Spacewarp (toy)

Spacewarp is line of build-it-yourself toy rolling ball "roller coasters" first made in the 1980s by Bandai.[1] Users cut lengths of track to the correct size from a single roll of thick plastic tubing, forming curves and loops held in place by plastic track rail holders which attach to metal rods held vertical in a black plastic base. Steel balls roll around the track and on to a battery-powered Screw conveyor that takes them to the top to start all over again.

Production of Spacewarp toys ended around 1988. Replacement parts were sold until 1995.[1]

A redesigned Spacewarp toy was re-introduced to the Japanese market in 2005 by Tanomi. [2] Improvements included redesigned parts which were less prone to breakage.[1]

Sets

1985-1990s North American Imports:

Set Description Rail (mm) Base Plates Special Feature(s)
10 Beginning Coaster 14,000 3 Pre-formed plastic u-turns
20 Intermediate Coaster 22,000 11
30 Advanced Coaster
40 Expert Coaster 43,000 20
Black Wolf 20,000 8 staircase, chimes, black plastic tubing

1985-1995 Japanese Market:

Set Description Rail (mm) Base Plates Special Feature(s)
10
15 17,000 8
20
30
40 43,000 20
I 11,000 6 Toothed lift
II 22,000 12
L 6 Electric lights
Action 1 Windmill
Action 2
Blue Wings 28,000 11
Space Tree
W 8

2005–present:

Sets are assigned a complexity level of 1 to 9.

Set Description Rail (mm) Base Plates Complexity Notes
Desktop preformed plastic tracks instead of plastic tubing for rails
231-1 Start 5,000 3 1
213-2 3500 9,000 2 2
231-3 5000 16,000 6 3
231-4 26,000 9 4
231-5 10000 32,000 12 5
231-6 60,000 6 6
231-7 40,000 12 7
231-8 40,000 12 8
231-9 68,000 13 9

Accessories

Additional accessories include lighting kits, a staircase, bell ringer, escalator and more.

Knock-Offs

As with many popular toys, nearly identical counterfeit editions have emerged under the Chinese "Spacerail" brand.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Spacewarp Toys
  2. Bandai SpaceWarp Rereleased in Japan
  3. "spilth.org » Bandai Spacewarp 5000". Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved 2008-12-13.

External links


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