The World Marbles On Sand Championship

[Steph]

The 2007 Tour info is at www.worldmarbles.com. (Here's the English version.)

The site has pix of past tournaments, e.g., from 2006.

The rules.

1. Heats are made up of between 6 and 8 competitors. The competitors begin at the START line and each player takes his or her turn to have a first flick.
   
2. Each competitor is attributed a coloured mini-cyclist used to mark the position of his/her marble on the circuit. The mini-cyclist is placed by the referee on the edge of the circuit next to the track.
   
3. Each player may choose his own technique. However, the marble should be FLICKED with the thumb, index or middle finger. The hand or a finger must always remain in contact with the sand.
   
4. The marble must NOT take off, but should roll as far as possible on the track. If the marble takes off, the player forfeits his turn.
   
5. The marble must follow the track (full of obstacles !). Poles mark out different zones (eg. chicanes, the mountain etc..) . The marble must always pass through these poles. Shots are disqualified if the marble leaves the marked out boundaries of the sand track.
   
6. The referee will refuse shots if : the marble is pushed, if it takes off or if it leaves the track. When a shot is refused, the competitor stays in his/her initial place and awaits the next go.
   
7. Once all players have left the START line, the player who is in the lead plays again, followed by the player in 2nd place etc...
   
8. The winner of each race is the first past the FINISH LINE.
   

Here are some official gamepieces, cyclists and some of the marbles, from la boutique.

The company formerly known as Vacor appears to be the tournament's marble supplier. This link is to a large (1.3M) pdf image of the from the site showing photos of what appears to be the complete set of official marbles in their blister packs. It's in French, which imho is cool! Check out the French words for shooter size marbles and boulders.

In case you're not into playing and maybe you like to collect marble packaging, there appear to be unoffical versions also. For example, this from Amazon.fr:

And these pix from Fnac éveil & jeux show pieces set up in the sand.

[Chad G.]

On 8/10/2007 at 9:59 AM, Steph said:

The 2007 Tour info is at www.worldmarbles.com. (Here's the English version.)

The site has pix of past tournaments, e.g., from 2006.

The rules.

1. Heats are made up of between 6 and 8 competitors. The competitors begin at the START line and each player takes his or her turn to have a first flick.
2. Each competitor is attributed a coloured mini-cyclist used to mark the position of his/her marble on the circuit. The mini-cyclist is placed by the referee on the edge of the circuit next to the track.
3. Each player may choose his own technique. However, the marble should be FLICKED with the thumb, index or middle finger. The hand or a finger must always remain in contact with the sand.
4. The marble must NOT take off, but should roll as far as possible on the track. If the marble takes off, the player forfeits his turn.
5. The marble must follow the track (full of obstacles !). Poles mark out different zones (eg. chicanes, the mountain etc..) . The marble must always pass through these poles. Shots are disqualified if the marble leaves the marked out boundaries of the sand track.
6. The referee will refuse shots if : the marble is pushed, if it takes off or if it leaves the track. When a shot is refused, the competitor stays in his/her initial place and awaits the next go.
7. Once all players have left the START line, the player who is in the lead plays again, followed by the player in 2nd place etc...
8. The winner of each race is the first past the FINISH LINE.

Here are some official gamepieces, cyclists and some of the marbles, from la boutique.

The company formerly known as Vacor appears to be the tournament's marble supplier. This link is to a large (1.3M) pdf image of the from the site showing photos of what appears to be the complete set of official marbles in their blister packs. It's in French, which imho is cool! Check out the French words for shooter size marbles and boulders.

In case you're not into playing and maybe you like to collect marble packaging, there appear to be unoffical versions also. For example, this from Amazon.fr:

And these pix from Fnac éveil & jeux show pieces set up in the sand.

What a trip, never would've suspected any such thing existed, nice post Steph, very unusual indeed !!