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

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'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 ..

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.

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!

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.

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

https://youtu.be/wBmRcrFDnZY