Pen Fight now has eight pens: a fountain pen, a highlighter, a crayon and a mechanical pencil join the desk

Pen Fight started with four pens: the ballpoint, the marker, the gel pen and the pencil. Today four more join them, in tournaments and friendlies alike, and every one of them is free to pick.

What are the new pens?

• Fountain pen: solid and steady. A little heavier than a ballpoint and a little slower, so it holds its ground without giving up much distance.
• Highlighter: the tank. It is the hardest pen of all to knock off, but it is the slowest, so you have to get close to do any damage.
• Crayon: short and grippy. Being short makes it hard to hit, and it stops where you aim it, but it is light, so a solid hit sends it a long way.
• Mechanical pencil: the fastest pen, and grippy, so it hits hard up close and stops quickly. But it is light, so it is easy to send flying.

How do I tell the pens apart?

Every pen card now shows four bars from one to five. Speed is how fast a full flick sends it. Weight is how hard it is to push, both for knocking it off and for shoving other pens. Slide is how far that flick carries it: grippy pens stop sooner. Reach is its length. Every pen hits about as hard as the others on a full flick, so no pen is best at everything: heavy pens are hard to move but slow, and light pens are fast but easy to knock off. We played thousands of matches between every pair of pens to check that each one wins about as often as it loses.

• Like to sit in the middle and shove? Try the highlighter, the marker or the fountain pen.
• Like long shots from a distance? Try the mechanical pencil, the gel pen or the crayon.
• Not sure? The ballpoint is still the all-rounder.

Anything else new?

The desk itself got an upgrade too: it now looks like a real school desk, with initials carved in a heart, a pencil smiley and a compass scratch. They are only drawings, so pens slide straight over them. And you now pick your pen in a pop-up before the match, with all eight pens side by side. As before, your opponent cannot see your pen until the match starts, and ComCom plays the ballpoint. The full rules, with every pen, are on the Pen Fight rules page.