Difficulty: 4 - Applied-Intermediate Trick
Siteswap: 52233
Prerequisite Skills: Mills Mess, Burke's Barrage
Watch Video - WMV - 0.9 MB
I've heard the comparison, Rubenstein's Revenge is to Mills Mess, as Mills Mess is to 3-Ball Cascade. Rubenstein's is one of hardest 3-ball tricks to learn and master. The pattern invented by Rick Rubenstein makes it look like you're about to twist your arms up into knots while keeping three balls constantly moving.
Instructions:
While this trick is not a direct variation of either Mills Mess or Burke's Barrage, it really helps to have those patterns mastered first, before trying to tackle Rubenstein's. I guess it has something to do with the thinking process involved in learning a complex trick, more than the actual arm movements themselves. Anyway, everyone I know learned them in the order of Mills, Burke's, and then Rubenstein's. So you must do the same. No cheating.
Take two balls, one in each hand. Place your right hand crossed over your left hand (like beginning Mills Mess). "Unwind" your hands so that your top hand and bottom hands rotate around each other at the same time until you reach the point where now your right hand is now crossed underneath your left. At that point throw the right hand ball as an under-arm throw.
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Now comes the tricky part. Your left hand needs to continue rotating around, after you make the right-hand under-arm throw. To allow it to continue rotating, you have to cheat a little (unless your arms are made of rubber), by pulling your right arm out of the way. Let the left hand continue around until it gets back to the left side of your body, then throw from the open-armed position. Make that throw follow the path of the previous ball (right-hand under-arm throw).
Watch Video - WMV - 0.3 MB
So far, your right hand has traveled a full circle before making its throw. Your left hand has traveled one and a half circles before making its throw.
Now it's time to catch those balls. If you time it right, at the moment your left hand releases its throw, it's ready to catch the other ball (from the right-hand under-arm throw). Your right hand will then be ready to catch the ball thrown from the left hand. Freeze. Now your arms are at the opposite position from where they started. You now have your left hand crossed over you right hand.
Practice this part (in that one direction) many times, until it feels comfortable.
Now practice the same thing, but in the opposite direction. After you have both sides reasonably well, put them together in a continuous 2-ball Rubenstein's Revenge pattern. Practice this for a long, long time.
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Adding the third ball is usually the hardest part of learning this trick. Many people get frustrated at this point and give up. Don't be one of them. The third ball in Rubenstein's is just like the third ball in Mills Mess. It's a constant under-arm thrown ball whose path looks like the letter "U". You will need to be able to juggle the same 2-ball Rubenstein's as above, while keeping the third ball going in the "U" pattern. It's almost like two separate patterns.
Start with two balls in your right hand and one in your left. Repeat the same steps as above, where you "unwind" your hands, make an under-arm right-hand throw, followed by a open-arm left-hand throw. Now, with the other ball still in your right hand in the under-arm position, make a throw straight up. The higher you make that throw, the more time you will have to complete the rotation of the other two balls.
Now, with the first two balls back in your hands, rotate them back around the other way (unwind them), just as you practiced with two balls. Just as you finish that rotation, you'll be ready to catch the third ball as it falls into your left hand after making its throw. Just continue with the other hand, as you now bring the third ball under the pattern (in the "U" shape) to the other side. Rinse and repeat.
Watch Video - WMV - 0.9 MB
Rubenstein's Revenge will take a lot of practice, but after you get it, it's so fun that you won't be able to stop juggling it. It's very addictive.
