Charge

The charge is a fundamental trick in which the pen spins while held between two fingers which flick back and forth. Unlike passes and arounds, the pen spins without significantly bending the fingers.

When performed palm up, the normal spins clockwise and the reverse counterclockwise.

At its core, Charge comprises of both a wiped charge and a tipped charge, which are both a part of the fundamental components/movements within tricks as proposed by RPD in Simplified Elementary Notation. The combination of both such tricks results in a conical movement. In other words, charge encompasses the very mechanic of such conical motion which serves as the foundation of a a substantial portion of tricks in Pen Spinning. This includes major trick families such as Sonic (charge + fingerswitch) and Twisted Sonic (charge + pass).

History

The trick had various names in the past such as 'fake sonic' (by Hideaki Kondoh), 'gyrating twirl' (by Patrick Szeto) and 'pen twirl'. Kam's name of 'charge' eventually became standard.

Variations

Tipped

The tipped charge generates conical rotation only from the flicking on the fingers and therefore its rotational axis is parallel to the fingers. It cannot produce continuous rotations in a single direction as the structure of the bones would allow at most 1.0 rotations. Tipped charges are sometimes used to replace baseline charges in sonics and is especially common when using the thumb.

In-Out

In-Out charges are performed in a thumb slot and involves the change of the side of the finger that is holding onto the pen during execution of a charge. ‘In’ refers to the palm side while ‘Out refers to the back side and the manner by which the pen holding position charges is reflected in the name (a variation that transitions from ‘Out’ to ‘In’ is an ‘Out-In’ charge). It is hypothetically possible to use a pair of fingers without the thumb but it is almost never done due to the extreme flexibility required.

Wiped-out and curled

A charge performed with fingers curled in that can only be performed by holding the pen at its end in the wiped-out position (the COG is on the side the backhand).

Fishing

See also: Fishing

Also known as a Fingerless Charge

8 Charge

A charge variation that instead of looking like a circle, the rotations instead mimic the number 8. The trick consists of a 0.5 charge interrupted by a Vertical "I" shape half tipped charge, before continuing with a 0.5 Charge reverse. This trick was invented by Fel2fram.