The Pen Spinning World Tournament 2025 was announced on July 19 2025[1], with the participant signups deadline on August 6.
History
Scoring System
Videos are scored on a forty point scoring system split into four ten point categories, which themselves have three sub-criteria suggestions for guiding scoring in those categories:
Difficulty
Density
Timing-based difficulty
Precision-based difficulty
Execution
Control and hand motion
Effect and emphasis
Rotations and pen motion
Creativity
Original material or concepts
Inventive variations
Distinctive Identity
Construction
Complexity
Variety
Thematic Cohesion
Scores could be incremented in half points for greater precision, and ties were not permitted in scoring.
Tournament Structure
The tournament consisted of six rounds, with the first two serving as group phases.[2] In the first group phase, all combos were considered part of a single group, and the top 32 spinners advanced to the next round. Placements were determined by averaging the ranks assigned by the judges.
In the second group phase, serpentine seeding was used to place spinners into groups, aiming to distribute average performance levels evenly among members. This marked a significant change from previous World Tournaments, where initial group seeding had been random. The top four spinners in each group, based on average rank, progressed to the next round.
From Round 3 onward, the remaining 16 contestants competed in a single‑elimination format for the final four rounds. Round 3 seeding matched participants ranked 1 against 4 and 2 against 3. In Round 4, winners from the 1‑versus‑4 battles were drawn at random against winners from the 2‑versus‑3 battles. Round 5 paired the winner of the Round 3 rank‑1 bracket with the winner of the Round 3 rank‑2 bracket. Round 6 featured the final two contestants in the title match, along with a third‑place battle between the semifinal losers.
