Hi GraviTrax fans! This is Chris from The Masked Marble. In this video we're
going to cover 5 new GraviTrax offerings being released in Europe in the second half of 2022.
We'll examine the operation of the 8 new GraviTrax C battery-operated components. What do they do?
How do they work? Then we'll unpack the contents of the 4 new GraviTrax C sets and extensions,
which contain these components. Lastly,
we'll take a look inside the new Advent Calendar Starter Set for 2022,
which is a completely different set than the Advent Calendar extension that came out in 2021.
But first I want to take a moment to acknowledge that it's Easter
2022. have you ever wondered why on Easter we celebrate an event that occurred on a spring day
1989 years ago, when a crucified Jesus of Nazareth began appearing to people in the flesh, having
risen from the dead? The eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection
survive to this day. The books of Matthew and John are first-hand eyewitness accounts.
Their authors are men who saw Jesus alive with their own eyes. The book of Mark is a second-hand
account received from Jesus’ disciple Peter, who was also an eyewitness. And Luke was a physician
turned investigative reporter, who collected eyewitness and secondhand accounts from many
others, consolidating them into another record of these events. Now think about that. There can be
no more reliable record from antiquity than an eyewitness account. There were no video cameras
back then. No voice recorders. Eyewitness testimony was king! Sure, we can sometimes
confirm or deny a historical account through archaeological finds, but Christianity's enemies
never did prove Christianity false by digging up a body to demonstrate that Jesus was still dead.
That's all they would have had to do. But that never happened because there was no body to be
found after Jesus rose from the dead. None of the eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection ever recanted
while they were being themselves crucified, boiled in oil, burned to death, or beheaded.
These eyewitnesses all died alone, separated from one another. The others would never have
known if one of them had recanted their testimony in order to save his life.
But no, each of these men individually believed in the testimony they gave,
that they had seen the risen Jesus. And they believed it enough to die for their testimony.
Now some overeducated people have recently led folks in the wrong direction about the biblical
accounts of Jesus. Some have claimed, for example, that the gospel of Luke
depicts Jesus as knowing why he is dying, and what is happening to him; while the gospel of
Mark depicts Jesus being in shock, unsure of the reason he must die. But the gospel of Mark
records Jesus as predicting his own death and resurrection beforehand, saying that he must
"suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,
and that he must be killed and after three days rise again." Those don't sound like the words of
someone who is caught by surprise that he is being crucified, a man unsure of the reason he must die.
But some people don't want to be honest with the historical evidence. They would rather rationalize
than reason. They would rather treat hypothetical suppositions as more reliable than the written
historical records. They are not honest seekers of the truth, but cherry-pick passages from
the historical records in order to support their positions which contradict the historical records.
Now my question for each of us is this: What do we do with the historical accounts of Jesus' life,
death, and resurrection? What do we do with Jesus' claim that no one can approach God
the Father except through him? Let's suppose I'm someone who rejects Jesus as the way to God. Then
how would I answer this question: How else can I remove the stain of sin from my life, so that I
won't be condemned on the day of judgment when I stand before God to give an account for my life?
God is the best judge that has ever existed. A good judge doesn't let a criminal go free because
he donated to charity, or helped take care of a sick relative. A good judge will apply a
sentence based solely on whether the defendant is guilty of the charges. Since God is the ultimate
judge of justice, only a person without any charges against him will be declared righteous.
But we all have charges against us. The arrows of our lives have all fallen short of hitting
a moral bullseye with every deed of our hands and every thought of our hearts.
This means we are all sinners, and we all need a savior. Who is your savior this Easter? Who other
than the risen Jesus can cleanse our sin? God loved the world so much that he sent his son Jesus
to earth to save us, by sacrificing his life so that our sin could be justly punished. Only Jesus,
the Prince of Peace, satisfies both the demands of God's justice and his love.
Now let's take a look at the new
European GraviTrax offerings coming out in the second half of 2022.
First the 8 new GraviTrax C electronic components.
Number 1, the Lever. The lever is a motorized GraviTrax scoop. Let's read the description of
the GraviTrax lever. The electronic action stone raises the ball 3 1/2 height stones
and does not require manual resetting. The player decides for himself: either the action stone
automatically resets itself after each ball is transported, or it only positions itself
for the next ball when there is a signal from the trigger or controller. So from that description
we see that the Lever works just like the Scoop in order to raise a marble up. It uses
gravity against weights in the top to raise a track marble up three and a half height tiles.
What is unique about the Lever, though, is that it has a motorized reset. And from that description
we can choose two modes for how the reset operates: One, we can have it automatically reset
immediately after it activates. Or two, we can make its reset dependent on receiving
a signal from a Trigger, or from the GraviTrax C controller. In other words, in the second mode the
lever won't reset its scoop until a marble goes through a trigger somewhere else on the track,
or we press a button on the separate controller. So this certainly gives us
some sophisticated decision making options in controlling how a track will operate.
Number 2, the Elevator. The Elevator is the first ever motorized GraviTrax lift from Ravensburger.
Let's read the description of the GraviTrax Elevator. The action stone automatically
transports several marbles up. The new electronic stone brings several marbles up 7 height stones
automatically at the same time. No manual reset is required. As soon as a ball is in the entrance of
the action stone, it is recognized and transported upwards. Thus new energy is gained. From this
description and the photos, we see that the elevator is a spiral stair lift, meaning it
is a stair step lift that is wrapped around a central core. The marbles go up one step at a
time until they reach the top. There is a sensor at the bottom that senses when a marble is at the
bottom entrance needing to be lifted up. What is not clear is whether there is also a sensor at the
top to sense when the marble has been successfully lifted up and cleared. But I'm guessing the
answer is no. My guess is that the elevator will simply cycle its stairs up and down enough times,
assuming that the marble makes it to the top. If there are several marbles in the entrance,
it will probably lift one at a time because one is all that will fit on the moving stairs.
Even though it can lift several marbles at a time, only one marble will be in each stair step.
Number 3, the Switch. This is an unfortunate choice of name, because there is already a
GraviTrax Switch, just not an electric one. We can see from the video here that it looks like
the Switch will only change directions when it receives a signal from a Trigger or the
GraviTrax C controller. It does not look like it will switch directions using an internal sensor.
The marble falls down after going through this switch, giving it more momentum.
There appears to be a button on the switch to manually toggle the switch position.
Number 4, the Dome Starter. The Dome Starter holds several marbles
simultaneously and releases them one at a time when receiving a signal from a Trigger
or the GraviTrax C controller. Marbles can be dropped in the top of the dome.
This becomes the electronic launch pad of the GraviTrax C system. What is not
clear is if the dome starter has a manual launch button to start off the first marble,
in case you lose the GraviTrax C controller, or if you just feel like launching a marble manually.
Number 5, the Trigger. The Trigger is a sensor that detects the presence of a marble rolling
through, and uses that signal to then trigger the operation of a Switch, Elevator, or Dome Starter.
Number 6, the Target Trigger. This trigger appears to be directional, as it has arrows printed on it.
And it appears that its intent is to be placed at the end of a track
immediately prior to the landing pad. You can see that it has a different shape of the green tunnel
that the marble goes through. But apparently it has the same operation as the regular Trigger,
in that it will send a signal to trigger the operation of a Switch, Elevator, or Dome Starter.
There must be some difference between the Trigger and the Target Trigger, but I can't figure out
what that difference is. It doesn't make sense that there would be two different designs or
triggers that operate exactly the same. So Ravensburger has me guessing on this one.
Number 7, the Target Arena. I don't have a good picture of this, but it doesn't appear to be an
electronic component. It appears just to be a different design landing pad with a
circular shape and borders, that can hold more marbles than a standard landing pad.
Number 8. the GraviTrax C Controller. This controller is small, about the size of a GraviTrax
tile. It has three buttons on top: red, blue, and green. These correspond to the 3 radio channels in
the GraviTrax C system. And GraviTrax C components can be set to red, green, blue, or white.
If a trigger set to the red channel senses a marble, or if the red button on the GraviTrax C
Controller is pressed, any Switches, Elevators, or Dome Starters set to the red channel will
be activated. I am guessing that any GraviTrax component set to white will either be offline, or
will respond to all three color channels. We will have to wait and see.
Now let's take a look at the 4 GraviTrax C sets and extensions
that will be released in Europe during the second half of 2022.
Number 1, the GraviTrax C Elevator Extension.
We've already discussed the Elevator. It will be released as a separate extension, although you'll
need to separately purchase a set with triggers or a controller in order to trigger the extension.
The Elevator will sell for 27 Euros plus shipping, and is forecast to be available in mid- August.
The contents are simply the Elevator itself and an instruction manual.
Number 2, the GraviTrax C Lever Extension. We've also discussed the Lever already. It will
be released as a separate extension, although you'll need to separately purchase a set with
triggers or a controller in order to trigger the extension. The Lever will also sell for 27 Euros
plus shipping, and no forecast date is currently available.
The contents of the extension are simply the Lever itself and an instruction manual.
Number 3, the GraviTrax C Launch Starter Set. This set combines a full starter set with 4 of the 8
GraviTrax C components: a Dome Launcher, Target Trigger, a Target Arena, and a Controller. The
set will retail for 100 Euros plus shipping, and may become available as early as late June.
We'll return to the Launch Starter Set in just a moment to cover its full contents.
Number 4, the GraviTrax C Interaction Extension. This set simply consists of one apiece of all 8
GraviTrax C components, but nothing else. So this may be the best way to add the GraviTrax
C system to your existing Gravitrax collection. But be forewarned this is also the most expensive
GraviTrax C offering at 160 Euros, and its forecasted release is not until November 2022,
just in time for the Christmas season. I know some of you won't want to wait that long.
Just so you know, I have loaded all of the contents of the upcoming GraviTrax C sets
and extensions into version 7.0 of Gravisheet, the free online GraviTrax set reference.
I have also loaded the contents of the 2022 Advent Calendar Starter Set.
So check out the description below for a link to get your own copy of GraviSheet.
If you are unfamiliar with GraviSheet, at the end of this video I'll post a link to a GraviSheet
intro video that leads you through its features. If you already have a prior version of GraviSheet,
be sure to download the latest version and transfer your set inventory over to version 7.0.
We're going to use GraviSheet now to review the contents of the Launch Starter Set.
Here's what's inside.
Okay, so here we are in Gravisheet. The Launch Starter Set comes with 4 base plates,
1 large clear platform. It also comes with 7 marbles: a red, a green, a blue, and 4 silver.
It comes with 12 small height tiles and 40 large height tiles. Not too bad.
As far as track pieces, the set comes with 9 short tracks, 6 medium tracks,
and 3 long tracks, which is par for the course. There's a finish line...
...and 21 curved tiles, which is pretty good.
There are 3 junction tiles, a three-way merge tile,
two 2-way merge tiles with two switch inserts, and a 2-entrance vortex. You also get 3 basic tiles
with 4 inserts: 1 free fall, 2 catcher, and 1 splash insert.
And then moving over, of course it comes with some of the GraviTrax C
extension parts. You get a Controller,
a Dome Starter, a Target Trigger, and a Target Arena; enough to do a simple interactive circuit.
Lastly we have the new GraviTrax Advent Calendar 2022 Starter Set. Unlike the 2021 Advent Calendar
Extension, the Advent Calendar 2022 Starter Set is a full standalone set with everything you need to
get started with GraviTrax. It also promises to be one of the least expensive sets at only 37 Euros
plus shipping. We do not have a release date on the set. Let's take a look at the set contents.
Okay, here's what you get with the Advent Calendar 2022 starter set it comes with 1
base plate and 3 marbles: 1 red and 1 green and 1 gold. Great Christmas colors there's
two small height tiles and 23 large height tiles. Enough to build a small track.
In track pieces there's five short tracks and one medium track.
The set also has 8 short Bernoulli tracks: 2 straight, 3 left, and 3 right.
There are 3 curved tiles and 7 special curve tiles. I'm not exactly sure which
7 they are. I've made a guess here. It may be incorrect. We'll have to see.
The set comes with one landing
arena... um, I think that's just a landing pad with insert. A three-way merge tile.
Moving over here you get a Color Swap, a Jumper, a Spinner, a Trampoline. And that's it.
So that wraps up the 5 new GraviTrax releases coming in the second half of 2022 to European
markets. We've looked at 2 new starter sets: the GraviTrax C Launch, and the Advent Calendar 2022.
And we've looked at 3 new extensions: The Gravitrax C Elevator, Lever and Interaction.
Hopefully you now understand how the new GraviTrax C components will work.
I've placed links in the description below for where you can pre-order the sets in Germany.
Please use the comments below to add your questions and comments about the new GraviTrax
C sets, extensions, and components; and the Advent Calendar 2022 Starter Set.
Have a wonderful Easter celebrating the risen Lord Jesus,
and we'll see you next time here at the Masked Marble!