It appears these were sold in the 1950s and 60s.

Photo of real ones.

Backyard Coaster

Backyard Coaster

Youtube video which shows a few shots of them in action, but it's not the exclusive focus of the video.

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[–] 43 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Why did I not find out about these until now? My friends and I would have gone nuts over something like this. It couldn't have been more dangerous than some of the things we played on back then.

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  • [–] 35 points 3 days ago (3 children)

    I'm sorry did you just say lawn darts?

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  • [–] 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    they're darts... for your lawn...

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  • [–] 6 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    There was that urban legend about some teenagers who got the idea to play lawn darts over the roof of the house and killed a woman.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 days ago

    I'm old enough to have had lawn darts for a little while back in the day. I never injured anyone nor got injured, but only by sheer luck. It didn't take long to figure out the most "fun" was to throw them up as high high up as possible (i.e. straight up) so they would land and stick more in the ground.

    .........yeah

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  • [–] [S] 21 points 3 days ago

    I get the impression they were not very popular even in their day. Much less so than backyard jungle gyms or swing sets.

    I normally try to summarize interesting info about ads, but I did not succeed in finding a good page dishing details about these, like how many were ever sold, and any accident history there might've been.

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  • [–] 34 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    All I can see is a finger remover...

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  • [–] 23 points 3 days ago (5 children)
  • [–] 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

    ...and their tailbones. The end of the track appears to be about the height of a sidewalk curb/kerb. It's going to hurt a little when you land.

    I can also imagine the front wheels immediately digging into the grass, yeeting the kid right into the family dog. 😂

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  • [–] 9 points 3 days ago

    It wasn't a proper tobogganing day if at least two of us didn't land on our coccyx¹ and agonize in the snow, incapable of breath for an absolute eternity of 30 seconds of recovery.

    From atop the hill you'd watch your mate take a hard landing on his back or hind after hitting the hump that you all tried to steer away from, and see him writhe, gasping soundlessly, knowing exactly what he was feeling, thinking, and praying, "not me, this time, please, not me." And then you'd take a running start with your Crazy Carpet down the exact same path.

    1. While researching for this comment I learned that the condition "getting the wind knocked out of you" is called phrenospasm, caused by sudden impact to the chest/trunk, which jibes with a hard landing on one's back. It is not, as far as I found, related to impact on the tailbone, but I am posting this comment as writ. because, well, coccyx and I am a 55-year-old child.
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  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    I just chuckled at that mental image

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  • [–] 5 points 3 days ago

    lol so I watched the video. It looks like there is supposed to be an additional piece at the end of the track that's not in the pictures. It appears to smoothly guide you to the ground, which makes a whole lot more sense than simply dumping you down a six inch drop...

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  • [–] 20 points 3 days ago (3 children)

    That seems so fun. Obviously some potential danger, but not worse than a trampoline

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  • [–] 12 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    That would have been about $150 in today's money and $70 for the extension track!

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  • [–] 11 points 3 days ago

    While this does come off as "we have rollercoaster at home" I will say that does look like a lot of fun

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  • [–] 9 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    So it's like a slide but with extra steps

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  • [–] 7 points 3 days ago

    How much can I get in the class action?

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  • [–] 9 points 3 days ago (5 children)

    A similar, smaller one is still sold, obviously made from plastic now:

    https://www.step2.com/products/extreme-coaster

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  • [–] 12 points 3 days ago (3 children)
  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    I've been subscribed to this guy, Paul Gregg, on YT for like ten years. He builds roller coasters in his backyard for his grandkids and goes over all the physics and design of them. They actually loop back around to the start unlike the one in this post where it seems like you need to haul the cart back up to the top. Very cool stuff

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  • When i was a kid I had a treehouse with a plastic slidet hat accomplished basically that, but without having to lug a vehicle uphill every time I wanted to play on it.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago

    Back in my day, we didn’t need no safety regulations.

    *gestures showing all missing fingers

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  • [–] 1 point 3 days ago

    That l thing looks like it can break legs

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  • [–] 1 point 3 days ago (1 child)

    How does it stay on the track? Is it just wheels with grooves

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  • [–] [S] 13 points 3 days ago

    The wheels have a larger and a smaller diameter part. That keeps the car from moving laterally off the track, and it probably wouldn't get up enough speed to get air. But, I wonder if some rocking effort would be enough to tip it off to one side. Kids that age are not famous for their self preservation instincts.

    Here's a closeup of the wheels.

    Coaster wheels

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  • [+] -20 points 3 days ago (6 children)

    Back before the pussification

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  • [–] 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    Ah, yes. Back in the good old days when only the strong and the lucky children survived.

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  • [+] -8 points 3 days ago* (1 child)

    Yeah cuz kids in masses were dying on these and old school wooden playgrounds…., millions on millions. Pussification of parents finding out they can sue

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  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago*

    Who said anything about wooden playgrounds? I thought we were talking about janky steel backyard roller-coasters.

    Anyway, maybe 'pussification' isn't quite the best word to describe what you're trying to talk about. People and organizations are more concerned about civil liability now than they were in the days of these roller-coasters, and maybe a discussion could be had about whether that has gone too far. Maybe we could talk about whether our society is overly litigious. Maybe we could talk about the high cost of defending yourself in a lawsuit -- even if you win -- which is a large part of this motivation to avoid lawsuits. Maybe we could talk about health insurance companies subrogating claims -- if, say, a child was injured on this toy and their health insurance paid to treat their injuries, the insurance company could then sue the toy maker to try and recoup the costs, regardless of whether the parents really thought the toy maker was at fault ... and situations like that mean a large part of the blame falls onto health insurance companies, not parents ... and then there's the issue of how expensive medical care is in the first place. Maybe we could talk about whether the toy maker should be liable, or whether it's the parent's responsibility to make sure their children don't play with unsafe toys... But none of that discussion should involve anything about female genitalia.

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