When I was a kid my dad took us to Sea World. Yeah, there were dolphins and whales and whatever else but what blew my mind the most was a life-sized chess board where you could play chess with full-sized pieces. Or, if you had enough people you could play chess using real people. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world when I was 8 years old.
Fast forward to now where I just learned there’s a park in Kent, Washington, where your kids can play a real game of the classic board game Chutes and Ladders.
Next time you find yourself in Kent, Washington, check out West Fenwick Park.
Aptly titled Slides and Climbers the premise is the same. You have to travel from start to finish by spinning a giant dial that acts as how many spaces you need to go. If you’re lucky you’ll get a climber and give yourself a shortcut. If you’re unfortunate, you may land on a slide which, as fun as it may seem, you end up backtracking a bit.
This is also built for inclusion in mind so even children who may not be able to climb or go down a slide on their own can have fun with this game as it’s wheelchair-friendly.
The spinning dial also counts as a playground merry-go-round which is fun.
This is from Northwest Playground Equipment that serves all of Washington state so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have one here in Yakima. I’d love to see it.
See more photos from their Facebook page.
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