path or on paved paths in the city and park, etc. At the end of the day, something he says at the end of the video is probably right. It was a fad and once enough people grew out of it or just stopped doing it as much, the network effect of it being an activity to do with friends decreased.

Perhaps casual "Frisbee" use has, but disc golf is continuing to explode in popularity: https://udisc.com/disc-golf-growth-report

casual frisbee throwing has always been greatest in high school and college campuses.

You see them less in populated parks, because you need a bit more space to be safe with them than, say, a nerf football or tennis ball.

I played ultimate in college, a decade or two ago, and it was a huge and growing sport.

Disc golf now is one of the faster growing sports in the us, full stop.

I've seen some interesting discussion around how skateboarding and the x games killed skating in the US

https://np.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/4vj7ov/dodging_and_ska...

These things ebb and flow - I see more kids on scooters and BMX bikes locally than I do skateboards now. Rollerskates and quad skates have come back in a big way, especially for aggressive skating. Skateboarding also seems to have fragmented into street surfing, longboarding, and a bunch of other disciplines that have different equipment and techniques.

That's pretty much the thesis of the video that browningstreet posted a link to posited as well. I'm not sure that explains though the casual 30 to 40 somethings who did it pretty regularly until they pretty much dropped it though. I'm not even sure why I did other than the fact that fewer people I knew were looking to do it as a recreational activity so it became less and less an activity I even thought about.

I probably go with fashion/fad at the end of the day.

I think a big part was it got popular but there have always been a pretty limited number of courses. I got tired of waiting so long to play and getting held up by huge groups. Then it started getting popular with the weed/drink crowd and I mostly stopped. Strange I was cleaning my trunk and found an old disc yesterday,, that and this comment are the first time I thought about disc golf in years.

I once made a POV display disc like the ‘compaq’ one in the novelties section. It’s a fun and simple electronics project and I have a write up of how to make on here: https://bovineaerospace.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/persistence...

I was hoping this would be a museum about/housing (mostly failed) attempts to make flying disc shaped aircraft. Still very interesting, though.

the museum you're talking about is great, ever been? not many people have been able to, seeing as it's on Mars. Interesting how many prototypes they went through before making contact.

This is really great. Found a couple discs that I’ve used, and even found that I have a Princeton Clockwork Orange disc not in the catalogue! Will be making a contribution and sending this around to friends.

That brings back memories! On a related note, I threw boomerangs in college. It felt magical when I first caught one without having to take a step from where I threw it. The idea that a properly-shaped piece of wood, with no motor, batteries, propellers, rubber bands, or anything, could turn around and fly back to its origin was wonderful. I should get back to it.

someone oughta donate a NEO-GEO cabinet and a copy of Windjammers

my favorite is the knitted variety which can be thrown safely to children, used indoors, etc. Always have one in the glove box in case the situation arises.

https://buenaondagames.com/pages/buy-a-mayaflya

As a freestyler myself => This is a cool website. Thanks for sharing.

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