Fen Spinner

Fen Spinner is an English-speaking pen spinning community founded by Varoza on 30 July 2020. It operates primarily through a private Discord server and maintains the Fen Spinner Wiki. The community emerged as a distinct group following disagreements between some of its members and the administration of The Workshop in September 2020.

Fen Spinner has participated in international community and competitive events, including SpinFest in 2021 and 2023. A team composed of Fen Spinner members, Final Boss, won the Pen Spinning World Cup 2022.

History

Formation and separation from The Workshop

The September 11th 2020 call and the infamous "Fentember 11th" message

Fen Spinner was established in July 2020 as an informal Discord server where members of the private team OPSD could interact with other pen spinners. It initially had a small membership and limited moderation.

The name refers to the fennec fox, the community's mascot. “Fen” was adopted as a shortened form of “fennec” and as a play on the word “pen.”

Relations between members of Fen Spinner and the administration of The Workshop became strained during 2020. Fen Spinner members criticized aspects of The Workshop's moderation, including what they regarded as inconsistent rule enforcement and insufficient responses to community feedback.

On 11 September, Fen Spinner members organized a voice call in The Workshop which reached the channel limit of 25 participants. Activity in the accompanying text channel increased considerably and included both pen-spinning discussion and off-topic posts. The Workshop administrator Coffeelucky asked participants to move to a smaller group call, prompting further disagreement about how the gathering should be accommodated.

Following the call, The Workshop issued several bans, mutes, and warnings for spam. These included a seven-day ban for Varoza and a fourteen-day mute for Zxntle. Participants disputed both the decisions and the explanations subsequently provided by the administration. Moderator abc later resigned, and several active members left The Workshop.

The dispute led more English-speaking pen spinners to join Fen Spinner. The server reportedly grew from approximately ten members to several hundred, establishing itself as a community separate from The Workshop and groups associated with UPSB.

Activities in 2021

Fen Spinner 1st Title screen

Fen Spinner entered SpinFest 2021 after sign-ups opened in November 2020. Its submission, Fen Spinner 1st, was released on 12 April 2021. Edited by Varoza, the collaboration video featured eleven spinners and used three-dimensional graphics and visual effects.

A planned collaboration with LSPSC was discontinued when LSPSC closed in July 2021. On 30 July, Fen Spinner released the minicombo collaboration 1 Year of Fen Spinner to mark the community's first anniversary.

Fen Spinner also sought to enter the Pen Spinning World Tournament 2021. The Pen Spinning Board of Directors grouped its entrants with The Workshop and UPSB under the name English Speaking Pen-spinning Collective, managed by Padrace. Fen Spinner was represented on the tournament's A side by Varoza, Pall, and Allwars. Pall reached the top 32, Allwars the top 16, and Varoza the top eight. Mervo represented the community in the B-side tournament.

Spin Awards 2021 Branding

Fen Spinner organized Spin Awards 2021 after members of the previous committee declined to run the event. The format assigned a representative and an adviser to each participating community to assist with nominations, voting, and communication. Voting was conducted in early 2022 so that work released near the end of 2021 could be considered.

The results were published in February 2022 as Spinner of the Year 2021, Collab of the Year 2021, and Spin Awards 2021 – Minor Awards. Modding results were released separately as an image. Fen Spinner subsequently withdrew from organizing the awards, citing workload and disagreements within the organizing process. Control of the event's server was transferred to Patchwork of FPSB, but no further edition was held until 2025.

World Cup and Olympics in 2022

Nine joined Fen Spinner in late 2021 and later became part of its leadership. Fen Spinner initially discussed forming a World Cup team with members of The Workshop, but the communities did not reach a lasting arrangement. Fen Spinner therefore entered the Pen Spinning World Cup 2022 through a separate team named Final Boss.

Final Boss placed third in the opening round. It subsequently defeated BlackMagic of PSH, The Five Fingers of Sublime Pen, and Eastern Reunion of JEB, winning the tournament. The team earned fourteen of the fifteen available battle points.

The roster consisted of Varoza, Nine, Krogan (a pseudonym of Barney), Vanilla, ZeGentleman, and substitute Saltient. Saltient replaced ZeGentleman after the second round.

At the Pen Spinning Olympics 2022, Reboot placed first and ZeGentleman placed third in the power category. Barney competed under the name KyorYuuNa in the wipers category and placed fourth after not submitting an entry for the final round.

SpinFest 2023 and later developments

FEN 2ND Title screen

Fen Spinner released its second official collaboration video, Spinfest 2023, on 25 June 2023. The video featured several members of the Final Boss team alongside other community members.

During this period, the Spindys community grew through the work of Tilt, a Fen Spinner member whose YouTube content attracted new participants to pen spinning. As activity in The Workshop declined, Fen Spinner and Spindys became two of the principal communities serving English-speaking spinners. The Workshop closed on 20 October 2024.

Several Fen Spinner members entered the Pen Spinning World Tournament 2025, with their registered communities following their names:

• Tilt (Spindys, Fen) - 3rd Place
• Barney (Spindys) - Top 8
• Levia (Independent) - Top 16
• monsoon (PHPS) - Top 16
• Apple (VNPS, Fen)

Barney jokingly signed up under PSUKC, then Spindys under a fake name 'LimSeowon'. Fen Spinner member ProBloodBag participated as one of the judges for the event

In the Pen Spinning Olympics 2026, Barney would win in both the technical and infinity categories. ProBloodBag would participate as a judge for the Technical category.

Wiki

Fen Spinner Wiki is a MediaWiki site created as a replacement for the long-defunct UPSB Wiki in early 2021. Over time, this grew to become the largest pen spinning wiki project ever made, dwarfing the original UPSB projects and other competitors. In 2025 a new responsive frontend and homepage was added to the wiki as part of a wider rollout of updates to the site.

Collaboration Videos

• Fen Spinner 1st
• 1 Year of Fen Spinner
• FEN 2ND

Notable members

• Varoza
• Nine
• Saltient
• Vanilla
• Tilt
• Reboot
• ZeGentleman
• Barney
• ProBloodBag