How to choose juggling balls

Start with four questions

For more than thirty years Play has made balls for juggling, balance and manipulation: the widest range in the world, made in Italy. There is no perfect ball. Play’s work is to make endless varieties, because the international juggling community keeps changing technique and style. You choose by how you want to play, not by a “level” on a label.

1. Are you learning to throw three balls, or do you already know the style you want?
2. Are you on three or four, or moving to five and more?
3. Throws in the air only, or also balances, body rolls, foot catches, antipodism?
4. Do you want a ball already made, or to build it with the Generator?

If you are a beginner, BBX, no contest. This page is not about bounce, spinning or contact balls: those are other practices. It does not replace a class.

Be careful with friends’ advice

Everyone is different and plays their own way. Over a lifetime a juggler moves through different styles and techniques. The advice of a juggler better than you is not always the right advice. They may not remember what it means to be a beginner, and what actually matters when you start.

An expert often moves to very light balls, or to Russians: a harder shell, a partial fill, weight that falls to one side. They are not friendly if you are starting. They already ask for sensitivity and accuracy in the throw. The shell is more slippery, and harder to catch in the air. First you learn to throw and catch on a soft ball. Then, if you want, you explore.

If you are starting: BBX

For a beginner the right ball is soft: it does not roll away, and it does not fly off when two balls collide by mistake in the air. The BBX is Play’s beanbag: a 1 mm soft PVC shell, fully filled with millet, made in Italy. It is the ball we recommend to beginners, to schools and courses that want to spend little and keep a ball that lasts, and to professionals who usually use beanbags and want a ball that is docile, controllable, and a pleasure in the hand.

Before BBX, Play imported sewn beanbags — like almost every beanbag on the market — from Pakistan. Shipping and customs made the ratio of product value to import cost unsustainable. BBX let Play make that same feel in Italy, with a durability sewn fabric does not have: asphalt and concrete wear a cloth beanbag out fast; the BBX shell holds. The fill goes in through a 5 mm slit with an inner collar, no traditional plug: the millet stays in, air moves in and out, and the ball stays as soft as a classic beanbag.

Three sizes in the catalogue:

• 63 mm, 100 g — small hands, and numbers juggling (six, seven and up). More balls fit in one hand for the start.
• 68 mm, 130 g — the standard size. Three balls, beginners, professionals, average build. Start here.
• 73 mm, 155 g — large hands, a tall figure on stage, multiplex. It fills the hand and reads from a distance.

MMX: a solid feel

Before BBX, the MMX was Play’s best-selling ball. It is still a very good choice, especially if you want a solid, concrete feel. Soft shell about 2 mm, fully millet-filled, a round shape that holds. It does not bounce or roll like a stage ball. Play still calls 67 mm the “queen size”: it suits almost any toss style.

In the catalogue: 62 mm, 110 g, 67 mm, 135 g, 70 mm, 150 g. If you want more size and presence, take 67 or 70. 62 mm makes sense for small hands or for numbers — not as a first ball for an average or tall adult.

How big, how heavy

Play is a fan of the largest ball you can use: it reads better, it fills the hand, and it pushes a cleaner posture. From five balls up the story changes: it becomes natural, and often necessary, to go lighter and smaller. Build still matters. A two-metre juggler should not play with 62 mm balls: in the hand and in the air, against that figure on stage, they look like marbles.

Juggling schools — this is not a Play rating — often start around 67–70 mm and 110–135 g for the first three balls. Play’s starting point for a beginner is the 68 mm, 130 g BBX. If you are tall or have large hands, the 73. If you already do numbers, the 63.

The families (toss only)

In the catalogue you distinguish three families of aerial juggling balls. They are not “levels”. They are behaviours.

Family	What it does	Play models
Soft, full	Forgives a collision in the air. Does not roll. Easy to catch. The starting point.	BBX, MMX, TT1
Soft Russian	Partial fill, weight falling to one side. Dead drop, foot catches, stalls. Lighter than a full ball. Already asks for accuracy.	SRX, TTS, SIL-X Light
Elastic Russian / hybrid	4 mm shell, more solid, more precise. Head and body rolls, stalls, a mix of toss and passing contact. Not a first ball.	SIL-X, HYBRID

The Play shell is phthalate-free PVC. Soft shells are about 2 mm (MMX, TT1, TTS, SRX, SIL-X Light). Elastic shells are about 4 mm (SIL-X, HYBRID): Play points them at head and body rolls. BBX is thinner still: 1 mm, beanbag feel. 78 mm balls are glossy (more grip); smaller sizes are matte.

The models

TT1 — the same idea as the MMX, filled with plastic microspheres instead of millet. At 67 mm it weighs 130 g, 5 g less than the MMX. The main advantage of microspheres is that they do not crumble from repeated impacts: they stay the same over time. Millet is more sensitive to humidity: in a particularly damp environment the seeds can swell and change the feel of the ball. 62 mm / 100 g, 67 / 130, 70 / 140. If you want a full soft ball a little lighter than the MMX.

TTS — soft shell, partial microsphere fill. It stops on the floor like a Russian, but stays soft in the hand. The spheres take more volume at the same weight and slide on each other: Play points it at rolls, stalls and balances. 67 and 70 mm at 100 g, 75 mm at 120 g. Not the first ball if you still have to learn the cascade.

SRX — Soft Russian, in the catalogue since 2005. Soft shell, partial fill of quartz sand (sharper Russian effect) or millet (gentler, easier on rolls). Dead drop, foot and body catches, lightness. 67 mm / 100 g, 75 / 110, 78 / 120. 67 and 75 are matte, also meant for multiplex; 78 is glossy, more for the stage.

SIL-X — a Play invention: 4 mm elastic shell, one third of the volume liquid silicone (non-toxic, food-industry use). The centre of gravity stays low. Stable on high throws, good for foot catches and head rolls. The oil slides, and unlike sand or pellets the ball does not wobble if it leaves with spin. 67 mm / 110 g, 75 / 130, 78 / 150, 100 / 300. The 100 mm is a stage and slow work ball, not a beginner cascade. Plugs can come out so you can change the weight and reinflate after a hold flight.

SIL-X Light — the same silicone oil, on a soft 2 mm shell. Less hardness than classic SIL-X, more forgive in the catch. Catalogue 70 and 75 mm, around 90–100 g. For who wants the fluid’s Russian behaviour without the 4 mm shell.

HYBRID — 4 mm elastic shell, partial millet fill. Play makes it for mixing toss, a little contact and footwork: it rolls true, stalls solid, keeps a gentle “Russian” on long rolls. 75 mm / 150 g, 78 / 180. It is not a beanbag.

PLUG&PLAY — semi-hard soft-touch shell, 8 mm hole. An adjustable Russian: millet as standard (cleaner flight), sand or microspheres on request. 65 mm / 75 g, 75 mm / 100 g. For someone who already knows what they want from the weight, and wants to change it.

By situation

I have never kept three balls in the air

BBX 68 mm, three of them. If you are tall or have large hands, 73 mm. Do not start on a Russian, a SIL-X, or a 62 mm. Do not take the seven-ball set your friend has outgrown.

I teach or buy for a course

BBX. It is cheap, it lasts, it does not roll under the chairs, it forgives a collision. 68 covers adults; keep some 63 for small hands and some 73 for tall people.

I want millet, with a firmer feel

MMX 67 or 70. Or TT1 if you prefer microspheres: the same throw, a little lighter.

I already do five or more

Step down in diameter and weight: BBX 63, MMX 62, or a light soft Russian. The large ball that taught you three now takes too much room in one hand.

Balances, rolls, feet, antipodism

A partial fill makes sense here. TTS if you want to stay soft; SRX if you want the sand dead drop; SIL-X or HYBRID if you work on head and body and need the 4 mm shell. Not a first purchase.

I already know what I want, or I cannot find it

Welcome: Ball Generator. Soft or elastic shell, five diameters, fill of your choice, adjustable weight. Play exists for this: not to sell you “the” ball, to let you explore yours.

Before you buy

• You are buying toss balls, not bounce, spinning or contact.
• If you are starting, it is a BBX. Usually 68 mm. 73 if you are large, 63 if you already do numbers.
• If you want a firm millet feel on a 2 mm shell, it is an MMX.
• Russians (SIL-X, SRX, TTS, HYBRID, PLUG&PLAY) come later, when you already have the throw.
• As large as you can, given your hands and how many balls you use.
• A tall juggler does not buy 62 mm as a stage ball.
• The expert friend’s advice describes their game, not your start.

After: balls collection · BBX · MMX · TT1 · TTS · SRX · SIL-X · SIL-X Light · HYBRID · PLUG&PLAY · Generator