Owned by Dutch brothers Jelle and Dion Bakker, Jelle’s Marble Runs stands as one of the most popular marble racing competitions in the world, with the team coming up with extremely engaging content for the league’s official YouTube channel. The channel even boasts a whopping 1.4 million subscribers alongside 172 million views so far. They have an official parody of F1 called ‘Marbula One.’ Their ever growing popularity could very well be compared to the growth of F1, and the marbles competing against one another could be seen as the ‘Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’ of their world.
In 2009, Jelle even earned a Guinness World Record for the world’s longest marble run. It was a record that lasted until 2011. 9 years later, the younger brother, Dion, established the Marble Race as a business. Soon after, the brothers introduced Marbula One- a Formula One Parody, which even the FIA accepted.
F1 has grown immensely over the last few years. This has evidently helped Jelle and Dion grow their own brand too. The same people who see the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen compete on the track, also want to tune into the Marbula One, to get a light-hearted and fun version of the same.
At present, the Marble races have four disciplines, with the most popular of all the disciplines being the Marble Olympics, where several teams compete in tens of different challenges, and a medal tally keeps a record of which ‘nation’ is in the lead after each event.
The Marble Rally is another competition of the channel where marbles compete with each other. In this discipline, marbles have to overcome obstacles on an off-road track and register a race win. The top-ranked marbles earn automatic qualification for the next iteration of the rally.
Next is the Marbula One Racing. Debuting in 2020, the Marbula One originally had 16 marbles competing on tracks resembling real-life tracks, and the races followed the real-life rules as best they could. There was a points system in place that awarded points the same way F1 does, including an extra point for the fastest lap.
Presently, the races consist of 20 marbles competing for the title. Building off of the Marbula One concept, the league introduced Marbula E racing, even securing the backing of Envision Virgin Racing. The races feature names of real teams that competed on the Formula E grid of the 2019-20 season, unlike the rest of the leagues, which feature made-up names.
The F1 Parody is as good as it gets
Despite it essentially being marbles rolling around on a slope, the attention to detail in each video is beyond one’s imagination. There are huge crowds, VIP guests, various ceremonies, team colors, fan bases, and everything else one could dream of. The fandom of the league has grown so much that various communities have taken shape on social media platforms such as Reddit.
Jelle’s Marble League gained real traction owing to the global lockdown and the hiatus of all sporting activities, filling a dreaded void of no sporting activities taking place on the planet.
While the concept of marble racing entertains most, the credibility of the races as a sport is one that still draws a question mark. However, a substantial fanbase and extensive coverage of the races have led people to believe it is a true sport. Away from YouTube, channels like ESPN8: The Ocho have also aired the marble events.
Addressing the same, Dion Bakker claimed, “It’s pretty serious now. People see it and experience it like a sport, a real sport.” He added it came as a shock to him that people see the races that way. The brothers now focus on growing the races enough to also be able to broadcast the Marbula One on American television.
