Takeouts in 4-Handed Siteswaps
Below a collection of all the 4-handed siteswaps that I know. More are sure to be discovered and shared.
Mechanics, assumptions, and notation: Since both passers pass on distinct beats, takeouts -- intercepts (I), substitutions (S), and carries (C) -- can be notated on the specific beat without further indices. The club that gets thrown on that beat is manipulated.
Every pattern requires exactly one intercept. A pattern may have one or no carry. A pattern may have any number of substitutions. The manipulator starts with one club, in addition to the clubs required by the base pattern.
The intercept is the pivotal element where passer and manipulator change, shown as a red line. The change happens at the time that the intercept lands, shown with a vertical dotted line. Every club that is in the air to the previous passer at the time, whether another pass or a self, are now caught by the manipulator. Those throws, shown with a dotted red line, may feel like additional intercepts since the previous manipulator is catching clubs from other people. The new manipulator may throw or carry clubs after the intercept lands to get down to having only one club. The solid vertical line indicates where the pattern repeats with roles changed; a full cycle of the pattern is 12 such changes.
The patterns are shown as text and visually as causal diagrams. Rather than depicting only the passers in the causal diagram and assuming a swap of roles after the intercept, the diagrams have three lines for the three people and explicitly show who passes to whom and when. The diagrams follow entirely from the notation.
The patterns are always notated textually with the intercept as the first beat. In the causal diagram, a few prior beats are shown that usually correspond to the typical start of the pattern.
What's that about
This was probably the first takeout based on a 4-handed siteswap, developed by Warren Hammond during the Colorado Passout 2014. It's based on WhyNot. The intercept happens on the heff, followed by a carry of a pass across the pattern.
786277862778627 I C
[video]
Compared to the video, we since throw the heff as a heffling (single spin). The pattern is fairly slow, with extended waits before the intercept.
Intercept in Period Three Patterns with 7 (867, 756, 972, 975, 978, 777, ...)
This is a family of period 3 patterns with a single pass that all have the same manipulation movement: The manipulator starts behind the passer, intercepts the pass (and then catches the heff); the new manipulator carries the pass across and walks around the other passer to intercept the next pass.
Manège à trois
First of the more recent takeouts explicitly developed on 4-handed siteswaps, developed during EJC 2018 on the Azores.
786786786 I C
[video]
In this pattern it feels like the manipulator is intercepting both the pass and the heff, but technically only the pass is intercepted whereas the heff is already in the air by the time passer and manipulator switch roles. This switch happens when the intercepted pass lands (dotted vertical line).
567-about
Good introduction to takeouts in 4-handed siteswaps. Same manipulation as Manège. One of the easiest and lots of visual clues to help navigate the pattern.
756756756 I C
[video]
Hints: After the manipulation, the first zap and single pass go to the opposite side of where the manipulator is walking. When walking, follow the last zap just thrown before walking. This is usually easier than remembering whether to throw straight or crossing.
The Guillotine
972 variation of the same principle. The 9 is called the guillotine pass, featured also in holy-grail-about and 978-about.
729729729 I C
[video]
Hints: Make sure to catch the 9 before the carry otherwise it may hit the manipulator in the neck. Throwing the very first 9 after manipulation short can help.
Holy-Grail-About
Based on 975 and just the same manipulation sequences.
759759759 I C
[proof of concept video at FluggleBurgh 2018]
Hints: Throw the guillotine pass short as usual. Otherwise, good luck!
726-about
Technically the easiest one in the sequence, but timing can be tricky.
726726726 I C
[video]
777-about
777777777 I C
[video]
978-about
789789789 I C
966-about
7-club 3 count with the same walking pattern, but slower (longer period). As a consequence there is plenty of time to walk the pass across and after intercepting the pass, there is a wait with two clubs until the third one arrives for self-self-pass.
966966966966966 I C
966-about (less-boring version)
To fill the long wait in the 966-base version, here the new manipulator turns around and caries a self to intercept the pass. This is thrown as a blind pop, while the new passer will look up at the incoming pass.
966966966966966 I C S
Taking out Flips
In these patterns, the manipulator intercepts a flip and there is no carry. The movement pattern is quite different, with the manipulator starting next to the passer who'll be leaving and receiving a flip from the passer's outside hand to the manipulator's inside hand. The new manipulator then walks across the pattern (straight in one direction, through the pattern in the other) to stand next to the other passer.
456-about (killer-bunny-about)
564564564 I
Suwecide-bunny-about
Shorter and much harder version following the same principle.
78456 I
Other Patterns
Dropbear
Faster paced why-not version than what's-that-about developed in New Zealand.
786277862778627 S I C
Cues: After intercepting, the first action is a pass that follows the last pass of the interceptee. When manipulating on the James side of the pattern (straight passes), the manipulator steps through the pattern in front of the passer, following the previously carried club which is now a zip and then turns into the pass that gets substituted. On the not-James side the manipulator stays on the same side of the pattern to catch the crossing pass.
Parsnip-about
Fairly simple pattern without a carry.
777227772277722 S I
Popcorn-about
Like Manège but slower and catching somebody else's triple.
7a6667a6667a666 I C
Shorty
796686867 C I
[video]
"self heff heff single double pop"
Catch the Carrot
Cute, very fast pattern with nice color coding based on Jim's 3-count. The original description lists this as a synchronous pattern, but I find it much more intutitive as a 4-handed siteswap.
7746666 C I
[video]