Ten Secrets from Hannover

Ricklingen: The world record in Murmiland

On February 27, 2015, 10,000 marbles rolled down a long track all at once at the Ricklingen Community Center. That had never happened before—it was a round-as-a-ball world record made in Hannover!

A spectacle to watch

It took the 10,000 marbles just seven minutes to roll together down a 25-meter-long track—the length of a soccer field—past small spectator figures and through a carillon, crossing the finish line to set a world record. Ortwin Grüttner conceived and made this unprecedented marble spectacle a reality. When it comes to marbles, he brings creativity and unbridled passion to the table. To get the fun rolling in a truly ingenious way, the mechanical engineer doesn’t just build a simple track for the marbles to roll down—he creates mechanical works of art, meticulously engineered down to the smallest detail. Each one is a little fantasy world of its own, featuring cute “Murmis” that regularly invite visitors to play along in a traveling exhibition. The “Murmis,” Ortwin Grüttner revealed in an interview with the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung on March 2, 2015, following his world record, “are the inhabitants of Murmiland who experience adventures in each of the exhibited fantasy worlds. Sometimes they fight dragons, sometimes they end up in jail.” Of course, they were also there for the world record attempt, standing in the soccer goal, among other places, and “cheering on” the marbles on their way to victory.

30 years of Murmiland

For a little over three decades now, Ortwin Grüttner has been delighting fans of all ages with his colorful marbles. In his mobile “Murmiland,” featuring more than 50 marble runs—some with cranks, some with a springboard, often with mazes or labyrinths, and always with plenty of colorful marbles—visitors can enjoy playful fun. And there’s always some new, fantastic world of adventure to discover—worlds that the “Lord of the Marbles” has usually spent thousands of hours crafting and tinkering with, and which are all unique and not for sale.

Incidentally, Murmiland is, in a sense, at home in the Ricklingen neighborhood center in Hannover. An anniversary exhibition was planned for its 30th birthday, during which, from March 22 to April 12, 2020, in addition to Ortwin Grüttner’s well-known and beloved marble run artworks such as the Marble Pinball and the Giant Marble Run, the new themed runs “Great Wall of China,” "Inca Temple City," and the "4-Cylinder Marble Elevator" were set to make their debut. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this milestone anniversary had to be canceled and could only be rescheduled two years later.