Numbers Records

This list is no longer maintained. Current records can now be found at the JIS Committee on Numbers Juggling.

Benjamin Schoenberg writes:

Some of you are probably wondering why anyone would go to so much trouble to document all the trivialities of a thing like numbers juggling. Sure, it doesn't have the flowing style of club swinging, nor does it lend itself to the originality of three ball juggling. But for those of us for whom a stable numbers pattern is a thing of astonishing beauty, and for those who put in the long hours of strenuous introspective practice trying for a longer run with just one more object, I present this list.

It is not meant to promote competition, but rather to encourage readers to keep pushing their own records in a cooperative sense. It was started after a question from Chris Majka on the internet newsgroup rec.juggling about the number of people working on nine or more balls. In the hope of assessing the state of the art of numbers juggling, I asked for input from readers about any personal records they knew of, and it took off from there. (Apologies if I have left things out. I did lose some data after the Las Vegas and Portland festivals.)

You may recall that a "flash" is as many catches as (objects x people), while "qualifying" is twice that many. In passing, I am counting all catches including self throws, so 13 passes of 10 club "everies", for example, would be up to 52 catches. Also, I don't differentiate between beanbags and balls, though all the passing records and most of the solo records after the '70s (with notable exceptions) are with beanbags.

If you have a clarification, correction, or addition, let me know! I really would like for it to be complete. The list works on the honor system, and maybe if it grows we could have regular updates here in Juggler's World. And if you are reading this at Burlington, come up and say hi. I'll be the one in the blue shorts dropping nine beanbags.

Ben Schoenberg
15 May 95

The records list is sorted by category:

9 balls

10 balls

11 balls

7 clubs

8 clubs

9 rings

10 rings

11 rings

12 rings

11 ball passing (duos)

12 ball passing (duos)

13 ball passing (duos)

10 club passing (duos)

Ring passing (duos)

Ring passing (trios)