It’s summer in the mid-2000s. There’s a heat wave and the only window air conditioner your family has is croaking, making the small apartment toasty. Your mom is in the kitchen cooking while talking to your aunt. She’s making pasta salad from one of the box kits and hot dogs because the effort to cook is low.

There’s an old rerun of Friends on the TV. You and your siblings dislike the show, but Mom controls the remote. Instead, you three are engaged in one of the greatest sibling showdowns in family history.

On the living floor is a cheap neon green plastic stadium from Walmart. The fifth one your mom had to buy because they kept breaking. This one broke too, but no one wants to tell her. It was bought a few days prior.

Instead, the broken stadium is pushed to the side, and you use the good hardwood floor as the arena for the latest toy obsession, Beyblades. Plastic spinning tops that involve launching from a ripcord.

You and your brothers spend a few minutes launching it on the floor before it loses appeal. However, you three figured out that you could rip them at each other, which is all fun and games until a bey hits near an eye. A commotion ensues, begging the sibling not to tell Mom.

You hear the phrase “I’ll call you back, the kids are up to something”. Mom comes out, thoroughly annoyed because she warned about this before leaving to cook.

We lost our bey privileges that day, and my brother gained a black eye from a miscalculated Beyblade. My mom didn’t return them until a few weeks later, however, at that point my brothers had already moved on from them. Yu-Gi-Oh was in fashion. My older cousins had begun to play, so they followed in pursuit.

It was just me. I didn’t want to play unless it was with my brothers. Before the holidays, the beys sat on a shelf until my mom did the customary unwanted toy clean-out. Beyblade faded into the nostalgia.

It wasn’t until about three months ago, when I was walking past the toy aisle in our local pharmacy, that I saw a package that read “Beyblade X”.

Strange…

Then I saw it again every time I went to pick up my prescription. My interest peaked until I caved and bought one. Wildly overpriced at the time, but I didn’t know yet.

Now I’m thirty beys deep and growing steadily. It’s a fun game, and the community has been very welcoming.

Beyblades?

Beyblade is a spinning-top toy created by Takara in 1999. Then Takara merged with Tomy, so beys are released by Takara Tomy now. Several companies have released Beyblades, such as Hasbro and Sonokong. Hasbro releases their own versions of the Takara Tomy X beys. Some are often identical, but there are slight differences. I personally enjoy the Takara Tomy Beys better.

There was a manga that went along with the toy that was published from 1999 to 2004 as well as an anime that was released in 2001. I haven’t read or watched any of them at the moment. It is on the list of things to read and watch.

Generations:

There are four generations of Beyblades.

1. The original series (1999)

2. Beyblade Metal Fusion (2008)

3. Beyblade Burst (2015)

4. Beyblade X (2023)

How do you play?

The short explanation is that Beyblade is a spinning top game that involves players launching their tops into an arena. The last top spinning wins the round. The losing opponent either has their bey stop spinning, is removed from the arena (knocked out), or has it burst apart.

The longer explanation is the worldbeyblade.org rules, which can be found here.

Right? Left? Both

Some beys only spin to the right and some only spin to the left. In the older generations, such as the plastic gen, some could dual-spin. This hasn’t really been seen in X yet. Most launchers will be built to spin in these directions. Some launchers can spin both right and left.

Types

There are a couple types of Beyblades: Stamina, Defense, Attack, and Balance.

Stamina types are built to keep spinning while taking hits.

Defense types are heavy, bulky, built to take hits, and not be knocked out. Weak against stamina types. They’re good at countering attack types.

Attack types are built for speed and dealing hits. They often have poor stamina, but are good for countering stamina types. Weak against Defense types.

Balance types are exactly what the name suggests. They balance all the previously mentioned types. They tend to be taken out easily by stamina types.

Parts/Systems

Not all bey blades have the same number of parts, depending on the generation. Each system changes and features new gimmicks. For example, the Beyblade X parts consist of:

Blades

These are the metal top rings. They contain the gear chip and translucent plastic as well.

Ratchet

The part in the middle. You might see them referred to as 1-60, 1-80, 4-60, 9-80, and so on. The first number refers to the nubs on the ratchet. These can determine how easy it is to burst the bey. The second number refers to height.

A 4-70 ratchet would have four bumps and a 7.0-millimeter height.

Bits

There are the tips of the bey! They’re the bottom part. There are bits with different heights, tips, and grooves. The number of grooves helps to determine how well they’ll xtreme dash.

Xtreme Dash

Xtreme Dash is a gimmick that involves the gears on the bits catching on the x-celerator rail on the new stadiums. This greatly increases the speed.

Launchers

There are a variety of launchers to choose from depending on the generation, but it generally boils down to Ripcords and String launchers.

I bought the string launcher and a grip because the ripcord launchers with some beys feel awkward to hold.

Stance and how you launch also play a role in the game. Some launching poses work better than others. I found it better to practice and see what works best for you.

If you want some fun, there’s someone who sells an extra-long ripcord. I bought one, and it’s been a hoot to play with. I wouldn’t do it near things that break easily, though. It dented the baseboard in my living room because the bey I launched using it flew out of the arena onto the floor.

Stadiums

Stadiums are useful for beyblading. They are the arenas you use to launcher your beys into. There are a variety of stadiums to select from. Some beys work better with specific stadiums than others.

When I began to collect and play, I bought the xtreme battle set (with two beys and an arena with the x-celerator rail). I also know people who just use old pots and pans too. It’s really up to personal preference.

Storage/Display

I’m a sucker for storage and displays. I bought a case for my X beys, but haven’t had luck finding a storage case for my older generations, since they’re larger. They’re currently on display on my TV stand. I use this 3D print file as stands.

This is the case for my X’s. I just took the bit off and put it in the same pocket.

Shopping

I buy most of my beys from stores like Target or BeyandBricks.com. They’re harder to find in my area. Online shopping is the easier route at times.

Looking for others

The only downside is that I don’t know many people in my area who play as well. Our local state fair had a Hasbro pop-up where I hoped to meet new players. It was a bummer. There wasn’t anyone else there, and then my partner and I weren’t allowed to do the raffle (despite other people posting their prizes while having no kids or anything with them).

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Have a happy Wednesday! — J