The diabolo (/diːˈæbəloʊ/ dee-ab-ə-loh;[1] commonly misspelled diablo) is a juggling prop consisting of an axle and two cups or discs. This object is spun using a string attached to two hand sticks. A huge variety of tricks are possible with the diabolo, including tosses, and various types of interaction with the sticks, string, and various parts of the users body. Multiple diabolos can be spun on a single string.
The most basic act of diabolo manipulation is to spin it on the string. Typically, the user pulls the stick in his or her dominant hand so that the string moves along the axle, turning it. By doing this repeatedly and rapidly the diabolo rotates faster. The diabolo spin can be accelerated more quickly using various methods: the ‘whip’ rotates the diabolo faster by one hand stick moving in front of the users body and past the other handstick; the ‘wrap’ rotates the diabolo faster by the user wrapping a loop of the string around the axle. Both methods increase the amount of string contact with the axle in any given time.
Once spin speed is increased to a sufficient level that the diabolo is stable, the user can then perform tricks. Depending on how long a trick takes to perform the user will normally have to spend some time increasing the spin speed of the diabolo before performing other tricks. Skilled users can perform multiple tricks while maintaining the spin speed of the diabolo.