What are battle tops? 

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Battling Tops is a children's game invented by  Eddy Goldfarb and first manufactured by  Ideal in 1968. In 1977 it was renamed  Battling Spaceships in response to  Star Wars fever. After Ideal was sold in 1982,  Marx took over the game. By the late 1980s, the game was out of production. In 2003,  Mattel rereleased  Battling Tops.

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GamePlay

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Two to four players launch  spinning tops into an arena. The object of the game is to have the last standing spinning top. The game takes place on a circular concave arena with four spinning top launch positions. Players wind a string (attached to a pull tab) around their tops, place them in the launch positions, then pull the tab vigorously to release the top. The concave surface forces the tops together to battle. The outcome is somewhat indeterminate, but there is a slight element of skill. Pegs in holes on the rim of the arena mark victories. The first to win ten battles wins the game.