The takeover happened so quickly – because of a little ball on a string with a cup and a spike. One minute, he was just a kid at Mater Dei High School in 2014. The next minute, kendama happened.

Sixteen Orchard Prairie third- and fourth-graders watched with rapt attention as Jacob Schultz spun his kendama through the air, under his leg, twirling the string from his fingers before landing the ...

The kendama is a Japanese variant on cup-and-ball games. It is enjoyed by both children performing simple tricks and adults completing much more complex ones. The kendama has a long history, but the ...