The 27 Scrambled Variations – Overview & Learnings
The first "Scrambled V" was invented and juggled in 2006 by 4 German jugglers, Andreas and Stefan Braun, Daniel Marcinkowski and Holger Jeromin in Hilden (near Düsseldorf, Germany).
Taking the existing Scrambled V pattern Aidan Burns worked out the scrambled B, Toast, 3 and IV ("Ivy"). He also realized that by combining these patterns 5, 6 and 7 person variations are possible. Formalizing the "Takeout Notation" he identified a total of 27 possible scrambled variations. In his system, Aidan wrote the patterns in a "manipulator-centered" way. That means, the manipulator always changes at beat 3.
Ed Clark realized that it would be much easier for jugglers to think about the patterns in a "feeder-centered" way. He re-wrote the notation so the feeder (and, consequently, the feedees) always change at beat 3. The "Ed notation" has become the dominant way of thinking about takeout patterns and we use Ed notation throughout the passing.zone.
Using notation to generate new patterns led to the theoretical existence of possible patterns that had never been juggled. The first time all 27 scrambled variations were proven to "work" was a sad time for the passing communitiy: Only after Aidan passed away in fall 2014, a combined effort of many juggling groups from all over the world led to the first video of all 27 scrambled variations juggled.
Why do it again?
Takeout Notation and the patterns have been around for years, so why juggle and videotape them again?
There are still (too) many people who do not know how to get from notation to the joy of juggling a scrambled variation. So, we set out to juggle all of them wearing color coded shirts, starting every pattern at the same position and taking video from a good perspective.
Well, we also had a thing about doing 'em all within 24 hours (we did!) and having fun hanging out in the gym together (we did, too!)... plus, we juggle super slow so you should be able to follow more easily.
We also built an online tool that allows you to generate the full table notation with causal arrows and turntables for every scrambled variation. Just pick any pattern from the dropdown below.
The Notation
The Videos
Andi (blue shirt) always starts at position "A"
Lukas (green shirt) always starts at position "B"
Lars (red shirt) always starts at position "C"
Juli (black) always starts as manipulator "M"
Whenever a self is being intercepted, the juggler gives it to the manipulator in a nice way, called a "pelf".
Some substitutes or carries are also done in a non-regular fashion: to save the manipulator from racing through all pass lanes, clubs are sometimes "zapped" as a fast flat pass into the receiving hand.
Finally, we have to admit we did not do all moves in the most correct way using the correct hands and so on. You are sincerely invited to do better!
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