Siteswap takeout patterns

Prerequisites: Beginner four-handed siteswap, recommended: Zaps, Doubles, and Heffs; Next: synchronous, ambidextrous takeouts described in North-wall patterns and Zippy

Manipulator patterns on four-handed siteswaps form a class of their own, similar to north-wall patterns. They are amendable to base patterns of different difficulty, from 5-club one-count to holy grail. Just like four-handed siteswaps, they are truly ambidextrous. Each passer cycles through all positions four times, right-handed with straight passes, right-handed crossing passes, left-handed with straight passes, and left-handed with crossing passes. As a consequence, even patterns with short sequences can take quite a while to repeat and it can be tricky to track which side to walk to and whether to throw a pass straight or crossing.

567-about

For passers with a stable 756 (on both sides, straight and crossing singles), 567-about is probably the best entry into siteswap takeouts. It is fairly easy to learn and a good foundation for many others. (Passers without stable zaps might find Catch the carrot described below more approachable.)

The manipulator starts behind A and catches the second pass from B over A's shoulder, starting 756 with a self afterward. A becomes the new manipulator after their first zap and carries their next single pass to the same hand of B where they just threw their zap. Afterward, they walk behind B to intercept the next pass on the opposite side of where they just placed their carry. For the carry, it is common to always carry with the inside hand (i.e. left hand when walking to the right and vice versa) independent of which hand would have thrown the pass, and it is common to only flip one club or no club at all.

567-about has easy visual cues that makes it much easier than many siteswap takeouts to remember where to go and where to throw things: (1) The carry always goes to the same hand as the previous zap, whether straight or crossing. (2) The intercept is always on the opposite site, so the manipulator always walks around B's back to the other side. (3) Rather than remembering crossing vs straight zaps and passes, throw the first zap after the intercept always to the opposite hand of where the manipulator just walked, then stack the single pass on the same side.

The easiest way to turn back is to turn back two positions at a time and simply switch from left to right-handed start for each role.

Other Takeouts of Period 3 Siteswaps

The exact same takeout sequence on single passes from 567-about can be straightforwardly applied to all other siteswaps of length 3 with at least one single pass, including 726, 786, 777, 972, 978, 975, a77 and aa7. The principle is always the same, with the exact same manipulator actions: Intercept the single pass behind one of the passers, who then becomes the manipulator carrying the next single pass.

Manège à trois. Is based on French three-count (786) and fairly challenging at first. After the manipulator intercepts the pass to A, they start with a self to catch A's heff. It feels like intercepting two throws in a row. [Video]

Guillotine. In this fairly manageable 972 version, the passer throws their first double to the side where the manipulator carries their single pass, so it is useful to keep that double pass somewhat short and prudent for B to try to catch it. [Video]

Holy-grail-about. Is an exceedingly difficult pattern that requires a very stable holy grail pattern on both the straight and the crossing side, with lots of experience to recover. [Video]

Easier patterns

Catch the carrot. Fairly easy and short pattern based on Jim’s three-count, async with useful color coding: One for the only club that gets passed (first throw of A) and two for the clubs that get intercepted with a pop ("the carrots"). The video is very helpful.

Killer-bunny-about. Based on 564 (killer bunny), with an intercept on the flip: The intercepted passer flips the club over and gives it to the manipulator next to them. This pattern (like all patterns that intercept flips or zips) does not have a carry since the new manipulator is already down to a single club; instead the new manipulator directly walks across the pattern to stand next to the other passer to intercept the next flip. In one direction, the manipulator walks straight, in the other they walk through the pattern crossing. In practice, the passers effectively stand in 3 corners of a rectangle and the manipulator always walks to the empty corner next. Again, watching the video is very helpful.

The same idea is possible with 78456 for a much faster pattern.

Why-Not Patterns

These patterns are long but fairly accessible for passers with a robust why-not pattern.

Dropbear. In this pattern, the crossing and the straight side are quite different: On the side with straight passes, the manipulator steps through the pattern in front of A between the carry and intercept (essentially following the club they just carried) and on the other side they simply remain on the same side and catch a crossing pass. The first action after the intercept is a pass that follows the last pass of the B before the intercept.

What's that about. Probably the oldest siteswap takeout pattern (from 2014). The manipulator intercepts a heff, which is commonly thrown as a heffling (single spin). The pattern is fairly slow, with a long wait before the intercept.

Techno Patterns

While not actually four-handed siteswaps, takeout patterns based on techno behave like siteswap patterns in that they repeat only after 12 segments, after going through all combinations of right/left and straight/crossing.

Tech-Yea. A fairly slow pattern, with extra time on the carry (since the last self can be skipped) and a very slow start after the intercept (wait, self, self, pass+self)

Tech-No. A shorter and much more challenging version where the manipulator catches both a pass from A and a self from B at the same time, starting self-self-pass+self in response, with the first self from the hand catching the pass. The movement for carry and intercept is the same as for 567-about.

Other patterns to try. The space of siteswap takeout patterns is still fairly new. There are several others based on 7-club three count, 5-count popcorn, parsnip, and less common siteswaps. I previously collected a longer list with some additional explanation here. Two more techno variations can be found on passing.zone. To the best of my knowledge, there are no 4 or 5 person patterns yet.