Roundabout

Prerequisites: 6-club four count and takeouts, strongly recommended: Nicki's three-count roundabout; next: Roundabout variations, North-wall patterns, or for four passers the Scrambled Patterns.

The Roundabout is the first manipulator pattern many jugglers learn. It is kind of the 6-club four-count of manipulator patterns: (1) it is universally known and relatively easy to find passing partners who can do it, (2) it is easy to juggle and visually appealing for performances, (3) it is the manipulator pattern that many passers learn first, but not really a good starting point (we recommend Nicki's three-count roundabout as the first manipulator pattern to learn), (4) it has many variations and tricks to explore, and (5) it is entirely right-handed with many more interesting patterns to move on to afterward. It recently has even made it into juggling games the the IJA and ECJ festivals.

The Roundabout is based on 6-club four-count and the manipulator has the following actions on right-handed beats:

• Beat 1: Starting in the middle of the pattern between the passing lanes, M substitutes a pass from A to B. The canonical version is to steal the pass early with the left hand and place the other club with M's right hand into B's left hand from below. After the substitution M zips the stolen club to the right hand, holding it on the body, to get ready for the next step.
• Beat 3: Now standing in front of B, M substitutes B's right-hand self. The canonical version is for M to steal the self late catching the handle, and then to spin out clockwise to the right side of B (the rotation following the hand movement that steals the self), placing the other club in M's right hand into B's left hand after the turn when standing next to B (this is commonly known as the German turn). B usually helps by throwing an underspun easy to catch self (a pelf). Again, after the substitution, M zips their remaining club from their left to the right hand, holding it on the handle, to get ready for the next step.
• Beat 5: On this beat both A and B pass, but M intercepts the pass that would have gone to B, catching it with their left hand. Usually A helps by throwing the pass wider as M stands next to B. After this, the passer previously in the B role becomes the new manipulator.
• Beat 7: The new manipulator carries B's self by stepping forward and flipping both clubs to hold them on the body, turning 180 degree counter-clockwise to face the new B, and placing the club from their right hand into B's left hand. The previous manipulator, now B, simply holds both clubs and steps to the right to take B's position, optionally they can flip the right club; their first action is a self from the left hand to receive the carry. After the carry, the new manipulator zips the club from their left to their right hand, holding the club on the body, and continues turning counterclockwise by 90 degree to get ready for the substitution on beat 1. From here the pattern repeats and all jugglers go through all roles. The passer initially in role A starts the next cycle in role B, the passer initially in role B now starts in role M, and the passer initially in role M now starts in role A.

Hints. Beginners find the zips and club rotations of the manipulator challenging, and teachers should focus their attention on explaining this clearly. As a general rule, all clubs are stolen with the left hand and are placed with the right hand. After each carry and substitution action, the manipulator resets by zipping their remaining club to the right hand. If the pattern is juggled the canonical way (flipping both clubs before the carry, early steal on the first substitution, and late steal on the second), all clubs should have the right orientation and will be held on the body before and after the zip.

As usual, slowing down the pattern and throwing lofty passes helps a lot. Especially the intercepted pass should be thrown late and lofty in the beginning when the manipulator still figures out where to look after a stressful sequence of substitutions and turning. The passers can help the manipulator a lot by slowing down the throws that are stolen and throwing a nice pelf. The sequence carry, zip, and steal (for the substitution) can feel very fast and can be practiced separately.

There are lots of small differences in how the pattern can be juggled that are not canonical but common: On the first substitution the pass can be stolen late, which requires turning the club to hold the body on the zip. The second substitution is often done without the German turn by stealing and placing the club in front of B and only turning (counterclockwise) after the placement. The manipulator may throw a self to their empty hand instead of the zip as the last action before the intercept.