Spark
An exchange ceiling in gacha games, where every pull earns a token and a fixed number of tokens (300 in Granblue Fantasy, 200 in many later games) buys the featured item outright. Named after Granblue's cerulean sparks.
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A spark is an exchange ceiling: every pull on a banner grants one token, and a fixed number of tokens can be exchanged for an item of the player's choice from the banner's list, usually including the featured character. Unlike probabilistic pity, a spark is deterministic. It converts "you will probably get it eventually" into "you will get it at N pulls, at the latest".
The name comes from Granblue Fantasy's cerulean sparks, introduced on March 10, 2016 after the Anchira incident, in which a player documented spending about 700,000 yen in a day chasing a rate-up character with no safety net. [2] Cygames set the exchange at 300 draws, about 90,000 yen if fully paid, and the number stuck: "to spark" a character means to bank 300 pulls for them. [1] Japanese players call the same mechanic tenjou, "ceiling".
Later games tuned the number down and varied persistence:
| Game | Spark cost | Carries between banners? |
|---|---|---|
| Granblue Fantasy | 300 draws | no |
| Arknights (limited banners) | 300 pulls | no |
| Blue Archive | 200 recruits | no |
| Umamusume: Pretty Derby | 200 pulls | no |
| NIKKE | 200 pulls | yes, mileage never expires |
| Fate/Grand Order | 330 rolls (auto-granted) | no |
Whether tokens expire is the sharp edge of the mechanic: a non-persistent spark only protects players who can commit the full amount inside one banner window, which shapes saving behavior across the whole player base. See the pity comparison for current values with sources.
References
- Draw rates and cerulean spark rules Granblue Fantasy community wiki. Accessed 2026-07-09. Documents the 300-spark exchange introduced March 10, 2016.
- $6,065 hunt for a blonde avatar exposes dark side of Japan gaming Bloomberg. Accessed 2026-07-09.
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