Hi! This is the author of this piece, and since a lot of you seem to be interested in rise and fall of the ball pit, I wanted to add that there are two exceptions where the ball pit seems to live on (at least in the US):

- Here and there, you'll find ball pits that seem to exist for the sole purpose of providing Instagram photo ops and seem to be more for adults than children (The Color Factory chain of museums is a notable example)

- There also seems to be a growing demand for private ball pit rentals in the same vein of the rental bouncy houses you'll find sometimes at children's parties

I couldn't find a ton of up-to-date information concerning ball pits outside of North America, so it's interesting to hear that they're still alive and well in Europe! I suspected they might be thriving elsewhere based on this sort of silly article about a woman getting stuck in a ball pit in Singapore

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/desperate-mum-drown...

Anyway, thanks for reading!

The article describes the lack of sanitation as a baseless part of the negative mythology, but a dearth of scientific studies (and questions of generalizability of the existing studies) does not mean that their reputation is without merit. When your kid finds turds in the ball pit you don't need a study to know there's a sanitation problem. Anecdotally, as a child I had a near 100% rate of coming down with an infection after visiting the local ball pit and witnessed the discovery of fecal matter by another child, which, combined with the repeated illness, led to a ban on further visits.

I can't help but think of the Dashcon ball pit meme whenever ball pits are mentioned. See at about 3:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZgxeX2dCnQ

I guess this is limited to the US? Ball pits are going strong here in Europe, they're a staple of every indoor playpark.

There's a special machine for cleaning them, it looks a bit like the robot from teletubbies

I really hope the adventure playgrounds mentioned are still a thing.

The ones in Germany were a bit more organized than just a pile of junk, but you basically went there, maybe parents paid some (nominal) fee or deposit, and you got a toolbox with basic hand tools like a saw, hammer and nails and there was plenty of wood to build with.

Larger structures were clearly built with some guidance and probably a civil engineer because there were multi-story buildings.

Here I thought this would be about dashcon and the beloved ball pit. Extra time in the ball pit for all.

I just assumed they were removed because they were too hard to clean.

My kids’ school has actually retained some elements of the junk playground. In the courtyard play area, there is a wealth of scrap wood that the kids use for building projects. When we did the tour before enrolling our kids, the older kids had just built a shed which I thought was appropriate because the school is based on John Dewey’s progressive education ideals, with his central example he returned to many times in his writings being, building a shed.

Amusingly, the director of the school, didn’t know this.

The Rise & Fall of The Ball Pit - Theme Park Crazy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uahX7iEl_fI

Heh, before the internet rumor mill existed, I had friends who worked at fast food joints with ball pits. They ALWAYS complained about kids pissing in the ball pits. That scared me off from ever messing with them as a young adult (and they didn't have them around my area when I was the right age/size to play in one).

Playgrounds in restaurants take staff time to clean. You have to do the windows since they get all fingerprinted. You have to sweep and mop the floors. Usually you send someone into the structure itself with a pack of sanitizer wipes and hope for the best. At a busy fast food place like chickfila, where they staff 15 people on a closing shift, they can afford to have an area like this. At a mcdonalds with a staff of 2, no chance.

TLDR: They got rid of them due to a hoax originating from South Africa that a child got spiked with a heroin needle and died from an overdose.

I came here thinking it was the infamous tumblr Ball Pit. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/dashcon

I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be in ball pits. Are they even swimmable or do you just sink straight down? What if there was a very deep ball pit, think 12 feet or so. Could it be escaped by swimming back up?

> the boy found peace in his formative years crawling among the debris and refuse on the outskirts of post-blitzkrieg Manchester.

As far as I know, Hitler never tried to take England in a blitzkrieg. It seems like the author just wanted to use a hip word, but they completely lost my interest with that mistake

Based on the frequency of my kids getting infected at daycare, I assume any activity where toddlers or even a little older get together has a near certain chance of transmission. Although, I still would not take my chances with a ball pit that I doubt is ever thoroughly cleaned.

As an adult who grew up in country where ball pits simply weren't a thing:

My own ball pit? Hell yeah!

A public ball pit for adults? Depends on the crowd.

A ball pit for children? Haha no, there's no way someone didn't pee their pants in there, or dropped some food or snot.

It's surprising just how much mess a single chocolate bar can create.

I'd say actual junk playgrounds sound more sanitary.

Exactly! And anecdotally speaking, almost every single one that I entered as a kid smelled like urine. Not that it ever stopped us from playing in it, but even as kids we knew that it wasn't a clean place.

And ignores all the people saying that cleaning them is the problem.

I'm yet another person who worked at a place with a ballpit as a teen. I loathed it. One Karen lets her brat with diarrhea in, and it's closed for 2+ hours as someone making minimum wage loads every single ball, some with shit on them, into a net bag and runs it through the commercial dishwasher. Then hand wipes every tube.

Meanwhile, a line of other Karens are taking out their rage at not having the ballpit available to them Right. This. Instant! on a bunch of minimum wage coworkers.

At least three times a month during summer, btw.

SAME. We learned fast that other parents gambled with diapers in public/shared places.