The Casper Flip is a difficult skateboarding trick that looks like pure magic to the untrained eye. Rumored to have been invented in the early 1990s by Rodney Mullen, the Casper Flip is a modern flip trick variation of a classic Freestyle Skateboarding trick, the “Casper”. The original Casper was invented by Bobby “Casper” Boyden in the late 1970s.

The Casper has many variations, a few of which you may have already heard of; the Casper Stall and the Casper Slide, for example. Before we jump into learning Casper Flips, let’s begin by going over the definition of a Casper Flip. 

Casper Flip Definition

Casper Flips are achieved by combining a half-Kickflip with a quick back foot scoop on the underside of the tail. This brings the skateboard around 180-degrees, right-side-up, and back under the skater’s feet. 

The Casper Flip is often confused with a similar-looking trick, called the Hospital Flip. The Hospital Flip is a different trick than the Casper Flip. Though the motion of the board is roughly the same, the Hospital Flip uses only the front foot to bring the skateboard back around and under the rider’s feet. The back foot just pops the board then lands back on it after the front foot half-flips the board and brings it back around.

During a Casper Flip, the back foot pop the tail down then quickly scoop the underside of the tail in mid-air to bring the skateboard back under the skater’s feet. It’s that small difference that could make a huge difference in a game of S.K.A.T.E!

Check out the video tutorial below that will teach you the steps Braille Skateboarding recommends for learning the Casper Flip. Once you’re finished watching, be sure to continue reading the rest of the information on this page!

We’ll be breaking down what we learned from the Casper Flip video tutorial and going over each step in greater detail so that YOU can start landing Casper Flips…FIRST TRY!

Casper Flip Tutorial

We hope you enjoyed that tutorial and that you learned something! We have some more tips and tricks for you, so stick around as we recap everything that was in the video above.

Before you attempt to learn this trick, we recommend you know how to Kickflip consistently. Since the Casper Flip involves half of a Kickflip, having solid Kickflips is very important for learning the trick. Once you have your Kickflips down, it helps to look at each part of the Casper Flip individually.

And as we’ve said before, this trick is an advanced trick. So while you should minimally have your Kickflips down, it’s worth knowing that you need to be really comfortable on your board and with flip tricks. This one in particular is rather bizarre, so make sure you have some intermediate tricks under your belt as well.

Enough Talk, Let’s Do This!

Below are the 5 essential parts of the Casper Flip.

1. Foot Position
2. Half-Flip Practice Step
3. Landing
4. Front Foot Lift
5. Putting it All Together

Foot Position

For the Casper Flip, place your feet in Kickflip position. Your front foot should be in the middle of the skateboard, just below the front bolts. Position the front foot at a 45-degree angle, as you would for a Kickflip. This foot placement is important as you’ll need to perform half of a Kickflip during the Casper Flip.

Your back foot should be on the tail in a similar stance to the Pop Shove It. The ball of your back foot should be closer to the toe-side edge of the tail, rather than the middle or heel-side edge of the tail. It’s very important to have your back foot perched on the ball of the foot. You will need to pop the tail fast, then scoop down in order to have the board complete the full rotation. Since this trick requires both speed and accuracy from your feet, how you position them for the Casper Flip is extremely important. 

Half-Flip Practice Step

Once you have your foot position figured out, we recommend using this first practice step to help you learn the Casper Flip. For this practice step, you will be popping the tail down and performing a half-kickflip. Simply pop the board, begin to flick off for the kickflip, but let the board come down with the grip tape side of the board resting on the shoelace side of your front foot.

Once you’ve popped the tail down for the half-kickflip, simply plant your back foot on the ground and let the board half-flip and land gently on top of your front foot with the grip tape facing the shoelaces.

Don’t try to land on your board, and try not to flick downwards for the half-kickflip. Practice this step repeatedly. After you’ve mastered this practice step, you can move on to the next one!

Landing in Casper

This practice step will be short and sweet. Perform the first practice step but instead of stepping off, land with your back foot on the tail of the board. Pop the tail down, flick the half-kickflip, and land on the board with your back foot on top of the underside of the tail, and your front foot underneath the board with the grip tape facing your shoelaces. That’s all there is to it!

Lifting the Front Foot

Begin this step where you left off from the second practice step. With the board upside down on the ground and your feet in the Casper position (front foot underneath, back foot on the tail), scoop down with your back foot while you lift up gently with your front foot. Essentially you are just flipping the board over.

Think of it as a Pop Shove-It with a half-flip. Requiring just a little bit of commitment, this is probably the easiest practice step for the Casper Flip. The downward scoop of your back foot combined with the upward lift of your front foot will cause the board to complete the Casper Flip motion. Remember to jump slightly with the board as you do these motions to get both your feet back on for the landing.

Putting it All Together

You’ve mastered the 3 Casper Flip Practice Steps. Now it’s finally time to perform the motions in mid-air and land your first Casper Flip! Unfortunately, this is where things can become difficult. Obviously the higher you pop, the easier it will be to land the Casper Flip, but you shouldn’t focus too much on popping a huge ollie.

Your focus should be on moving your feet very quickly. Pop the tail down, begin to flick the half-kickflip with your front foot but leave it under the board, then quickly scoop down and backward on the tail with your back foot. This will rotate the board around 180-degrees and half-flip it back under your feet. Bend your knees to absorb the impact and roll away clean!

We hope you enjoyed that! If you’re interested in learning other advanced tricks, check out Skateboarding Made Simple Volume 6! It goes over so many tricks in complete detail, so you don’t need to figure it out. Some tricks that are included are Double Kickflip, Big Spin Kickflip, Nightmare Flip and Gazelle Flip. You CAN learn to skate, and Skateboarding Made Simple is your roadmap!

Show us your best Casper Flips! We want to see YOU land this trick! Film a quick clip of you doing your best Casper Flip and post it on Instagram tagging @brailleskate, #brailleskate, and #brailleskateboarding.  Let us know which piece of advice helped you the most so we can highlight that and we can get more people landing Casper Flips. Now get out there, keep progressing, and have some fun!