What is Fingerboard?
A fingerboard is a working replica of a skateboard that a person "rides" by replicating skateboarding maneuvers with their fingers. The device itself is a scaled-down skateboard with graphics, trucks and moving 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, making it possible to imitate the same techniques you do while skateboarding, but this time at your desk. When people ride their fingerboard, they often see miniature obstacles such as miniature tracks, stairs, boxes, wall racks, vertical ramps, half pipes, quarter pipes, skirting boards, etc.
History of Finger Board
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 the miniature boards were seen more as keychain attachments, however it wasn’t long until the Fingerboard scene picked up in popularity and became a bigger part of the skateboarding industry in the 1990s.
As in the past couple of decades the fingerboard scene has becoming more and more advanced. Both when it comes to the quality of the boards and the skill of the riders. Fingerboard now has its scene of its own, spread out to various social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc. where “riders” continuously “out-do” themselves with more advanced tricks and new ways of presenting.
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'll find hundreds of accessories and objects that will help you build the ultimate modular fingerboard skatepark and simulate your favorite street skating spot.
Why Finger Board is Popular?
So why fingerboard is popular? This is a question that has many answers.
- Some people have always (since child-age) been skate- 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 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 an excellent training tool for skateboarders, as it can be used as a 3D model to simulate and help understand how to land real-life tricks and maneuvers.
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, from those who use them as toys to skateboarders and related sports professionals, who observe not only their own skating movements but also others, and may be used to plan competition lessons as skateboarding develops into an international sport.
Similar to train enthusiasts building railroad models, fingerboard enthusiasts often build and buy reduced-scale model graphics that will be considered natural features for urban skateboarders, such as handrails, benches and stairs they may encounter while skating.
In addition, users can build and purchase items seen in skatepark, including half-pipes, quarter pipes, trick boxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, and other trick-oriented objects. These objects can be used simply for entertainment or to assist in the visualization of skateboarding skills or the "flow"(colloquially referred to as "lines") from one skill to the next.