Icon vs The Big One

Vintage is the reversed stat — the older ride wins. Every number here is the same one printed on the card; see /methodology for how Build Cost and Throughput are sourced.

The verdict

The Big One takes it 4–2, and the 2 Icon does win are the whole of its case.

Icon is a steel Double Launch Coaster coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, GB, built by Mack Rides. The Big One is a steel Hypercoaster coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, GB, built by Arrow Dynamics.

Both live at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, so this is a comparison you can settle on foot in an afternoon — and one the park itself has to answer every time someone asks which to queue for first.

Both are steel-track, so nothing here is the usual steel-versus-wood argument in disguise.

Stat by stat

• Height goes to The Big One at 213 ft against 89 ft — more than double.
• Speed goes to The Big One at 74 mph against 53 mph — a long way clear.
• Icon turns upside down once; The Big One never does, so Inversions is a shut-out.
• Throughput goes to The Big One at 1,650 rph against 1,000 rph — nearly double.
• Build Cost goes to Icon at 21.6 $m against 18.4 $m — well clear.
• 24 years separate them, and because Vintage rewards age it is The Big One (1994) that banks the point, not Icon (2018).