Sudden purchase without a clue

Usually I aim to not buy things impulsively. When a product get’s my attention, it’s added on the wishlist and I set a target price for myself. When this price is reached, I decide if I buy the product or delete it from the list. Usually. And then the Hasbro Beyblade X Xtreme Battle Set was discounted while I was shopping more or less usefull stuff for the advent calendar for my girlfriend.

The set arrived two days later at my home and I felt happy like a small child. I unpacked it on the post and played with it. My girlfriend wasn’t as happy as me, but I could motivate her to play some rounds with me. We started the Beys into the arena with the also shipped launcher and observed then, how they danced around each other and collided, until one of them stopped moving or was pushed out of the arena. But as fast I got hooked, as fast I got released again and the Arena including Beyblades were stored in the cupboard.

Not only digital

I’m a gamer and a nerd. I love playing video games and doing a lot of stuff connected to computers. Optimizing my system, vibe code some software or tinkering with my hardware. But these are all digital hobbies or just activities done with myself. Because of this, I was on search for a physical hobby that fits my personality since several months. Three things came to my mind, Magic: The Gathering collecting cards and competitions, Warhammer 40,000 tabletop or TTRPGs. TTRGs were to nerdy for me. Warhammer 40,000 is a big investment in time, money and space. No hoddy you just start and try out. Coloring the models, built the battlefields, play the campaigns over hours. That’s to much for me.

So I decided on Magic: The Gathering. A starterset was ordered easily and the urge to collect was awoken. Over the following two years additional sets from discounts were added and I played some games against my girlfriend over the time. But the lack of spare time and other priorities hindered me in getting deeper into the topic. One day I like to catch up and started to delve deeper into Magic. And the deeper I dug, the less I understood. Commander? Deck Building? Editions? Booster packs or buy specific cards? Easy rules, but thousands of skills, traps, effects, spells and interactions. I also tried the digital variant Magic Arena, without getting any more intelligent. Just go on a physical event and play seems impossible. One must invest time and money. I already invested over 100 Euro and still had no deck to seriously play against others.

In this moment I was somewhat frustrated and dropped on my Sofa. From there, my view catched the Beyblade X arena. Does somebody really plays Beyblade seriously? Are there meetings like for Magic? And if yes, are there also grown-ups?

Suprising Beyblade X community

Instantly I started by search engine to get an overview. The topic is surprisingly more complexe then I expected at the beginning. Beyblades exist since 1999 in Japan and were brought to the west in 2002 by Hasbro. I’m not sure, if the physical Beyblades just were merchandise for the anime, or if it was the other way round and the anime should’ve boosted the sales of the Beyblades.

The X made me already guess, that there are multiple generations, of course all somehow different and not mixable. The original generation was a pure toy made of plastic, but was succeeded by the Metal generation nine years later. With this generation just lasting for four years, the burst generation was released after a two year break in 2015. Again partially made of metal but now with the possibility to bust the Beyblades into it’s parts on collisions. Since 2023 the newest variant X is in the stores, now with teeths on the Bey and in the arena for more actions.

Beyblade as brand is more active, then I expected. But are there really tournaments? Surprisingly yes. There is a mix of community and official tournaments. The official ones are run by the manufacturers and on nation level. The winners of this tournament are qualified to participate in international events. The community events on the other hand are well organised too. There is an official plattform with leaderboards. Every blader can run an event, even ranked ones when there participate at least four plasers and a certified judge is presend. For a spinner-sports in small groups this is unexpected bureaucratic and standardised, with the oversight by the community plattform World of Beyblade. And yes, there are many grown ups in the Beyblade community, most likely long time players.

The Beyblades

The Beyblades, Beys called, are diverse too. In the first moment one can beliefe they are just cheap merchandise toys, like the first generation likely was. But with current generation, this conclusion is far to short sighted. Every Bey consists of at least three parts. At the very top is the Blade, which is the heavy, solid metal body. Below that is the Ratchet, which connects the Blade to the Bit. The Bit is the contact surface, or the tip of the spinning top.

Every Bey consists of these three parts and always comes complete. However, the parts are not fixed and inseparable, but can be freely combined. This makes sense, since there are various versions of each part with different characteristics. For example, some Blades are heavier or have more jagged edges, Ratchets can grip tighter or be taller, and Bits have flat, round, or otherwise shaped tips.

This makes it possible to assemble your own Bey and actively determine its characteristics. A more angular Blade for attack, with a flat Ratchet to hit the opposing top more on the underside, with a more pointed Bit for more dynamic movements. Depending on the configuration, the Beys are then divided into Attack, Defense, Stamina, and Balance. Attack actively tries to knock the opponent over or throw them out of the arena, Defense tries to brake the opponent to a standstill, Stamina ignores the opponent and spins for as long as possible, Balance is somewhere in between.

In terms of build quality, the Beyblades are surprisingly good. The Blades consist of cast metal, the rest of plastic, I suspect ABS. The launchers are also made of plastic and are available in various versions. However, only one feature is truly different: the pull system. With one type, you push a jagged plastic stick into the launcher and then pull forcefully. The other type is a pull cord, which retracts back into the launcher after the launch.

The launcher hooks into the top of the Bey in the direction of rotation using three L-shaped hooks. This causes the hooks to automatically slip out when the launcher spins slower than the Beyblade, releasing it.

The Gameplay

It is normally played by two players. Each chooses three Beys in advance and their order. Then the starting signal is given via a countdown and the famous “Let it rip”. Both players pull their launchers and the Beyblades fall spinning into the arena. This is a shallow bowl, protected by a cover made of transparent plastic. On one side, there are also three zones that count as out of bounds. And then there is the gear ring, which converges towards the center on one side. This is new in the X generation. When a Bey touches it, the gears on the bit hook into the rail and the Bey is shot around the arena into the center. In the best case, it hits the opposing Bey with force there and attacks it.

The game is played with three designated tops until one player has four points. Different types of victories award different amounts of points. There is only one point if your own Bey spins longer than the opponent’s. More points are awarded if you knock the opposing Bey out of the arena or even dismantle it into its individual parts. Yes, the Beys can fall apart, depending on the strength of the ratchet. But that’s not exactly easy; the parts are connected quite firmly to each other.

The fact that it still works and also happens regularly shows how much power is actually in the tops. When you see an Extreme Dash, the acceleration via the gear ring, with a subsequent collision, you are amazed at how violently the whole thing happens. I wouldn’t want to have my fingers in between. Certainly not dangerous, but definitely painful.

What’s next

So it became clear to me that the two Beyblades from the starter set are not enough. For a competition, you need at least three tops. Added to this is the collecting factor and the combining of different parts. The great thing is that the parts of any Beyblade can be swapped with those of other Beyblades. Prefer a flat bit instead of the included round one? If you have a flat one, you are allowed to swap it. Currently, there are 50 Beys, 22 ratchets, and 35 bits in Europe. This means theoretically 38,500 different combinations are possible. If you had all the parts…

But the tournaments are certainly more exciting. I haven’t participated in one yet. But according to my research, there are at least two regular events in my immediate vicinity. I will certainly participate there soon and beforehand see what the best combination of my five Beyblades so far is.

I am excited and will keep you updated here. Perhaps an insight into the world of Beyblade X competitions interests you too.