You may have discovered amazing LEGO ball machines in the TV show France’s Got Talent (“La France a un Incroyable Talent”) !
On November 25, you could have watched on the French TV channel M6, within the 2022 season of France’s Got Talent, the show Polo et ses machines.
You were amazed by this impressive show never seen before in Got Talent acts around the world?
And you want to know everything about this show and about these ball machines made with LEGO bricks ?
Who are Polo and Arthur? What are these LEGO ball machines called?
How to watch the show again? How to build them ? and much more…
You’ve come to the right place! Follow the guide and discover all the secrets and behind the scenes of this show !
Polo, candidate for the TV show France’s Got Talent 2022, in real life is called Paul Griffaton.
He is an enthusiast of mechanical constructions made of LEGO bricks and the creator of the website www.planet-gbc.com, a website that references marble machines (as known as “LEGO GBC”) but also automata made of LEGO bricks, designed by builders from all over the world.
Married, 44 years old in 2022, with two children (aged 13 and 16), Polo was selected for the television auditions of season 17 of the French edition from Got Talent, broadcasted on the French TV channel M6 and during which he was able to present, with his nephew Arthur, a marble race on machines built in LEGO.
Most of the ball machines displayed in the France’s Got Talent 2022 show are called GBC, acronym for Great Ball Contraption. A LEGO GBC is a machine, usually made of LEGO TECHNIC bricks and equipped with a motor, which transports balls from one place to another, often using mechanisms inspired by traditional mechanics or production lines found in industry.
In the jargon, this type of machine is known as a « GBC module ».
For the auditions of France a un Incroyable Talent, Polo organised a marble race for the jury on a series of GBC modules. The TV show was also completed with some automata entirely made with LEGO bricks.
To go further, you will find on the Planet GBC website lots of information about the world of LEGO GBC
The show Polo et ses machines has been broadcasted in the show La France a un Incroyable Talent” on Friday November 25.
Polo and Arthur were on stage for the sixth and final round of auditions for the 2022 edition.
If you live in France, you can replay the show on the channel M6.
Go to M6 Play broadcast platform, Register to the M6PlayMax offer (it’s free during 7 days), and watch the replay called “replay de l’émission La France a un Incroyable Talent – Emission 6: les auditions“.
If you don’t live in France, you can watch the show on Youtube.
For copyright reasons, this video is not accessible to YouTube viewers in France (note: you can use a VPN in your web browser to temporarily bypass this limitation)
In any case, you can watch the entire marble race in the YouTube video on the Planet GBC channel.
Here are videos:
Polo and his machines, in the show “La France a un Incroyable Talent” (content not viewable from France)
The entire ball circuit shown in the show
For the auditions, Polo and Arthur prepared a marble race between the Got Talent jury members: Marianne James, Hélène Ségara, Sugar Sammy and Eric Antoine were able to compete on a circuit made of 12 LEGO machines.
Below is a list of the machines that were featured in the show.
On Planet GBC you will find videos, building instructions and ready-to-build kits (including all the genuine LEGO bricks needed for your building) to reproduce each one of these amazing machines.
- 1. The colorful spiral tower, Ball Rolling Machine 16 (designed by Rimo Yaona)
- 2. The turntable, Geneva Drive (designed by Takanori Hashimoto)
- 3. The rotating drum of balls, Little Drum (designed by LegoMarbleRun)
- 4. The ball catching robots, Catch and Spin Robots (designed by Akiyuki)
- 5. The Mexican and his cactus playing the guitar, Mariachi (designed by TonyFlow76)
- 7. The colorful ball staircase, Basic Stairs (designed by PG52)
- 8. The marble funnel, GBC funnel Turbo XL (GBC accessory proposed by PV-Productions)
- 9. The machine with barrels making 360° turns, Ball Rolling Machine 12 (conçue par Rimo Yaona)
- 10. The small compact staircase, Basic Stairs (designed by Sam Friesen)
- 11. The giant machine with five rotating yellow rings, Five Tilted Rings (designed by Akiyuki)
If you wish to reproduce exactly the same circuit as the one in the “Polo et ses machines” show, you can follow the links in the paragraph above.
You will find all the information to be able to reproduce each of the machines proposed in the Got Talent show.
As the budget and time needed to reproduce the whole circuit is quite substantial, you can also create your own circuit by building your own machines (Planet GBC website is full of tips for creating your own original LEGO ball machines) or by reproducing some of the many machines listed on Planet GBC.
If you have a more moderate budget and simply want to build your first machines to get started, we recommend you the GBC4ALL machines series, ideal ball machines for starting out and creating your first ball circuit with your children
With the exception of the ball funnel (an accessory made with a 3D printer), all the machines presented on the marble race circuit of France’s Got Talent are made from LEGO bricks.
Even the balls are from LEGO (and yes! LEGO also produces balls)
