Top all-time · #19494
PlayGroundology
Personal blog · playgroundology.wordpress.comculturedesign
PlayGroundology is a personal blog at playgroundology.wordpress.com about culture and design. Since 2014, 4 different Hacker News readers have linked it 5 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-07-14, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for its posts on vanishing playgrounds and old, risky play equipment like merry-go-rounds, rocket slides and monkey bars. Commenters mostly share childhood memories tied to those posts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
...an emerging social science
What Hacker News says?
Not the Merry Go Round. https://playgroundology.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/whats-in-a-... A glorious, if occasional, feature of my childhood. We did refer to it that way, I think organically (perhaps just looking back and not at the time - I can't recall). I found the article about it by googling the phrase! I'm not sure how I'd feel about my own child on it, to be honest. I'm more bummed that he isn't allowed to clim…
Comment linking /2018/06/29/whats-in-a-name-or-the-spinny-thing-of-death
on “Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous”Submitted Chilean Miners Playground as a story · 2 points
HN discussion> When they published their guidelines in 1993, they suggested most existing playground surfaces, which were usually asphalt, dirt, or grass, needed to be replaced with pits of wood or rubber mulch or sand, prompting many schools and parks to rip their old playgrounds out entirely. Growing up and doing most of my playground playing in the early 90's on a playground almost identical to this wooden masterpiece [0], I…
Comment linking /category/wooden-playgrounds/
on “Rocket Slides and Monkey Bars: Chasing Vanishing Playgrounds”My favorite example of a classic super dangerous and fun park: Dennis the Menace park in Monterey, CA: https://playgroundology.wordpress.com/category/dennis-the-me... There was a full size real steam locomotive that kids could climb inside, under, and through, and strange spinning things made of steel that were far off the ground that you could old get on by jumping off a concrete wall onto it.
Comment linking /category/dennis-the-menace-playground/
on “Learning the ropes: why Germany is building risk into its playgrounds (2021)”I remember playing on this as a child: https://playgroundology.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/whats-in-a-... Mixed feelings about it being unavailable to my children.
Comment linking /2018/06/29/whats-in-a-name-or-the-spinny-thing-of-death/
on “Learning the ropes: why Germany is building risk into its playgrounds (2021)”