Funnel Spinning

Funnel Spinning during the ML 2017 Qualifiers

**Funnel Spinning**, also known as **Funnel Race** or **Funnel Endurance**, is an event that has been featured in numerous Marble Leagues, and has also been a part of the Hubelino Tournament. The goal of the event is to stay spinning in a series of funnels the longest. The last marble left in the funnels wins.

## Rules

The object of the Funnel Race is different from other races, as the marbles are attempting to set the slowest time possible. One marble from each team is sent to represent their team and compete in the event. The marbles are released at the same time and must attempt to stay in the upper funnels for as long as possible. Once reaching the bottom and coming out of the last funnel, the marble's timer is stopped.

### Marble League

#### Single-Heat

When 12 or fewer marbles are competing in the event, all of them are released simultaneously. The first marble to finish ranks last, and the last to finish wins.

#### Main Tournament

There are 2 heats of 8 marbles each. In each heat, the first 4 marbles to exit the final funnel are eliminated from the event. They are ranked such that the slowest eliminated marble finishes in 9th, and the fastest in 16th. The 4 winners of each heat advance to the final round, where the top 8 placements are determined by the order they finish the final in.

The course underwent changes beginning from the 2020 season, but used exclusively Hubelino funnels in prior years.

### Hubelino Tournament

The Hubelino Tournament follows the single-heat format used in some Marble League renditions of the event.

### Last Marble Standing

In Last Marble Standing's rendition of the funnel event, all 6 marbles raced in 2 heats together. After both heats were completed, the marble who spent the longest cumulative time in the funnels won the event.

## Appearances

### 2016

#### Hubelino Tournament 2016

*Main article: Hubelino Tournament 2016*
Funnel Spinning was the first event of Hubelino Tournament 2016. The tournament was the first time this event was held. The Black Jacks got first place, the Minty Maniacs got second place, the Golden Orbs got third place, the Valiant Violets got fourth place, the Bluefastics got fifth place, the Green Gang got sixth place, Team Phoenix got seventh place, and the Ruby Rollers got eighth/last place.

### 2017

#### Marble League 2017 Qualifiers

*Main article: Marble League 2017 Qualifiers*
The Funnel Spin made a second appearance during the qualifying round of Marble League 2017, making its way from the Hubelino Tournament into Marble League for the first time. The Midnight Wisps placed first, while the Quicksilvers and Team Galactic rounded out the top three.

#### Marble League 2017

*Main article: Marble League 2017*
The Funnel Race was the first event of Marble League 2017. Team Primary, the Oceanics, and the Pinkies all earned medals.

### 2018

#### Hubelino Tournament 2018

*Main article: Hubelino Tournament 2018*
Making its second appearance in the Hubelino Tournament, the Funnel Race awarded both the Black Jacks and the Minty Maniacs with their second gold and silver medals in Funnel Spinning. The Valiant Violets took third and earned their first Funnel Spinning medal.

### 2019

#### Marble League 2019 Qualifiers

*Main article: Marble League 2019 Qualifiers*
The Funnel Race started off the qualifying events for Marble League 2019. Green Eye of the Crazy Cat's Eyes pulled off a twelve-second lead on the second place team, the Balls of Chaos, and earned 25 points. The Hazers earned third place.

#### Marble League 2019 Friendly Round

*Main article: Marble League 2019 Friendly Round*
The Funnel Race started off the friendly round for Marble League 2019. Aqua for the Oceanics won the event, followed by the Midnight Wisps in second and the Savage Speeders in third.

#### Marble League 2019

*Main article: Marble League 2019*
Making a reappearance from the qualifiers and the friendly round, the Funnel Race was the second event of Marble League 2019. Speedy from the Savage Speeders replicated their teammate Rapidly's success, and earned a second gold medal in a row, coming off to an early lead. The Raspberry Racers earned their first medal of the year, helping them secure a spot up in the standings, securing their eventual championship win. The Hazers earned their second Funnel Race medal, taking after their strategy in the qualifiers.

However, the most infamous incident happened in Heat 1 with Clementin from the O'rangers who got stuck at the very start of the course, leading to a did not finish.

#### Marble League Showdown 2019

*Main article: Marble League Showdown 2019*
The third overall Funnel Race event of 2019 was featured in the Marble League Showdown. The Snowballs, who failed to qualify for Marble League 2019, claimed gold. The Minty Maniacs, after coming from the Hubelino Tournament, were well versed in this event, and earned their third silver Funnel Race medal. Not far behind them, the Rojo Rollers earned a bronze medal.

### 2020

#### Last Marble Standing

*Main article: Last Marble Standing*
The first event of Last Marble Standing was the Funnel Spin. The format was slightly changed again, with the event involving two heats. The cumulative time from both heats was used as the final score. Graze of Glory managed to just win the event after winning Heat 1 but coming second to last in Heat 2. Team Purity managed to pick up the silver medal followed by Dairy Dash winning the bronze.

#### Marble League 2020 Qualifiers

*Main article: Marble League 2020 Qualifiers*
Funnel Endurance was the second of the qualifying events for Marble League 2020. Mo of Team Momo pulled off an thirteen-second lead on the second place team, the Balls of Chaos, and earned 25 points. The O'rangers earned third place.

This came another DNF accident with Leap from the Jungle Jumpers flew off the track due to a track defect. They got 2 consolation points for this accident.

#### Marble League 2020 Friendly Round

*Main article: Marble League 2020 Friendly Round*
Funnel Endurance was the second event of the friendly round for Marble League 2020. Razzy for the Raspberry Racers won the event, followed by Team Galactic in second and the Hazers in third.

#### Marble League 2020

*Main article: Marble League 2020*
Making a reappearance from the qualifiers and the friendly round, Funnel Endurance was the third event of Marble League 2020. Minty Drizzel from the Minty Maniacs won the gold, their third medal in a row, making them the team with the most successful start to a Marble League. The O'rangers earned their second medal of the year, a silver. The bronze medal was won by the Savage Speeders, starting to redeem their poor start to Marble League 2020.

### 2021

#### Marble League 2021 Qualifiers

*Main article: Marble League 2021 Qualifiers*
Funnel Endurance was the second of the qualifying events for Marble League 2021. Due to the new qualifying format, the 12 teams in each of the two qualifying groups had to compete together in one run down the funnel tower. The Group A run was won by Leap of the Jungle Jumpers in a remarkable comeback after last year's DNF in the same event. The Group B run was won by Rezzy of the Raspberry Racers, beating runners-up Green Ducks by 8 seconds.

#### Marble League 2021 Friendly Round

*Main article: Marble League 2021 Friendly Round*
Funnel Endurance was the second event of the friendly round for Marble League 2021. Yellow Eye for the Crazy Cat's Eyes won the event, followed by Savage Speeders in second and the O'rangers in third.

#### Marble League 2021

*Main article: Marble League 2021*
Making a reappearance from the qualifiers and the friendly round, Funnel Endurance was the fourth event of Marble League 2021. Teams were again divided into two heats of 8 for the qualifying heats; surprising eliminations during the stage included the Hazers, host team Crazy Cat's Eyes, and 2020's winners the Minty Maniacs. In the final run, Mocha of the Chocolatiers narrowly won a duel with Rezzy of the Raspberry Racers to take gold, with third place going to Rojo Dos of the Rojo Rollers.

Another infamous incident happened this time, with misfortune for Blue Attendant who got stuck at the entry point for final funnel, leading to the first ever DNF for attedants.

#### Marble League Showdown 2021

*Main article: Marble League Showdown 2021*
The final overall Funnel Endurance event of 2021 was featured in the Marble League Showdown. Each of the 12 teams in 2021's Showdown competed in one run down the tower, similar to the Qualifiers version. A gold medal from Gnome of the Kobalts meant the team earned consecutive medals in the first two events. Gaining the silver medal were the Pinkies and the bronze medal went to the Jungle Jumpers.

## Analysis

While the ruleset of Funnel Endurance stayed the same across all years, the track itself tend to introduce new components every year, changing the dynamics of this unpredictable and fast-paced event.

A mainstay of every Funnel Endurance tower are the smaller, orange Hubelino funnels. Using data from 2019's funnel events, which used exclusively the Hubelino funnels, a community member observed the kind of outlier performances possible in the event. Some teams are capable of falling through many funnels in rapid succession, while other teams can stay for up to half a minute in one funnel. One theory of the mechanics behind this is that by contacting a new marble dropping down the right way, a marble can steal kinetic energy and also cause their opponent to drop down right away.

Since 2020, Funnel Endurance towers have a first half comprising the Hubelino funnels and a second half comprising wider funnels that can easily hold all competitors at once. The final funnel has always been a shallow green MaBoRun funnel, preceded by hyperbolic funnels in 2020 and smaller blue funnels in 2021. Marbles leading the pack going into these funnels may see reversals of fate if they collide against a competitor, losing their momentum and getting pulled closer to the hole.

Winners of the latest Funnel Endurance events can be categorized into two cases. In the first case, the marble has built up such a lead through the Hubelino funnels that they barely contact competitors in the later funnels, coasting to victory: examples of this can be seen in qualifying heats in both 2020 and 2021. In the second case, the marble was not necessarily in the lead going into the final funnel, but was able to outlast other competitors in the final seconds. A notable example of this is the final run in 2020's Funnel Endurance, where the winners (Minty Maniacs) were the first to enter the final funnel and bronze medalists (Savage Speeders) were the third to enter.

According to Jelle, by basing performance based off of longest time spent rather than first to the end, the event rewards round marbles who can spin around more times than misshapen ones. While team performance in the funnel tower is unpredictable, certain teams strong in racing and track events (e.g. the Sprint and the Hurdles) also have podium performances in this event: the Savage Speeders and the Raspberry Racers are double medalists, with other notable performances by the Hazers, Minty Maniacs and Chocolatiers.

## References

1. ↑ u/JMR\_Throwaway (10 September 2019). Flattening the Funnel Race. Reddit.
2. ↑ Jelle's Marble Runs (23rd April 2019). Marble Race: Marble League 2019 E2 - Funnel Race.