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[the Earl of Whirl]

Today's Dec. 13th USA Today newspaper has a full page article about gifts for the holidays that spark creativity and curiosity.  Under "objects that move in unexpected ways" it lists: a magnet, a slinky, a yo-yo, top, gyroscope, or Whee-lo (a magnetic spinning wheel toy.  "The natural thing for a kid or anyone to ask is, 'Why did they do that?'" Hirschon says.  "That gets them thinking and in the mood to learn."

[poptop]

Good news. 

I heard a radio news piece about Beyblades yesterday morning.

[ta0]

The inclusion of tops is a pleasant surprise. The Whee-lo a bigger surprise.

The December issue of Scientific American has 12 suggestions for brainy toys for the kids, submitted by scientists and educators. One of them is a "non-stop top with built-in light show":



I saw the first one of these at Worlds 05 when Taka had one (they are originally from Japan) and I got one in 06 from Grand Illusions, but they have come down substantially in price (an Amazon.com seller has it at $11.74). It always surprised me that it worked so well.

This is what Sciam says:

"The battery-powered to has a motor with an eccentric-weight inside that keeps it spinning until the battery turnsout. Matt Moses, who just earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at John Hopkins, asks these questions when showing it to students:

1. Would the top work if you spun it on a friction-less surface?
2. Suppose you were in orbit inside the International Space Station. If you spun it in midair, would it still work?
3. If the weight inside were not eccentric - that is, if it were perfectly balanced on the motor - would the top still work?
4. Does the weight spin in the same direction the top is spinning in or in the opposite direction?"

I thought I knew how this thing worked, but question 3 has got me thinking . . .

I heard a radio news piece about Beyblades yesterday morning.

I heard something about national and world contests but it was the alarm clock and I was half asleep. I need to look it up.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Hmmm.  I guess I wouldn't be surprised if someone organized some big beyblade contests.  They are all over the place.  The beyblade displays have been bigger than ever this year!

[poptop]

beyblade contests

Yes, that was it. 

The reporter briefly mentioned the toy companies who developed beyblades, Takara (Japan) & Hasbro (US), then chatted with a youngster who had won a contest.

FWIW, I learned that these two companies are the same pair that brought us Transformers!  Prolly not coincidence that I like both...

[Magical Wheel New Toy]

Magnetic Spinning Wheel Toy = Magical Wheel New Toy (Magnetic Stringless Yo-Yo) - Over 200+ Named Tricks "WIRZ"Inventor Needs Help Starting 100% Children's Charity  MAGICAL WHEEL - NEW TOY                                     MAGICAL WHEEL 2 - NEW TOY     MAGICAL WHEEL 3 - NEW TOY - The Toy You Can't Get Yet? Available 2012?

[ta0]

Here is the NPR story on Monkey See about Beyblades, it is worth listening (or reading):
Beyblades: A New Spin Puts An Old Toy Back On Top

I was also interested in a comment posted on the page about how popular they are in Mexico:

This is great! I'm currently teaching English in Mexico, and ALL of my third grade boys are absolutely obsessed with these toys. They write sentences in their notebooks about "BeyBlades". I had NO idea what they were talking about until I saw them playing at recess. "Bey Blade Metal Fusion" are probably the most common words spoken in class.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Ha ha!  They are all learning what we have known for a long time.  Tricks are great but there is something unique and special about battling tops.......the simplicity of it, the way people can interact together, the controlled wildness about it or whatever.  But most certainly it's not just something for the expert.  Rookies can join in and have fun, too.

Great article.  They are missing it, though.  Spinning tops like what we have is waaaay more fun.  It is just a step beyond beyblades.  One has a few more techniques to learn.  One has to practice a little bit more.  And one can modify the top (ohhh, don't we know that).  The NPR story talked about what kids love so much is changing things around with the different beyblade parts.  There are limits to their mods.  The possibilities with our top moding is endless.  But, for some reason, the kids are not thinking in that direction enough.  I know because I wait each year for more of the kids at our fest to try out different tops and different things that can help their spin.  Only a few do that and they are just cracking the surface.  Maybe this year will be different as they carry over some things they have seen from beyblade battles?  Maybe the entire battle top scene will be different this year thanks to beyblade cartoons and beyblade competitions.  We will see.

Oh, and I love the comments after the article where several girls complain about them commenting about this being so much of a "boy" thing.  Again, don't we know that.  It is a reality, although we certainly have done all we can to encourage more female involvement.  I got the biggest laugh out of one guy who simply answered "someone put on their McCranky pants today". 

[ta0]

The article mentions 120 million beyblades sold worldwide.  I would have guessed even more, but still that's about 1 billion (US) dollars in sales so far, not bad.

I was looking at the beyblade contest rulebook and no special mods are allowed. In particular, no cleaning the bearings (on the ones that have them) using mineral spirits!