My grandmother had a very similar game to this, except it was multi-player. The game was shaped like a cross, with different "stations" on each end, so four people could play at once. Each station was different, focusing on a different mechanism, some of which are nearly identical to this game. Instead of a single ball, each player had a handful of balls and you would compete to successfully navigate the most balls through your station to the center of the board, where there was a small basin.

From what I remember, one was station was just like the "lilypad" section, where you had to "hop" the ball from one launcher to another. Another was like the wave see-saw portion at the start of this game. A different one I don't see here was sort of like a slanted pinball field, where you had to shoot the ball through a sequence of launchers until the final one shot it into the hole to the center. I can't recall the fourth one right now.

One additional hitch is that the was a lid for the center receptacle that had sliding doors that opened and closed on a wind-up timer (sort of like how a mini-golf windmill periodically blocks its tunnel). So if you timed it wrong, your ball would hit the door and bounce back, possibly to the very start.

I don't remember the name, and I'm not seeing it mentioned in any articles about this game. Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?

EDIT: Madcap Marathon is the name of the game, I was able to find on BoardGameGeek [0]. Here's a vintage TV ad from 1981. [1]

0: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/23061/madcap-marathon

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYoErTKntrU

My wife and I found one of these at a game bar once and spent like 2 hours playing with it. I finally tracked one down on ebay. It was only like $30 which doesn't seem crazy in today's market. Very cool timeless toy that's entertaining for all ages.

TOMY made so, so many cool mechanical toys.

My favorite from growing up was Stunt Pilot which held an airplane on the end of a metal rod, with controls for speed and elevation. One had to use it to pick up objects off of a platform, but it felt just like flying.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1628783799/1980-tomy-stunt-pilo...

I loved "Run Yourself Ragged" as a kid, but had no idea there were richer iterations and reflections of the game itself.

My game still exists in a cabin but is currently missing its timer and metal balls.... Need to work on that!

I'm kind of surprised that TOMY hasn't officially licensed a virtual version of these games - the mechanics seem like they would work great for VR/AR systems, too.

But I guess there is something to be said about having kids play non-digital things, now and then.

Either way, it harkens back to the arcade game "Marble Madness", which was also a mad-cap dash of a round object over crazy, unyielding, unforgiving devices ..

There’s a video of the sequel add-on game.

https://youtu.be/wBmRcrFDnZY

This was one of the best toys I ever owned as a kid and I desperately want to find one for my kids at non-collector prices.

Also I believe it has two sequels that you can Voltron together into an epic gauntlet.

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