From Sweets: This year we are changing the name of the Minnesota Kendama Open to the North America Kendama Open, or NAKO. We are excited because we changed the dates to October 4,5, and 6 so the event doesn't fall on Halloween again. We have also changed the venues and we cant wait! This years event is going tot be the best yet. Save the date!

Somehow slipped through the cracks but this is amazing.

TIMESTAMP 1. MISC 00:09 Lace It, Chase It (https://bit.ly/2XrXxR8) 2. RELEASES 00:26 Kendama USA — Kaizen Sasquatch + Orchid (https://bit.ly/2vg6Bwf) 00:40 F...

Scags back at it again, this time, he's double fisting KAIZEN FLIPS! #SUN and #SKY! These Kaizens are designed to shred. This crispy blue and yellow tamas are coated in our smooth Kaizen Silk paint and breaks in perfectly. Located around the bevel is two 70/30 bands designed for tracking. Laced up with a beech Shift shape ken, these FLIPS are honed and ready to rip!

Another Missu edit! This one is an entry for the All Girls kendama video contest, sit back and enjoy the shred :eek: To celebrate, there is a sale on all Terra pro models - 20% off! Enter the promo code MISSUWEEKEND at checkout to claim it Directed, filmed & edited by Junya Sato.

Dave Mateo Releases the Mateo Plus. Bigger Dama Bigger Dreams. "Stay true to yourself and do what you believe, you will find you can do more than you have ever imagined. Kendama has given many of us on the KUSA TEAM once in a lifetime opportunities. I feel extremely fortunate and grateful to continue working with Jero, KUSA and our amazing TEAM/FAMILY. Through every experience. It is important for us to learn and grow from every situation wether good or bad. KAIZEN is real. I've learned so much more about myself that I did not know through the 9 years of playing this wooden skill toy. From good, bad, and even ugly. Always remember why you started playing Kendama and specifically how it made you feel when you first stumbled upon it. This game grows through each and every one of us. This skill toy can be a life tool if you choose to treat it as such. For me it's not just a skill toy. It's a mind set and way of life. I think it is easy to forget how powerful our actions are through influencing on social media. Let's continue to grow this game and community through LOVE and JOY. #MateoPLUS #dreamdama #catchyourdreams #spikehardcatchlow #shcl Filmed & Edited : Aldrin Eseque

Missu put a new edit up! Grab a seat and get ready for mind-melting Missu tricks :eek:

Full Livestream (rebroadcast) [MEDIA] ^If you weren't there or watching live, feel free to re-live the entirety of the awards show courtesy of Sweets' Twitch channel! Minneapolis, MN The 1st Annual DS Awards took place @ MKO this Saturday and this is how it went down... Since this was a first, I didn't know what would happen at the 2018 DS awards. To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive. There was very little communication on the planning side and even less funding. But that's part of what made the "pilot episode" of the DS Awards so special. I had an idea for a new kind of awards show, but execution is a different beast altogether. The night started off somewhat predictably with a slight delay. The freestyle competition was over two hours behind schedule at one point, but the organizers rallied to catch up a bit by skipping dinner. When it finally wrapped up, Cody and the livestream team from Sweets ran over to set up for DS Awards. But some wi-fi issues dogged the venue, so I handed over my mobile hotspot, braced for data overages, and hoped for the best. It worked. With the wi-fi lit, the doors opened and the room packed in. @htimSxelA took over hosting duties, and absolutely crushed it as emcee to a standing-room only crowd. He even learned how to tie a bow tie, though without a collar it was definitely a chippendale vibe. There were a few hiccups with the video playback of the categories, but with drinks in hand and butts in seats, nobody seemed to mind. The host with the most and his intergalactic bow tie. First, the room was introduced to breakout performance winner JOKBERT, if they didn't know him already. It was pretty epic to have him there at MKO all the way from Finland. Next up, Chad Covington introduced the Best Instabanger (single trick) category, which Bonz took home. Upon seeing the clip, which was a goofy if rediculously difficult line on a jumbo kendama, Bonz said "Oh you chose that one?!" ...The people have spoken, Bonz. Next up, recent KendamaUSA pro Haley Bishoff presented Best Female Edit, which went to Missu, who was livestreaming across the Pacific from Osaka, Japan. Her reaction was pure gold: [MEDIA] Next up, Sweets himself presented the Player of the Year, which surprised no one: Nick Gallagher. No question on that voting, he dominated basically every contest all year. We raffled off a couple of mystery boxes, and some Terra's including one donated by @lategreat808 . @Christian Fraser, who plunked down $50 of tickets in the hopes of winning the mugen, walked with one. @lategreat808 pointed out that his very first Pro mod was a C.Fraser mod that he won from a DSGS, so the dama love came full circle. Nick Gallagher takes home Player of the Year After that, the night got crazy. @Yourdy surprised everyone by showing up to take Best Cinematography for his Edit 7. A well-deserved honor for the insane visuals he put together. After that, we raffled off a Mugen, a GoPro, and had some laughs. The mugen winner wasn't in attendance, but the stoke was real nonetheless: Finally, @Bryan Scagline announced the edit of the year, which would be claimed by Cooper Eddy for his work on the Gallagher Twins' Documentary. All three of them accepted the award together, but it was the producer who gets the trophy for "making them look good", according to the twins. The night ended with drinks, more kendama seshing, and a few late night eats at TGIFridays because, as one person put it "I didn't fly all the way to Minnesota to not go to TGIFridays". Very little sleep and very much fun was had by all. Special thanks to everyone who supported with a raffle ticket and an extra special shout out to Sweets, Jero, and the livestream crew for swinging the very first show. We have ideas to make it bigger and better next year and I hope you'll all tune in for that one. 2018 far exceeded our expectations. -CS [MEDIA] Zack surprises Scags moments before the awards. See you next year... SPECIAL THANKS to everyone who bought a raffle ticket, especially Marcus Todd, Christian Fraser, Joel Sheppard, and David Traska. Full nominees and winners below. We'll have a separate recap of the actual event (open + freestyle) soon. BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE Jokbert (winner) Lucas Adverse Terteleag Tiberiu Paul Sayer Teodore Fiorina Shonuff Chris BEST INSTABANGER Ben Herald Alex Mitchell Bonz Atron (winner) Kaito Nakajima Dylan Westmoreland BEST FEMALE EDIT Emmy Evans - Around the USA Steph Lussier - GT Edit Yua & Yui - All Girls Kendama Contest Missu - Terra Kendama Pro (winner) PLAYER OF THE YEAR Wyatt Bray Bonz Atron Nick Gallagher (winner) Zack Gallagher BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Grain Theory - GT vs JPN 2 (VHS workout Limited Edition) KendamaUSA & TJ Kolesnick - Kendama Adventures 2 KendamaUSA - Japan 2017 Josh Grove - Sweets Team Krom - Kamo Everything Zack Yourd - Edit 7 (winner) Zoomadanke Documentary EDIT OF THE YEAR Keven Desoto - Pro Edit Joshua Grove - Sweets Team Announcement George Marshall - Nice Necklace! KendamaUSA - Team Edit May Krom - Tokyo Trip Sweets - Gallagher Twins Documentary Zack Yourd - Edit 7