WHAT IS FINGERBOARDING
The fingerboard is active and vibrant finger sports in Europe, Asia, and the US. There are fingerboarding workshops, fairs, and contests being run regularly. Fingerboards brought a lot of Millennials and Generation X into skateboarding and fueled the skaters' passion for the sport.
A fingerboard is a small scale working replica of the real skateboard that a person "rides" by replicating skateboarding maneuvers with their fingers. The fingerboard itself is a scaled-down skateboard with graphics, trucks and wheels. There's the grip tape, the wooden, plastic, or paper deck, bushings, and interchangeable wheels and trucks.
In most cases, fingerboards are 3.9 inches (100 millimeters) long and between 1-to-1.3 inches (26-to-34 millimeters) wide.
In a way, you could say fingerboard brings skateboarding culture to your fingers instead of your feet. You can do the same things at your desk that you do with your feet, but on your fingers. When people ride their fingerboard, they often see small things they would not see normally, like small tracks, stairs, boxes, wall racks, and so on.
History of Fingerboard
The first fingerboard ever created was by skaters, making little “DIY” boards as toys in the 1980s era, where they were made of wood, tubes and toy train axles. Later miniature boards were seen more than keychain attachments, however it wasn't long until the Fingerboard scene became a bigger part of the skateboarding industry and more people were making them.
As in the past couple of decades, the fingerboard scene has become more and more advanced. The quality of the boards and the riders skills are crucial. Fingerboard now has its scene of its own, spread out to various social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc. where players are constantly trying to out-do each other in new ways of playing.
The fingerboard industry was quick to capitalize on the success of these small, four-wheel toys, adding new gear, components, and extras to the cart. Today, you will find hundreds of objects and accessories to help you build the ultimate fingerboard skate park and create your favorite street skating area.
Why Finger Board is Popular?
So why is fingerboard popular? This is a question that has many answers.
Some people have always (since child-age) been skated- and finger boarding and simply just find it super cool!
Some people could not skate for weather or body reason, they discovered fingerboard and had lots of fun with it.
Sometimes it is simply to “take five minutes off” doing some tricks by the desk, to” air out the brain” a little. Feels sweet, it’s fun!.
Fingerboard is a great training tool for skateboarders. It can be used as a 3D model to help the skateboarder learn how to land the tricks and moves of real life.
Fingerboard eventually evolved from a “hobby toy”, to a lifestyle for some – competing in Championships and various rendezvous events around the world.
How to Play Finger Board?
Fingerboard is used by a variety of people. Some people use it as a toy, others use it to practice their own movements, and still others use it to skate. As skateboarding becomes more popular, people are also using them for competition.
Similar to train enthusiasts building railroad models, fingerboard enthusiasts often build and buy reduced-scale model graphics. For urban skateboarders, handrails, benches and stairs may be natural features they may encounter while skating.
In addition, users can build and purchase items seen in skate park, like half-pipes, quarter pipes, and full pipes. They can also build things like trick boxes and vert ramps. These objects can be used simply for entertainment or to help people understand how skateboarding works. Skateboarders use them to help them move from one skill to the next.
Fingerboard Competitions
Martin Ehrenberger created the Fast Fingers contest series in 2000.
The event grew, and, in 2008, the fingerboard pioneer debuted the Fingerboard World Championship, making it the world's most prestigious miniature skateboarding competition.
There are other contests worldwide.