Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have competed in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on the Ruby Rollers, a team that blends in with the history of the Hubelino Tournament. Read on to find out how this team has pecked at the competition!
The land of Hummilon, nestled in the heart of the Herbotamia region and known for its “Aviary Topiary”, the largest bird zoo on Marblearth surrounded by one of the largest gardens in the world, may not come to mind as the ideal atmosphere for begetting marble sports athletes. Such a rural region stands in stark contrast to the great wonders of the modern world, such as La Colina Umerun in the heart of Numerun, the Cat’s Dunes outside the bustling city of Felynia, Mount Huaze in…who knows where, and other inspiring locations that stand as landmarks to attract marbles around the world. This was, however, the optimal atmosphere for Rolla, Rollew, Rollo, and Rolly to meet, become acquainted, and be inspired to form a team called the Ruby Rollers.
The four came from around the world, bringing birds rescued from injuries and birds from endangered species to be nursed back to health and protected in the captivity of the Aviary Topiary. Their work did not always overlap, so it took them some time once graduating from university to cross paths while at the zoo.
“I come from the suburbs between the Big Marble and Philamarblia,” Rollew stated, “where we have one of the most advanced economies in the world. I earned my degree from a university there and thought of working at the city’s zoo. But I have always loved traveling, and there is no place to travel that compares to the Aviary Topiary.”
“I met Rollew just before a trip back to Greshen,” recalled Rollo. “They had brought a group of ruby roller pigeons from Cairoll to our medical facilities…we began talking for hours about pigeons. I missed my train to Chlorotopia. It was worth it.”
“Wingdon, being on the Brace Isles, was a magnificent place to study ornithology,” Rolly noted. “But there just isn’t a lot of source material around when everything is so industrialized.”
“On the contrary, I know what it’s like to truly experience wildlife,” claimed Rolla, a native of Bright Hyu City. “I enjoy coming here to bring birds together as they are and getting to release them as they become stronger. What I didn’t expect is that I would become friends with Rolly and Rollo as they were onboarding a flock of ruby-throated hummingbirds!”
The four laughed. Years after their performances in the Hubelino Tournament, I was fortunate enough to be able to interview the Ruby Rollers in a special suite at Pepper Field, hours before they would reunite to compete in the Herbotamia Tournament Reunion. Other teams were gathered on the field conversing and practicing, but the Rollers, as they assured me, did not need much time to do that.
Rolla passed me a piece of paper with the outline of a red-eyed and red-beaked pigeon on it. “This was a logo we drew up when we were just getting to know each other. We, uh, may have bonded over birds that have ruby coloring. Hershy added the text when we joined the Hubelino Tournament…”
“But that wouldn’t be for a while,” Rolly assured. “If it wasn’t for the Herbotamia Tournament coming to do one of their friendlies here, we would have never thought of getting into sports.”
In 2011, the Minty Maniacs, Black Jacks, and Golden Wisps were traveling to Spiceno to meet Team Phoenix for the first time when they stopped in Hummilon for a day trip to visit the Aviary Topiary. Calling ahead of time, they planned to hold a short friendly in the center of the gardens – a relay race. Management approved the request with the confirmation that no spectators would be present.
“Except they didn’t account for us…” Rollew trailed off, chuckling. “I mean, we also didn’t count on becoming so invested in something that seemed so casual. It looked more fun than anything.”
Reaching for their work notebook, Rollo flipped to the last few pages. “Here! Thanks for a fun day being friendly and supporting what we love. Feel free to reach us at this contact. Stay fresh! -Minty Fresh. Yeah, of course, I have it saved.”
The four friends at Aviary Topiary established contact with Minty Fresh sometime after the end of Herbotamia Tournament 2011, which remained in the structure of a friendly round between the four teams. The next year, though, brought a new development: Herbotamia Tournament 2012 would become an official regional tournament for Herbotamia, and that five teams would compete in its inaugural season.
At the time, there were very few renowned teams in the region besides those that were already a part of the tournament. As fans wondered who the new team joining the Herbotamia Tournament would be, the management at Aviary Topiary received a call asking about the next time that Rolla, Rollew, Rollo, and Rolly would all be present.
That day, the four received a visit from the Minty Maniacs, Black Jacks, Golden Wisps, and Team Phoenix—personally inviting them to compete in Herbotamia Tournament 2012 as the Ruby Rollers.
“To say that we were surprised is an understatement. We had never shown them anything that would give them confidence in our athletic skills, or the lack thereof,” Rolly reflected.
“But we had shown them friendship,” Rollo continued. “And even though they were officiating the competition, they still wanted it to be a competition with their friends. So, they reached out to us.”
“And we couldn’t say no, nor did we want to say no,” added Rolla.
“We did know we would miss our jobs here,” said Rollew, “but we also knew that they would be waiting for us when we got back. A chance like this was not going to wait for us, though!”
The Ruby Rollers accepted their invitation, leaving Hummilon over the weekend and taking a leave of absence from their jobs, one that they anticipated would only be a few months. On the contrary, it would last nearly seven years before the team would formally disband and return to their careers.
From 2012 to 2015, the Ruby Rollers competed in the Herbotamia Tournament as the underdogs – with clear inexperience to the other four teams that served as a veil, allowing for them to score upsets when least expected. Placing fourth in their rookie season, the Ruby Rollers earned third overall in Herbotamia Tournament 2013, and, in 2015, edged out Team Phoenix to earn their first championship.
In early 2016, a poll done by the Herbotamia Times made it official: the Ruby Rollers were the most popular team in the region. Fans came in droves to visit the team as they toured around the region to celebrate their victory. The team’s largest crowd was in none other than Chlorotopia, where even members of the Minty Maniacs showed up to the rally with the Rollers’ trademark white caps, with a red eye and beak outline of the ruby roller pigeon stitched on.
“To say I’m proud of my friends is an understatement,” remarked Minty Fresh. “We’ve done the best that we could in the past few years, and I think it’s about time for us to move on with what’s after the Herbotamia Tournament. The Ruby Rollers, though, are going to go places.”
The Minty Maniacs were preparing to retire from marble sports and go into the food industry, as the cost of maintaining a tournament without sponsorship began to loom over the Herbotamia athletes like a shadow, even for something so casual. As they began encouraging their fellow teams to seek other opportunities, such as a spot in the 2016 Marble League, they were approached by Jelle Bakker themself. Although Jelle was focused on running the 2016 Marble League, they missed running a regional tournament and offered the Maniacs a sponsorship for their tournament to continue in 2016. The Ruby Rollers, who had applied for Marble League 2016 but were rejected due to their similarity to the Surculo’s Rojo Rollers, encouraged the Minty Maniacs to accept the sponsorship. “This is our chance to gain the recognition as a sports league that we deserve, and to continue to do what we love as friends,” the team released in an official press statement to the Times.
Hubelino Tournament 2016 differed from the original tournament in that it was recorded for the Internet (a first for a regional tournament) in the hope that it would be appreciated by a wider audience, and that it featured artificial courses using Hubelino tracks, bricks, and other special parts. The tournament was conducted without a live audience to preserve the original “friendly round” atmosphere of the competition and featured eight teams competing for eternal glory. The teams joining the existing five were also sourced from the Herbotamia region: the Bluefastics, Green Gang, and Valiant Violets being those teams.
Rolla smirked. “We were excited for the new challenge that these teams would present.”
“And we were also eager to make new friends,” added Rollo. “Chasing a repeat championship was exciting in its way, but so was building our network of athletes and friends.”
“Well, yeah. But we also wanted to win,” Rolla continued.
The Ruby Rollers made their Jelle’s Marble Runs debut in Season 1 of the Hubelino Tournament in November 2016. Competing in the Minty Maniacs’ Pepper Field, the Ruby Rollers debuted last in Funnel Spinning, surprising fans tuning in to watch the team for the first time. Longtime Rollers fans knew, though, that they were in a prime position to score the upsets that the team was best at. And that was nearly what happened in the next event – as the Ruby Rollers earned their first silver in the Catwalk event.
Rising to fourth overall, the Ruby Rollers continued to place in the top five in between other podiums: a silver in the Pursuit Slalom, bronze in the Combination, and two event victories in the Elimination Race and the Swing Wave. Now, the team had medaled on an international stage, and while they were popular among hardcore fans of the Hubelino Tournament, attention from outside of the tournament was geared towards teams such as the Minty Maniacs and Black Jacks.
“We weren’t discouraged by that,” assured Rollew. “Sure, it would have been nice to get that recognition. But it wouldn’t stop us from what we were looking to accomplish.”
“Our odds of winning as we neared the end of the tournament kept going up,” Rolly said. “Of course, so did the Green Gang’s.”
It was in the eighth event of the tournament when the Green Gang made a key advancement, winning the event convincingly and earning gold with the bonus of doubled points. The Ruby Rollers raced to finish with a silver, but coming down the final stretch the Black Jacks were able to pull ahead and earn a silver, guaranteeing that the Ruby Rollers would earn bronze and lead the standings over a tiebreak in points with the Green Gang.
Following the event, Jelle’s Marble Runs announced that a tiebreaker would be held but provided no further information for nearly three months.
“International sports have changed so much since then,” noted Rolly. “Marbles didn’t have much experience coordinating the logistics of bringing marbles together, booking stadiums…there weren’t even a lot of stadiums at the time. Pepper Field had booked for other exhibitions through April.”
Come April, Jelle’s Marble Runs returned to Chlorotopia to make a special announcement: they were canceling the tiebreaker and had booked the stadium for at least four extra events to decide the champion of the Hubelino Tournament. Two events would take place before the 2017 Marble League, and two afterward.
“It was certainly an odd circumstance,” admitted Rollew. “But we knew of several events going on over the summer besides the Marble League that would have made scheduling all four events consecutively very difficult. We could tell that Jelle wanted to do their first regional tournament justice.”
Returning to compete in the final third of the season, the Ruby Rollers placed fourth in the Halfpipe Dash and earned a bronze in the Relay Course. The team led the standings before attending the 2017 Marble League, joining the seven other teams, who they had indeed become close with.
“Was there tension between us? I can’t say that there wasn’t. We all wanted to see who would win, and each team wanted it to be themselves,” Rolla recalled.
“But we still found a lot of enjoyment in watching the Marble League with them. Some of our events were adapted by Jelle’s Marble Runs, which was a nice tribute to their work with us,” Rollo continued.
“We also got to meet the Rojo Rollers,” added Rolla. “That was…interesting when they didn’t qualify.”
“Not their best moment. But the moments where we weren’t at our best were coming up, sooner than any of us hoped.”
Following their midseason entertainment, the eight Hubelino teams returned to Chlorotopia together but parted to train in their respective home cities – except for the Ruby Rollers, who had reserved training facilities in Chlorotopia with a new head coach, Rollin. They adopted an alternate training regime under Rollin, which they hoped would maintain the Rollers’ standing in the top spot to win the championship. But team members felt differently, even at the moment.
“It never felt quite right,” admitted Rollew, “the way they were telling us to push the blocks, to aim for the ball in Ball Battle. It would have been transformative for any other team, but for us, it was the wrong way to roll.”
The team’s doubts ultimately were proven correct when they finished in the bottom half of the standings for Block Push and Ball Battle. The Green Gang capitalized on both events, earning a bronze in the former and winning the latter, to come home to their home village of Taygrania with the championship. With 83 points, the Ruby Rollers finished second overall.
“We were quite down on ourselves.” Rolly passed me a news article, headlined GOLD RANG FOR THE GREEN GANG, and showed the team in front of a large crowd outside of Pepper Field. “We never held events with spectators, but when all of the teams left the arena felt more empty than it ever had been. And we could hear fans roaring outside in joy…but not for us.”
“It’s fun to compete in marble sports, but I think a lot of the fun fell away for us when we didn’t win. Is that selfish? Probably,” admitted Rollo. “But we became so discouraged after that. To the point where we declined the Marble League.”
In the largest expansion in the Marble League’s history, eight teams were being added to compete in the 2018 Marble League Qualifiers. Before reaching out to any other marble sports teams, Jelle first reached out to the eight Hubelino teams that they had worked with. Some, on account of their existing uniforms or scheduling, were not formally invited. But it was Coach Rollin that made sure the Ruby Rollers were presented with an invitation…and Coach Rollin that was promptly fired, with the invitation being declined in the process.
“They weren’t reading the room. It was time to let them go,” Rolla said bluntly.
Returning to Hummilon for the first time in several years, the Ruby Rollers secured a sponsorship from the Aviary Topiary and began renting out training space in the local gym. After reaching out to several candidates, the team hired Ruby from nearby Fantum to work with them as their new coach.
“Nice to finally introduce myself,” said a marble who had been sitting in the suite with us from the start of the interview. In the meantime, they had been working on a painting set deep in the mines of Fantum. “I’m Coach Ruby, the pleasure is all mine.”
Rolla rolled their eyes.
“It was a pleasure to start working with the Ruby Rollers in their element. I’d followed them for years as a fan, but the pressure was always on them. Things were different when they were home.”
“They were,” agreed Rolla, sighing.
Beginning construction on a formal training facility and small arena, The Nest, the Ruby Rollers steadily trained during the 2018 offseason. Communication from JMR remained unclear during the second season of the Hubelino Tournament, but the eight teams, save for Team Phoenix, were interested in running the Herbotamia Tournament if things didn’t pan out.
Then, just before the Amazing Maze Marble Race tournament, Jelle’s Marble Runs formally announced that the Hubelino Tournament would return for Season 2.
True to their promise, the Minty Maniacs, Golden Orbs, and Black Jacks withdrew from the Marble League, joining the Bluefastics and Valiant Violets with members replacing those who left for the Raspberry Racers, and the reigning champions, the Green Gang. Confirming that the Ruby Rollers would return for Season 2, the Minty Maniacs released an application for a team to fill the eighth spot in the tournament. After receiving just enough interest, they closed submissions, consulting with the six other teams to select the Bumblebees as newcomers.
In contrast to Season 1 lasting nearly a year, the Minty Maniacs worked with JMR to have the eight events of Season 2 filmed and broadcasted in just under one month. Meeting in Chlorotopia at the start of October 2018, the teams immediately got to work setting up the arena for the Draw. On 03 October, the Ruby Rollers were sorted into Group B, meaning that they would face off with the Bluefastics, Valiant Violets, and Golden Orbs at the start of Event 1: the Swing Wave, an event they had won in Season 1.
However, the Bumblebees would take the win this time in the Swing Wave, as the Ruby Rollers lost in their heat to the Golden Orbs and Valiant Violets. Finishing sixth in the event, they vowed to their fans that the best was yet to come.
“We kept telling our fans, ‘this doesn’t shake us, we’ll be on top before you know it’. But I think we were more worried than anyone else,” admitted Rollew.
Advancing past the group stage in Catwalk, the Ruby Rollers were prepared for an intense final match, but were knocked out in a clear victory by the Bluefastics. They took a bronze medal over the Golden Orbs following a tight third-place match while the Bluefastics lost to the Minty Maniacs, earning a career-first gold medal. They led the standings, while the Ruby Rollers rose to fifth.
Just missing out on a podium in the Funnel Race, the Ruby Rollers fought off the Minty Maniacs in the race-off to advance to the Halfpipes final. Although they finished ahead of the Bluefastics, the Bumblebees would win their second event, and the Ruby Rollers would earn their second bronze medal.
Following a tie for fourth place in Block Bumping and their third bronze in the Relay Race, the team remained unmoved in fifth place with 34 points. With two events to go, the Rollers were safely out of the basement (occupied by the Season 1 champions) but 20 points down from the top of the standings, which had just been reclaimed by the Maniacs.
“It wasn’t insurmountable. If we could earn a podium above a bronze and the teams above us let their guard down…the issue is, they didn’t,” mused Rolly.
“Neither did we,” Rollo added. “But the end of the season…stung a bit.”
Coach Ruby chuckled, much to the ire of their team members, who glared in their direction.
“Don’t say it,” pleaded Rolla.
“I have to, sorry. It’s just incredibly ironic that two teams inspired by bees and pigeons couldn’t get along…but also couldn’t stay away from each other.”
The team collectively groaned.
The final two events presented the best possible situation for the Ruby Rollers to pull the rug under their competition and make an impact—if not a championship, then a podium, at least. Longtime Rollers fans took to Team Phoenix’s online blog, the Firebird Sports Diary, with rumors that the Ruby Rollers had engineered a practice maze in The Nest specifically to train as best as they could for the Maze and Big Tower events. They “claimed” they had seen the Rollers scaling the highest point of the indoor greenhouse within the Aviary Topiary, with the intent of navigating their way down as fast as possible. The “big upset” was coming, they claimed.
Fact-checking sources could not verify the claims, with the Ruby Rollers clarifying in a series of official statements following the tournament that the rumors were false.
“But they sure were good publicity,” admitted Rolla.
Rather, the Ruby Rollers’ traditional methods of training prepared the team as best as they could…but they could not prepare the team for the Bumblebees, who would finish ahead of them in every moment that mattered. At the cusp of advancing to the final and guaranteeing either gold or silver, the member running for the Rollers got stranded on the track. As they advanced to the end of the maze, the Bumblebees’ Swax got as close as a length before passing to finish second, leaving the Rollers with their fourth bronze of the season and locking them out of the title fight.
However, with a podium in reach, the Ruby Rollers were not ready to give up. Finishing first in their heat eliminated the Minty Maniacs and Black Jacks, two-thirds of the reigning top three, and gave the Rollers a window to finish third overall at best.
“We’re not all extremely competitive athletes. Whether we deserve to win or not is something we have argued about since we formed as a team…but we all appreciate being recognized for our efforts,” Rollew said. “After earning medals in more than half of the events, we hoped we would be recognized for more than fifth overall.”
Nearly racing down the final stretch of the Big Tower unopposed, Bumble rushed to arrest Rollo’s momentum in the middle, sprinting down the final chicanes to win the Hubelino Tournament in an upset over the Minty Maniacs, and the Big Tower event in an upset over the Ruby Rollers.
“All I remember in the final moments of the race is trying to get back to the yellow chicane as fast as I could. I don’t even remember crossing the line. It was all a blur,” Rollo reported. “I didn’t believe it when race officials handed me that silver medal. For all I knew, it could have been fourth.”
Rolla recalled the moment much more clearly. “That impact clearly hurt Rollo. I don’t care what the medics said. Nor do I care that the Bumblebees needed to race to win the championship with their fourth gold or silver or whatever.”
“That wasn’t it. Rollo was just in the heat of the moment,” Rolly objected. “Perhaps in a moment of uncertainty or distress. But not incapacitation.”
“No matter what we think it was, it would not have changed the outcome. We lost. We need to learn to live with that,” advised Rollew, “and keep on rolling.”
The four went quiet.
With 51 points earned, the Ruby Rollers’ fifth-place overall masked just how well they had done in Season 2 of the Hubelino Tournament. They had never finished in the bottom two and had only placed outside of the top half in the first event. No other team had matched their consistency, and only the Maniacs matched them in terms of medal count.
Did it matter? Fans began to doubt as much when the Ruby Rollers returned to Hummilon, halted construction of The Nest, and resumed their careers traveling around the world to bring birds to and from the Aviary Topiary. When contacting the members of the team for a statement on the discontinuation of the Hubelino Tournament and the incoming Marble League Showdown, Coach Ruby was effectively ghosted.
“I wasn’t sure what to do. Nothing was specifically entrusted to me to continue maintaining, but I also didn’t want to retire any of the team’s assets or branding. I began training with a potential reserve for the team…”
As if they were summoned by name, the final member of the Ruby Rollers rushed into our suite. “Sorry, I’m late! Can I get a time check?”
“Hello, Rollin. It’s 5:43 pm.” Coach Ruby grinned. “Even before I learned that they had coached the team at one point, I could tell Rollin was passionate about the Ruby Rollers. They offered alternative skills to the team that I had been training that I knew would make everyone else stronger in competition.”
“Even if we didn’t see it at first,” admitted Rollo, “we grew to appreciate that Rollin was there at all. As a team member, they have pushed us to trust ourselves and take more risks for the first time in a long time.”
With the Ruby Rollers reuniting in the public eye for the first time since November 2018, Coach Ruby organized a special press conference following the announcement that the Herbotamia Tournament Reunion would be held in autumn 2020. With the construction tarp unraveling from the unfinished shell of The Nest, the team expected a small crowd to be in attendance when they confirmed that they would compete in the tournament.
They could not have been more wrong. Stranded in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the short stretch of highway from the Aviary Topiary to The Nest, the Ruby Rollers had no choice but to roll in order to make it to the stage on time. As they passed over a kilometer of vehicles crawling down the highway, fans cheered in glee, wearing the Rollers’ trademark white caps and blasting the fanbase’s signature song, a parody of The MarBeats’ “Roll Over and Roll Out” with the Ruby Rollers’ theme dubbed in.
“We started training together again in March. This felt like the recognition we had been craving for so long, and we knew from that moment on we wanted nothing but more of it.”
Coach Ruby gazed back out the window of the suite. Below us, the Minty Maniacs and Bumblebees were playing an impromptu match of bugby on the vast open area of Pepper Field.
“Unfortunately, we lost touch with the other teams when we disbanded. Even the Minties. But now might be a good time to rekindle that community, don’t you think?” Rollin asked.
Rolla sighed. “Our call time is over an hour away.”
“And that gives us even more time to catch up with everybody before we win this tournament,” Rollo said confidently. Rolla smiled warmly. “Let’s roll.”
Thanking me on their way out, I watched the six Ruby Rollers enter the arena about a minute later to the welcome embrace of the eight other teams.
I exited the suite not long after, filtering into a growing crowd of fans from across the Herbotamia region. I was surprised to see a few other teams take the field: the Yarble Yellers, Grape Nuts, and Team Plasma lining up alongside the Bumblebees.
“We didn’t want to leave out either Team Phoenix or the Bumblebees, so we decided to make this a twelve-team tournament modeled after the Showdown. These teams are regional anyway, so we get to preserve the original spirit of the Herbotamia Tournament,” explained a marble next to me, who identified as Spearmint, the manager of the Minty Maniacs. “I understand you interviewed the Ruby Rollers?”
I nodded. Spearmint smiled warmly. “We understand what it’s like to be so close to winning, and then to lose it…it’s hard to not feel discouraged and to not lose interest in what you do, even if you love doing it. We also understand that finding your way back to it can be the most rewarding experience…I hope the Ruby Rollers get that moment.”
There was limited seating for family and other close friends, but I was fortunate enough to get a top-notch view from the bleachers. The audience was asked to hold their applause until the end of the tournament, and they did great at following the rule—better than me!
You may be asking, “who won the tournament?” I am not at liberty to tell you: every athlete and member of the audience was required to sign a strict NDA prior to entering Pepper Field. What I am at liberty to tell you, though, is that the tournament was tightly put together and a joy to watch. The passion that each athlete displayed was inspiring, and there was virtually no pressure—aside from the occasional competitive jest.
What I am also at liberty to tell you is that rumors were widespread online concerning the potential results, with the Firebird Sports Diary receiving the most traffic it had since the Hubelino Tournament. Among the rumors, the moderators of the blog released an official poll asking fans who they thought won the Herbotamia Tournament Reunion. You may be asking, “who won the poll?” By a clear margin, it was the Ruby Rollers.
In the year and a half since the Reunion, the team has remained together, and although they have yet to enter a marble sports tournament, they have been active in other ways: restarting construction on The Nest, electing Rollo to serve as their team captain, changing their other team member pseudonyms to Agate (Rolla), Garnet (Rollew), Eudialyte (Rolly), and Carnelian (Rollin), selling iconic merchandise, promoting photos from training, and remaining in touch with other Herbotamia alumni. Their most recent statement thanked the Bumblebees organization and the Royal Family of Buzznya for being so grateful to host the Ruby Rollers during a trip to the region, the team’s first excursion from Herbotamia as a collective since Marble League 2017.
In RetRollSpective, the Ruby Rollers are a team that has flown under the radar in recent years but has contributed greatly to marble sports history in their career. Their consistency within the Hubelino Tournament and potential to pull off stunning upsets make the Ruby Rollers an entertaining team to watch, whenever and wherever they choose to compete. Best of luck to the Ruby Rollers in the near future, keep on rolling!
Credits
- Writer: Stynth
- Editor: Smacg13
- Graphic Designers: Hershy926, Jelle’s Marble Runs, MightyCucumber
- Photographer: Jelle’s Marble Runs
- Release: 21/07/2022
Project Marblearth 