It is 1pm on a sweltering Saturday inside a packed event space on the ground floor of Dragon Centre in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po neighbourhood, but nobody is here for the mid-year sales.

Instead, dozens of children, teenagers and a surprising number of adults are pressed shoulder to shoulder around clusters of small plastic stadiums, watching pairs of clashing Beyblades, the high-performance spinning tops popularised by the eponymous anime in the early 2000s.

Across Hong Kong, Beyblades are spinning back into the mainstream with a force that has caught even seasoned toy retailers by surprise.

Fuelled by the global success of the high-speed Beyblade X series and a potent mix of nostalgia and grass-roots organisation, the city is now home to a dizzying calendar of tournaments. These include casual weekend meet-ups in housing estates and official qualifiers for the Asian and world championships held inside shopping centres, toy expos, on the streets and at the recent Comic Con.

The competitive structure has been supercharged by official support from Takara Tomy, the Japanese manufacturer and creator of the Beyblade franchise. The brand regularly hosts official Beyblade X events and tournaments across Hong Kong, and competitors can battle in domestic qualifiers for the chance to enter the international Beyblade X Asia Championship and the World Championship.