Pen Fight!

It's been a decade since I started my higher secondary schooling - which means it's been a decade since I was introduced to the ancient and obscure game of Pen Fight. Pen Fight, as the name suggests, is a game where battles are fought using pens of all kinds. No, this doesn't mean men (or in most cases, boys) substitute pens for swords.

A demonstration of Pen Fight

Pen fight is a game played by two sides on a table, where each side tries to strike out their opponent's pen off the table. It is better described as playing carrom with pens. The carrom board is a desk/table. Your pen is the striker. Your opponent's pen is the target. The holes are the edges of the table. Like carrom, one is allowed to only strike the pen using one's fingers, including the thumb, and not push it or shove it across the playing surface.

As seen above, Pen fight is very straight forward. However, like most games, it is essentially bound by laws of physics, mostly of the Newtonian variety. And therefore, it requires immense skill and strategy. Strategy is important especially when playing as teams. Each team member has to position their pen on the surface and strike it so as to cause maximum fatalities for his opponents and minimize those of his team.

Pen fight shares some attributes, at least as far as the playing surface is concerned, with an Indian religion - Cricket. The way the nature of the pitch plays an important role in cricket, the nature of the table can also influence a game of Pen Fight. Considering that 99% of all pen fight games are played in schools and colleges, protruding nails, small holes and inclined desks provide an element of surprise in addition to making the game more difficult for the players.

The Best Pen for Pen Fights...

Also important is the make of the pen and the type of the pen being used. Ball point pens are preferred over fountain and roller ball pens. Rubber grips provide some friction, which provides control to the sliding and rotating motion of the pens, especially on inclined surfaces. However, excess rubber can cause unpredictable behaviour and can often lead to suicides (player striking his own pen out of the table). Pens without rubber grips provide good speed and momentum, but are very risky when paying on inclined surfaces. Personally, I have found the Reynolds Fusion ball point pen to be very effective on both surfaces. The rubber grip is just thick enough to provide adequate control, without compromising on the speed.

I have enjoyed playing pen fight during both school and college days. Along with my classmates, I have wasted many free hours in pursuit of greatness in this sport. I even created a Pen Fight Premier League when in college, which lasted all of five hours. Pen Fight games have always been fun way of killing time and building camaraderie.

Why did I decide to write about Pen Fight on my blog? My first game of Pen Fight was with one Vijayakrishnan A, who was the Head Boy of my batch in High School. He passed away a few weeks back in Boston, due to cardiac arrest while playing cricket. May his soul rest in peace.