The pens

045 vs Trimax

The pen everyone had against the pen nobody would lend. One rolls, one does not, and that is most of the game.

1 September 2026 · 7 min read

Every pouch of that time had a Reynolds 045 in it, and most benches had one kid with a Trimax that never came out for lending. Those two pens bracket pen fight. One was what you put on the desk without thinking. The other was what you thought about before putting down. Everything in between was some mix of the two.

The 045

White barrel, blue cap, red print down the side. It wrote the same on the first day and the last day, it cost little enough that losing one was not a story, and there was always another one somewhere in the bag. That is why it was the staking pen. If your group played with pens on the line, the 045 was the one that crossed the desk most often.

On the wood it is light and it is round. Light means a clean hit sends it a long way. Round means it keeps rolling after the hit, and a pen that rolls can be walked to the edge one nudge at a time. You did not need one big shot to beat an 045. You needed three patient ones.

The Trimax

The Trimax was a different object. Heavier, wider, refillable, with the triangle print on the barrel and a cap that posted with a click. It was a gift pen, a board-exam pen, the pen a senior owned. Nobody staked a Trimax casually, and that is exactly why it is the one people still name.

The shape is the whole pen. The barrel is triangular, and a triangular pen does not roll. Flick it and it slides, tips onto the next flat, and stops. It cannot be dribbled toward the edge the way a round barrel can. To put a Trimax off a desk you have to hit it hard, square, and usually more than once.

Why the shape decides the fight

Watch two rounds and you see it. Against a round pen, every touch is progress. The pen ends up somewhere new, usually somewhere worse for its owner. Against a Trimax, a weak touch does nothing. The pen shrugs, sits, and now your own pen is lying next to it, in range, waiting for the reply.

So the two pens ask for two different games. The 045 wants distance and patience: stay far, chip, let the roll do the work. The Trimax wants nerve: one committed shot with your whole pen behind it, because a half shot leaves you parked beside a pen you cannot move.

The two pens in the game

Both are in the game, photographed from the real pens, and they play the way the desk remembers. The table is how they are set up.

In the game the two also hold the two ends of the story. The 045 is the reserve pen: it is always yours and it can never be lost. The Trimax sits with the last kid on the bench, so the only way to hold it is to win the championship. After that you stake it in every defence, which is how it should be. A pen like that is only worth having if somebody can take it.

Common questions

Why does the Trimax not roll?

The barrel is triangular. A round pen keeps moving after a touch. A triangular pen tips onto the next flat and stops where it lands.

Which pen is better for pen fight?

The heavier, wider pen wins more rounds. It is harder to shove and easier to hit. But a light pen that lands on the tip can spin a heavy one around, and sometimes off, so it is never certain.

What was the Reynolds 045?

The ordinary Indian school ballpoint of the 1990s and 2000s. White barrel, blue cap, red print. Everyone had one.

Can you lose the Trimax in the game?

Yes. The champion stakes it in every defence. Win the championship and it is yours until somebody takes it off you.