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Learn to juggle

Start with the basics, understand how juggling patterns work, and discover what to learn next.

New to juggling?

The three-ball progression

A reasonable order to work through. Each one is a small change to the pattern before it.

  1. Start here3302 ballsBeginner
  2. 3CascadeBeginner
  3. 4413 ballsIntermediate
  4. 4233 ballsIntermediate
  5. 5313 ballsIntermediate

Learning paths

Beginner

Learn the basics

From never having thrown a ball to a running three-ball cascade. Work through these in order and do not skip ahead.

  1. One ball

    Throwing a single ball in a consistent arc, hand to hand.

  2. Two balls

    Two throws in a row, then let them drop.

  3. Three-ball cascade

    The full pattern, running continuously.

Intermediate

Beyond the cascade

The cascade is running. These patterns each change one thing about it, and together they cover most of what three-ball juggling is built from.

  1. Cascade

    Your starting point.

  2. 441

    Two throws that stay in their own hand.

  3. 423

    Holding one ball while the others carry on.

  4. 531

    Three different throw heights in one pattern.

  5. Shower

    Every ball around in a circle.

Beginner

Learn siteswap

Siteswap is the notation this whole site is built on. It takes about ten minutes to understand and it never stops being useful.

  1. What is siteswap?

    What the numbers actually mean.

  2. The number 3

    Why the plain cascade is written as a single 3.

  3. Odd and even throws

    Why some throws cross and others don't.

  4. Pattern length

    How the number of digits sets the rhythm.

  5. 441

    Reading a real pattern one number at a time.

  6. 531

    Three different numbers, three different throws.

Start with one ball

Throw a single ball from one hand to the other, in an arc that peaks at about eye height. Keep your elbows in and throw from the wrist and forearm rather than the shoulder. Do it until the arc is the same every time and you can catch without reaching.

Then take two balls, one in each hand. Throw the first; when it reaches the top of its arc, throw the second, and catch them in the opposite hands. Let them drop rather than snatching at them — chasing balls teaches your hands the wrong habit. Only once that exchange is comfortable is there any point adding a third.

Almost everyone rushes this stage. The people who do not are the people whose cascade looks calm a week later.

What is siteswap?

Siteswap is a way of writing a juggling pattern as a sequence of numbers. Throws happen on a steady beat, and the hands take turns — right, left, right, left. Each number is one throw, and it says how many beats will pass before that same ball is thrown again.

So a 3 means "this ball gets thrown again three beats from now". Read the digits left to right, then start over.

The cascade. Every throw is a 3, so the whole pattern is written as a single digit.Open 3 →

Odd and even throws

Because the hands alternate every beat, an odd number of beats later is always the other hand, and an even number is always the same hand. That single rule tells you the shape of a pattern before you have seen it:

  • 3, 5, 7 — odd, so they cross to the other hand.
  • 2, 4, 6 — even, so they come back down to the hand that threw them.
  • 1 is a fast pass straight across, and 0 is a beat where the hand is empty.
441. The two 4s stay in their own hand and the 1 shoots straight across — you can see the rule at work.Open 441 →

Pattern length, and counting the balls

The number of digits is the period — how many beats pass before the pattern repeats. 3 is one digit, so every throw is identical. 441 is three digits, so it is a three-beat cycle.

And there is a neat consequence: the average of the digits is the number of objects. For 441 that is (4 + 4 + 1) ÷ 3 = 3 balls. If the average is not a whole number, the pattern cannot be juggled — which is exactly what the simulator tells you when you type one in.

Try it in the simulator →

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