The Marble Rally (formerly the Sand Marble Rally) is a marble sports event, which has been hosted 6 times since the first edition in 2016. In the Sand Marble Rally, marbles race in tracks made out of sand on a sandy hillside. All competitors are 25 mm in diameter.[1]
Overview[]
Season | Races | Champions | Runners-up | Third Place |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 12 | Ghost Plasma | Big Pearl | Dragon's Egg |
2017 | 13 | Dragon's Egg | Red Number 3 | Slimer |
2018 | 8 | Red Number 3 | Phoenix | Superball |
2019 | Red Number 3 | Ghost Plasma | Superball | |
S5 | 12 | Superball | Cool Moody | Slimer |
S6 | 10 | Slimer | Ducktape | Superball |
S7 | Blue Moon | Pollo Loco | Dragon's Egg |
Tracks[]
The tracks are constructed by Jelle Bakker. He usually gets assisted by his brother Dion Bakker and/or volunteers. Every track constructed hosts 2 races.
Marble Rally Season 5 was the first season to feature a non-sand race, with Race 7 & 8 taking place on snow.
Locations[]
Sand[]
The following sandhills have held Marble Rally races:
Snow[]
Obstacles[]
In the 2016 Sand Marble Rally and mainly the 2017 Sand Marble Rally there were obstacles placed on the tracks. "Artificial" obstacles were removed from the 2018 Sand Marble Rally on to make the races more fair and less reliant on luck. In 2019, the chevron sign, boost and drophole were reinstated. In 2020, the "Shuffle Board" was introduced to mix up the order and make the races less predictable.
- Split / Junction
- Rotating mill / beacon / chevron sign
- Jump / Ramp
- Drophole
- Unrimmed curve
- Slalom
- Teardrop
- Plinko board
- Hairpin
- Braid
- Tunnel
- Loose Items (These items can sometimes be moved by marbles after been hit, but can also bounce back the marbles)
- Dummy Balls: They will just roll down the course after been hit.
- Conifer Cones, Acorns, Chestnuts: These things will just roll down a part of the course and can hinder the marbles, but these can be pushed off track.
- Sticks / Twigs: Loose sticks or twigs can be pushed aside of the track. However, a stick or twig which has been pushed in the course can bounce the marbles back. They are usually found in splits or junctions.
- Tree roots: They will launch or bounce back marbles when struck.
- Stones / Rocks / Pebbles: Little ones will be simply pushed away, but larger ones will bounce off or misdirect the marbles. When a marble hits a stone with high speed, the marble can suffer injury which would eliminate the marble from the rest of the tournament.
- Leaves: These will reduce the speed of the marbles.
- Shuffle Board: A flat wooden plate followed by a banked turn that can slow down marbles quite extremely
- Trap gate: a gate placed at a split path, where a marble can run through a metal rod in the center to close the gate and force trailing marbles to take a specific path
Races[]
The races in the Marble Rally range from 1 to almost 4 minutes with the majority of the races typically around 2 minutes in length.
Sand[]
The majority of Marble Rally races have been held on sand with only two so far not held on sand.
Race conditions have been officially determined on the channel since 2019 with the main factors being the weather and sand conditions
- Weather type: Cloudy is most favorable
- Temperature: 10 to 20 degrees Celsius is most favorable
- Wind direction: Low wind is most favorable
- Sand condition: Wet sand after rain is most favorable
These specific conditions have led to difficulties in recording more Marble Rally races.
Competitors[]
- Main article: Sand Marble Rally Competitors
All Sand Marble Rally marbles have a diameter of 25 mm.
33 competitors competed in the first half of the 2016 season and 20 in the second half. Every season since has featured 20 competitors decided by qualifiers or invitation, with the exception of Season 6, featuring just 16 competitors. In Season 7 was reverted back into 20 competitors
References[]
- ↑ @Jelles_com. Twitter (11th January 2018). “The official size of marblelympic athletes is 16mm, but their friends from Sand Marble Racing are actually bigger with a diameter of 24mm!”
All Marble Rally races | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
2016: Q · R1 · R2 · R3 · R4 · R5 · R6 · R7 · R8 · R9 · R10 · R11 · R12 | ||||
2017: Q · R1 · R2 · R3 · R4 · R5 · R6 · R7 · R8 · R9 · R10 · R11 · R12 · F | ||||
2018: Q · R1 · R2 · R3 · R4 · R5 · R6 · R7 · R8 | ||||
2019: Q · R1 · R2 · R3 · R4 · R5 · R6 · R7 · R8 | ||||
S5: R1 · R2 · R3 · R4 · R5 · R6 · R7 · R8 · R9 · R10 · R11 · R12 | ||||
S6: Q · R1 · R2 · R3 · R4 · R5 · R6 · R7 · R8 · R9 · R10 | ||||
S7: Q · R1 · R2 · R3 · R4 · R5 · R6 · R7 · R8 · R9 · R10 | ||||
Miscellaneous: 750-Foot Race · 500-Foot Race · Extra Race · Giant Funnel Race · Patreon Marble Rally · MR22 Practice Round · Billiards Race |