Will the Ball Escape? / Ball Bouncing Brainrot

About

"Will the Ball Escape?" or Ball Bouncing Brainrot refers to a genre of physics simulation videos on YouTube in which one or several color-changing balls repeatedly bounce off the walls of a circle, usually multiplying or breaking walls as new ones appear. The bounces are usually accompanied by notes from famous melodies, with the melody becoming more recognizable as the speed of the ball increases. The video format first achieved virality on YouTube Shorts in November 2023.

Origin

On November 7th, 2023, the YouTube^[1] channel satisfying.ba11s
posted a physics simulation video showing a square bouncing within a larger square, with the area of the larger square shrinking with each bounce. The YouTube short (shown below) received over 191,000 views in five months

Through November 2023, satisfying.ba11s, FuncFlow and other YouTube channels posted similar YouTube Shorts simulating spheres and squares bouncing within enclosed spaces, either gaining speed or size with each bounce. For example, on November 28th, 2023, the YouTube^[2] channel Jack's Physics posted a video that received over 945,000 views in five months (shown below, left). On November 29th, YouTube^[3] user satisfying.ba11ls posted a video that in which each bounce produced a note from Crystal Castle's "Kerosene." The video (shown below, right) gained over 38 million views in five months.

Spread

The format saw viral spread on YouTube in the following months as various channels posted physics simulation videos in which balls or squares bounced off walls within a larger circle or square. For example, on December 28th, 2023, the YouTube^[4] channel satisfying.ba11s posted a video that received over 67 million views in four months (shown below, left).

On January 26th, 2024, the YouTube^[5] channel CodeCraftedPhysics posted a short video in which a ball broke the walls of a circle with regenerating layers titled, "Will the ball manage to escape this time?" The upload (shown below, right) received over 4.4 million views in three months.

The video format maintained popularity on YouTube shorts through the early months of 2024, with multiple submissions going viral on the platform.

Related Memes

Brick Breaker Brainrot

Brick Breaker Brainrot refers to a genre of short-format brainrot videos that combine the gameplay of brick breaker games such as Break Breaker and Brickmania with reaction videos that change depending on the in-game situation. The genre originated on YouTube Shorts in October 2022. In January 2024, brick breaker videos combined with prominent cat reaction clips such as Huh? Cat, Sad Cat Meowing and Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa achieved virality.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References