Moonsault Scramble


Moonsault Scramble was a shuttle roller coaster that operated from 1983 until 2000 at Fuji-Q Highland amusement park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Moonsault Scramble was the tallest roller coaster in the world until 1996, when its record height was surpassed by another roller coaster at Fuji-Q Highland called Fujiyama, which reached in height. Moonsault Scramble was the first roller coaster to surpass 61 metres in height, and it remains the third tallest shuttle roller coaster ever built, behind , and Tower of Terror II. The coaster was removed from the park to make way for the construction of Dodonpa in 2001. The land where Moonsault Scramble once was is now occupied by Takabisha.

Ride experience

Moonsault Scramble was known for producing extremely high g-forces on its riders. As of 1998, it was cited by some to exert up to 6.5 gs on its riders. It was one of only three roller coasters outside the United States to exert such extreme forces on its riders. The pretzel knot element that produced these high g-forces was the only such pretzel knot inversion ever implemented in a roller coaster until the opening of Banshee at Kings Island in 2014. The pretzel knot element is different from the much more common pretzel loop element.

Height record

Considerable debate exists within the roller coaster enthusiast community whether the height record of Moonsault Scramble was, in fact, legitimate. As shuttle roller coasters—by definition—do not make a complete circuit, the tallest points of these coasters typically have very few riders who experience these heights. For this reason, many roller coaster enthusiasts reserve height records for complete circuit roller coasters. If these definitions are taken, the world's tallest roller coasters from 1983 until 1996 were Dragon Mountain, Magnum XL-200, Desperado, Pepsi Max Big One and finally Fujiyama.