A ball pit (originally called "ball crawl" and also known as a ball pool or ball pond) is a pit, usually rectangular and padded, filled with small (generally no larger than a baseball) colorful hollow plastic balls. Instead of balls, other spherical objects can be used, such as balloons. It is typically employed as a recreation and exercise for small children.
Ball pits are often found at nurseries, carnivals, amusement parks, fun centers, fast-food restaurants, and large video arcades. Chuck E. Cheese's and (now defunct) Discovery Zone formerly had ball pits and they were frequently incorporated into larger play structures, such as mazes, slides, and jungle gyms. In the early 2000s, Chuck E. Cheese's removed their ball pits due to safety concerns and because the pits were a drain on resources, since children would frequently steal individual balls until the pits were far below capacity and unusable.
Ball pits may be rented for parties, and smaller versions are sold for use in the home. While ball pits are traditionally regarded as a children's plaything, some are large enough to accommodate adults.
Read more about Ball Pit: History, Urban Legends
Famous quotes containing the words ball and/or pit:
“The ball loved Flick.
I saw him rack up thirty-eight or forty
In one home game. His hands were like wild birds.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)
“A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.”
—James I of England, James VI of Scotland (1566–1625)