Marble Model Coasters

Okay.. I'm gonna take a chance here that someone will know what I'm talking about...

Years back when I was little, I asked every Christmas for this construction set that resembled a roller coaster, but instead of a train, plain silver marbles ran the track.  The track was grey (or black, can't remember) tubular plastic that wove in and out of itself with similar colored supports...

I now, for the life of me... can't remember the name of this contraption, nor can I find it in any of the current toy catalogs... Anyone remember this thing, and know if it's still available anywhere?

That would be Bandai's Space Warp. It has been discontinued, but there is a new one called Rollerscape. Check out this recent thread for more info.

Funny that someone should bring this thing up. Yesterday I was visiting the Discovery Channel store at the Cleveland area's yuppie mall (Beachwood Place) and saw a very similar toy, only the two sets they had were much shorter. I didn't think to check the manufacturer, but it looked like it was basically the same thing.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Gravity, Taipan, there's actually ANOTHER company that sold something similar - a recent acquaintance has a dual-track setup.  I remember the company had a two-word name, Dai Yan or something.  I WILL post back after I get the name, spelling and all...
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PoTP acolyte - remove fear to reply
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

My brothers and I had a SpaceWarp set in our younger days.  Matt (the youngest, and a lurker here on CoasterBuzz) was quite good with it actually.
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--Greg
"Beat the rush, sign up for your post-Mean Streak MRI now..."
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I can't remember the name, but there was yet ANOTHER set that I had with green and yellow supports and red spacers. It was really long and versitile. However, it didn't have an electric lift like Space Warp.
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"I'll bet that thing hits 5 Gs going through that loop.....faaar ooouut!"

Ah... Spacewarp.  My parents bought that for me when I was in 7th grade and I was doing a science fair project on the physics of roller coasters.  It was really cool, but after a while, you begin to notice the limitations.  You were only given so many platform pieces to work with, which really limited the footprint of your designs (if you chose to deviate from the design on the box).  The plastic ties that held the track together broke about 40% of the time, and the soft plastic track got shredded by the ties when they did work.  Still, it was just about the coolest toy ever, and I got hours of enjoyment out of it.  I used to make tunnels for it out of toilet paper rolls.  Man, I was insane.

I still want one, but who has $200 for a set on Ebay!?! I strongly encourage future coaster modelers to invest in something like this. It quickly teaches you basic physics and shows how a model reacts compared to the real thing. Everything from loop size to drop length can be experimented with. What's more, I was able to put magnets near the end and slow it down (keeping the marbles from slamming into the lift tower and flying off the table)!
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I had a rather large set that is still sort of set up in my parents basement. It needs a lot of dusting and the lift needs some repairs but I think I could get it running again. I just have to find the marbles. the fragile track ties were a problem. I became reluctant to change the designs around too much out of fear of ruining them. I remember creating a neat little lighting system for it. the lights were activated by the marbles closing the circuit by rolling over foil I wrapped around the rails. Great fun!

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everything's better with a banjo

You mean this toy?!

Personally I think it looks a little lame (no motorized lift?). Still, better than $200 for an abused SpaceWarp on Ebay.

Cam.
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Cameron Silver

*** This post was edited by Cameron on 12/19/2001. ***

Yep... that's the toy I saw!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

In my science class last year, we cut foam pipe insulation in half to make coaster track. Though to maintain speed, we would have had to have a few marbles hooked together, it was still fun.
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May 5th 2002-running of the bulls to catch the CP webcam spider and put him in a jar!