Cheesin’ it – review of the Cheese kendama

Now, some people might be thinking: “Oh no, not another novelty kendama”. Well, yes and no. Just like the Yumu, the Cheese is not going to replace your Ozora (or Shin Fuji or SunRise – whatever’s your poison). But wait…

The Cheese definitely still has its merits.  The four extra holes mean, of course, that the ball is somewhat lighter than average, but it still somehow feels perfectly well balanced with the ken.  So if you are into suicide tricks, go nuts – it works perfectly well in this respect.  If you are doing suicides, it might feel a little weird if you happen to catch the ball in one or more of its holes.  But then if you want to do suicides, the Cheese is not the first kendama you would pick up.  Personally, I’ve had no problems with weird catches during suicides (just with spiking, but that’s because I have a terrible aim).  So unlike the Yumu (unless you remove all the extra spikes), the “bonus feature” of the Cheese does not interfere with conventional play.

Cheese Kendama

For the most part, I have found that the Cheese is great for practicing precision tricks, like spiking, the bird, secret grip tricks and stilts.  It wasn’t long before I set myself a little challenge, which took the form of a game.  I have tried seeing how many full, half and quarter earth turns I could do (10 so far); bird turns (only 2, so DO NOT tell anyone, okay?); and don’t even ask how many slip-grip combos I’ve achieved.

The paint has a matt finish, which seems to make regular tricks (lunars, lighthouses) a little more accessible.  Maybe over time the paint will wear down and become slick (like a TK-16, I seem to recall), but it’s too early to tell.  A week of play has not betrayed any paint problems.

Given the choice between the Cheese and the Yumu, I would choose the Cheese.  As I said: you can practice harder tricks and still land regular ones.  I’d recommend it just for the spiking challenge alone – you get great chunky click sounds every time it lands, and it can be a pretty addictive way to pass the time.

Check out:
Cheese microsite
Cheese in stock

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