Metal Marble Games

Metal Marble Games is a Jetanie computer-animated television series produced by Youngvision. The series featured four different anthropomorphic marbles trying to win a great gold medal. The marbles who competed in each episode always differed.

Series 1 aired on Z Bop on Thursdays at 7:25 p.m. and Series 2 aired on the channel on Fridays at 8:00 p.m. Each series had 11 episodes. A third series was proposed but canceled in the end. The show was rerun on the channel until October 2011.

According to Amrit Freeland, Metal Marble Games is the most expensive cartoon that Youngvision produced.

Premise
Although the characters are marbles, they are referred to on the show as Balls.

The show is hosted by Black Ball and White Ball. At the start of every episode, White Ball reveals which balls will be competing for that episode. The four competitors rolled out of a red tube into the arena, where Black Ball explained what challenges they would face.

In each challenge, the balls competed and tried to perform the best. At the end of each challenge, whoever won got 4 points, whilst whoever came second got 3 points, third got 2 points and whoever finished last only got 1 point. If a ball got disqualified in a challenge, they would not be awarded any points. If there was a tie, the tying balls would play a tiebreaker challenge. Four challenges were played per episode.

In Series 2, after the second challenge, White Ball would reveal a roulette, which each ball had the option to spin. If a ball decided to spin the roulette, they could win or lose points. The wheel was different each game, and sometimes certain panels were hidden, only being revealed if a ball stops on it.

After four challenges, the four balls would head to The Gauntlet, which, like most of the show, was different each time. The objective was to simply get to the end first. Whoever had the most points by the end of the game would get a 3-second headstart, whilst second place got a 2-second headstart, with third getting a 1-second headstart. Whoever won the race received the gold medal. Medals were also awarded to the other contestants; second got silver, third got bronze and last got stone.

Hosts

 * Black Ball; the commentator who provided commentary during challenges.
 * White Ball; the referee.

Contestants
When he appeared in an episode, Dark Ball was booed by the audience. Action Ball was also occasionally booed. Even if a ball was not a contestant, they may appear in an episode to help or hinder the other balls.
 * Ruby Ball; an overconfident and adventurous marble.
 * Water Ball; a marble who could float in water.
 * Earth Ball; the fastest marble of the contestants.
 * Spark Ball; a marble who occasionally lost control of his body.
 * Action Ball; a marble who wore sunglasses, and had an ego.
 * Mini Ball; a marble who was half the size of the other marbles.
 * Splat Ball; a pessimistic marble, who usually performed really badly.
 * Dark Ball; an immature and rude marble, who tries to cheat in order to win.

United Kingdom

 * Nickelodeon (2003-2005)
 * Boomerang (2010-2011)