For 1A and 2A there will be a minimum of 10 open freestyle finalists plus the number of pre-qualified National Winners that enter. Note however, that a National Winner must score a minimum of 24 points on the compulsories to maintain their pre-qualified cede into the freestyle finals. National winners are the winners of National Yo-Yo Contests recognized by the World Yo-Yo Contest. These include the AYYA, GYYA, JYYA, Active People (Switzerland), KYYA, FYYA, IYYA, ABI, PYYA and BYYA. All national winners must compete in the compulsories, as these scores will become part of their final score.

In the event the winner of a recognized country, in 1A or 2A, does not compete, the top placer in the 2004 World Yo-Yo Contest's compulsories from that country will be allowed to use that slot, provided they achieve a score of 40 points or more out of a possible 50 points. If there are less than 5 national qualifiers, additional open contestants will fill the slot(s) up to a maximum of 15 finalists. For more information please read the FAQ.

For 3A, OS-4A, CW-5A there will be a minimum of 5 finalists in each division based on highest compulsory scores. Additional finalist may be added, at the discretion of the Contest Director and the Head Judge, if there are more than 10 contestants in any of these divisions as follows: 11-15 contestants, 6 finalists, 16-20 contestants, 7 finalists, 21 or more contestants, 8 finalists.

• Each contestant will have 3 minutes to perform a freestyle routine to his or her choice of music.
• The time starts when the music starts.
• No points will be scored for tricks done before the music starts, or after the 3-minutes have elapsed.
• All music must be considered G rated (appropriate for all audiences). Performers with inappropriate music (obscenities, ethnic or sexual slurs, etc.) may be disqualified. If you are unsure about your music, a judge will be available to listen to your music and make sure it is appropriate.
• Music must be provided on a queued Cassette, a CD-R, or a Mini-disk (uncompressed). (No MP3's or CD-RWŐs)
• All music must be clearly labeled with the track to be used and with the contestantŐs name.
• All actions of a performer must take into account the safety of the audience, facility, and the player himself. With the concurrence of the Contest Director and the Head Judge, all judges have the authority to disqualify a performer for dangerous or inappropriate behavior.
• No assistants are allowed on stage while a contestant is performing.
• All yo-yos that are to be used by a contestant must be brought on stage before their freestyle starts. No yo-yos may be returned to the stage and no others may be accepted from the audience or an assistant.
• No props are allowed without the prior approval of the Contest Director and the Head Judge

A contestantŐs Freestyle score will consist of the combined points for Technical Execution and Performance Style up to a maximum of 90 points. The details of these two components are outlined below.

TECHNICAL EXECUTION (T.E.) AND PERFORMANCE STYLE (P.S.):

• Each judge shall determine a "net score" for T.E. for each contestant based on the algebraic sum of the Positive Point Awards and Negative Point Assessments as determined below. These raw scores will be normalized, averaged and weighted and will become a part of the contestantŐs final score.
• In the 1A freestyle, at no time may there be more than one yo-yo in play (including slave or prop yo-yos) at the same time.
• In the 2A and 3A freestyles, points are generally awarded only for trick elements occurring while both yo-yos are in play and at no time may there be more than two yo-yos in play at the same time.
• In OS-4A and CW-5A there is no restriction on number of yo-yos that may be in play at the same time.
• In CW-5A points are generally awarded only while the counter weight is out of the playerŐs hand. Positive Point Awards
• One or more positive points may be awarded for advanced level tricks, or trick elements, performed successfully.
• Typical scoring elements include but are not limited to: mounts, dismounts, launches, catches, string hits, hops, pops, flops, grinds, lacerations, transitions, regenerations, release catches (like suicides), whips, whip catches (like Iron Whips and OS whip catches), counterweight & strings catches, and other yo-yo maneuvers.
• Typical scoring elements for the 2A division include but are not limited to: loops, punches, wraps, moons, hops, stalls, worlds, transitions, regenerations and various combinations and/or variations of these elements.
• Additional points may be awarded for difficulty, originality, long sequences on same spin, and extreme amplitude of a maneuver. In other words, a judge may give as many points as they feel are warranted for each element successfully performed.
• Also as noted above, no points shall be awarded for any tricks or antics done before the start of the 3-minute freestyle or after the three minutes has elapsed.
• Elements of style such as, but not limited to, the ones listed below will normally score points only while the contestant is performing advanced level tricks.
  • Stage presence
  • Choreography
  • Amplitude
  • Elegance of control and line
  • Maturity of yo-yo maneuvers
  • Originality
  • Movement (use of "yo-yo space" up, down, back and forth, left and right including dance and acrobatic moves while yo-yoing).

Negative Point Assessments

• In all divisions, one or more points may be deducted for: obvious trick or trick element misses, loss of control, missed counterweight & strings catches and restarts. Remember that in 2A and 3A each yo-yo is judged separately.
• Repeated efforts to regain control of a yo-yo, such as unsuccessful binds, and excessive uncontrolled loops or punches will result in additional deductions.
• In all divisions except OS-4A, replacing one yo-yo with another, will count as a 3-point deduction if the yo-yo string had become jammed or knotted.
• Loss of control that results in a restart or yo-yo substitution (not jammed or knotted) will be a mandatory 2-point deduction. Therefore, in 2A and 3A, if both yo-yos need to be restarted a mandatory 4-point deduction will be assessed.
• In 2Aand 3A, replacing both yo-yos, will count as a 5-point deduction if both yo-yo strings have become twisted together.

Compulsory points are the total adjusted points a contestant has earned in the compulsories. The compulsory scores will be converted to compulsory points by dividing them by 5. Therefore, a perfect score of 50 points will be adjusted to 10 points while a score of 44 points will be adjusted to 8.8 points.

The Final Score for each contestant will be determined by adding their adjusted points for combined Technical Execution and Performance Style with their Compulsory score.

A perfect score of 100 points would indicate that a contestant received first place votes from all the judges (after the high and low judges scores were discarded) for a combined Technical Execution and Performance Style score of 90 points and also scored a perfect score of 10 points (50/5) on the compulsory tricks.

Ties will be broken based on the following tiebreakers in the order below:

1. Highest Compulsory Score
2. Highest Score on Compulsory tiebreaker
3. In the extremely unlikely event that there is still a tie, the judges may devise an appropriate tiebreaker, or declare the contestants to be tied.