Spinner

A Ball 'n' Chain is a spiked ball on a chain swinging on a pivot. Super Mario World introduces these obstacles. Bowser uses these as cautionary weapons against invaders, but Mario or Luigi can stand on the brick in the center to avoid being hit by the ball. Also, using a Spin Jump will allow Mario/Luigi to harmlessly bounce off the spiked ball. Many are found in the castles and fortresses in Super Mario World. The only way this obstacle can be defeated is using a star, but it will pop up a defeated Bony Beetle because it was never programmed for invincibility to defeat it. Technically, this is the first game that they can be destroyed.

A Ball 'n' Chain makes a brief appearance in the Super Mario World animated series episode "Send in the Clown". Mario, while traveling through Neon Castle, narrowly avoids being hit by a Ball 'n' Chain, which drops from the ceiling, as he traverses over some lava.

Ball 'n' Chains reappears in Yoshi's Story where they either swing in a manner similar to pendulums or quickly drop down from their hanging spot to the floor and then slowly rise again. They solely appear in the levels Tall Tower and Magma Castle.

After nearly 8 years of absence, New Super Mario Bros. features this obstacle in the World 7-Castle being so rare. The blocks are still there, and one even has a Star Coin. As an added feature, they rotate wildly on the end of the chain as well as spinning on the block, however, this does not affect their attack.

Ball 'n' Chains reappear in New Super Mario Bros. Wii once, in a secret area of Wendy's Castle and in Lemmy's Fortress. However, like their past work (first Super Mario World), they can be defeated using a Starman, but instead of turning into a glitchy graphic, the sprite was designed to be beaten with the the use of a star.

In Super Mario 3D Land, Ball 'n' Chains appear in purple with yellow spikes and chain. This time they are not linked to shackles, like in Super Mario World. Instead of spinning, they only make pendulum movements. The chain's links are two-dimensional. They can be destroyed by making contact with them as Statue Mario.

In New Super Mario Bros. U, regular and giant Ball 'n' Chains (under the name Pendulums) appear, swinging in a pendulum-like manner as they do in Super Princess Peach and Super Mario 3D Land. Unlike other iterations, however, these Ball 'n' Chains cannot be avoided by passing through the chains, as they have been spiked too.

In Mario Kart 8, a single Ball 'n' Chain appears as an obstacle in Bowser's Castle. The obstacle acts virtually the same as the pendulums in Tick-Tock Clock and the anchors in Wario Shipyard.