Obby
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Obby is a genre of game commonly attributed with the Roblox gaming platform that is essentially an obstacle course or a 3D platformer, players complete levels (frequently called stages) that typically gradually ascend in difficulty and intensity until the end of the game, sometimes in the form of a Difficulty Chart Obby. There are many forms, variations, and gimmicks spun on the classic obby genre. The term 'obby' (derived from 'obstacle course') begun gaining popularity around 2015-2018 on Roblox, and has since become one of the most popular genres on the platform collecting billions of visits on the platform across hundreds of thousands of individual unique obby games (or 'obbies').
Obby Sub-genres (Obby Types)
Obby types (or obby sub-genres) are highly varied, with different mechanics, themes, and challenges that cater to different skill levels and player preferences. While all obbies share the core concept of navigating obstacles, they can differ significantly in structure, difficulty, and gameplay elements. Below are some of the most common and notable obby sub-genres:
The most traditional form of obby, featuring basic platforming challenges such as jumping across gaps, avoiding moving obstacles, and navigating narrow pathways, you name it. These obbies often have straightforward, linear progression with increasing difficulty as players advance through the stages.
These obbies incorporate a loose narrative or theme, where players progress through a series of obstacle courses that follow a storyline. Common themes include escaping from prison, surviving a disaster, or infiltrating a secret base. While the platforming remains central, story obbies often include cutscenes, dialogue, and themed environments.
Instead of a linear path, tower obbies challenge players to ascend a vertical structure filled with obstacles. These obbies can be timed, randomized, or procedurally generated, making each attempt different. Tower of Hell is one of the most famous examples, featuring a time-limited climb with no checkpoints. Another type of Tower Obby is a Tower Stage Obby, which are normally much larger and contain checkpoints with more or less the same gameplay.
A difficulty chart obby is similar to the classic obby sub-genre, sharing similar features. Instead of a linear progression system, difficulty chart obbies use a 'Difficulty Chart' containing multiple difficulties. Typically, groups of 20 stages are assigned to each difficulty in the chart, ramping up in intensity every 20 stages. This sub-genre originated as a spin-off to popular Roblox obby game Eternal Towers of Hell's (fka. Juke's Towers Of Hell or Jupiter's Towers of Hell) tower 'Tower of Difficulty Chart' or 'ToDC' for short. Since their introduction, slight variations have been made, including Per-Difficulty-Chart-Obbies, featuring one stage per difficulty, allowing them to ramp up in intensity very quickly. Additional gimmicks have been added to the difficulty chart obby formula over the years, making it appear more like a game structure, rather than a sub-genre.
A gimmick obby is typically an obby with one or more gimmicks/unique features that separate them from really any other sub-genre. Normally, their unique features and gameplay often lands them in the easier 'Classic Obby' sub-genre, even if it's not a direct match. A popular example is Flood Escape 2, which combines obbies and flood escaping into one game, making players race to the end of a highly detailed obby in order to escape the flood. Another is Obby But You're A Bird, which requires players to climb an obby mountain upwards instead of linearly progressing forward like a normal obby, except, they can double jump!
A large sub-genre of the classic obby is time trials - players compete on leaderboards to see who can get the best time on the obby.
The Obby Wiki
The Obby Wiki is a free and open wiki documenting and archive open information about obbies on the Roblox platform, click here for a random obby, click here for new/recently released obbies, and click here for more information about us. You can see features and new releases, as well as more information on how to contribute, who we are, and where to find obbies you're interested in, all on our home page.
Developing an obby
Roblox is a free platform, providing free development tools and a large ecosystem of publicly available and useable templates made by the community. If you're new to obbies and want to get started - check out this free development tutorial.
Criticism
There are many valid criticisms for obbies. One of these common criticisms being that there is a common trend for them to be used as bait for 'fake reward' games. For example, a developer will create a long and tedious obby, maybe even one that looks easy at the start, and they'll claim there's a free reward at the end such as UGC, Robux, Premium etc. When, in reality, there is nothing free and these developers are lying.
Another criticism about obbies is that there are a lot of lazy and low effort obbies. This is true, low effort games do appear more as obbies and are a very common form of cash-grab games on Roblox.
Plural
The grammatically correct and commonly recognized plural for Obby is 'obbies'. Often at times people misspell the plural as 'obbys', but that isn't the commonly recognized or correct way to say it.