With the absence of live sports in our current lives, something new has made its debut in the sports world: marble racing. The idea of marble racing came from the YouTube channel Jelle’s Marble Runs which is run by Jelle Bakker and Dion Bakker. Their channel, which was created in 2006, is based around marbles, marble games, and marble runs — essentially everything marbles. 

The reason for the sudden explosion of marble racing is because of the competitive element it can bring back into people’s lives. Without being able to watch competitions from live basketball, baseball, and other sporting events, people are feeling the lack of competitiveness. However, marble racing is able to bring the competitiveness back, as it is just like a normal sport with underdogs and major upsets. 

There are three main events that occur on the YouTube channel: Marble Rally, Marble League, and Marbula One. The most basic event is the Marble Rally where the idea is for the marbles to roll down a hill where the first one to the bottom wins. Marble League is an Olympic style competition, where it is full of more than 15 different events for the marbles to compete in. The third main event, Marbula One, is inspired by the real-world Grand Prix where the marbles participate in a multiple lap race.

Junior, Mikayla Brehm, explains how she heard about marble racing during her time at home. “It popped in my YouTube feed one day and I was very curious what it was.” Brehm continues to share that once she started watching it, she understood the obsession that people have over it since it gives them a sense of competition.

How about you? Will you join the millions of people watching marble racing?