Jelle's Marble Runs is a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel based in the Netherlands centered on

marbles A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. These toys can be used for a variety of games called marbles, as well being placed in marble runs or races, or created as a form of art. They are ofte ...

, marble runs and marble races. It is run by the brothers Jelle and Dion Bakker. The channel spoofs the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

, and other sporting events with marbles and treats the cast of marbles as though they were athletes. Fans participate in this elaborate

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced ) is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants. The term has evolved to become a code word ...

by acting as though the inanimate marbles use actual tactics, training, and psychology to compete. The ''Marble League'' (formerly ''MarbleLympics'' and previously ''Marble Olympics'') has a choreographed Opening and Closing Ceremony, often created using

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

. Many of the sports are designed to resemble Olympic sports. Each year, the channel uploads a new series of the Marble League featuring different events and teams, which are introduced in the Qualifying round. If a team does not qualify, they are sent to the Showdown, essentially a shorter Marble League; any team finishing in the bottom four in the Showdown will not compete in the Qualifying round the next year. The channel also uploads Marbula One, a marble version of Formula One where many of the same teams from the Marble League send duos to faceoff, if certain marbles or teams do too bad in the season they don't appear in the next season and they get replaced by different marbles or teams. There is also the Sand Marble Rally, which also features a Qualifying round and instead of teams there are individual marbles, which are different from those in the Marble League, Marbula One and many other different marble races and events. As of May 21st, 2025, the current channel has over 1.44 million subscribers with more than 195 million views.

Overview

Jelle's Marble Runs has built a following personifying marbles throughout a variety of competitions. Each video is produced in the form of a sporting event with commentary provided by American Greg Woods. The channel features annual series such as the ''Marble League'', the ''Marble Rally'', ''Marbula One'', and the ''Hubelino Tournament'' (Discontinued after 2018). Additionally, Jelle produces seasonal Halloween and Christmas content, as well as one-off events such as the ''A-Maze-ing Marble Race'' and the ''Last Marble Standing''. Interspersed between the competition videos, Jelle releases a wide variety of marble runs without commentary exhibiting his marble course constructions (some of which are on display in museums).

History

Jelle Bakker was born in 1983 in

Wervershoof Wervershoof (; West Frisian (dialect), West Frisian: ''Werfershouf'') is a small town and former municipality in the north-western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West Friesland (region), West-Frisia. Since 1 January ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He has stated that he has a form of

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

, and said that because he has no occupation, making marble machines was one of his biggest hobbies. He currently lives in Wervershoof, which is also where his videos are produced. In 2006, Bakker created the first version of the Jelle's Marble Runs

channel. He received the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the world's longest marble run on 21 May 2009, a record that he held until 2011. Greg Woods, an early fan of the channel, produced a

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

on his own for one of the marble race videos. Bakker liked the video so much that he ended up partnering with Woods, who became the English-language commentator for the entire series. Jelle founded the first marble race event, The Sand Marble Rally, with Greg Woods as commentator in 2016. The channel soon started gaining attention and a fanbase in 2015, Jelle's brother Dion came up with the idea to make more marble races instead of marble runs and founded The MarbleLympics now known as the Marble League in 2016 as a mock version of the Olympic Games. Originally, Bakker planned to end the MarbleLympics series after the 2017 MarbleLympics. "The MarbleLympics will end in early August with an ending ceremony", he said in an interview by ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

'', "but I will still continue in making great marbles-related videos." However, he continued the series due to popularity. In late 2018, Bakker accidentally deleted his original channel of 620,000 subscribers while attempting to delete his

Google+ Google+ (sometimes written as Google Plus, stylized as G+ or g+) was a Social networking service, social network owned and operated by Google until it ceased operations in 2019. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challe ...

account and was subsequently forced to relaunch. By March 2020 the channel's subscriber number had surpassed this former level. In 2020 Jelle's brother Dion founded Jelle's Marble Runs as a business, with both Jelle's Marble Runs and Dion Media as owners and creators of the YouTube channel. Dion Media started a webshop, and founded a

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...

page. Dion also founded a new concept of Marble Races, The Marbula One, which is a mock version of the Formula One. The FIA accepted the name Marbula One. The

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

didn't accept the name 'Marblelympics', so it was changed into The Marble League. On 17 May 2020, British-American comedian and late-night show host

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British and American comedian who hosts ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' on HBO. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom and came to wider attention for his work ...

announced on his show ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American news satire late-night talk show hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in the end of April 2014 on HBO and currently has ...

'' that the show would be the head sponsor for the 2020 Marble League.

Series

Recurring

Marble League

The Marble League (known as the MarbleLympics before 2020) is an annual series featuring 16 teams of five (formerly four) marbles competing in multiple Olympics-inspired disciplines, including events of speed, strength, accuracy, endurance, etc., over 16 total events. Points are awarded based on final event placement, and the top three event finishers are awarded medals. The champions of the Marble League are crowned based on the total cumulative points from all events in a single edition. Top-ranked teams, usually the overall podium finishers, automatically qualify for the next Marble League championship and, starting in 2019, a team is chosen as a host, also granting them an automatic qualification. A pre-tournament qualifying event determines which of the remaining teams are allowed to compete in the championship each year. The teams that fail to qualify participate in the Marble League Showdown, a shorter tournament consisting of about 4-8 events. The bottom four teams from the Showdown are auto-relegated for the next Marble League cycle, which means that they cannot compete in the qualifiers and remain in the Showdown instead. However, this auto-relegation hasn’t happened consistently, with the 2021, 2023, and 2024 Marble League Showdowns cancelling relegation. The 2020 Marble League faced cancellation due to a lack of funding, but a fully paid sponsorship from ''

'' was announced on 17 May 2020 for all 16 events, with 5,000

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

going to

food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...

charities in the event winners' name, and 20,000 USD going to the

International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1 ...

in the overall winners' name, allowing for the 2020 edition to commence as planned. The 2024 Marble League also featured a sponsorship from

Mint Mobile Mint Mobile, LLC is a mobile virtual network operator owned by T-Mobile US that offers prepaid mobile phone plans. History The company was founded in 2015 as Mint SIM, a subsidiary of Ultra Mobile, by David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim. In Novem ...

, which carried over to the Marble League All-Stars tournament held after the Marble League, and the Marble League Showdown held for non-qualified teams of the Marble League. As a result, despite not qualifying for the 2024 season, the mint-based team Minty Maniacs effectively co-hosted the league, providing demonstration runs, sometimes joined alongside new team Santa’s Squad. As of the 2024 Marble League, the Savage Speeders have won the most titles with 2 (2016,2020). The O'rangers, Midnight Wisps, Raspberry Racers, Mellow Yellow, Pinkies, Crazy Cat's Eyes, and Team Momo, the current champions have won one each.

Marble Rally

The Marble Rally (formerly known as the Sand Marble Rally) is a series of off-road marble races, where individual marbles race against each other down a rough terrain course, usually sand, that has been manually constructed. The courses feature a variety of features and obstacles that impede competing marbles on their way to the finish line. Marbles used for the Marble Rally are larger than marbles used for the Marble League, with a diameter of 25 mm compared to the Marble League's 16 mm marbles. Starting from the 2017 edition, top-ranked marbles automatically qualify for the next year's Marble Rally championship. The fifth edition was initially delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the Marble Rally Showdown was announced to have been cancelled, most likely due to the

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

. However, the first six races had been filmed and were eventually released weekly in September and October 2020. The season resumed in April 2021, with two races filmed in snow, rather than on a

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

Marbula One

Marbula One is a series of circuit-based marble races, where marbles race multiple laps around a racetrack made of Quercetti Big Marbledrome tracks with custom paper stock add-ons, as well as a conveyor belt that returns all marbles back to the top. As its name suggests, this series is directly inspired by the

motor racing championship. Each race event in this series is referred to as Grand Prix, hosted by a marble team, and includes a qualifying session to determine who will qualify for the main race event, as well as the starting grid. The first edition of Marbula One premiered in February 2020, shortly before the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic. Sixteen teams from the Marble League were invited to compete in the inaugural edition, which consisted of eight events. The qualifying session for this edition was a simple single-round session, with each marble given one flying lap to complete. The points system for this edition was also adopted directly from Formula One, including a bonus point for setting the fastest lap time during the main race event. Each subsequent edition of Marbula One has introduced new features, while also making changes to the existing features, with different qualifying formats and championship points systems for each edition. The third edition introduced a redesigned starting grid and conveyor belt to allow for up to 20 marbles to participate in each race. Marbula 1 Season 3 saw the first double time individual champion, with Red Eye of the Crazy Cat’s Eyes, and Marbula 1 Season 4 saw a first double time team champion set by the Savage Speeders.

Marble Survival

Marble Survival, formerly known as Marble Survival 100, is a survival competition held between all 32 teams in the Marble League competing to avoid elimination over a series of races. The first edition saw two weekly eliminations over seven races, with the format changing as more races passed and more teams were eliminated. The first edition was won by Sea of the Oceanics. The second edition took place from March to April 2025 with a new format, and was won by Pinky Panther from the Pinkies. Each race in the second edition had one elimination.

One-off

Marble League Winter Special

The Marble League Winter Special was an invitational tournament held in the beginning of 2021, where 16 teams competed in winter-themed events, like the 2018 Marble League which was also winter-themed. The competition was won by the Oceanics, who won with 69 points compared to 61 of the O’Rangers.

Marbula E

Marbula E was a circuit-based marble racing series directly based on the

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

racing championship. Created as a spin-off of Marbula One, this series was sponsored by

Envision Virgin Racing The Envision Racing Formula E Team is a British motor racing team, based at Silverstone Park and majority-owned by Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision Energy that competes in Formula E. Currently, the three drivers are Robin Frijns, Sé ...

. It featured marble teams named after real Formula E teams that competed in the

2019–20 Formula E Championship The 2019–20 FIA Formula E Championship was the sixth season of the FIA Formula E championship, a motor racing championship for electrically powered vehicles recognised by motorsport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Aut ...

(unlike other series, which feature fictional teams) and racetracks closely based on real-life ePrix. The first episode premiered on 18 April 2020, consisting of a race in a recreation of the

Paris Street Circuit The Circuit des Invalides was a street circuit located around Les Invalides in Paris, France. It was used for the Paris ePrix of the single-seater, electrically powered Formula E championship. It was first used on 23 April 2016 for the 2016 Pari ...

, and was narrated by British professional Formula E commentator Jack Nicholls. JMR commentator Greg Woods later joined Nicholls from the second race in a circuit based on the

Seoul ePrix The 2022 Seoul ePrix, formally known as the 2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix, was a pair of Formula E electric car races staged at the Seoul Street Circuit in the Jamsil Sports Complex, Seoul, South Korea, on 13 and 14 August 2022. They serve ...

Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ is a series of battery electric vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz. The first model was previewed at the Paris Motor Show in 2016 with the Generation EQ concept vehicle. Mercedes-Benz intends to produce ten EQ models by 2022, th ...

dominated the first half of the season with three consecutive podium finishes. In the second half, TAG Heuer Porsche snatched first in the standings with two consecutive race wins, and managed to hold their lead in the standings at the final race in a circuit based on the

London ePrix The London ePrix is an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in London, United Kingdom. It was first raced in the 2014–15 Formula E season, 2014–15 season until the ...

. Mercedes-Benz EQ finished second overall, while

DS Techeetah DS Techeetah (, ) was a Sino- French motor racing team under ownership of SECA - China Media Capital that competed in the electric racing series, Formula E. Formula E Team Aguri principal Aguri Suzuki announced he would leave the team in April ...

finished third overall.

Last Marble Standing

To celebrate the channel's 1,111,111 subscribers milestone, Last Marble Standing was announced on 21 May 2020. This tournament, sponsored by

Arla Foods UK Arla Foods Ltd. is a major dairy products company in the United Kingdom, based in Leeds, and a subsidiary of Arla Foods, which is owned by its farmer owners in seven countries including the UK. History The company was created by the merger i ...

Cravendale Arla Foods Ltd. is a major dairy products company in the United Kingdom, based in Leeds, and a subsidiary of Arla Foods, which is owned by its farmer owners in seven countries including the UK. History The company was created by the merger i ...

, featured six new dairy-themed teams, and included six events. The tournament was won by Graze of Glory, who had dominated the entire tournament by staying in first in the standings for all but one event, winning three gold medals and one silver medal in the process.

Freak Marbles

Freak Marbles was a sponsored series by Jelle's Marble Runs. It featured 24 30mm Marbles racing on a sand track. The format was 4 groups of 6 marbles, and the top 2 of each group would advance to the grand finale. Jelly Eye turned out to be the Freak Marble champion after 5 videos.

Marble ManiaX

Marble ManiaX was a series of extreme sports marble competition, featuring a number of structures built from various materials, including K'Nex. This series was sponsored by record label Spinning Records. And a total of eight teams participated in this tournament series, including three classic Marble League teams. The Purple Rockets ended up winning with 2 points more than the Constrictors, and were invited to compete in the Marble League Showdown that same year, joining the league in a 4-team expansion.

Marble League All-Stars

The Marble League All-Stars was a competition held between 16 of the teams in the history of the league, held in the aftermath of the 2024 Marble League. The competition was won by reigning Marble League Champions Team Momo, with the Savage Speeders finishing 2nd place and the Minty Manics finished 3rd place, while the Balls of Chaos finished last place.

Discontinued

Hubelino Tournament

The Hubelino Tournament was a tournament series contested on courses constructed with Hubelino marble tracks and using 20mm marbles. The tournament consisted of multiple events run on Hubelino marble tracks, including funnel endurance, which was eventually added to the Marble League. This series was discontinued after the 2018 edition.

References

{{reflist, refs= ''BondeNews'' Editors
"Youtube channel promotes marbles 'olympiad'
''BondeNews'', Netherlands, 24 July 2017. Retrieved on 4 April 2019. Bishop, Rollin
"This MarbleLympics Event Pits Marbles Against Fidget Spinners"
''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'', Canada, 9 July 2017. Retrieved on 4 February 2019. Independent.ie Editors
"This marble version of the Winter Olympics is the best alternative to the real thing"
''

Independent.ie The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'', Ireland, 4 February 2019. Retrieved on 4 February 2019. Themadmuseum.co.uk Editors
"Jelle Bakker"
''The Mad Museum'', United Kingdom. Retrieved on 5 February 2019. Capelle, Romain
"The balls also have their Olympic games"
''

Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French language, French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic ...

'', France. 9 September 2016. Retrieved on 4 April 2019. Bakker, Jelle
"JELLE'S PASSION"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423143728/http://www.knikkerbaan.nl/en/jelles-passie/ , date=23 April 2019, ''Knikkerbaan.nl'', Netherlands. Retrieved on 27 March 2019. Matsakis, Louise
"Inside the Hypnotic World of YouTube Marble Racers"
''

'', Canada, 5 May 2016. Retrieved on 27 March 2019. Li, Grace
"Miss the Olympics? Try Marble Racing."
''The Harvard Crimson'', United States, 27 March 2018. Retrieved on 27 March 2019. Spiegel.de Editors

''Spiegel.de'', Germany, 17 December 2017. Retrieved on 9 February 2019.

External links

YouTube Channel
Autistic entertainers YouTube channels launched in 2013 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports