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Get Ready to Bounce!

Welcome to the only site on the web devoted to bounce juggling. Sit back, grab your balls, and get ready to bounce!

Balls

Canadian Lacrosse Balls:  Extremely resilient, all natural solid rubber, 75% bounce is the worst of the three main types, inexpensive at $6-7.00, 2.56" and 6 oz., available from Dube and Serious Juggling

Oddballs:  Similar to the "superballs" of old, 89% bounce which is slighter better than silicones, inexpensive at $10.00, tend to pit with age, come in several colors with a swirled pattern design,  2.5" and 4.7 oz, recommended as a starter ball or for those that want a decent ball that's inexpensive, available from Renegade and Serious Juggling.

Silicones:  Bounce is 80-84%, superb surface texture which is soft yet resilient, flawless appearance, soil resistant and easy to clean, brilliant colors, (I've been told that the white silicone bounces slightly higher than the colored ones.), expensive, perfect spheres providing the truest bounce, the ultimate juggling prop, recommended for the serious bouncer that can afford them, there are 4 common sizes:

 

size	weight	cost
2.25"	4.0 oz	$32-36
2.5"	5.5-5.7 oz	$32-39
2.75"	7.4-7.5 oz	$34-45
3.00"	9.5-9.8 oz	$38-51

The chart lists the ball sizes I normally see jugglers use, however, Jonathan Root uses custom-made 2" sillies . 

Prop Works sister company, Puppets and Props, makes a 1.75" silicone.

Prop Works, Serious Juggling, Dube, Art Smart's, The House of Fakini and Todd Smith distribute silicones. (The silicones sold by Serious Juggling, and Art Smart are made by Prop Works.)

1. "Follow the Bouncing Silicone Ball Back to Where It All Began" by Bill Giduz  

2. "Why are Silicone Balls so Expensive? or Can I Make My Own Silicone Balls?" by Isaac Orr

3.  "Why Silicone Balls?" article at Prop Works homepage

silicone ball wallpaper for your computer

Other Balls:  Lacrosse, Oddballs, and Silicones are the three popular ball types although various others are used. Otto Mann does some great tricks using the large, very visible "wow" balls available from Serious Juggling, Renegade, and Passe Passe. These lightweight, extremely bouncy foam balls bounce slightly higher than lacrosse balls. They have some imperfect surfaces and will probably pit with age. I was told that the "wow" balls on hand from vendors at the Madison festival had slightly different bounces in different balls -- it's best to check before you buy. Pictured are the large version at 3.7 in. and 6 oz for $10 each. Smaller ones are also available; 2.8 in. and 3 oz for $7 or the glow-in-the-dark version for $1 more. 

Tim Nolan uses the small "superballs" for doing high numbers (9, 10 & 11 balls). I had a larger one as a kid. These are very similar to Oddballs and usually come in black only.

Play Juggling of Italy makes a bounce ball, similar in feel to the Oddball, but with colors that some jugglers prefer. They have a 90% bounce return. The balls can also be bought at JugglingStore.com. They come in the four colors shown in the picture to the left and two sizes: 2.6" for $12.99 each or 3" for $15.99.

Even more types of bounce balls can be found at Juggling Vendors, toy stores and even pet stores.

Vendors:

The House of Fakini (Frank Radtke)

Prop Works (714) 821-4907

Dube (212) 941-0060

Renegade (831) 426-7343

Serious Juggling (800) JUGGLE 0 (800-584-5430)

Todd Smith (800) JUGGLE 1

Passe Passe (331 42 58 02 58)  Fax (33 1 42 64 00 14)

How to do it:

Learn to Bounce Pass - a video for beginners, 7 minutes long, a 27 MB wmv file, produced by David Critchfield & John Jones. Download the handout as well which describes bounce pass starting positions.

These sites offer good tips on learning AND/OR animated tutorials for solo bouncing:

• Paul Isaak

• Vete's Juggling Page

• The Cloon Brothers Band (click on "ressources", "videos")

• Jugglingworld.biz

• David Cain's 6 ball patterns

Bounce Performers' Homepages

Links

Japanese site

Emmanuel Perez (check out videos #4 and #5)

Nate Seefeldt

Bounce Dicks

The Bounce Page was established 11-7-99. All rights reserved.