Starting Manipulator Patterns: Concepts and Nicki's 3-Count Roundabout

Manipulator patterns, also known as walking and takeout patterns, are passing patterns where one or more jugglers steal and place clubs in a passing pattern, usually also swapping roles with one of the regular passers -- similar to the role changes in moving patterns. This is easier to see in a video than explain with words, here with the popular Roundabout pattern on a four-count base pattern:

The new actions in manipulator patterns are stealing and placing clubs. A sequence of first stealing a club and then placing a different club where the original club would have landed is called a takeout or (now more commonly) a substitution.

Takeouts

The most basic version of a takeouts, that most jugglers learn first, is a manipulator stealing standing in front of a juggler juggling a 3-club solo cascade with a single club held upside down on the body in their right hand. The manipulator then steals a right-handed throw from the juggler's cascade with the left hand (usually when it is moving up through the pattern) and places the held club into the juggler's left hand at the time that the stolen club would have landed. Afterward the manipulator usually hands the stolen club over to their right hand (a zip), flipping it over in the motion, so that they are ready to steal another club. Conversely left-hand throws are stolen with the manipulator's right hand.

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The same idea also works in passing patters, where the manipulator can steal and replace a club thrown as a pass just as well as steal and replace a club thrown as a self.

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Before diving into manipulator patterns, it is useful to practice takeouts with a partner or with two partners doing a simple passing pattern, such as 6-club two-count. It can be useful to have two clubs of a different color, one for the manipulator and one for the pattern, to then substitute every right-handed throw of that club. When the manipulator is getting better, they usually can take out every second throw, such as every right-handed self or every pass in two-count. There is no role switching for these takeout practice patterns, but the passers should take turn who practices the takeouts.

Common Manipulator Actions

From the perspective of a manipulator, there are three actions that form the building blocks of all manipulator patterns:

• Substitution: The manipulator performs a takeout by stealing a club and placing another club where the original club would have landed. In most patterns, the manipulator has one club before and after the substitution.
• Intercept: The manipulator steals a club and does not replace it. That is, they have just gained a club whereas the passer to whom that club was originally thrown is now down a club. An intercepted throw usually triggers a role switch where the manipulator has gained a club and replaces the passer who would have received that club; that passer now becomes the new manipulator starting with two clubs.
• Carry: The manipulator places a club in the pattern, without stealing one first. A carry is often the first action of a manipulator, where they start with two clubs (after one was just stolen from them with an intercept from the previous manipulator), flip them both, and go down to a single club by placing one of them somewhere.

In the standard manipulator pattern, the manipulator always starts with two clubs, first does a carry action to go down to one club, then does any number of substitution actions, and finally intercepts a club to trigger a switch with another passer who will then be the next manipulator.

The First Manipulator Pattern: Nicki's 3-Count Roundabout

While other patterns are more popular, Nicki's 3-Count Roundabout is a good first pattern that is easier to learn than most other ones because it does not require zips, which are so obvious to experienced manipulators that they might not even explain them, but often overwhelming to beginners.

In the pattern, two passers with roles A and B pass 6-club three count. A manipulator M stands in the middle of the pattern (between the passing lanes) with a single club in the right hand (upside down).

1. The manipulator M substitutes a right-handed pass from passer A to passer B, stealing it late with their left hand in the air, catching it on the handle (late steal, see below) and placing the held club with their right hand from blow into passer B's left hand where the pass would have landed.
2. The manipulator now stands in front of passer B and intercepts B's right-hand self with their right hand, catching the club on the handle (late steal). Passer B will usually help by throwing a nice self with less spin then usual (a pelf, see below).
3. Now the manipulator has two clubs and takes passer B's position, moving to the left to give passer B some space to get out of the way. Passer B is now down a club, because their self was stolen and becomes the new manipulator.
4. The new manipulator (previously passer B) flips both clubs (to hold them both upside down on the body) and walks across the pattern to passer A, placing one of their clubs with the left hand into passer A's right hand from below.
5. Remaining in the middle, the new manipulator turns back to substitute the next pass to passer A with their left hand, which is a right handed pass. This is step 1, the manipulator's substitution from where the pattern repeats, just with the roles switched.

Role switching works similarly to moving patterns: The pattern repeats, but with different roles, until everybody is back in their starting role. Here, at the end of six beats, the passer who originally started in role B is now in the role of the manipulator M, the passer who started as manipulator is now in role A, and the passer who started in role A is now in role B.

In a nutshell, the manipulator flips both clubs and carries the left club as a pass, turns around and substitutes a right pass to the same passer, and then intercepts a right self from the same passer. To start the pattern, the first manipulator skips the carry and starts by substituting a right-hand pass.

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Variations on how to steal and place a club

There are many variations of how to steal and place a club, whether as part of substitutions or other manipulator actions. While they are largely interchangeably, most manipulator patterns have a canonical form that uses specific variations.

Stealing a club. The three common ways to steal a club are late steals, early steals, and very late steals.

For a late steal, the manipulator steals the club in the air, usually when it is fairly vertical (body pointing up, handle pointing down), which is about one-third through the throw. The manipulator catches the stolen club on the handle. If a juggler knows that a club they throw will be stolen late, they usually throw a nice half-spin throw that is easy to catch for the manipulator -- this hybrid of pass and self is known as a pelf.

For an early steal, the manipulator steals the club when the juggler moves their arm to throw it, but before it is actually thrown. The manipulator receives the club upside-down, that is, catching it on the body. Early steals are fairly common for passes and less common for self throws. If a juggler knows that a club they throw will be stolen early, they will usually just gently place the club into the manipulator's hand.

For a very late steal the manipulator steals the club where it would have landed. This is usually only done for intercepts, where the manipulator catches the club instead of the juggler to whom the club was thrown. The manipulator then catches the club like a normal throw, that is, on the handle. If a juggler knows that a club they throw will be stolen very late, they usually throw a lofty throw to the position the manipulator wants to catch it, which many be slightly different from where it would have gone otherwise (often more to to right or longer).

Stealing a club early or late makes about which side of the club is caught. In many patterns, the manipulator flips the club on a zip to the other hand or with a normal flip in the same hand if needed.

Placing a club. For placing a club, the main question is usually whether a club is placed from above or from below. By convention, the manipulator places a substituted self throw from above into the hand of the receiving juggler and places a substituted pass from below. The receiving juggler should simply hold out their hand (without moving around) and it is the manipulator's responsibility to place the club into the hand -- they should not throw the club or let go until they feel that it has arrived in the target hand.

In some cases, the placed club may also be intentionally be thrown to the receiving juggler, usually from at least halfway across the pattern; such throws are usually half-spun and thrown and caught like a zap.

Manipulator position. Where the manipulator stands when stealing or placing clubs is different in many patterns. When substituting a pass, the manipulator often stands in the middle of the pattern between the two passing lanes facing the passing lane where they plan to steal the pass, but they can also stand outside the pattern facing inside. It is also possible for the manipulator to stand in the middle facing the passer they steal from and placing the club behind their back (see Chopabout). For substituting selfs, the manipulator typically stands in front of the other juggler, but they can also move and turn after stealing and place the club from next to the juggler (canonical in Roundabout). For intercepts all kinds of positions are common, including intercepting a pass when standing behind the juggler that would originally receive it.

Handedness. It is common convention to steal right-handed throws with the left hand and to steal left-handed throws with the right hand, but this is not required. Stealing a club with the "wrong" hand (usually to avoid a zip on the beat before) is called rhondaring the pattern.