Comments on: Epic Win: Metal Slides

By: tylin

tylin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:34:31 +0000

i nevere lived there but i have lived in places that are like that and i think that it is a good idea to show people what there doing to this world im about to have a baby and i would not want my kid around that it is sad we live in a bad place but where move but no matter where you go it will be like that i think it is sad

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:48:14 +0000

Plastic slide + kid willing to go upside down on it = somewhat more fun!

By: llc

llc — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:47:36 +0000

metal slides, huh? okay, never thought about it much…

By: Bark

Bark — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:57:26 +0000

there was a playground completely made of wood, including the slide(woo Ass Splinters) somewhere in england, cant remember where though

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:52:41 +0000

This is all epic win. Those slides are still the best ones out there if you can find them. Merry-go-rounds were way scarrier in my opinion. We’d hold onto the bars on the sides and let inertia take our feet out from under us so they would be flinging out behind us, just dangling. We’d hang on for OUR VERY LIVES! and then we’d be flung at top speed when we let go. The point of the game was to LAND SAFELY and not kill ourselves. That was the game. haha. Oh and does anyone remember pulling up picnic tables behind those huge swings and start swinging from standing position on the picnic table tops? Dang we got creative!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:46:51 +0000

we used to have a metal slide at my playground at school it wasnt the that high and they used this weird lubricated stuff that made it cooler but it helped us go faster

By: Kendra

Kendra — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:11:14 +0000

I also recall that metal open air slides were ridiculously high…almost 10 feet off the groundm..the metal spiral slides at least 20 feet! *sniffle* I miss it all.

By: RememberWhen

RememberWhen — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:29:11 +0000

Ahhh Fried Fanny! Good times, good times. I actually have a metal slide in my backyard for my kids to play on. Why should my husband and I have all the fun?

By: Master of Puppets

Master of Puppets — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:39:45 +0000

I hate that new safety crap. Also, a playground a few blocks from my house used to have a metal slide, it was always fun. But the summer made it almost impossible to even touch the slide. But the school decided to change the playground and get rid of it…

By: Jkoa

Jkoa — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:24:30 +0000

My school used to have those rocks… I still have one in my arm!

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:16:12 +0000

Heh, I was such a baby when I was younger. We had these corkscrew slides at the playground and I remember being terrified to the point of tears at actually going down.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:03:41 +0000

Anyone remember the domes made of steel bars you could climb up on and hang from your knees at the top? Man, my foot would slip off one of the bars and I’d rack myself between the legs. Even being a girl, the agony was enough to give me some sympathy for the boys.

By: Tylonfoxx

Tylonfoxx — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:07:30 +0000

Well Australians are like posessed with safety.

When I went to school in Australia, it was always safety this, ban that… Hell it was almost like brainwashing.

what safety playgrounds do, is that it takes away the independance the child needs, and also some VERY valuable life lessons.

so, I can conclude that:
Safety playgrounds + lack of independance – life lessons = Jackass lookalikes on Youtube.

It’s good that the schools and kindergartens here (Denmark) ain’t so hellbent on safety…. Well, at least WE have some metal death traps that can still kill you

By: Tess

Tess — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:11:35 +0000

Ah, memories. My elementary school used pea rock everywhere around our playground equipment, I remember having to constantly take my shoes off just so I could dump it out and kids were always getting it stuck under their skin. And all the equipment was metal, with pieces of paint missing and chipping off everywhere, and we had two of the giant swing sets. I used to try and swing myself high enough to see over the top bar every recess. Good times.

By: Lolwut

Lolwut — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:50:20 +0000

I don’t know if anyone else ever did this, but at the summer day care i use to go to when I was 5-10 years old use to give up wax paper to go down the metal slides with. It made you slide down super fast. You basically flew off the end, it was so fun. Lol.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:58:03 +0000

I remember the first time I finally got the guts to climb the ladder of one of these things, I chickened out and climbed down. When I finally slid down the slide one day, my kindergarten teacher wrote my mom a letter about it, I even still have that letter! Those things were a blast. When I was finally growing out of the age of play ground fun, they stared replacing these with those stupid plastic ones when everyone knows you can’t slide as fast on a plastic one as you could on a metal one.

By: George

George — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:41:45 +0000

That rubber mulch stuff isn’t as safe as it looks, I ripped most of the skin off my elbow with it when I was 9 or 10. Although it did leave an awesome scar.

By: Meg-Meg

Meg-Meg — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:31:29 +0000

I’m terrified of tube slides of all sorts for some reason. Especially plastic ones. I’m a weirdo…

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:08:43 +0000

I actually remember that happening to me once or twice. No sir I didn’t like it.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:04:47 +0000

I do!!! -flails arms in the air-

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:03:13 +0000

my town still has the old ass metal see-saws.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:02:07 +0000

theres one here in mass at purgatory -yes i know- chasm where it has rope on it. but tis sitll pretty fun even though the awesoem old ones still are the best. i was on the rope one and i was sitting by the exit thingy and there was a JACKED guy who spun it hard and fast. i fell out and climbed on the side and said” DO IT AGAIN!!!!!”

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 16 May 2009 05:57:57 +0000

omg this is SOOOOO true XD. very time i walk a dog i walk past a park where they have a metal slide. i wanna go on it SOOOOO badly!! im only 17. i wonder if ill get weird looks O_o

By: Suzu88

Suzu88 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:34:45 +0000

I’m so glad to live in a small town where they actually still keep the old slide, just bring in new crappy equipment.. I can remember riding down the slide standing up and then getting a paddling from the teacher because she called and asked my mom if she could. I was 10 then, and I miss it. I also miss going so high on the tire swing that the chain snapped and it knocked the air out of me and then got up and 1)cried 2) laughed and cursed a bit. Good times. I feel bad for the kids of today. It’s safety this and that.. >.>

By: Lelo

Lelo — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:03:40 +0000

Too bad the person who submitted this used my photo without my permission. I find it ironic that a photo I took as a band across the bottom with your website on it. That’s called FAIL. Please remove the unauthorized use of this photo. Thanks!

By: Erinovauch

Erinovauch — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:26:47 +0000

these things are the reason that I started my thing which carries over to now of only wearing pants not shorts

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 05:12:51 +0000

We had “playgrass” in basic training. A whole football field of it. It was affectionately named “Goodyear Field.” It was where we learned combatives and, if you were unlucky enough, got to low crawl for hour on end. That stuff is soft enough that it didn’t cause rug burn until the first hour was over. Today’s kids are spoiled! Even my generation was spoiled with wood chips as playground padding. Where’s the blacktop?

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:16:29 +0000

Oh man, my school had those. They were awesome. I live in Canada and they STILL burned all the way down. Sadly, they tore it down when I was in grade 7. Worst September ever. All stupid and plastic. And wood chips! Don’t even get me started on those. I miss fortifying sand walls with ziploc bags of those rocks. And the swings, oh the joy of burning black rubber on a 40′ chain. One kid would always do backflips and one day he tried to do two, he did it , such an epic win, had to make it into an epic fail though, gets some big kids to help (rockets baby) and he just went flying, broke a collarbone and an arm. Oh man you guys from the hot parts of the US never knew the joys of winter, and the inevitable ice luge we’d make on the hill. God kids today are pansies. Sigh, I miss grades 1-5

By: Blenheimears

Blenheimears — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:13:42 +0000

My elementary school had a metal slide too. The thing about the fire when you go down the slide is so true.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:23:14 +0000

OMG my old elementary school playground still has the slide of fiery hot death, the crazy carousel whose top speed is 20 miles over the speed of light, the splinter filled teeter totter, the crazy high swings, and the painful painful woodchips. I’m 23 and still play on it every once in a while!

By: Wes

Wes — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:06:58 +0000

I loved those metal slides. The school I went to for K to 2nd grade was built in the 50’s or 60’s and had all the original playground equipment. 12′ chain swings, 15′ metal slide with wooden siderails, and then there was the climbing equipment. A 20′ wall of concrete 15′ wide, 3″ thick that looked like swiss cheese. Holes everywhere, painted bright yellow. You could see the entire town from the top of that thing. The monkeybar cage. This was a 20′ high diamond of monkey bars spaced 1′ apart. The only way to swing on that was to climb to the top of the diamond where the two sides came back together. And at the bottom, none of that shredded rubber/safety foam. We had honest to god rock. The stuff kids are supposed to play on. If you have never had a shoe so full of pebbles you couldn’t pick your foot up you had a horrible childhood.

Sadly, everything was torn down in the mid-90’s when they built the new elementary school. Everything was plastic. Nothing was over 5′ from the ground. Kids would stand by the bottom of the slide and zap people as they came down.

When was fun outlawed? Ought to be unconstitutional.

By: SandieK

SandieK — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:07:30 +0000

I agree…I hate those new safeish type material playgrounds for that very reason. Kids used to get tough by burning their rears on a slide of falling off something. Shake it up and keep going.
I have very few soap boxes. This is one of em.

By: LemonBomb

LemonBomb — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:43:41 +0000

My old school had metal slides (still does). They get hotter than hell and at the bottom is a painful pit of woodchips. Great memories…./sarcasm

By: Cam

Cam — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:07:12 +0000

Ahh the fire pole… Im 14 used to play on it when I was like 4… One day I went to the park to see it… It was gone Apparently some kid broken some bones from falling….

I was usually a carefull person but when I got older I did the opposite of what you were supposed to do… Shame we didn’t have the metal slide..

By: Sindel

Sindel — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:26:24 +0000

Not only did the metal slides teach us to be tough it also taught us creativity

By: OINK

OINK — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:01:39 +0000

Whatta bunch of wussies. Get an old waxed potato chip sack, ride down a coupla times sitting on it — greasy side down. The slide will become so fast you’ll never notice that it’s hotter than a pancake griddle.

By: shouldbeworking

shouldbeworking — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:39:01 +0000

Indeed they are. My adult self had the pleasure of sliding down them at night. Who needs third degree burns? Also, I found out that polyester works as a spiffy turbo-boost. I FLEW out of there! Skirts work great too!

By: becca

becca — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:40:12 +0000

So, I went down on one of these metal slies on my feet in the winter with ice when I was 8. Knocked out a tooth and pushed some others back, now at 21 I have braces from the slide o’ death. Good times.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 04:44:46 +0000

Do you live in Canberra? I remember that castle! The asses!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 04:42:21 +0000

Try sliding into a pit of serrated pine chips (in Aus)! Can’t believe they banned that stuff here because kids used to throw it at each other. ^_-

By: Kris

Kris — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:05:46 +0000

Anyone else notice the “Childsafe Advocacy” ad that pops-up beside this story once in awhile? The irony isn’t lost…

By: austerblitz

austerblitz — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:28:05 +0000

i used to play on those “evolved” slides when i was little and lived there.
san francisco. there was an ice rink to the right of it.

By: Allison

Allison — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:16:24 +0000

((All these little kids think they’re badass, but I just wanna throw them onto a metal slide and then see their opinion.))
LOL! LOL! LOL!
Think about what our parents had! My mother tells me in Brooklyn NY in the 50’s, they had CEMENT bucket swings! She said kids were always getting hit in the head by those things!!!

By: Hell Hath No Fury

Hell Hath No Fury — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:45:06 +0000

Does anyone remember the 50 ft high metal chain swings? You could spend a half-hour trying to get reallyreally super-duper high and get your fingers pinched and your butt all chafed, and accidentally kick 4756456 kids in the head when thye get within a 100-ft radius of the swing and fall off and not-quite kill yourself. Aaah, these kids and thier safety-swings with the three foot chain have NO idea what fun is.

By: RiderLeangle

RiderLeangle — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:23:05 +0000

I may just be 16, But I miss these things. Yes, I still go to playgrounds (Granted I don’t use them the way they’re intented, more of a mix of Parkour and copying that show Sasuke (Ninja Warrior in the US), Ironicly enough the only new Metal Slide I’ve ever seen is the Flying Chute obstacle on that show http://www.majhost.com/gallery/manaleader/Avatar3/flyingchute.jpg ). And I can’t find these things anymore, slides are just plastic and no matter what or how you do they have no damn friction. But yesterday, I found a playground with a Metal Slide, Metal Monkey Bars still in tact (Granted the ones where its metal bars where some bars have fallen off and some are lose in the structure so they roll in their place have their own fun possibilities). AND a Merry-Go-Round. Thats the first time in ages I’ve used a playground how its supposed to be used, then after that I went back to my normal way.

By: belaidun

belaidun — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:29:59 +0000

We still have this slide, the extra-looong swings, AND the merry-go-round at our church! They were donated from a church member who owned a drive-in theater in the ’60’s. They used to be at the front, right under the screen. We all loved the slide when we were little, but now as an adult, I’m terrified of it for some reason. The height! The speed! Our carousel is rusty but still works great.

By: Starry

Starry — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:53:40 +0000

Worst things that I remember happening was someone (my friend’s sister) falling off the monkey bars and I think doing something to her shoulder or collar bone. And the time I fell through the rungs on some sort of climbing ladder and got stuck and ended up with a nice big bruise on my side. But I swear when they got rid of the sand stuff and put in the rubber tarmac I came home with a lot more scrapes than I ever had before.

By: Kitteh

Kitteh — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:43:30 +0000

Also what about the monkey bars made of the same metal? They’d burn your hands AND give you blisters and feel like your arms are getting pulled out the sockets

By: Kitteh

Kitteh — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:38:47 +0000

Yes! I grew up in Australia, and the park down the road from us had the ass burning slides, the wooden see saw, the merry go round and this AWESOME old wooden castle thing, 2 stories tall with ropes to climb up, those wooden slated bridges…so much fun. The council tore it all down years back for being unsafe Sure my brothers and I got hurt, but whatever, it was fun!!

(also gotta mention the used needles in the sand, the bottles, the stubbed out ciggarettes and the condoms- just leave your shoes on and don’t touch anything)

By: jjmblue7

jjmblue7 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:57:54 +0000

I don;’t think it’s that parents these days think negatively about the old, dangerous equipment (well, not most of them). I think it’s because parents/people will take any injury as excuse to sue those who own wherever they got hurt for ridiculous amounts of money. Ex. A guy literally tried to sue Six Flaggs because he got struck by lightning in the parking lot and there was no warning sign posted about lightning.