We participated for the first time in the All-Japan Manufacturing Spinning Tops Tournament in Akita.

Last Modified:2024/02/01 Published:2023/11/13 2023/11

The tournament was held on October 21, 2023, at Akita Prefectural University's Honjo Campus, with a total of 22 teams participating. It was also streamed live on YouTube.

Table of contents [close]

1. What is the All-Japan Manufacturing Spinning Tops Tournament?
2. About the Yuzawa Shohoku High School + Orbray Team
- 2.1. 1^st-year students’ self-named team: X
- 2.2. 2^nd-year students’ self-named team: Ignition
3. Results
4. Comments from the participants

What is the All-Japan Manufacturing Spinning Tops Tournament?

This tournament pits spinning tops against each other, with the winner defeating all the others in one-on-one fights conducted in a 250mm diameter ring. Each team is required to have a mix of students and employees from a participating manufacturing company.
Orbray teamed up with students from Yuzawa Shohoku High School, located near the Yuzawa factory.

Rules of the Spinning Tops Tournament
　・Size of the spinning tops: Maximum of 20mm in diameter
　　and 60mm in height.
　・Material: No restrictions.
　・Surface treatment: Must be within the maximum diameter
　　of 20mm.

About the Yuzawa Shohoku High School + Orbray Team

1^st-year students’ self-named team: X

“We used a spinning top that combines endurance and defense.”

Overview of our spinning top:
To improve the spinning top’s ease of turning and stability, we adjusted the materials, tip, and angles.

This team’s approach
１．Problem-solving
To design our spinning top, we divided the dimensions into fine segments to determine how to produce one with a low center of gravity for defensiveness. Through trial and error, we created spinning tops of various shapes and tested their capabilities by pitting them against each other.
Key attributes:
Weight and stability

2．Details of our spinning top:
Defensive type.
Key technological discovery: By using a material with low frictional resistance for the tip, we dramatically improved the spinning top’s stability.

3. Roles
The students came up with the ideas and decided on the direction to take.
The company employees used Orbray’s equipment to do processing that could not be done at school.
Strength of the team:
Its overwhelming unity!

Assessment:
After creating and testing various designs, we produced a spinning top that could not be bounced or knocked over by competitors!

2^nd-year students’ self-named team: Ignition

“We’ll win everything! We’ll destroy the competition!”

Overview of our spinning top
　With a low center of gravity and substantial weight, our spinning top is aggressive enough to defeat opponents!
Team characteristics
　The members of this team are dreamers and follow their curiosity!

This team’s approach
1. Problem-solving
To design our spinning top, we analyzed shapes by fine segments, to figure out how to achieve a low center of gravity and aggressiveness. We created spinning tops of various shapes and had them fight each other to verify their capabilities.
Key element:
Capability of the handler

2. Orbray’s contribution
Utilizing Orbray's advanced jewel processing technologies of crimping, bonding, and press-fitting, we embedded a sapphire ball in the tip of the spinning top to allow it to spin for a long time.
Key attributes:
Weight and balance

3. Strategy　　
Right from the start, our spinning top moved aggressively against its opponents, reflecting the team's name, “Ignition,” and it proved especially capable in pinch situations. It was all up to the handler.
Key element:
Capability of the handler

Assessment:
The process of producing various shapes of spinning tops in pursuit of destructive power and experimenting with their attack performance was very fulfilling.

This time, the students generated the ideas for the spinning tops, drafted the designs, and did as much of the processing as they could, and the Orbray employees completed the processing. This was therefore truly a collaborative effort.

Results

On the day of the big tournament, a heated battle unfolded amidst a tense atmosphere. The results were as follows:

　Team X ... won one game in the qualifying round but was then defeated.
　Ignition ... won two games in the qualifying round, but lost in the first round of the final tournament.

Comments from the participants

We students came up with a variety of ideas for the spinning tops, but we were a little disappointed that some of them did not take shape or did not meet our expectations. However, we were able to make one that spun for about four minutes and beat the other tops, which gave us confidence.

On the day of the tournament, many people, including Orbray’s president, came to the venue to cheer us on, which fired up the students to take on the challenge of the tournament. Although we were not able to win the competition, by participating we were able to understand the unique atmosphere of the event and the types of spinning tops our opponents may use, so I think we will be able to achieve even better results next year.

"Ignition" Team Introduction Announcement

There were various types of spinning tops in the tournament, such as those that specialize in attacks and those that are strong in lengthy battles. I learned that there are many students and companies in Akita with great skills, and I also broadened my own horizons through the competition. Since becoming a working adult, I have had fewer opportunities to participate in such tournaments and compete as a team, but I was quite inspired by the passion and enthusiasm of the students, and I was able to experience a sense of youth for the first time in a while.

The tournament displayed many unique ideas for spinning tops that couldn’t be seen anywhere else, including a dodecagonal one and one whose body could be used as a handle. For our entry, we decided on a novel design with a sapphire ball in the tip, and it turned out to be very popular in terms of showing off Orbray's strengths.

At the tournament, we found that in many cases the opposing teams' spinning tops were incompatible with our team's top, and we were nervous about whether we would be able to compete effectively. Despite our fears, we were able to win two games in the preliminary round and advance to the final tournament. This was the result of the students' skill and practice. Unfortunately, we lost in the first round, and I could see the frustration on the faces of the students, especially the handlers. This tournament has clarified some of the issues we need to work on, and we hope we have the opportunity to try to win the next tournament.

In the process of making the spinning tops, it was difficult to keep their axis steady and to make them move around, so we were not able to create the ideal piece. During the practice matches and on the day of the tournament, we saw a wide variety of spinning tops from other teams that moved around, specialized in attacks, or were designed for endurance. We were happy that we were able to win one game during our first time participating.

Judging from the expressions on the students' faces, they must have felt very disappointed when they lost. One team member told us that he had set a quota of spinning the top 30 times every day and had practiced so much that he developed callouses on his fingers, so we could feel how frustrated he was to lose.

One of the tournament rules is that all the spinning tops must be donated to the secretariat after the tournament, so we cannot conduct further analyses of the spinning tops we entered. However, we still have many tops that we made through trial and error. We hope to participate again next year, with a new spinning top that is more advanced than our previous ones.

Please click here. You can see the Spinning Tops Tournament in Akita.<YouTube>