Connection Hold — Grips Off
Mat mode
2:00
Tell the roomPin by connection alone and hold it.
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TOP PLAYER
POSITION
Side control, chest-to-chest on a flat bottom player.
OBJECTIVE
Pin by connection alone and hold it.
CONSTRAINTS
Hands off the partner — clasped behind the back, or flat on the mat for base only, never gripping. No underhooks, no hand-fighting. No submissions. Follow turns with the chest and reload contact instead of reaching for a grip. Reset when the top player holds the connection for twenty seconds or the bottom player turns to their side. Role rotates after each reset. Default round length 2:00.
WIN CONDITION
Keep the bottom player flat and unable to turn to their side, using chest-to-chest connection alone — no grips — for twenty continuous seconds.
BOTTOM PLAYER
POSITION
Flat on the back under side control.
OBJECTIVE
Create space and turn or recover a knee.
CONSTRAINTS
Work frames, bridges, and shrimps to create space. No submissions. Same named reset and role rotation.
WIN CONDITION
Create enough space to turn to your side or bring a knee in front of the top player, held for three continuous seconds.
Original positional game. Connection Hold — Grips Off. GAME-CL-01.
Problem
Side control, chest-to-chest on a flat bottom player.
Tell the room
Pin by connection alone and hold it. Create space and turn or recover a knee.
Setup
Side control, chest-to-chest on a flat bottom player. Flat on the back under side control.
Score
Keep the bottom player flat and unable to turn to their side, using chest-to-chest connection alone — no grips — for twenty continuous seconds. Create enough space to turn to your side or bring a knee in front of the top player, held for three continuous seconds.
Rules
- Hands off the partner — clasped behind the back, or flat on the mat for base only, never gripping.
- No underhooks, no hand-fighting.
- No submissions.
- Follow turns with the chest and reload contact instead of reaching for a grip.
- Reset when the top player holds the connection for twenty seconds or the bottom player turns to their side.
- Role rotates after each reset.
- Default round length 2:00.
- Work frames, bridges, and shrimps to create space.
- Same named reset and role rotation.
Progressions
Harder constraint variants from the source. Same game, tighter problem.
- Grips returned, connection first: allow grips, but the top player must establish the connection before gripping. The grip now supports the pin rather than replacing it.
- Mount and back: run the same constraint from mount (chest-to-chest) and from back control (chest-to-back). The surface changes; the invariant does not.
- Add a recovery target: the bottom player must reach a specific recovery — a knee shield, a seated base — turning pure survival into a retention problem.
pins