Originally published at: Everything in this DIY amusement park was handmade by a man named Bruno | Boing Boing
…
That was a slice of yummyness to my brain, bless the Maker.
Looks a lot better constructed than a lot of the parks in the U.S. that’s for sure.
Tight welds and superior workmanship, wins the day every time.
A wonderful place built by a remarkable man with vision. Bless him!
I know Italian insurance and economics works a bit differently than here in the US, but I can only wonder at how much insurance he has to pay to keep his homemade park working. I’m sure it’s as safe as he can make it, but kids slip or fall and get injured all the time even when they’re not on bouncy surfaces or riding fast moving bit of steel.
But it is definitely a wonderful thing.
And now that I’m not on my phone…
Video link for the BBS
This is a wonderful thing…that could probably not exist in the US or Canada because nobody would insure it and public venues are heavily regulated*. Still… a wonderful thing.
*as they should be. Charming gems like this are an unfortunate but necessary sacrifice for safe and trustworthy public attractions that won’t hurt anyone. I mean, maybe this guy is a competent welder, maybe not. Maybe he’s properly maintaining all this stuff, and maybe not. Maybe everything is wheelchair accessible, but probably not. And so forth.
I would be very surprised if the rides weren’t pre-inspected for adherence to European safety standards.
I would be surprised if they were- look at them. It’s angle iron and chicken wire. That doesn’t mean they aren’t strong enough, but certainly not to any engineering code either.
Did he actually win, though? At the end of the video he has 7 stiches in his face. Still came away recommending the place.
Who knows, but a lot of sources seem to classify the place as a “playground,” not “amusement park,” which may be an important legal distinction over there. As far as I can tell they don’t charge admission for the rides, and they just make their money from the restaurant. Maybe having all the attractions being human-powered helps keep government regulators from cracking down as well.
Anyway, legalities aside this guy is awesome and doing what I hope to do during retirement. Right now I’ve just got one solitary amusement park ride in my yard so I need to step up my game.
Scott v Gravity definitely came out with Scott on top. And over the top. And with an intact phone.
Scott v Ground was definitely an unscheduled grudge match. Of course Tom was going to lose that one.
The scar’s probably already proven to be a bonus. Chicks dig scars
This is my favorite part of the video:
Bruno: “Everything works manually. There are no motors. If you want to play, you have to push and sweat.”
It got me thinking about an unusual set of swings in a park when we were kids. We called them pump swings. They were made of metal pipe, and you made them go by using your arms to pull and push on long handles that were part of the swing. We loved them, so much fun! Have you ever seen them? They don’t seem to be around anymore.
Here they are, found on someone’s Flickr photos:
On the Straight Dope Message Board I found a discussion of them, with a comment saying
These swings were invented in Corry PA. Still many in use in the local park - Mead Park.
And on Google Maps for Mead Park, a number of user-submitted photos of them. Here they all are:
Summary
Google Maps
(at rest)
Google Maps
(good–action)
Google Maps
(same kid as the one above this, but from the front)
Google Maps
(good if boring photo. Swings at rest.)
Google Maps
(good but small, in the distance. Two adults on. Good when you zoom in.)
Google Maps
(same kid as before, from front, showing other swing empty)
Not necessarily what one might call an “amusement park ride”, but lots of fun, and something that someone like you could probably figure out how to build?