Let’s hear your Aerobie stories
Posted by ManuteBol_Rocks@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 235 comments
Invented in 1984! Still around. Let’s hear your crazy Aerobie stories.
Posted by ManuteBol_Rocks@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 235 comments
Invented in 1984! Still around. Let’s hear your crazy Aerobie stories.
LastConference@reddit
Swear to god I don’t know how the mods decide what to let stay up. I posted something similar and it was pulled down in 10 minutes. Nothing against you OP, obviously I’m in favor of this kind of post
GenX-ModTeam@reddit
If you have a question or concern, contact the mod team directly and do not post in the sub.
utwcha@reddit
I once chucked it at a lady in a wheelchair by accident, it hit her right on her bonce and her foreign mate started abusing me (couldn't understand her but I'm guessing she was by her aggressiveness). Tried to get my frisbee back but the wheelchair lady wouldn't let go if it and me and my mate ended up being chased off the park by a group of lads from our school because they thought we were robbing her.
drone-on-and-on@reddit
Broke one in half and made a pretty cool boomerang
No-Estimate999@reddit
Caught it in the throat and couldn’t swallow for two days. I’d still play be playing with it but lost it about 1/4 mile deep in the woods.
rasurec@reddit
So many of these ended up in ponds on college campuses…
cloveman@reddit
Brought mine to a picnic decades ago. My grandpa picked it up for the first time and threw it like a frisbee. It sailed way over my head and flew high into a tree. I can still hear him say, “My god, what have I done?”
z7482024@reddit
This is topical because I just told this story.
We went to Washington DC for our HS History Club trip in 1987 and I brought mine with me in case we had the opportunity to toss it around.
We had a couple hours of free time and me and My Broh were at the Capitol Mall wingin' that fúçker in the longass grass area.
We were a couple football fields away from each other and I let it rip. It started to veer into a crowd of older ladies and I started to see its path and it was an inevitable impact event.
The beauty of this was that I was sooo far away they couldn't see it coming but my Broh was right there sprinting to intercept it.
He didn't intercept it.
The image of that smashing into the lady's chest was etched into my mind to this day!!
Fortunately it did NOT hit her face as it would have done serious damage, but it scared the living Dogsh!t out of her though.
I could see my Broh apologizing to the group of ladies while I was doubles over in laughter 200 yards away.
Zesty-B230F@reddit
I still have my original from the late 80s.
oldguy805@reddit
grunkle_dan78@reddit
we had a few on the playground in elementary school, until they were banned when a kid running for one wasn't watching where he was going and went full steam into a steel pole one of the basketball hoops was bolted to. "too dangerous" but we could still have frisbees.
ToddBradley@reddit
In 1992, I got a master of science degree in aerospace engineering. My master's paper was "On the Aerodynamics of Rotating Sport Discs" and is a scientific comparison of the discus, the Frisbee, and the Aerobie. It attempts to explain the unique flight characteristics of each. The Frisbee is by far the most interesting from the aerodynamics standpoint.
1funnyguy4fun@reddit
Well, you can’t just leave us hanging! Tell us about the Frisbee!
Also, I really hope you can tell me if there is any difference between an official Frisbee and a generic version
ToddBradley@reddit
the Frisbee is interesting because it's the only one of the three that's largely influenced by vorticity
1funnyguy4fun@reddit
Ok! That is really interesting. I remember as a kid reading about how the Aerobee looks like a ring from the top down, but its edge profile is a wing. I never would have guessed that about a frisbee.
How does this affect flight characteristics? Getting stable, level flight from a frisbee takes some practice.
ToddBradley@reddit
You sorta answered your own question. Anyone can pick up an Aerobie for the first time and throw it 50+ yards. Almost nobody can do that with a Frisbee. As you've probably noticed - whether you thought about it or not - Frisbee takes a much more stable release and faster spin to have directional control.
mylocker15@reddit
You forgot to add a pie tin to your theory though.
ToddBradley@reddit
since the invention of the Frisbee, nobody has considered a pie tin to be a "sport disc"
CalligrapherDizzy201@reddit
Would this paper help my disc golf game?
ToddBradley@reddit
doubtful
Electronic_Name_325@reddit
1989 dorm. Long straight hallway. We would zip it down the hall with gusto. Couple near misses when people came out of their rooms.
Excellent_Speech_901@reddit
Playing under the streetlight it went stealth and got me right in the throat. These days, 40+ years later, it's in the trunk of my car but I haven't had anyone to play for years.
TheeRattlehead@reddit
I remember mine was pretty ragged on the edges and I threw it to my friend and that same thing happened. Went stealth and right across his neck. I was maybe 8 years old and thought he was a goner and freaked out. Glad you pulled through!
Common_Juggernaut724@reddit
It landed on the roof. Repeatedly.
karituba@reddit
Lost in a soybean field
8layer8@reddit
Same
golgol12@reddit
Let's just say when Xena Warrior Princes came out, I wasn't laughing at the blade rings she used.
CaptainSnarkyPants@reddit
Bought one on the Jersey boardwalk, immediately sank in the surf on like 3rd throw. It went super far, though lol
MrBleah@reddit
We got one of those when it first came out. We lived in Hawaii in a suburban neighborhood with all one story houses and one bad throw and that thing was on a roof. Also found out the hard way that it doesn't float when we were throwing one at the beach and it went into the water and disappeared forever.
I do have a more recent experience with this thing though where I got to see its full potential. We used to have a summer work party at one of my old jobs where we would all take the day off and rent a pavilion at a park near the office and the business would cater etc. This park has an enormous clear outdoor area. Plenty of room to throw an Aerobie.
Someone brought one of these and a couple of us started throwing it around and holy moley it does fly forever. I knew that objectively, but to experience it where you don't have to be worried about losing it was incredible. The world record is 406 meters but it's really easy, even without any practice, to throw it 200+. It just keeps going.
ChuckYeagerWV@reddit
My brother and I stood in a big field and his first throw glided beautiful and level for over a hundred yards the a puff of wind, a sigh really, lifted it over my head and I had to chase it down from over a fence into some trees.
Sabres00@reddit
So we had a shop class and the teacher made us recreate these. Apparently the guy who created these took years of trial and error etc. Me and my friend made one called “the castrator” and when we tested it out it went straight down then straight up totally destroying two fluorescent bulbs. Got detention that day.
foilrat@reddit
Spring day, freshman year in college. All of us on the floor were out thowing an aerobie around.
Except one guy, "Fred". He wasn't out there.
Fred has CP. He walks with two canes and leg braces. Gets around pretty damn well. Hella funny.
I looked around and didn't see Fred.
Ran into the dorm, got to his room and said "Fred, dude! Come get out side and play aerobie with us..."
And he looked up at me with the most sorrowful look and let the silence build.
I felt so incredibly bad.
Then he laughed at more obvious discomfort and came out.
As long as we were able to get it to him, he could catch it.
He didn't let me live that one down for a while. He did say later he was grateful that I had thought of him and tried to include him.
DrSharkeyMD_2@reddit
I so forgot about that! Such a blast. It would fly forever
Working_Farmer9723@reddit
Tried to play Ultimate with it. Most boring game ever. “Just go long”.
5amDan05@reddit
Got one for my birthday. My friend and I went to a park to try it out. My friend threw it as far as he could, and it went straight into the woods. Probably stuck in a tree way up high. Never saw it again and never got to throw it once. My friend turned to me and said, “Sorry…”. It was pretty cool to watch it soar so far in the air, but it would have been nice if he just threw it to me.
goatfangs@reddit
I was pretty confident after my third one that they were a single use item. They were impossible to catch and they were only good for seeing how far you could throw it. But then it inevitably was lost on a roof for in the woods.
CableSufficient2788@reddit
Got one stuck around my waist circa 1997
ValthaneKarnex@reddit
I was throwing it around with my brother at the school (summer break in the late 80s, no one cared) and it flew into a tree and we couldn't find it. In I think 1992, we finally saw it in winter when the tree had shed it's leaves and were able to retrieve it. Aside from being a bit dry and badly sun-faded, it still flew just fine. Not sure what ultimately happened to it.
whitkenstein@reddit
First toss on the beach and sent it straight into the ocean. It did what it was supposed to and just kept going. Didn’t even bother looking for it and haven’t owned one since.
PeanutButterToast4me@reddit
Straight into the ground every time but once. That one glorious time it flew about two foot fields. 11 year old me can still see it.
Historical-anomoly@reddit
One on my roof right now.
1989DiscGolfer@reddit
I had just gotten into Disc Golf in 1989 (hence the username) and the brand-new course in my hometown, Oxbow Park near Goshen, IN, had a TON of trees in the course. On one of them, hanging way up there for a long long time in that summer, was somebody's attempt at that brutal course with an Aerobie. I can still close my eyes and see it today.
housevil@reddit
As far as I know, it is still on the roof.
Judgmental1975@reddit
Always on a roof.
silent_ovation@reddit
They really like to get stuck in trees.
Embracerealityplease@reddit
Roommate and I used to play catch about 100 yards apart on a field outside our dorm. Loved it because we stood so far apart I didn’t have to listen to him jabber on.
NPC261939@reddit
I was introduced to the Aerobie in 1992. My buddy brought one back one summer after visiting his dad. My buddy and I could heave that thing the length of a soccer field no problem. It eventually wound up on the roof of a supermarket.
Fun fact: The same guy also invented the AeroPress coffee maker.
beef311@reddit
3 for 3. First throw gone. Saddest part. Last one was last year. Bought one for my daughter. Said watch this. Gone.
KneeOne2037@reddit
I grew up in NJ and one day on the beach in Point Pleasant, I hacked our Aerobie as hard as I could, aiming south. We then went to the Outer Banks on vacation the next summer and were out in the surf and my dad suddenly pushed my sister underwater - so she wouldn’t get hit with a random incoming projectile. It was my Aerobie from the prior year.
We called the NOAA to report it but they said it happens all the time.
johnklapak@reddit
Playing with one with friends in a park in the river bluffs overlooking a small town, MN.
Was just telling my buddy how it hds the record for the longest hand-thrown object.
The very next toss sailed over my head and over the town below.
Never saw it again, but I expect it went farther (as the crow flies) than that record setter throw. Obviously that doesn't count. But we were mildly intoxicated.
Elegant-Ferret-8116@reddit
My fist throw was really really hard and it went farther than anyone at the party could see and that was it
penguinplaid23@reddit
I don't even remember how many times i had to climb on the roof to get my brother's aerobie down after playong catch over the house, lol.
terminal_nervoso@reddit
Still blows my mind that it was invented by the same guy that invented the Aeropress
BeDeRex@reddit
What?! TIL! This is my weapon of choice for making those evening-time "I'm staying up all night" cups.
terminal_nervoso@reddit
Yup, same dude!
geoelectric@reddit
At least I haven’t lost those on the roof
airforceteacher@reddit
Always finish those sentences with “yet.” You don’t know tomorrow you.
be_super_cereal_now@reddit
Mine is still in orbit to this day.
ActuallyCausal@reddit
My brother and I played catch with one from opposite ends of the high school football field
Cardi-E-@reddit
One washed up on the beach we were chillin at. We played with it for all of ten minutes and lost it in the ocean again.
BabyYodasBlueCookies@reddit
Same. I found one, was having fun tossing it with the kids, then husbands decided to have a turn and chucked it straight back out into the ocean. Game over.
flyingmando@reddit
Back from whence it came
MajYoshi@reddit
Mine is right here, ready at a moment's notice.
Same for the throwing knives of course.
Tiller-Nive@reddit
At first glance I wondered why you circled the corner of that license plate 🤣
MajYoshi@reddit
It must be something Supernatural!
CawlinAlcarz@reddit
I owned one for about 12 minutes until my dickhead cousin chucked it into the surf in Ocean City, NJ, and it promptly got buried in the sand and I could not find it.
LayThatPipe@reddit
I had one for about the same length of time but I accidentally threw mine in a tree.
Bulky_Goat_9624@reddit
First black eye I ever got was from one of those bullet train
Nice_Community_9571@reddit
Every story ends the same: stuck on the roof
DynamiteWitLaserBeam@reddit
Or in a tree. Nothing could get itself stuck in a tree better than these. And it didn't matter of you threw a shoe and then another shoe and then a backpack - it wasn't ever coming back down.
Decline_of_Humanity@reddit
You can knock someone clean out with one of those.
Prestigious_Menu7541@reddit
Had a friend lose a tooth from one.
EmpireCityRay@reddit
I still have one and if it ever gets lost or stolen I’ll get 1-2 more. It’s a must have for fun!
Prestigious_Menu7541@reddit
Me too. I’m 50, but currently have two and one of the triangle boomerangs. Everyone I’ve lost I’ve replaced never got the boomerang version to return consistently though.
Kuildeous@reddit
In college, we had Death Aerobie. The premise was that two of us would stand at opposite ends of a dorm hall and chuck it as hard as possible to the other end. In between was anywhere from 1 to 10 people who would all dodge the deadly projectile. Sometimes we would bounce it off of walls or the floor to make it a little less predictable.
Not everyone in Death Aerobie consented, and I was dickhead enough to fling it at someone who was simply unlocking his door. I was in no mood for the assbeating, so I fled and locked myself in my dorm until he calmed down enough to accept my apology. Graceful of him to do that.
mylocker15@reddit
One day I was bored and looking at google streetview. Someone tore down the house I lived in circa 1987 and they didn’t even have the class to mail me the aerobie that has been stuck on the roof since that year.
airckarc@reddit
I was super hot for this Mormon girl in high school. We were going on a date and she said I needed to meet her parents the weekend before. We ended up going to this huge field we had at my high school, and the whole family plus me, stood all spaced out in a huge circle ⭕️ throwing one of these around. It ended up being a lot of fun and I was able to take Kelly out whenever she wanted.
ParticularOk533@reddit
Sounds like her parents were okay with the “flirt to convert” strategy of making teenage boys into Mormons. Did you end up getting introduced to missionaries or going to their church functions? Lol
airckarc@reddit
Never tried to convert me. I believe Kelly did leave the church but the rest of the family (there was like 6 of them) were BYU all the way. I left for the army after graduation so I didn’t really keep in touch with most people.
shotsallover@reddit
Or did they get her to leave the church?
k0ik@reddit
I was playing on a beach in Los Angeles, and my girlfriend threw it toward me and it went over my head, and some random guy decided to help --- but instead of throwing it to me, he wanted to throw it to my girlfriend, and before I could warn him not to huck it, he hucked it like it was a normal Frisbee. It sailed waaay past her, about 200-300 300 feet down the beach. His face tho! I did find it.
regalbeagles1@reddit
I threw mine straight into the direction of the sun, was tracking it, got blinded by the sun, I never found it. Looked for hours.
Those things could just go and go.
GreenEyesBlackHeart@reddit
Yeeted into the sun!
hughiesghost@reddit
I threw one in 1987. Rumor has it it's still flying.
Bonoisapox@reddit
I just caught it here in Dublin, it’s on the way back you may be dead by the time it arrives
Nikthefish@reddit
got caught in a tree
bigmedallas@reddit
The same engineer/company that also invented the Aeropress (coffee brewer) which I use so much more now in my 50's.
Motomegal@reddit
I was just telling my son about these as we were playing frisbee recently. I remember getting one and going to a very large open field park with my dad when I was a kid. We threw this thing and it just took off out of sight. Tracked it down a block or so away. They were so much fun.
Fettnaepfchen@reddit
My kids' current favourites, we have the big green/yellowish one and the small red aerobie. They are still just as good
MySlothPatronus@reddit
Makes a great target for jarts
Cvilledog@reddit
Got one. Took it to the college quad with my friend. He kept throwing wildly and I ran my ass off chasing the thing. I couldn't walk the next day.
goitch@reddit
Threw one to infinity and beyond
BruinGuy5948@reddit
Had one in college. Broke a finger trying to catch it at a full sprint (stuck my finger into the ground, not good).
Later, threw it off the top step of the track stadium. It cleared the track, the IM field on the other side of the track (big enough to host multiple soccer games), and ended up on the roof of the campus gym.
Never got it back.
spoung45@reddit
Ended up on a few roofs.
Pillynap@reddit
Lost 2 in the ocean at Whitley Bay, UK
Maximum-Still-2484@reddit
Lost mine in the Atlantic off North Carolina.
HorseyDung@reddit
I need a new one, mine got lost in time..
EmpireCityRay@reddit
They still sell them
DeaddyRuxpin@reddit
Mine spent more time on my roof than in my hands. I don’t understand why but it seemed to gravitate towards the roof of my garage.
WAstargazer@reddit
Named it "roadkill" because it went in the street so often- had tire tracks on it. Loved that thing.
smoothallday@reddit
Used the Aerobie to play ultimate frisbee. It was epic.
doghouse73@reddit
We used to go to the high school football practice field and throw it from end zone to end zone with little effort, loved those things.
Unexpected_Knowitall@reddit
It sinks in the ocean
sinisterdesign@reddit
Quickly.
flyingmando@reddit
I once took an Aero to the knee.
ju5tu5@reddit
You win today
godchauxprime@reddit
Watched Silo. Giggled at its museum like display.
LosparkJojo@reddit
We’d throw them across rows of soccer fields before or after our game
Peg-ed13@reddit
Best place to throw I found. Plenty of room and no trees
Outrageous-Peanut-44@reddit
My story is that I am just now hearing about this. 😄
BigMT76@reddit
And it’s on the roof. Whelp, that was fun.
GAFOffRoadJK@reddit
Launched it back in 1989. Still waiting for it to land.
1wouldbethelonliest@reddit
Disappeared in the cornfield behind our house.
ryansholin@reddit
It’s your turn to get it off the roof.
ContributionDapper84@reddit
Hard to catch, hard to see, hard to control, lots of fun
sketchahedron@reddit
Those things were awesome but it was like they were specifically designed to get stuck in trees.
Rikkitikkitabby@reddit
We brought one on vacation to California. On the third or fourth throw it caught the thermals and just kinda kept going, up out and away. I never saw it come down.
EvilDan69@reddit
My father and I went to a sports like area with like 2 football fields continuously collected end to end... They kind is space by the Ottawa River.
We've both used frisbees a lot...so he chucked his aerobee and...it kept going nearly out of sight.. Wonder pocket up and it crashed into the river. There was no rescuing it without a motorboat, which neither of us had lol.
kellyjeanie@reddit
Probably not what you had in mind, but when we were kids we didn't have a lot of money. My parents took us on a road trip in my grandparents' RV and during the trip we stopped at a fancy toy store and allowed us to pick out one thing. I still remember how exciting that was, and I picked an Aerobie. Core memory. :) It hung around the house for a long time before the dogs destroyed it. Super fun toy!
Old_Goat_Ninja@reddit
I still have the scar on the web between my finger and thumb. Kind of gnarly scar too. Ours had a small chunk missing and that chunk got me good catching it.
MiddleUnlucky8320@reddit
I one once in college and it's still going.
ozymandiuspedestal@reddit
Would throw it around with my brothers. After a few throws it would ultimately end up in a tree or on the roof of our house. A few weeks later it would blow down. Rinse and repeat.
OkArmy7059@reddit
Broke neighbor's window with one. Never admitted to it.
BeDeRex@reddit
You clearly aren't the stuff of which heroes are made
200Fathoms@reddit
Decades ago I hurled an Aerobie on a beach in California. As it rocketed away from me, I noticed a mother walking at the water's edge with her baby in her arms. She seemed very far away, but...Aerobie. You know what happened next. Baby was fine; I have never quite recovered.
North_Key80@reddit
Still the best flying thingy ever!! I got the original and the smaller one for my son and I, we still throw them.
NCdiver-n-fisherman@reddit
We’d played a ton in college. Used to throw it endzone to endzone in Peden Stadium in Athens. The most fun was eating a handful of mushrooms and throwing the Aerobie for hours at Stround Run State Park. An absolute blast when you are tripping.
BeDeRex@reddit
I would like to use my one time travel token and go back and hang out with you on that day.
punkdrummer22@reddit
I threw one. Someone caught it.
killerchef69@reddit
During high school my friend would always throw in the quad. We got pretty good with trick catches and throws. We got to the point where we could chuck it the full length of the football field accurately and consistently. Now you've made me need to go buy one to play with my daughters! (My first Aerobie was the original with a metal internal frame)
Potential-Yoghurt245@reddit
My wife got one during the pandemic so we could entice the kids out of the house and over two years we all developed wacky ways of throwing and catching it along with a completely arbitrary points system metered out by the person on your left.
It's probably my fondest memory of this time, heated debates about whether you can technically catch the ring with your head (my eldest called it the olle) in the end I think we all decided that this was a legal catch but not in the mouth as I couldn't afford the deal bill.
BeDeRex@reddit
Getting strong Calvin Ball vibes with this. I approve.
blacfd@reddit
It’s probably still on the roof
mess1ah1@reddit
One of these cut my head clean off when I was a kid.
Parkatola@reddit
I hope you got better. 😄
Mindless-Baker-7757@reddit
I had one. It was good.
Beneficial_Equal_324@reddit
In college I used to throw one with a friend on study breaks at Nebraska. We would sometimes go into the stadium which was next to the chemical engineering building. They used to let people on the field - probably don't now. This old guy jogs up and says "hey that thing really flies far" , then jogged off. I thought about later it and realized it was Bob Devaney.
vin4thewin@reddit
Awesome camping accessory.
ofRayRay@reddit
Mine is still circumnavigating the globe.
FloydianSlip212@reddit
The start hasn’t even ended yet. I threw that bitch off a mountain and it’s still going
Bob_Rowing@reddit
Mine went on the roof of my house the first time I used it. My typical My Silent Generation parents thought this was a complete waste and wouldn't do anything to get it off. It sat there what seemed like years fading only ever slowly moving down. By the time it came off the roof, I didn't want it.
general-illness@reddit
This thing is a reminder of how poor we were.
Calendar-Careless@reddit
I made a young private that constantly lost his room key to put his key on one them and 24x7 around his neck for week.
fallen_couple@reddit
Playing catch in college, opposite ends of a soccer field. I was deadly accurate with my throws.
airforceteacher@reddit
Playing with my Aerobie in the barracks hallway one evening, and my friend whipped it really hard, it hit the smoke detector and knocked off the sensor, which somehow set it off - and it was farking loud! My friend admitted to the fire department it was him, and he got a letter of reprimand the next day. He ended up getting kicked out - that was on the low end of his shenanigans.
smythe70@reddit
Cousin and I played wherever it landed, you had to go and stay there then throw it from that place. I ended up in a sticker bush, water and other weird places, really fun!
Ottomatica@reddit
Lost mine on the first throw
MarduckRulez@reddit
Mine is probably still on the roof of an apartment complex.
QuellishQuellish@reddit
Playing catch from end zone to end zone on the CU Buffs stadium field at night, accessed via the Steem tunnels under campus. One got away from me and knocked a PA speaker right off its pole. It was loud so we scooted out of there with a quickness.
think-xd@reddit
Oh, the trees and ponds that ate so many of mine...
redjar66@reddit
lots of running- god help you if you don't throw it level.
the_47th_painter@reddit
Mine is probably still on the roof of my grade school gymnasium, tossed up their accidentally 36 years ago.
jimonlimon@reddit
I've been using mine every day for the past 15 years. It makes great coffee. (Sorry, thinking Aerobie Aeropress which was also invented by Alan Adler).
ErNz77@reddit
I kept throwing it over in the neighbor's yard, not on purpose & he said quit throwing it over there & the last time I threw it over there he was running to catch it & hit a big rock & messed his ankle up real bad. He ended up breaking it & needed surgery. He had enlisted in the Marines & this happened like a week before he was supposed to leave for boot camp. He ended up going a couple months later luckily.
PowerCord64@reddit
Aerobie??? How 'bout Jarts??? Those were deadly.
TheBugHouse@reddit
They don't float.
ifulbd@reddit
My son tossed ours into Lake Michigan, and it of course sank, but he managed to sweet talk a bunch of strangers and Dad (Me) into finding it for him. He also did the same with his Spider-Man action figure on a different day. That polite and persuasive 4 year old is now 23, and not so polite
Fubardir@reddit
Mine is still hanging in the garage
therealdrfierce@reddit
Once had a throw go awry on the college quad. Important to note that it was practically invisible if it was coming straight at you. Shouted a warning to a guy who looked around, baffled, until it materialized bouncing off his head.
He was cool about it though.
TheFoxsWeddingTarot@reddit
My older brother played for the Santa Barbara Condorsin the 80s. When he threw things like this it was typically the last you’d see of it.
SoCalChrisW@reddit
Literally found one of these in the garage yesterday, and was showing it to my daughter. We were gently tossing it back in forth inside the garage, and I was telling her that it could easily be thrown across the neighborhood.
Lrxst@reddit
My kid took it to her friends and it ended up on their neighbors roof. It showed up two years later faded and cracked.
Tndnr82@reddit
Still waiting for mine to come down.
SS_Frosty@reddit
We had one way back, it ended up getting stuck on my parents’ roof for several years until the weather eventually knocked it down. It was really faded and warped from the sun.
Got_Bent@reddit
We were tossing it around on the street and some younger kids drove by being dicks. So when they started to drive away I fired the Aerobie at an angle and it curved back on the car went in the window and knocked a soda out of a kids hand in the back seat. EPIC toss!
Available_Actuary977@reddit
We had ours for years. Managed to keep it out of trees and off roofs. It flew really straight if you got the hang of it. My favorite was getting it to sail as close the ground as you could, about 1-2 feet high. We also used to "catch" it by putting your arm through the middle.
Justbeingme_92@reddit
Buddy and I used to throw the frisbee a lot. Bought an Aerobie. They weren’t cheap as I recall. At least at the time. We knew it went a long way so we backed way up. Threw it. I guess the wind caught it because it went way past my buddy, probably 100 yard apart, turned to the left, and went out across a pond finally landing in the middle on the pond. First throw. Gone. 😂
not1or2@reddit
I had one do exactly the same. Buddy missed it, straight into the middle of the river!! Never to be seen again…
2Dogs3Tents@reddit
Lost another one.
Vindicus667@reddit
Goddamn tree branch
g0estoeleven@reddit
I once saw a guy playing with his Jack Russell dog in Golden Gate Park. The dog would circle behind his owner, at which point he’d fling the Aerobie.
It would fly the length of a football field, and that dog would catch up every time. If he caught it, he’d proudly carry it back in his mouth. If he missed, he’d proudly carry sadly wear it around his neck in a walk of shame.
And this just went on and on and on. The dog caught most of them
Themoka1978@reddit
Dog catches it. End of story
jjmenace@reddit
These were perfect throwing devices
borkborkbork99@reddit
Threw it into the neighbor’s tree by accident. It stayed up on that limb for 25 years until the tree was taken down.
Interesting_Virus_74@reddit
At a friend’s HS graduation party and I brought my Aerobie. We were playing with it in the street in a quiet semi rural neighborhood. The neighbors had free range chickens. We weren’t really trying to play ring the hen but we inadvertently did and that made for an entirely new game of chicken chase with an extremely confused bird. We didn’t catch the hen, she eventually wriggled out of the Aerobie and went on about her day. I got the ring back and we went on with the party. But it was an exciting few minutes in the middle there.
death91380@reddit
One of those ended up in my yard literally last week. Hadn't thrown one in 25 years or more. I smiled when I saw it, picked it up. Showed it to the dog. Threw it once and it went straight into a tree and got stuck. Shrugged my shoulders and walked away.
VisibleAbrocoma9072@reddit
I remember the original version of this was big and heavy AF. My buddy Mike and I were playing long range catch with it at the park in 1986ish. We started getting fancy - doing behind the back catches, finger spins, etc. Last trick we tried was Mike doing a between the legs catch from the front. Aerobie racked him hard and at full speed right in the nuts, and we walked home slowly.
gauriemma@reddit
Threw one to my son, he missed, it went into the (not very deep) channel behind my mom’s house. Sunk like a rock. We spent the rest of the summer wading around in the channel trying to retrieve it. Never did. It belongs to the earth now.
z44212@reddit
University of Cincinnati. Standing at opposite ends of the football field throwing it over sunbathing coeds.
ManuteBol_Rocks@reddit (OP)
https://youtu.be/4ffZ_0-YGJs?si=y-dSezir-_IHmg_g
Aerobie throw record from 2001
tosser6563@reddit
I got one of these for my birthday when I was 11. Weather had been bad outside (rainy, etc) so I hadn’t gotten a chance to play with it. About two weeks later I took it with me to the beach when I went with a friend. Told my friend to go long. I threw it over him and it landed in the sand behind him about 15 feet away. He backed up more, got a running start and chucked it as hard as he could…… into the ocean. Never saw it again. Thing flew great and with the wind to his back it really went far. Out to sea. I only threw the thing once.
killslikeaninja@reddit
It’s was the most single use toy I’ve ever owned.
jsamuraij@reddit
I threw it real good. Once.
killslikeaninja@reddit
Same thing! One and done.
jsamuraij@reddit
Still amazing though, to be honest.
Missyarog@reddit
Senior ditch day ‘88. Pile out of the cars at Busse Woods. First throw by Brett— fuckin’ Brett— sails over everyone about 40 yards into the lake.
TortiTrouble@reddit
Ha ha, yeah my story also involves losing a brand new Aerobie in a lake when the birthday boy overestimated his precision and tried to throw it to the group of us out on the raft.
ManuteBol_Rocks@reddit (OP)
Was he named Brett?
Deer-in-Motion@reddit
Damn you, Brett!
Active-Armadillo-576@reddit
My freshman roommate at MSU “borrowed” mine one night while drunk and flung it into Spartan Stadium
jsamuraij@reddit
As one does
NoTime2fail@reddit
Definitely superior to a standard Frisbee but once entangled in tree branches it was STUCK!!!!
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
1984 sounds really late-- I had one (or maybe this is a clone?) in the 70s for sure. We were really into "freestyle" frisbee, after seeing it on TV...maybe on That's Incredible? In any case, we tried doing all the tipping/tapping/spinning tricks. But once I got one of these rings we started doing distance throws.
I know I had one in 1980, and I'd bet it was actually 78 or 79, based on where we were living when I was playing with it. By 1984 I was almost out of high school, had a girlfriend and a driver's license, so was definitely no longer playing frisbee with my (male) friends.
ChoiceHelicopter2735@reddit
My friend and I played at local soccer fields. It was a HUGE expanse of grass that you really needed if you were playing with the large Aerobie.
We were so far apart that we couldn’t talk to each other. No one had cell phones. I don’t know how we communicated over that distance. It was hundreds of yards. It was quite the workout to get under it to catch it
jloc0@reddit
Me and my neighbor used to toss this boy around a lot, then one day it flew up and landed on a roof of the next building to ours. It was years before the wind knocked it down again, but when it came down we got it, sun worn and dry rotted, and we threw the aerobie once again. That was a magical day. Rip aerobie.
sterling3274@reddit
Played for 30 minutes on the street outside our house before a bad toss. It’s probably still on the neighbor’s roof to this day…
MediocreKim@reddit
One time I was biking near a field and an aerobie hit me in the eye. The velocity of me going forward, and the movement of the super fast aerobie, resulted in the only black eye I’ve ever had. It was a bad one. I can still remember the feeling of the eye impact and thinking I’d never see ever again.
Historical_Project86@reddit
We had to make do with a frisbee, sorry. I had a water-powered rocket though.
TortiTrouble@reddit
Those rockets were awesome, though! Tried to find one for my kid a few years ago and they were all junk. The stomp rocket made up for it.
Prudent_Baker_2851@reddit
My brother bought it, and I'm pretty sure it's still around because I don't remember it ending up in a tree or on a roof. The kids magazine National Geographic published back in the 80s had a write-up of the inventor and how he designed it on a computer.
eperker@reddit
I grew up and now it's a coffee maker. Great coffee, though!
Awellknownstick@reddit
You could remove the rubber edge and you basically had a metal blade all round, we had a great time untill Mother saw it and removed it lol
Ornery-Vehicle-2458@reddit
I'd heard the prototype was Odd-job's hat...
ManuteBol_Rocks@reddit (OP)
I think about Oddjob’s hat as it relates to an Aerobie every time I see one.
PsychologyNew8033@reddit
Nice!
Sea_Ganache620@reddit
If you had at least 100 square acres of open ground, these things were great!
NoWalrus9462@reddit
I bow to anyone who could throw these straight.
ManuteBol_Rocks@reddit (OP)
Bend it!
DayHova7tre@reddit
Mine is still stuck in a tree somewhere in 1985.
GoldenMonkeyRedux@reddit
I was living in Japan and had a conference. We basically skipped out and went to an isolated park to get high and chill. We were all having a great time chilling and tossing the old aerobie around. A friend decided to join us and we threw it to him. He then launched it about 100' in the air and got it caught way up in a tree.
Goodbye Aerobie.
Crash-55@reddit
We played dodge aerobie in dorm hallways. Line up at either end with the lights out in the middle and then throw the aerobie at the other side. Definite test of reaction time
henrycaul@reddit
The inventor of Aerobie also invented the Aeropress coffee maker!
Utah_powder_king@reddit
yup, all these memories helped create the best damn camping coffee set-up ever
straylight_2022@reddit
These were great for throwing once and watching it get stuck at the top of a 80ft tree you were never gonna get it out of.
toromio@reddit
I vaguely remember a guy throwing one across Niagara Falls. It might have been the Grand Canyon, but I don’t think so - I think that would be too far
Weird-Ninja8827@reddit
Rumor had it that it is still flying free.
Starcat75@reddit
I got good enough with it to be able to jump and catch it with my head, like a horseshoe ringer lol
thenewjerk@reddit
Those things are unusually attracted to roofs.
The guy who designed it also designed the Aeropress, which is an excellent way to make coffee (especially if you’re camping).
BlinkerPhluid@reddit
I had 3. Trees ate them all.
Shotgun_Mosquito@reddit
High school band trip. Mid 80s.
I had just purchased it at the mall on the trip.
Started playing it with some other band members.
Steve (you know who you are, Steve) doubted its claims of the distance, so he threw it as hard as he possibly could.
It kept going
And going
And going
And going
Our bus was parked at the edge of the outer parking lot....
It went over and on top of the mall.
flaginorout@reddit
These things were only worthwhile if you wanted to throw something really far and didn’t care where it landed.
For throwing and catching with someone else, a plain frisbee is vastly superior.
Bobby_Globule@reddit
Ran into firehydrant chasing it.
scaledplastic125@reddit
I remember having one of these. While the memory was short-lived, a friend and I were playing with it in the field at our elementary school, it caught a draft of wind, and the next thing I knew, it got stuck in a tree never to be played with again til that late summer when it finally came down.
New_Function_6407@reddit
Ours is still in the 80 foot redwood at the park.
ExtraAd7611@reddit
I went to summer camp one year with the grandson (I think? Maybe son) of the founder of Wham-O. He brought every product they had to camp .
As far as the aerobie goes, I don't think I was able to throw it any further than a regular Frisbee.
payner1970@reddit
Eat some paper and toss the aerobie with some buddy's! Ah... simpler times.
krebstorm@reddit
That shit hurt if it hit you.
CoffeeJedi@reddit
Had one on my parents' roof for about 2 years, it faded to almost white. My dad finally went up on the roof and threw it off. Still worked! I'm surprised it didn't just disintegrate when he touched it.
sixfourtykilo@reddit
You would think the bright orange caution color would be highly visible in grass, but because of how it's wide open, it does an amazing job of blending in, especially in take grass.
IngvaldClash@reddit
Bought one in college and headed to the Quad with a buddy. First throw went high (of course) and we both marveled as it flew forever before landing directly in front of the campus lawnmower to be quickly destroyed
refuz04@reddit
Found an Aerobie in the ocean in 86, I sill have and use it.
digitalamish@reddit
I was once out in a huge field and threw it as hard as I could. Decided there was no way I was going to find it in the underbrush, so I went home and had a cherry coke.
floofymonstercat@reddit
Friend thought he could yeet his over a lake to the other side. It's probably still on the bottom covered in green slime.
badpuffthaikitty@reddit
Not dog friendly. It’s good for one catch before the dog breaks it in half.
No-Temperature-5944@reddit
Took my friend’s head clean off with one of these.