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12 Impressive Pen Tricks to Learn for When You're Nervous or Bored
Credit: siamionau pavel - Shutterstock

When I was in high school, the kid who sat in front of me in English class was a master pen spinner, and it was mesmerizing. He would sit there casually exhibiting some serious Don Draper energy and absent-mindedly do amazing things with his pen, while I—a person of low dexterity— watched on in jealousy. But time and maturity has taught me that almost anything can be learned.

You and I might never be Olympic-level pen-spinners, but learning some basic pen spinning tricks is well within our feeble skill set. Pen spinning helps relieve stress, anxiety, and boredom, and promises a way to challenge and entertain yourself no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

A few basic terms: Pen spinners refer to fingers on the hand with letters and numbers—the thumb is “T,” the index finger is 1, the middle finger is 2, the ring finger is 3, and the pinky finger is 4. The space between each finger is numbered—between thumb and index finger is T1, between index and middle is 12 (pronounced “one-two”), between middle and ring is 23 (“two-three”), and between ring and pinky is 34 (“three-four”). It can get a lot more complicated than that, but let’s keep it simple to start.

Charge

The Charge is a basic pen spinning trick that doesn’t look basic at all—once perfected, it looks effortlessly cool. You’re fundamentally just flipping the pen in an arc between your index and ring fingers, but once you get comfortable with it and gain some smoothness it looks really cool.

1. Position the pen between the ring and index fingers, with your thumb supporting it. The easiest position to start with is 23 (making this a “23-Charge”).

2. Move your thumb out of the way and press your fingers together to spin the pen. After a few rotations, catch it with your thumb again.

Voilà! You have spun the charge.

Difficulty Level: Easy

Thumbaround

This is another basic pen-spinning move that nonetheless looks incredibly cool. It takes some practice to get it right, so be prepared to drop the pen many times before you get the hang of it—but once it clicks, you’ll find it easy to repeat.

1. Pinch one end of the pen lightly between your thumb and index finger, with the other end held loosely between your ring and middle finger with your middle finger in the back.

2. Push with your middle finger to spin the pen, use your ring finger to guide it up onto the back of your thumb, and let it spin!

3. Catch it between your index and thumb.

You can also reverse this (surprisingly, this is called a Thumbaround Reverse) by reversing these steps, spinning the pen the other way.

Difficulty Level: Easy

Thumb Around Harmonic

If you’ve mastered the Thumbaround and the Thumbaround Reverse, you’re ready to tackle a more complex pen spinning trick by combining the two. Essentially, perform a Thumbaround, then instantly perform a Thumbaround Reverse.

This is a lot harder than you think, because you’ll have to adjust the position of the pen quickly between each pass. Go slow and pause to reposition the pen each time, then speed up. Once you get to a point where you can shift back and forth easily, this is a pen spin you can literally do for hours.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Sonic

The Sonic is a relatively simple trick, but it takes a lot of practice. It involves shifting the pen from one slot to another (typically 34 to 23 to begin with). Once you master doing it once, you can start practicing using the Sonic move to roll the pen between all of your fingers and truly awe your audience.

1. Hold the pen between your ring and pinky fingers, with the opposite end resting against the base of your thumb.

2. “Pinch” your ring and pinky fingers down, twirling the pen over the back of the ring finger as you bend the ring finger down to allow the top of the pen to pass over it.

3. Use your pinky finger to trap the pen against your middle finger and let it fall into slot 23.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Neosonic

A variant of the Sonic, this will be easier if you’ve already gotten very comfortable with the Sonic, and more challenging if you’re starting here because you’re stubborn like that.

1. Start with the pen held between your middle and index fingers, point up, with your fingers positioned towards the bottom of the pen.

2. Flip the pen over your index finger and trap it with your thumb.

3. Let the pen slide down into the 12 slot.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Twisted Sonic

Another variation on the Sonic, only this time with a very cool name. Once you’ve mastered the Sonic and Neosonic (and the Charge), you can level up to this version, which makes it look like your pen is dancing behind your fingers.

1. Hold your pen between your middle and ring fingers, similarly to the start of a Charge.

2. Roll your middle and ring fingers to flip the pen behind the middle finger.

3. Trap the pen with your index finger, then “scissor” your fingers to roll it into slot 12.

Essentially, you’re rolling the pen behind your middle finger, then in front of it, going from slow 34 to slot 12 in one fancy move.

Difficulty Level: Hard

The Sonic Rise

The Sonic Rise combines two regular Sonic moves, shifting the pen from slot 34 to slot 23, then from 23 to 12. If you can’t quite do the easiest Sonic (34 to 23) you’re not going to be able to do this one. The 34 to 23 Sonic is tough because it involves the pinky, which is generally the weakest finger.

Once you’ve mastered those Sonics, you can combine them:

1. Hold the pen between your ring and pinky fingers, with the opposite end resting against the base of your thumb.

2. “Pinch” your ring and pinky fingers down, twirling the pen over the back of the ring finger as you bend the ring finger down to allow the top of the pen to pass over it.

3. Use your pinky finger to trap the pen against your middle finger and let it fall into slot 23.

4. Now, push the pen back into motion with your middle finger and repeat the Sonic move to shift the pen into slot 12.

Once you master this and manage to get it to look relatively smooth, it’s a dazzling move—but it’s going to take some time before you’re absent-mindedly twirling your way through it.

Difficulty Level: Hard

Fingerpass

Another fundamental pen trick, the Fingerpass gets rated easy-ish because it’s relatively simple to get the basics, and relatively challenging to get good at it. The Fingerpass is an ideal pen spinning trick for releasing nervous energy, however, because it has a near-ideal balance between skill required and ability to mindlessly do it for hours at a time.

1. Start with the pen between your index and middle fingers (slot 12).

2. Move your index finger down to pivot the pen across the front of your middle finger.

3. Bend your ring finger down to let the pen pass over it.

4. Raise your ring finger up to lock it into slot 34.

Once you get the rhythm of it, passing the pen up and down your hand isn’t too hard, but making it look smooth and easy will take some time.

Difficulty Level: Easy-ish

Indexaround

This move is similar to the Thumbaround, except you’ll be spinning the pen around your index finger instead of your thumb.

1. Start with the pen held between your index finger and middle finger, with the top of the pen toward you. It works best if you hold the pen lopsidedly, with more of the pen towards your body than poking out between your fingers.

2. Push the pen up and over your index finger with your middle finger.

3. Curl your middle finger out of the way to let the pen pass over it.

4. Straighten your middle finger to trap the pend once more.

Difficulty Level: Easy

The Wiper

At first blush, the Wiper doesn’t look like much, but it’s often combined with other moves to create more complicated tricks, so it’s worth knowing. And despite being pretty easy to master, it requires a bit of subtlety to get right, so don’t be fooled—you will need to practice this.

1. Start with the tip of your pen held between your thumb and index fingers, pointed up.

2. Rub your thumb and index fingers, almost as if you were going to toss the pen away.

3. Roll the tip of the pen between your thumb and index finger in order to rotate the pen 180 degrees so it’s pointing down.

You can also reverse this process, going back and forth like windshield wipers—hence the name.

Difficulty Level: Easy

The Triangle Pass

Deceptively simple, the Triangle Pass is one pen trick many people come up with spontaneously. It allows for infinite movement without the need to reset (as long as you don’t drop the pen), almost like a fidget spinner. This makes it almost ideal to occupy your hands while you focus on other things.

1. Start by holding the pen as you would to write with it, clasped between your index finger, middle finger, and thumb. Hold it loosely, though.

2. Move your index finger out of the way and roll the pen between your thumb and middle finger, pushing with your thumb.

3. Move your index finger back against the pen, and curl your thumb out of the way so the pen can pass over it.

4. Lock the pen back in place with your thumb.

It takes some practice to get it smooth and delightfully mindless, but once you have it, you’re set.

Difficulty Level: Easy

Half/Full Tap

The Half and Full Tap is a relatively simple pen trick that takes a bit more to learn and master. This one is all about balance, and you will drop your pen several billion times while trying to master it. But it’s also one of those sublime experiences when you do finally get it and realize you have acquired one of the most spectacularly useless skills in existence.

1. Hold the pen almost as if you are going to write something with it—one end resting on your extended middle finger, braced by the index finger, with the other end resting on the space between your thumb and index finger on your hand. Have your thumb close to the pen, but not touching it, and positioned slightly lower than your middle finger

2. Tap the pen with your index finger so it spins onto your thumb.

3. Bend your thumb down slightly to let the pen float over it.

4. For a “Half” tap, catch the pen with your index finger again once it has completed a half spin. For a “Full” tap, let the pen spin all the way around before you trap it again.

Difficulty Level: Medium