150px|thumb|4 ball synchronous columns: "symmetrical", "asymmetrical", "splits", and asynchronous columns "pistons"
In toss juggling, columns, also known as One-up Two-up, is a juggling trick or pattern where the balls are thrown upwards without any sideways motion, distinguishing it from the fountain. The simplest version involves having three balls, with two going up simultaneously on either side, followed by one going up in the middle. One way to accomplish this is to juggle 2 balls in one hand and one ball in the other, so one hand has to move faster and further than in a regular pattern (cascade), whilst the other remains almost stationary. The hand juggling the center ball can alternate with each repeat to make the pattern symmetric.
Variations
The two-in-one is a variant using two balls in one hand (the hand with the "lone" ball is unused), "where the balls travel vertically in their own separate paths...Columns is really just a Two-in-One in one hand with a third ball thrown synchronously from the other hand." which may be called the Dummy pattern, or "fake columns" (siteswap: (4,2)), which may be interpreted as adding a carry to the "lone" hand during the two-in-one. The carried ball can then be moved in many different ways to complement the pattern. In a variation called Yo-yo (siteswap: (4,2)), or The String,
The trick can be extended to any number of balls and can be varied by doing synchronous [siteswap: (4,4)(4,0)] or asynchronous throws (siteswap: 3). The props used may also be altered.
Siteswap
The synchronous siteswap of the basic version of the trick is (4,4)(4,0). What the notation fails to capture is that 4s are always thrown in straight lines, which can be considered an essential property of the trick, given the name (props thrown in an oval would be a fountain pattern).