Stick and Spin

Stick and Spin is a Rare minigame in Mario Party 7, a Puzzle minigame in Mario Party DS, a Special minigame in Mario Party: The Top 100, and a Sports & Puzzles minigame in Mario Party Superstars. In Mario Party: The Top 100, this minigame is unlocked after obtaining 200 stars in Minigame Island. Its name is a pun on either the phrase "thick and thin" or the name of the children's toy the Sit n' Spin manufactured by.

Gameplay
The aim of the game is to make matches of five or more balls with the same color, and connected balls are indicated by lines linked between them. To control the circle, the player needs to spin the wheel with. By pressing, the ball will immediately drop to the bottom. Only in Mario Party Superstars does this minigame have different patterns for each of the colored marbles, possibly to aid with color blindness. If the player clears a set number of balls, they will advance a level. The number of balls that are needed to be cleared is listed in the middle of the circle. As soon as a ball is going to be cleared, the number is decreased based on that amount, although in Mario Party Superstars, the number only decreases after the cleared balls disappear completely.

After every five levels, starting with Level 6, the board resets and a brand-new board is presented, with a new gameplay element added, starting at Level 11. Mario Party 7 is also the only version where the balls in the conveyor belt can change their state when levelling up within a set of levels, so for example, within level 96 to 100, the ball sizes get larger as soon as a level up occurs. On certain sets of levels, the drop speed of the balls might increase, making it so that they drop faster than before. The speed change in Mario Party 7 and Mario Party DS can be faster or slower between certain sets of levels, while the speed increase in Mario Party: The Top 100 and Mario Party Superstars is gradual and more consistent. Another thing that may happen between sets of levels is that the size of the circle may change to become slightly smaller or larger, and the most drastic change only happened at level 56 to 60, which shrinks the circle to fit only one layer of normal-sized balls, and it only happens in this set of levels.

The game ends when 10 balls spill over and two seconds passed before the player could reduce the amount of balls sticking out of the circle. If a ball is spilled over, it is indicated by dotted-lines circling that ball. Balls that are cleared do not count as being spilled over. In Mario Party 7 and Mario Party Superstars, a checkpoint will be reached every five levels, starting at Level 6. If this happens, the player may continue from the last checkpoint, but it will cost them half of their score provided that they have reached a new checkpoint. If they did not progress past the same checkpoint, the score deduction becomes larger for each successive game over until it starts from zero. In Mario Party DS, the player may continue from the last level they have gotten a game over on, although the score will reset to zero. In Mario Party: The Top 100, the player cannot continue from one of the later levels unlike the other versions, so they can only start from level 1 should the player get a game over.

There are several types of balls introduced throughout the levels:
 * Color balls: Five or more like-colored balls will be eliminated when they are linked, indicated by lines that join them when they touch each other. There are six different colors of balls in Mario Party 7 and Mario Party DS: Red, light blue, yellow, green, purple, and dark blue. In Mario Party: The Top 100 and Mario Party Superstars, there are only five colors: Red, light blue, yellow, green, and purple. Mario Party 7 is also the only version where certain levels don't have a fixed set of colors based on the amount of colors.
 * Different-sized balls: The balls can come in different sizes compared to the standard size. Other than being of a different size, the balls work the same way as their normal-sized counterparts.
 * Bubbles: These are transparent balls that, when a ball is dropped on them, will be popped. They will not pop if a ball dropped on them as a result of another ball tumbling on them, nor will they pop when a match is made adjacent to them. In Mario Party Superstars, popping bubbles will contribute to the number of balls needed to be eliminated.
 * Grey balls: These balls will require a match made next to them to eliminate, and will contribute to the total number of balls needed to be eliminated, except in Mario Party DS.
 * Black and white balls: Similar to colored balls, five or more like-colored balls will be eliminated when they are linked. Unlike colored balls, when a ball is dropped on them, a black ball will be change to a white ball, and vice-versa. They will not change color if a ball dropped on them as a result of another ball tumbling on them.
 * Numbered balls: Balls with a number on it indicate the amount of times the ball needs to be cleared before it completely disappear. Upon the conditions for eliminating the ball being met, if the number is more than 1, it is decreased by 1; If the number is 1, the number will disappear before the ball is eliminated completely. The number can be reduced further if an extra ball is added during a match before the linked balls disappear, including when a numbered grey ball is next to that match. In the case of numbered balls needing to be linked to be eliminated, the match will keep getting made as long as five or more balls are linked. However, in Mario Party Superstars, even if there are five or more like-colored numbered balls linked together after all the numbers are reduced by one but are not yet eliminated, another like-colored ball must be added to eliminate them again.

These gameplay elements go as follows:
 * New colors: On Level 4, purple balls will come into play. They are not seen again until Level 12, where they stay until Level 25, and they are seen again on Levels 28–30. They also return on Level 36 and many other levels afterwards. On Levels 18–20, dark-blue balls will also come into play. They will return, and permanently stay, at Level 71.
 * Faster speed: Starting with Level 7, certain levels will make the balls drop much faster, without even pressing.
 * Varying size: On Levels 11–15, balls can be either their normal size or twice as big, making it easier for balls to be outside the circle.
 * Bubbles: On Levels 16–20, there are balls all around the innermost part of the circle, with bubbles surrounding them, making them unreachable. A ball must be dropped directly on top of the bubble to burst it. Once a bubble is popped, it cannot come back into play. After Level 20 is cleared, any remaining bubbles will fade away as the board gets reset.
 * Numbered balls: On Levels 21–25, the player will have to deal with numbered balls that will vary in size. These balls cannot be directly eliminated; instead, a match of five or more balls must be made next to one. The number on the ball indicates how many matches are needed before it gets destroyed; however, all the balls are marked with a 1. They return on Levels 31–35, where they are marked with 3's and 4's instead of a 1. Any remaining numbered balls will be cleared when the board is reset.
 * Unknown color: On Levels 26–30, the player will be unable to see the colors of balls on the conveyor belt until they start falling.
 * Auto-spin: On Levels 36–40, the wheel will spin counterclockwise by itself (clockwise in Mario Party: The Top 100), making ball placement difficult. Turning the wheel against the rotation makes it spin slowly, while turning with it makes it go faster.
 * Numbered bubbles: On Levels 41–45, bubbles will return, but this time they have numbers on them. The player can pop them like normal bubbles, but they must do it the number of times shown on the bubbles to permanently clear them from the screen.
 * Colored number balls: On Levels 46–50, numbered balls will be the colors of normal balls. Using one in a combo, therefore, will not clear it from the screen until it is used in a combo the number of times shown on the ball.
 * Color-changing balls: On Levels 51–55, there will be white and black balls. These balls will change to the other color (if one is white, then it would turn black, and vice versa) when any ball (including other black and white balls) is dropped on them from the conveyor belt.
 * Small circle: On Levels 56–60, the circle will severely shrink, being only one ball length long. However, there will be only the color-changing balls and numbered bubbles (all labeled with a 1) on these levels.
 * Big color-changing balls: On Levels 61–65, the color-changing balls can be of any size; however, all other balls will stay at normal size.
 * All numbered balls: On Levels 66–70, every single ball dropped from the conveyor belt will be a colored number ball, making big combos necessary.
 * All big, all colors: On Levels 71–75, both purple and dark-blue balls will return, and all balls will be slightly bigger than normal. In addition, the six colors of balls will fall from the conveyor belt in a rainbow-like pattern: red, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, then back to red, and so on.

In Mario Party 7, clearing level 100 also ends the game, but in every other version, this minigame is endless where level 99 is the highest level that can be reached, as clearing it will put the player back to that level.

In Mario Party 7, the staff record for this minigame is 20,190 points in the American version, 49,320 points in the Japanese version, and 49,620 points in the European/Australian version. In Mario Party DS, it is 11,130 points in all versions.

Multiplayer
Stick and Spin can also be played with two players. A few gameplay elements from the single-player game are present as well. The two-player game is played as a survival game, as whoever has 10 balls sticking out of the circle first will lose. As the game goes on, the balls will drop faster and faster. Numbered balls will also be present, and they will fall on both players' screens. However, if one player makes big combos, more numbered balls will be sent to their opponent.

Mario Party 7

 * – Spin the stage
 * – Drop balls

Mario Party DS

 * – Spin wheel
 * – Drop piece

Mario Party: The Top 100

 * Left / Right: Rotate field
 * Drop ball
 * (The game will end 2 seconds after 10 balls spill over.)

Mario Party Superstars

 * (Left and Right) – Rotate Field
 * – Drop Ball

One Player

 * Rules – "Connect 5 or more balls of the same color to eliminate them. When you clear a set number, you'll go to the next stage."
 * Advice 1 – "The number in the center shows how many balls are remaining."
 * Advice 2 – "If a stack gets too high, balls will flow over the top of the circle. If 10 balls overflow, you lose--so watch for the blue warning lights."

Two Players

 * Rules &mdash; "Connect 5 or more balls of the same color to eliminate them. The first person to have 10 balls sticking out of the circle loses."
 * Advice &mdash; "Use the special Vexing Balls to give your opponent no end of trouble!"

One Player

 * Rules – "Rotate the cylinder to clear balls by connecting five or more of the same color. You have to clear a certain number of balls to clear a level."
 * Tips – "If 10 or more balls stick out past the outer blue ring, your game will end after two seconds, so be careful!"

Two Players

 * Rules – "Rotate the cylinder to clear balls by connecting five or more of the same color. You'll lose if 10 or more balls stick out past the outer blue ring."
 * Tips – "If you clear a lot of balls, you can cause trouble for your opponent!"

Mario Party: The Top 100

 * Description – "Rotate the field and connect 5 or more same-colored balls to clear them!"
 * On-screen (Vs. mode) – "Connect 5 or more same-colored balls to clear them!"
 * On-screen (Endless mode) – "Connect 5 or more same-colored balls and clear the number shown!"

Mario Party Superstars

 * "Connect five or more balls to remove them! Numbered balls go to your rival if removed. If 10 balls cross the edge, it's game over."

Trivia

 * This minigame is tied with Face Lift, Bombs Away, Shy Guy Says, Bumper Balls, Slot Car Derby, Handcar Havoc, and Block Star for the most number of appearances in the Mario Party series, with four. It and Block Star are also the only minigames not originally introduced in Mario Party to have four appearances in the series.