Pen Spinning Notation

Pen Spinning Notation refers to the writing systems used to represent pen spinning tricks, linkages and combos without the use of videos or images. Multiple structured notation systems have been devised over the year in various languages. This article primarily focuses on English notation systems, with a secondary mention of different notation systems in other languages.

Basic Notation

Fingerslots

Fingerslots are made up of individual abbreviated elements known as locators, which can refer to fingers and positions on the hand, wrist and arm. There are currently 12 main locators:

Locators and abbreviations

Abbr.	Locator	Abbr.	Locator
A	Arm	T	Thumb
E	Elbow	Tf	Thumbflap
W	Wrist	1	Index finger
H	Hand	2	Middle finger
B	Back of the hand	3	Ring finger
P	Palm of the hand	4	Pinky finger

These locators are then combined to form fingerslots, written in hierarchical order:

A > E > W > H > B > P > T > Tf > 1 > 2 > 3 > 4

For example, T12 is ordered correctly, and 21T is ordered incorrectly.