Orbeez Challenge

About

Orbeez Challenge or #OrbeezChallenge is a viral challenge and hashtag on TikTok that uses a Gelblaster toy gun filled with Orbeez (a gel ball that absorbs water) to shoot at other people and property, such as cars. The challenge became popularized at the beginning of 2022 and led to a police statement on the matter circulating online, as well as widespread media coverage warning about the reported dangers of the trend.

Origin

According to TikTok, the holiday 2021 season saw many people buying or gifting gel guns, which are guns similar to Nerf in that they are meant to be shot at people, with the projectiles being small, fast-decomposing beads of gel. An example of the Gelblaster, the most common version of this gun, was uploaded to TikTok by the official TheGuGun^[1] account on November 24th, 2021, where it received 1.6 million likes in three months (shown below).

Using the non-standard gel beads that come with the gun, people began taking notice that Orbeez, which are similar in size but different in consistency and strength, could fit in the gun and fire extremely fast and far. This led to a TikTok uploaded by the account JuvenileJosiah^[2] on December 22nd, 2021, which shows a group of boys waiving their toy guns filled with Orbeez before driving around in a neighborhood shooting them out the side of the car like a drive-by (shown below).

Spread

The trend continued to become more widespread on TikTok in early 2022. For example, on January 26th, 2022, the TikTok account splatterballs^[3] uploaded an instructional video in which step-by-step instructions are shown on how to create and load the ammo needed for an Orbeez gun, before showing said gun shooting at cars in a parking lot across a field (shown below).

The challenge of filling up guns with Orbeez and firing them at people and property started to become more and more prevalent, leading to a statement being released by the Dearborn Michigan police Chief of Police after an arrest was made of a youth who was actively engaging in the challenge. The power presented by the weapons was reportedly enough for them to cause major property damage, escalating a simple crime into a much more serious offense should someone or something be damaged, according to the police statement. A TikTok was uploaded by the account Chasewoolery^[4] on March 21st, 2022, which showed police presence in a parking lot and warned others of catching a charge for discharge of a firearm (shown below).

In late March 2022, the Orbeez Challenge led to the arrests of several people taking part in the trend, including shooting scares at high schools in the U.S. For example, on March 24th, WATE^[6] reported that juveniles were arrested at Gibbs High School in Knoxville, Tennesee for participating in the Orbeez Challenge. On March 25th, KDFW^[5] in Texas reported that students participating in the challenge caused a false alarm for a shooting at Royse City High School, which resulted in a lockdown.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References