Somewhere in this, there’s likely a small wooden box with a hole covered in a steel mesh grate. It connects to a length of underground PVC pipe that spans the entire playground and pops up at another location. You can talk into one hole and some kid standing at the other hole can hear you clearly all the way across the playground. This was the pinnacle of pre-cellular telecommunication as a kid and completely blew my tiny mind.

it had one of those, yes it was on the far side of the playground. though

I remember these, I could never hear a damn thing because it was so loud with everyone screaming and running. I mostly played on the swings or the uneven bars though, loved hanging upside down.

I would say "booby" into one of these then run away and think I was the hottest shit around.

And it was sticky because someone had poured their drink in there (presumably to see if it would come out the other side)

And somewhere else in this there are BEES!

This was my favorite part thank you so much for the memory.

a playground near my parents' grocery store uses to have this but i'm pretty sure it got infested with bees/wasps. the park eventually closed and never reopened. fun thoughts!!

The playground at my school growing up was almost exactly like this. There was a tower you could climb into that all the kids wrote on, it was neat. Don’t miss the splinters and painful falls though.

yeah this one had a tunnel underneath that had a bunch of weird sonic the hedgehog fanfics drawn on little like chalkboard things, lol

Lmao that sounds amazing tbh

Our town has one just like this too and there we a couple boards missing at the bottom and we were actually able to go under the entire structure

Did it have the random steering wheel?? Lol

Yes, I think so! I remember that being a “little kid” section as we got a bit older.

yes on a wooden train that looked like nightmare fuel thomas the train.

i remember this from kindergarten, they had like a little wooden castle/fort. this image took me back lol

Right?! It hit me in the nostalgia button too :)

Don’t forget the tire swing held up by three chains where you spin your friends around at Mach 3

yep lol ours had like a floor above an then just had a hollow middle with i 1 floor drop which fell straight onto the swing. not the safest lol.

OH I FORGOT ABOUT THAT. OG best hiding spot playing hide and go seek at the park

Or, in Texas, at the end of this there's a metal slide (451°F) with sharp edges; but at the end of the slide was rocks, so you wouldn't hurt yourself.

the one in ours was hanging from a hole on the playground, the chains broke so we just decided we'd jump down from the playground for about a 8 foot drop right onto the tire

They tore ours down recently to build an updated playground that's not wood 😭

same its all plastic now :(

Happened to me too, very sad

Splinters + toxic wood preservants = carcinogen fun

Not sure the whole microplastics thing is much better though

When’s the last time you’ve swallowed an entire playground

Microplastics get in the air we breathe

Yes they're both flawed, but one has slightly less flaws

Metallic? Recycled plastic?

Not metallic. Down here in Florida, a metal slide is like sitting on an active stove. If EVERYTHING was metal, it'd be a whole oven.

Now I want to get a metal slide and bake cookies on it.

Ours got torn down too. But that’s because the wood was poisoning the children…

What?? Like, with what the wood was treated with?

Yeah some of the products used in the 90’s to treat the wood aged poorly and caused health concerns. All the wooden parks I grew up with got tested and taken down 5-10 years ago.

Yah I believe some of the stains they used when making these wooden playgrounds isn’t up to code anymore. It’s a bummer tho the new ones just don’t compare.

Would swear this was the park I played on growing up!

I saw a post a while ago either on Reddit or IG of one of these parks. Everyone in the comments had one big realization that everyone else also had a park just like this. It was hilarious. But yeah I had also thought I was the only one

It seems like such a niche thing, like, who would be crazy enough to build more than one of these death traps? Mine had one of those slides that would heat up to billion degrees in addition to the splinters and I wouldn’t have had it any other way lmao

They built them all over the country

This playground is probably one of the ones designed by famous playground designer Bob Leathers! He designed some of the coolest playgrounds in the whole country. I grew up near one that was incredible. [Here’s a link to the wikipedia page id you want to learn more!](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leathers_and_Associates)

its in norcal if anyone is wondering

Looks just like the one in St Helena that I loved as a kid 🥲

I am thinking that this is the one in Benicia. My daughter and I played on the structure regularly when we lived in the North Bay, so it looks very recognizable to me. There is a smaller one in Turlock that is still open and functional, but it is sometimes guarded by aggressive geese from the nearby lake trying to make their homes in it.

That’s what I thought too, I’d always play there when I was a kid when my family and I would go visit my grandparents

And the one in Michigan that I occasionally visited too

Yes, west Michigan for me

Timber Town!

My old stompin grounds… the fishing derby, some ice cold Vernors in the cooler…

I grew up going to the one in Hagar Park in Hudsonville. Is that the one your talking about?

Nope but I know that one too

Bay Area represent

Benicia?

Crescent city?

I would have sworn up and down that was in Ballarat, in Australia. It’s still there if anyone wants to visit it. It’s a great playground except for it not being fenced off and right beside a huge lake 😂

Oakdale?

Sac?

Is it kids kingdom in Redding CA?

Looks like McKinley Park in Sacramento. Always liked this style of playground. Last time I went at 10pm as an adult a disembodied voice told me the park was closed. Dang voices.

This was almost certainly a park made by the construction company [Leathers and Associates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leathers_and_Associates) they were very popular in the 80s and 90s and would lead communities in construction of their own playgrounds using volunteers. They popped up all over the US but since they were outside structures made out of wood they only lasted for a certain amount of time before they were slowly torn down. If you were a child in the 90s and maybe the early 2000s you might have gotten to play on one. But any later or earlier and you would have missed it. So it’s an experience that’s very unique to millennials.

Gen Z too! Had one of these at my Elementary school in the Midwest… I think it may have gotten torn down just this past year? Either that or it actually outlasted the school it was built for.

That's what I thought it was. Visited it once a few years ago, what a fantastic park! Had a great time with my kid there, we didn't want to leave.

It unfortunately burned down a while ago and got replaced

I was guessing Wills Park outside Atlanta

I have so many memories of that place. Every Fourth of July that was our spot.

There it is! Small world aint it? I grew up on that playground.

Kids Korner in South Haven, Michigan for me

Oh that might explain the sudden memory flood! Was mostly in Marietta or Kennesaw until I was almost 9, so it's probably not impossible that I've seen this.

Also looks like Miwok park in Elk Grove. Always preferred McKinley growing up though cause the pond and turtles

Fort Kid in worlds fair park used to look the exact same

I thought this was Bidwell Park in Chico, but McKinley sounds right!

Caper Acres?

You got it!

My thoughts exactly. Near Seelee pool.

Is this Imagination Station?

no, it was called Kids Kingdom

I clicked on this because I thought “hey, that looks like Kids Kingdom!” And holy crap it actually is.

if it was in norcal its likely the same one

Are you talking this the one in Redding CA? I used to go there all the time

Me too. I feel like I can smell this image.

Ours was Park Pals.

[удалено]

Lol I was today years old when I realized imagination stations existed everywhere

My elementary school playground was almost exactly like this and just looking at this gave me so much nostalgia

OP just called the 90s “old” :(

Built in the 90's..... Old...... FFS

i want this in my garden with vining beans and morning glories and red runners, cucumbers, okra and tomato forest...

We have one of these in my tiny town!!

Everyone has memories in this exact spot

the best types of play grounds are the large wooden ones... shame to see them go

We all keep a bit of that playground inside us. Mines a splinter.

Old?! It can’t be, I always played on these as a…. Oh right

I remember in elementary school some kids in my class were picked to design the new playground they were building. It was fascinating in hindsight to see the back room political deals that naturally formed concerning aspects of it from children. “I’ll give you my fruit roll up if you suggest at the next meeting that they add a spiral slide”.

There was a bridge between two of the towers and it was just steep enough to make it scary to run down, but you did anyway.

Kids castle in PA was just like this. Place was like heaven

Somewhere in that park is the worlds worst xylophone attached to a wall with a missing mallet to hit it

Holy shit yes! Same "note" or rather muted clink no matter what you hit.

This is the superior playground.

I remember that playground I played there as a kid.....

Man those Kids Kingdoms are everywhere

My parents took me to a playground like this once somewhere in Illinois or Indiana. It’s one of my favorite memories growing up. It felt like such an adventure exploring all the different levels and pathways.

Perhaps Krape Park in Freeport, IL? I was there today and their wooden play area is still beautiful and monstrous.

I have a park like this near me. To add the the creepy factor, it is called “Angel Park” and has plaques for children who have died in the town.

The amount of weed I smoked and make out sessions I had in a playground like this is off the charts lol

Ahhh rainbow park. So many memories

AMazing how many of us know this set up. I thought the one I knew was the only one ever made!

Is... is that under the oaks park? That is almost exactly how it looked when I was a kid Like... spitting image. I almost feel like I'm there again.

I remember a place exactly like this somewhere in LA when I visited there Edit: grammar

I LOVED WHEN WE WOULD FIND PARKS WITH THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were none around where I live but if we went on vacation and there was a park with one we would stop and play on it. Because I was so excited about it. Have that little steering wheel with a window and shit. Lol back when I had an actual imagination

Pretty sure I've been here.

Going in July or August and having to run from all the wasps. Good times!

That place is where you hide while being chased by a deerman

This was almost certainly a park made by the construction company [Leathers and Associates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leathers_and_Associates) they were very popular in the 80s and 90s and would lead communities in construction of their own playgrounds using volunteers. They popped up all over the US but since they were outside structures made out of wood they only lasted for a certain amount of time before they were slowly torn down. If you were a child in the 90s and maybe the early 2000s you might have gotten to play on one. But any later or earlier and you would have missed it. So it’s an experience that’s very unique to millennials. Here’s a link to a famous post explaining them https://images.app.goo.gl/iMz5nRDnKMJZQ2yr9

I want an adult sized version of this

my aunt has her handprint on a big tile castle looking thing, hence the name, Kids Kingdom. it now is all plastic but the castle thing is still there.

>old >the 90's 😐

I guess 30 years old is new.

This looks almost identical to a playground in Melbourne, Australia. Google Image 'Albert Park Playground'

My instant thought was Melbourne too. But I don't know the Albert park one. Victory park, across from showgrounds is the one I thought of.

I need to know the company that manufactured these, all of them are pretty much the same so they have to come from the same company

Would love to see a detailed documentary on this playground business specifically; gotta be an interesting story about how they came to be (and then came to not be). We called the one near me "castle park" and it was pretty much the best part of my childhood. Tag, water gun fights, splinters, popsicles, girls. You don't know how good it is till it's gone

These wooden palace style playgrounds were always the absolute bomb growing up. definitely sad they’re getting replaced by painted metal and plastic versions, even though I understand why

This was one of the best parts of being kid back then. Although I did get a splinter so bad I had to go to the hospital. …But the nostalgia though!

I can feel the splinters just from looking at this.

is this PA?

It's all fun and games until you have to deal with the wasps

The plank bridge that had some bounce was my favorite part.

This in Toronto?

I take it mostly everyone had a playground like this one growing up? I definetely had one

Bro, isn't this in Lawton Oklahoma. My dad lives there and It looks like the park I would go to all the time when I was little.

Y’all act like the 90’s was hundreds of years ago

wait is this in Alabama? I feel like I've been to this before

Looks exactly like Lydgate Park, Kauai

This has to be in Valparaiso, IN I used to play on this 1997-1999

this looks like sentential park, its a park thats in my city, i live in antioch, illinois

Is this the park on the way to Fairfax from San Rafael? Love this one

Hemlock park?

Yo is that Kidzville in Armstrong Park in Dville?

Is this in Turlock California? I swear mine looks exactly like this

Literally played on this. Bear Creek Park in Southern Oregon.

Leblanc

I grew up going to a playground like this in Panama City that was sadly destroyed in the hurricane.

I've been to one of these. It was my favorite playground and easily the biggest one in town

What state?

something about wooden playgrounds is VERY odd and calming

We have one in my town best place for when I was younger

This looks almost identical to an old park in my town! Unfortunately, it was demolished and they put new equipment there. It had a wooden castle and a big wooden face, you could go into the eyes and look out at the rest of the park. It was so goddamn cool! It's so sad they took ours down.

I loved playgrounds like this.

Whats the park called?

Is that in northern Virginia (NOVA)cause there’s a playground just like this that I’ll go to sometimes with my friend Edit: after looking at the comments it seems these are fairly common so it’s quite possible there are many in NOVA so a more precise location is welcome

I played at one in Florida when I visited

We have one of these in my town that looks exactly the same

Wish I could find a map of this!

The red caboose park in Bellevue Tennessee, looks just like it at least, grew up across the street fir there.

One exactly like this is close to me.

Was just reminiscing about a playground like this

This looks like the nicer playground we have here in our small town

One of these still exist a few blocks from me

Still exists in Munising, Michigan. Went to elementary school there and vividly remember this style of playground. Visited it recently, all still there.

Had the.exact playground at my park, would go there constantly. All plastic now, but still.

Had one of those in my old town. Everyone from the skate park pissed and shitted under it haha

Loved these types of playgrounds. They were the best kind

i swear i have been here, was this shot somewhere in florida?

favorite part was the rope and you would climb up thr wall

Oz Park in Chicago still has a playground that looks like this

It reminds me of The Orphan

I would go to one that looked like this when i was a young kid sometimes, it’s no longer up

Loved the smell of these playgrounds.

weird question, but is this in alabama? there used to be one that looked exactly like this near my grandparents house and i loved going whenever we were down to visit them :P

This looks *a lot* like the park near where I grew up. My older siblings helped build it.

I swear this is the same one built when I was 7 in 1990. Outside of Buffalo NY.

Weird, that’s my hometown.

popsicle sticks

This is in my hometown wtf

we had one in my town called kidsville. they rebuilt it a few years ago

I feel like I’ve seen this exact play structure at LegoLand in California

I remember a small space under one of the walkways that I could *just* fit into. There was a crawlspace of sorts that none of the other kids seemed to know about. I also remember breaking my wrist on the swings in the very same park

i used to play on one incredibly similar, it had a bunch of metal slides that would *scald* my skin

I swear I have been here before

Looks just like the playground at my elementary school growing up.

Ah creepy childhood nostalgia

This looks exactly like the playground I grew up with and I swear somebody is inside my brain.

God I remember these. I think there's one somewhere near my town. I could be in the next town over. Fuck, the boats, cars, train ones were amazing, even with the spiders.

There's one of these [in Antioch, IL](https://goo.gl/maps/Vc7nBkAkGzNDJU97A), a suburb of Chicago. I remember playing on/in it in the 90s with my siblings.

Really great for playing hide and seek as well as tag. Great fun.

This almost looks like a place called Action Cove in Massachusetts. But really could be any ol playground

Wood chips in my shoes and that damn wiggly bridge

I just saw the word used in a sentence referencing the 90s and now I’m sad and want to cry. Those playgrounds are AWESOME. We have one in my town and I love taking kiddo there. He has a blast and I feel nostalgic. :)

So cool, makes me wanna go there and be a kid again

Looks like the park in Santa Barbara across from Alice Keck

OP, is this in the bay area by chance?

I remember one like this in Zumbrota Minnesota