History Main / FoulBallPit

Ball pits can cause anywhere from comical harm, such as a character drowning in the balls, getting lost in the playground, or choking on the balls, to more serious harm such as characters getting a deadly disease from the germs, babies getting crushed by other characters while hiding under the balls, to sometimes even death taking place in these playgrounds. Not to mention UrbanLegends of people finding venomous snakes and, more recently, heroin needles in ball pits.

TruthInTelevision, especially after the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, which contributed to the disappearance of a lot of these playgrounds. (Ball pits disappeared long before COVID, but the tube playgrounds were still fairly common, albeit not as elaborate as they once were. However, the pandemic pretty much wiped these playgrounds extinct.)

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4403803/1/Baby-Gazzee Baby Gazzee]]'', Dib accidentally puts a spell on Gaz that turns her into a baby and makes everyone think she is one, while her mind remains the same. She gets babysat by [[BabysitterFromHell Tak]], who takes her to a fast food place and makes her stay in the ball pit where all the balls are covered in puke, drool and snot.

* Elan from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' doesn't notice the [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0750.html dead bodies beneath him in the ball pit]], still clueless about Tarquin's alignment.

* Mocked by this [[SignsOfDisrepair vandalized]] [=McDonalds=] [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ebxd9UAWkAEAzWu?format=jpg&name=small sign]], which reads "This toilet is currently out of order. Please use the children's ball pit."

* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': PlayedForDrama in "The Ball Pit Car". What starts out as a lighthearted adventure in an indoor playground-themed train car for the heroes [[MoodWhiplash takes a turn]] when [[spoiler:the robotic Steward tracks them down and traps them. The menacing Conductor then appears, threatening Tulip before ''[[DarkestHour shooting her dog companion]]''. The gun turns out to be a TransformationRay, resulting in a DisneyDeath, but the [[BalefulPolymorph horrifying, mindless creature]] Atticus turns into, and the breakdown Tulip has over it, causes a major DownerEnding for the episode.]]

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'', ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': A non-germ example in "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E05HighStakesSonic High Stakes Sonic]]"; Sonic instructs Tails to stay in the nursery of Casino Night Zone while he battles Dr. Robotnik and his henchmen, thinking it will be safe. Although the nursery has a babysitter, there are no other children to be found. Tails discovers that the babysitter works for Robotnik a little too late, as she charges him 1,000,000 Mobiums for spending ten minutes in the ball pit. When Tails tells her he doesn't have that kind of money, she presses a button that opens a TrapDoor, which he falls down, leading to Robotnik capturing him.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken:'' One sketch features [[Music/SpiceGirls the Lice Girls]] singing about how their host contracted them in a ball pit of a Chuck-E-Cheese.

* WebOriginal/TheBackrooms: The Pits in Level 283 are ball pits that are seemingly endless in all directions (including down). The balls [[QuicksandSucks act like quicksand]] so you sink in the ball pits when you try to move. If you sink far enough into the ball pit, you will be crushed under the weight of the balls.

-->-- Music/RedVox, "Vomit in the Ball Pit"

TruthInTelevision, especially after the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, which contributed to the disappearance of a lot of these playgrounds.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': The boys use their x-ray goggles in "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbNoMoreBunnyBusiness No More Bunny Business]]" to look for and then fish out Balthazar Horowitz from a ball pit. This led to him being nicknamed "Ball Pit Kid".

* ''Series/ICarly'': In the B-plot of "[=iBust=] a Thief", Spencer goes to Funk E. Fester's to try to win Murray the Magic Dolphin, which he's wanted since he was a kid. However, since Funk E.'s doesn't allow single adults without children, Spencer takes Gibby's little brother Guppy with him. When they arrive, Guppy tells Spencer [[PottyEmergency that he has to pee]]. Spencer tells him "You can pee in the ball pit!", which Guppy proceeds to do.'

* Weaponized in ''VideoGame/SpiderManAndTheXMenInArcadesRevenge'' in Wolverine's second stage, fitting the circus/toy theme. Along with clown robots dropping bombs and the Juggernaut robot chasing Wolverine, there are ball pits scattered about that act as [[BottomlessPits Death Traps.]] The stage itself is a race to destroy the Juggernaut before he either kills you or forces you into a huge deadly ball pit at the end of the stage.

* Weaponized in ''VideGame/SpiderManAndTheXMenInArcadesRevenge'' in Wolverine's second stage, fitting the circus/toy theme. Along with clown robots dropping bombs and the Juggernaut robot chasing Wolverine, there are ball pits scattered about that act as [[BottomlessPits Death Traps.]] The stage itself is a race to destroy the Juggernaut before he either kills you or forces you into a huge deadly ball pit at the end of the stage.

-> ''Vomit in the ball pit''
-> ''Step right in and drown in it''
-> ''I saw it when I was a little kid''
-> ''It fucked me up and made me sick''

!!Examples

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''Film/DiaryOfAWimpyKid The Long Haul'': Greg lands in a ball pit at Corny's after going down a slide to catch Manny. He digs through the pit to look for Manny and finds that a diaper is stuck to his hand, so he starts screaming about it. [[InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube This goes viral.]]

* One episode of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' had Tommy pointing out that the kid they were watching went into "A bottomless ballpit of death".

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}: Kevin Perjurer described indoor children's play places this way in his video on Club Disney.
-->'''Kevin''': These were a mix of tubes, slides, ball pits, nets, stairs with steps taller than your body, socks, socks with holes in them, [[{{Squick}} vomit, disinfectant]], [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment vomit, disinfectant]], those net bridges that your feet would get stuck in, a kind of terrifying helicopter thing where the mean kids would jump up and down and it would shake a lot, the ''open'' slides with only like ''one hill'', which is just a waste; I mean, I climbed all the way up there, I'm gonna take the tube slide; and rug burns, ''so many rug burns''.
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation: ''

* Mocked by this [[SignsOfDisrepair vandalized]] [=McDonalds=] [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ebxd9UAWkAEAzWu?format=jpg&name=small sign]], which reads "This toilet is currently out of order. Please use the children's ball pit."
* In the ''Snow Cones '' episode of ''LetsPlay/AnalogControl'', Michael recalls he had a dream about a disgusting ball pit with a demon in it. He and Phoenix then riff on whether or not it would make a decent episode of ''{{Literature/Goosebumps}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': A non-germ example in "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E05HighStakesSonic High Stakes Sonic]]"; Sonic instructs Tails to stay in the nursery of Casino Night Zone while he battles Dr. Robotnik and his henchmen, thinking it will be safe. Although the nursery has a babysitter, there are no other children to be found. Tails discovers that the babysitter works for Robotnik a little too late, as she charges him 1,000,000 Mobiums for spending ten minutes in the ball pit. When Tails tells her he doesn't have that kind of money, she presses a button that opens a TrapDoor, which he falls down, leading to Robotnik capturing him.

-->'''Assistant:''' The babies look unhappy.
-->'''Director:''' Add more balls.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS6E6TheFather "The Father"]], The kids try to cheer Richard up after his father walks out on him again. They head to Joyful Burger where he has permission to eat to his heart's content if it'll make him feel better. The PostStressOvereating wasn't enough, so they let him play in the ball pit ''while'' the staff shovels food into his mouth. This just ends up traumatizing the staff.
-->'''Darwin:''' This doesn't look good to me.\\
'''Anais:''' I don't think anyone would enjoy the sight of a grown man smearing burger meat into his face in a kids ball pit.\\
'''Gumball:''' Yup. Even in Japan, that's pretty niche.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo''' episode "Johnny Bravo Meets Donny Osmond" features Osmond as a [[AdamWesting fictionalized version of himself]] who Mama Bravo hires to babysit Johnny. At one point, Donny takes Johnny to the local SuckECheeses and tosses him into the ball pit. Though not dirty, it ''is'' incredibly deep and apparently nearly impossible to escape; at one point, Johnny meets a boy who's been trapped inside for years.

* [[FanConvention DashCon 2014]]: After a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPwgSXZJcok disastrous weekend]] of having a low attendee count, outside trolls, scheduled guest panelists bailing out, and a last-minute fundraising campaign to keep the convention running, the organizers tried to reward the remaining attendees for all their troubles with [[ComicallySmallBribe an extra hour at a kiddie pool-sized ball pit]]; keep in mind, the [[https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aeTBpoAw-lN2_qB0nNhb52lD7QE=/0x1:1100x734/1520x1013/filters:focal(0x1:1100x734):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35632754/tumblr_n8n195G4BY1r7t164o1_1280.0.jpg tiny ball pit]] was free for anyone to use in the first place. The ball pit was soon condemned after a rumor spread that someone urinated in it, and by the next day, the ball pit was gone, and the convention was closed. The [[https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PyFIoE7EROg7pm0ahOwR4ahW6GM=/0x1:1100x734/920x613/filters:focal(0x1:1100x734):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35632754/tumblr_n8n195G4BY1r7t164o1_1280.0.jpg notorious photo]] of the ball pit sitting by itself in a nearly-empty convention hall has since [[MemeticMutation become a symbol of DashCon's failure]], and a shorthand for awful conventions with [[NoBudget shoestring budgets]].

* [[FanConvention DashCon 2014]]: After a disastrous weekend of having a low attendee count, outside trolls, scheduled guest panelists bailing out, and a last-minute fundraising campaign to keep the convention running, the organizers tried to reward the remaining attendees for all their troubles with [[ComicallySmallBribe an extra hour at a kiddie pool-sized ball pit]]. The ball pit was soon condemned after a rumor spread that someone urinated in it, and by the next day, the ball pit was gone, and the convention was closed. The [[https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PyFIoE7EROg7pm0ahOwR4ahW6GM=/0x1:1100x734/920x613/filters:focal(0x1:1100x734):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35632754/tumblr_n8n195G4BY1r7t164o1_1280.0.jpg notorious photo]] of the ball pit sitting by itself in a nearly-empty convention hall has since [[MemeticMutation become a symbol of DashCon's failure]], and a shorthand for awful conventions with [[NoBudget shoestring budgets]].