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

Photo of real ones.

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

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

Probably safer than a trampoline.

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

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

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

Back before the pussification

not worse than a trampoline

Unfortunately, that does not narrow things down very much...

Obviously some potential danger

I was looking for a "still legal in 15 states!" notice.

That's so much worse

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.

I fear for their hands.

I'm sorry did you just say lawn darts?

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.

Indeed! The little girl in the ad is one careless grab away from some mangled fingers.

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

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

So it's like a slide but with extra steps

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.

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

All I can see is a finger remover...

Shit take.

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.

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.

...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. 😂

I just chuckled at that mental image

How much can I get in the class action?

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...

Same amount of steps. More track!

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

Not bad for the amount of materials maybe, but yeesh, that thing looks like it would fall over in a heartbeat.

Really? I think it looks reasonably safe. Not gonna fall over, a lot fewer opportunities to lose fingers, a smoother ride, more sturdy looking materials…

hey, those are good mushrooms

but the person to whom you replied is a twit, yes :)

First off, fuck off with your misogyny. Second of all, your attitude is why kids grew up with lifelong injuries.

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.

Safer for sure... but no hang time. It needs some undulations, like the oldschool one has got.

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

Nice. When I saw this ad I was thinking that for sure there has got to be a backyard coaster community today, exchanging track plans and techniques!

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

*gestures showing all missing fingers

That l thing looks like it can break legs

I think crushing is more likely, builds character.