Tech Deck Fingerboard Information
The fingerboard is a miniature skateboard. It has moving wheels, trucks, and graphics. The boards are about 96 millimeters long and about 28 millimeters wide. There are wider versions that go up to 30 millimeters that are considered extra wide in width.
To perform the skateboard tricks, the user uses their finger instead of their feet. This makes doing tricks with the fingerboards similar to the full sized skateboards and just as much fun.
Fingerboards were developed in the late 1970’s taking the world by storm. The fingerboards quickly caught on children then teen agers followed by adult skateboard enthusiasts.
The fingerboards have been a novelty for many years becoming collectibles as toys when manufacturers realized how inexpensive the smaller skateboards were for collectors and skateboard followers.
Professional skateboarders to simulate tricks and stunts they want to try before actually performing have used the fingerboards. They are used as a 3-D visual aid to understand the tricks and maneuvers for potential risks or hazards. Some professionals have used the fingerboards on videos to demonstrate the maneuvers more actually and with finer details.
Fingerboards entered back onto the toy and skateboard scene in the late 1980’s as key chains for skateboard enthusiast but they were not rideable or maneuverable. Tech Deck then took the ideas of the miniature skateboard and improved them by making the miniatures exact replicas with moving parts.
Bratz Toys introduced the first entertainment license of the fingerboards; a Hong Kong based toy company with the parent name of Prime Time Toys. The company released models of fingerboards. In the 1990’s, Tech Deck licensed the fingerboards with actual professional graphics with the major skateboard brands. This act made Tech Deck a household name for fingerboard toys.
The more modern fingerboards are further advanced with names of “Think’s Super Mini Boards” and the “Deluxe Finger Banger Boards”. The newer models have interchangeable parts for the trucks, wheels, and boards. This adds to the appeal and charm of the micro skateboards.