Power Tower

Not to be confused with the Towers of Power, a group of contestants who often compete in team-based ANW tournaments.

The Power Tower is an obstacle, firstly introduced on American Ninja Warrior 11.

In essence, the Power Tower consisted of a side-by-side obstacle course with several parts, and was used at the end of city qualifiers and city finals rounds in each city. The top two overall competitors would compete head-to-head on this obstacle, with the winning competitor receiving the Speed Pass (during city qualifiers round) or Safety Pass (during city finals round).

American Ninja Warrior City Qualifiers
During city qualifiers round, the Power Tower worked as followed:
 * First, competitors must climb up a giant stair to reach the top.
 * Then, they must grab an arch-shaped bar and use their hands and upper-body strength to get across until they could reach a straight pole.
 * After that, they must slide down the pole and walk/run across a swinging beam to reach the other straight pole (in a similar fashion to the third part of the Burandou, which was used in the Second Stage from KUNOICHI 6 to KUNOICHI 8).
 * From there, they must climb up the pole and reach a bar at the top.
 * Then, they must make an 8-foot laché to reach the next bars in front of them.
 * Finally, they must make the dismount to the landing platform and hit the buzzer.
 * The first competitor to hit the buzzer would receive the Speed Pass, meaning he/she would automatically advance to Las Vegas national finals.
 * If the competitors fell on any part of the Power Tower, they were allowed to continue their run.

American Ninja Warrior City Finals
During city finals round, the Power Tower worked as followed:
 * First, competitors must grab a rope and use it to reach the first square handle (this feature was not in use during Los Angeles finals, meaning competitors would start by standing at the small platform).
 * Then, competitors must work their way across 7 hanging square handles.
 * From there, they must grab and work their way across 4 hanging cones (similar to the ones used on the Spikes into Cargo and Minefield).
 * After that, they must grab and work their way across 2 tilting ladders (similar to the Double Tilt Ladder), each was attached to bungee cords at the top.
 * Finally, they must make the dismount to the landing platform and hit the buzzer.
 * The first competitor to hit the buzzer would receive the Safety Pass, meaning if he/she failed to complete either Stage One or Stage Two during Las Vegas national finals, he/she was allowed to reattempt it once. However, if he/she could complete both stages (as in Michael Torres' case), his/her Safety Pass would be voided (it could not be rolled over to the next season).

American Ninja Warrior 12
The Power Tower once again appeared on American Ninja Warrior 12, but compared to the previous season, there were changes added to the mechanics due to the changes in the competition format:
 * During qualifiers, the top 2 competitors from each qualifiers episode would face off on the Power Tower, with the winner being able to take their two fellow competitors to the semifinals regardless of whether or not they finished in the top 12.
 * In the finals, the top 8 competitors would compete in a playoff bracket format. The winner would receive the cash prize of $100,000.

For this season, the Power Tower worked as followed:
 * First, competitors must climb up a set of giant stairs to reach the top.
 * Then, they must grab a bar and use it to reach the pole and drop down from it.
 * After that, they must run across four floating steps (during the qualifiers and the first round of the finals' playoff bracket) or traverse two Plexiglas walls, each with three Cliffhanger ledges to grab onto (during the second and third rounds of the finals' playoff bracket) to grab the second pole, and then reach the third pole (in a similar fashion to the Pole Grasper) to climb it up and reach the first dropping shelf.
 * From there, they must work their way to the next three dropping shelves.
 * Finally, on the fourth shelf, they must make the dismount to the landing platform and hit the buzzer.

On the first episode of the qualifiers, however, no Power Tower match-up was shown. The top two finishers in that episode, Tyler Gillett and Jody Avila, should have competed for the right to bring their teammates to the semifinals. However, after the final competitor finished the course, the final leaderboard was shown and the episode concluded. The Power Tower was never mentioned in the entire episode, and no explanation was given as to why it was not shown.

It was later confirmed that the reason for the Power Tower match-up not being shown is because it involved Drew Drechsel, who was edited out of the season due to NBC and A. Smith & Co permanently cutting ties with him. Likely for this reason, the producers chose to air this particular qualifiers episode first, as it would be awkward to show the Power Tower one week, but not in subsequent weeks. Drechsel and Avila both competed on the Power Tower, and inside sources confirmed that Jody Avila won the match-up.

Later, the same version of the Power Tower used during the qualifiers would be used during Round Three on American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship. The top 4 competitors from Round Two would compete in a playoff bracket format. The last female competitor standing would be crowned as the champion and received the trophy and cash prize of $50,000.

American Ninja Warrior 13
The Power Tower returned for American Ninja Warrior 13, but was only used in the semifinals. The top 2 competitors in each semifinal episode raced for the Safety Pass, which functioned exactly how it did on American Ninja Warrior 11.

During semifinals round, the Power Tower worked as followed:


 * First, competitors must climb upwards towards a series of bars that leads them to a mini platform.
 * Then, competitors must climb their way towards a 20-foot rope that is set on an incline.
 * From there, they must grab a ring and slide the ring down a track in a similar fashion to the Ring of Fire. There are pegs along the track where they had to raise the ring to move on.
 * After that, they must grab a bar and traverse six rungs of an inclined version of the Salmon Ladder. Once they reach the top of the Salmon Ladder, they must work their way across an inclined bar that will lead them to the first dropping shelf.
 * From there, they must work their way to the next three dropping shelves.
 * Finally, on the fourth shelf, they must make the dismount to the landing platform and hit the buzzer.

Australian Ninja Warrior
The Power Tower made its first appearance outside American Ninja Warrior on Australian Ninja Warrior 4, which was used during the heats and semifinals.
 * During the heats, the Power Tower was made similar to the one used during American Ninja Warrior 11's city qualifiers round.
 * During the semifinals, the Power Tower was made similar to the one used during American Ninja Warrior 11's city finals round.

The top two competitors from each heat or semifinal would compete on this side-by-side obstacle course. During the heats, the winning competitor would receive a ten-second time advantage in the semifinals, while during the semifinals, the winning competitor would receive a second-chance advantage in the grand final (in a very similar manner to the Safety Pass on American Ninja Warrior 11).

Later, the same version of the Power Tower used during the semifinals would be used during the final round of qualifying and finals on Australian Ninja Warrior: State of Origin. During the qualifying, the Power Tower was used to determine which team would be eliminated from the competition (i.e. did not advance to the finals), while during the finals, the Power Tower was used to determine which team would be the champion of the competition.

The Power Tower returned on Australian Ninja Warrior 5, which was used during the heats and semifinals.
 * During the heats, the Power Tower was made similar to the one used during American Ninja Warrior 12's city qualifiers round.
 * During the semifinals, the Power Tower was made similar to the one used on American Ninja Warrior 12 during the second and third rounds of the finals' playoff bracket, but with a few differences:
 * The ledges composed of three Plexiglas walls with one Cliffhanger ledge each to hold onto,
 * Once they reached the last ledge, they must hold onto a ring that led them to a cargo net that competitors must climb over to reach the shelves.
 * Compared to the previous season, competitors were to start the course by running a certain distance before attempting the tower.

The top two competitors from each heat or semifinal would compete on this side-by-side obstacle course. During the heats, the winning competitor would automatically advance to the grand final (in a very similar manner to the Speed Pass on American Ninja Warrior 11), while during the semifinals, the winning competitor would receive a second-chance advantage in the grand final (in a very similar manner to the Safety Pass on American Ninja Warrior 11). It is worth noting that the four competitors who have automatically advanced to the grand final by winning the Power Tower during their respective heats did not compete in the semifinals.

Ninja Warrior France
The Power Tower, named as La Tour d'acier, also made its appearance on Ninja Warrior France 5 with a vast difference compared to American Ninja Warrior. Instead of being used as a side-by-side obstacle race, it served as the fifth obstacle of the qualifying rounds. The tower worked as followed:
 * First, competitors must climb up six giant stairs to reach the top.
 * Then, they must traverse three Cliffhanger ledges, each ledge was 60 centimeters in length and five centimeters in thickness, curving inwards and the ledges being lower than the other (actually 5th obstacle).
 * After that, they must grab onto two rings, each ring was 30 centimeters in diameter, with an 80-centimeter distance between them (it was replaced by two hanging poles in Qualification 4) (actually 6th obstacle)
 * From there, they must work their way onto the cargo net (actually 7th obstacle) before reaching a rope to make the dismount to the landing platform.

The Power Tower would return in Ninja Warrior France 6 with a different format compared to the previous season.


 * The Top 4 to Top 11 competitors in the qualification leaderboard, plus the Top 2 Women competitors would compete in the Battle of the Steel Tower (Les Battles de la Tour d’Acier).
 * Instead of being an individual obstacle, the Power Tower was used as a side-by-side obstacle race, identical to the original American format where competitors would compete each other to determine a total of 5 winners in their respective matchups would advance in the Semifinals.
 * The Top 2 fastest competitors in the Battle of the Steel Tower would compete against each other in one Semifinals matchup while the rest of the competitors would each face the Top 3 competitors from each Qualification, with the slowest competitor to clear the Power Tower facing the Top 1 competitor in the Qualification leaderboard.
 * In addition, the Power Tower would be in a similar course to the one used during American Ninja Warrior 12's qualifiers round.
 * Compared to the American format, if the competitors fell on any part of the Power Tower, they were not allowed to continue their run.

Ninja Warrior Poland
The Power Tower made its first appearance in Ninja Warrior Poland 4 in the heats, earning competitors the Golden Ticket (locally called Złoty Bilet) and automatically advances to the Finals for the season. The Power Tower worked as followed:

On Ninja Warrior Poland 5, Power Tower returned with the same rules. Only the track layout has changed:
 * First, competitors must climb up a set of giant stairs to reach the top.
 * They then have to grab the rope and go through a set of 10 handles (7 square and 3 similar to those used in Spikes into Cargo).
 * From there, they must walk over two swinging ladders (same as the one used in the Hanging Staircase).
 * From there they have to swing and jump onto the platform by pressing the buzzer.


 * First, competitors must climb up a set of giant stairs to reach the top.
 * They then have to grab the rope and grab the square grip and from there pass through the series of 10 poles (identical to those used in Pole Grasper).
 * From there, they must walk over three sets of hanging globes (same as the used in Globe Grasper).
 * From there they have to swing and jump onto the platform by pressing the buzzer.

Ninja Warrior Germany
The Power Tower would appear in the Preliminary Heats of Ninja Warrior Germany 6. Compared to previous iterations, the top four competitors from each Preliminary Heat would compete in a playoff bracket. The winners of the first matchup would receive 5,000€. The winning competitor of the final match would receive the Speed Pass, meaning that the competitor would automatically advance to the Finals.