Pen Spinning

About

Pen Spinning, also known as pen twirling, is the practice rotating a writing instruments between one's fingers. Online, communities dedicated to pen spinning have arisen on a variety of platforms, and videos showcasing pen spinning tricks are often shared on YouTube.

Origin

Pen spinning was originally popularized in Japan in the 1970s. In 1997, Japanese pen spinner Hideaki Kondoh created the first pen spinning website on Geocities.^[4] In 2000, the English language pen spinning enthusiast site Pentix^[5] was launched by spinner Fernan Kuo (a.k.a. Kam), who subsequently shutdown the site indefinitely in 2003.

Spread

In January 2004, the Universal Pen Spinning Board^[1] was launched for discussions about the practice. On March 29th, 2006, YouTuber roylys84 posted a pen spinning tricks montage. Within ten years, the video gained over 3.5 million views and 3,300 comments (shown below, left). On March 14th, 2007, YouTuber RukarioRey uploaded an instructional video titled "Pen Spinning Basics," which accumulated more than 3.9 million views and 3,100 comments over the next nine years (shown below, right).

On April 18th, 2008, the Diagonal View YouTube channel uploaded a short video about the Thaispinner pen spinning club in Bangkok, Thailand (shown below, left). On September 10th, 2009, YouTuber learnfromlance posted a tutorial video for performing a "thumbaround" pen spin (shown below, right). Over the next seven years, the videos received over 1.7 million views each.

On July 25th, 2010, the /r/penspinning^[2] subreddit was launched for discussions about pen spinning. On May 17th, 2011, YouTuber 52Kards uploaded a pen spinning tutorial video, garnering upwards of 4.32 million views and 3,400 comments in five years (shown below).

On December 4th, 2013, YouTuber Kuma Films posted a video titled "Epic Pen Spinning," featuring two young men spinning pens outdoors . Within three years, the video gained over six million views and 4,600 comments. On November 25th, 2014, Kuma Films released footage of themselves spinning LED light pens (shown below, right). Within two years, the video accumulated more than 1.3 million views and 900 comments.

On November 7th, 2015, Redditor ChazDoge submitted a pen spinning video to the /r/oddlysatisfying^[3] subreddit, where it received upwards of 7,000 votes (93% upvoted) and 470 comments prior to being archived (shown below).

Search Interest

External References