- For the notation system commonly used to write juggling patterns as sequences of numbers, see Siteswap.
Numbers juggling is juggling high numbers of objects. More specifically, it can mean:
- Practicing with the goal of being able to juggle more objects than you already can
- Juggling at least 8 balls, 8 rings, or 6 clubs
- Practicing juggling more objects than you expect to ever master
Competitions
The IJA and the WJF hold endurance competitions for numbers juggling, where each participant is allowed either a certain number of tries or a certain amount of time to try to do a good run with a given number of props. The judges count how many catches each person does, and compare each competitor's best attempt. Only catches made before the time when the first dropped object should have been caught are counted. After qualifying a number, a competitor may choose to try to qualify the next higher number. The winner of a numbers endurance competition is the person who gets the most catches with the highest number of objects qualified. There are separate numbers endurance competitions for balls, rings, clubs, and bounce juggling. Up to 9 balls, 10 rings, 7 clubs, and 10 bouncing balls have been qualified in these competitions.
World records
The Juggling Information Service Committee on Numbers Juggling (JISCON) maintains a list of official world records for toss juggling, and the Bounce Page tracks the official world records for bounce juggling. These are the current world records for numbers juggling:
13 Balls - 15 Catches
Most objects qualified
- 11 balls - 25 catches by Alex Barron (video)
- 10 rings - 47 catches by Anthony Gatto
- 8 clubs by Anthony Gatto (video)
- 9 ball force bounce - 62 catches by Alan Sulc (video)
- 10 ball lift bounce - 39 catches by Robert Mosher III
- 5 diabolos high - 54 catches by Ofek Shilton (video)
- 5 diabolos low - 18 catches by Robin Spinelli (video)
Most objects flashed
- 13 balls - 15 catches by Alex Barron (video)
- 13 rings by Albert Lucas
- 9 sticks by Bruce Tiemann (video), Scott Sorensen (video), Chris Fowler (video), and Daniel Eaker (video)
- 9 clubs by Emil Dahl (video) and Willy Colombaioni (video)
- 12 ball force bounce by Alan Sulc (video)
- 11 ball lift bounce by Tim Nolan (video)
- 6 diabolos high - 7 catches by Tony Frebourg (video)