Line #56 Main/FoulBallPit


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8	[[quoteright:205:[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ballpit.png]]]]
9	[[caption-width-right:205:You need ''balls'' to go in there!]]
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14	->''Vomit in the ball pit\
15	Step right in and drown in it\
16	I saw it when I was a little kid\
17	It fucked me up and made me sick''
18	-->-- '''Music/RedVox''', "Vomit in the Ball Pit"
19
20	One attraction that owners of fast food places and SuckECheeses have to bring in small children to the restaurant is an indoor playground with tubes, slides, and ball pits. As you might expect, HilarityEnsues and the place quickly becomes filthy due to babies and kids spreading germs. That is why ball pits are generally seen as germ conventions.
21
22	Not surprising that this is commonly made fun of in fiction. The ball pits are filled with pee and diapers while the tubes are filled with vomit stains and reek of dirty socks. This place can be a nightmare if you're TerrifiedOfGerms and have a baby or child with you.
23
24	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. And there are UrbanLegends of people finding venomous snakes and heroin needles in ball pits.
25
26	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 wiped these playgrounds extinct.)
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28	Compare PuttingThePeeInPool for actual swimming pools being filled with pee. Can overlap with ToiletHumour if it involves pee or poop and is PlayedForLaughs. Ball pits have a similar concept to PooledFunds. However, much like said trope, fictional ball pits are portrayed as being a lot more swimmable than they are in real life (it is difficult to navigate around ball pits and foam pits in real life; they are nothing like water).
29
30	----
31	!!Examples:
32
33	[[foldercontrol]]
34
35	[[folder:Fan Works]]
36	* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4403803/1/Baby-Gazzee Baby Gazzee]]'', Dib accidentally casts 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.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
40	* ''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]].
41	* During the third act of ''Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner'', the film's BigBad Magnate wishes for an endless ballpit that he pushes one of his minions in and later betrays Mr. Crocker by pushing him in too (though in a post-credits scene he ends up falling into the Turner family's frontyard and survived).
42	* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpRg5HW2Wsw deleted scene]] from ''Film/GoodBoys'' had the boys hanging out at a SuckECheeses in a ball pit, until they start vomiting. Eddie finds a toy in his mouth which prompts the boys to "get the fuck out of here" just as a bunch of little kids come.
43	* In ''Film/ThePacifier'', the toddler Navy SEAL Shane is looking after loses his diaper in the ball pit at Woody Woodchuck's, so he has to dive in and find it.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Gamebooks]]
47	* ''Literature/AttackOfTheBeastlyBabysitter'' has one called the "Bottomless" Ball Pit, which can turn you into animals for diving in it... or into one of the balls.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidTheThirdWheel'': The family-style restaurant Corny's has a play area with a large ball-pit and a plastic tube area with slides. Greg recounts a time Manny got stuck in the tube area and was too scared to come out, so Greg had to rescue him since he was the only person in the family that could fit inside the tubes. It was difficult for him to find his way around there, and when he got inside, a kid had vomited and all the other children were running away. The tubes smelled like dirty socks so heavily that Greg had to throw out his favorite pair of jeans because he couldn't wash out the smell no matter how hard he tried.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
55	* One episode of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' has Tommy pointing out that the kid they are watching went into "A bottomless ballpit of death".
56	* ''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.
57	* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': In the fifth episode of its second season, a time-displaced three-foot-long millipede from the Silurian period finds its way into the ball pit of a local restaurant, prompting Abby and Connor to go in after it.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Music]]
61	* "Vomit in the Ballpit" by Music/RedVox is about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The song was inspired by an experience [[WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} Vinny]] had when he was a kid where he actually did find vomit in a ball pit.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Video Games]]
65	* The entirety of the obscure, MindScrew-inducing horror game, ''VideoGame/TheBallPit''. Your character is an employee in a fast-food restaurant cleaning the ball pit, only to be sucked in and discover a mysterious eldritch world made of nothing but multi-colored balls. [[spoiler:And moments before you finally found an escape, you're devoured by a giant Ronald [=McDonald=] head on spider legs]]. It's... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RKxQi6FZ2Q as weird as it sounds]].
66	* In ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'', the ball pit consists of nothing more than a cardboard box full of ball pit balls. In the deluxe Ballpit Tower, you also have a rare chance to fish up [[UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot Music Man]] from the depths of the ball pit. It isn't explained how or why he's in there.
67	* ''VideoGame/MarioParty8'': The minigame Mosh-Pit Playroom has all characters shrunken and encased within a miniature ball pit that is initially empty, until a Fly Guy appears to drop 200 color-coded bouncy balls: 50 red, 50 blue, 50 yellow and 50 green. Each character has to pick all 50 balls of their corresponding color (which is tied to their player order, not the character's features) to win the minigame. This being ''Mario Party'', each player can sabotage the others by stomping on them. If five minutes pass and no one managed to get all their balls yet, the minigame ends in a tie.
68	* In ''VideoGame/MyHouse'', the [[NightmarishNursery Daycare]] area where the player fights a demonic Franchise/{{Shrek}} is entered through a tube slide into a ball pit, marked by a trail of balls in the main house.
69	* ''VideoGame/NoDelivery'': The Playground area of the game takes place in the labyrinthine ball pit of a SuckECheeses. Like the rest of the restaurant, it's not only dirty, dingy, and poorly lit, but is infested with monsters. At the furthest part of the ball pit you discover [[spoiler:''human remains'' -- the game leaves it ambiguous whether they're of an adult employee or of a child, and whether their death was caused by the supernatural dangers of the restaurant or just the management's extreme negligence.]]
70	* ''VideoGame/{{OMORI}}'': There is a ball pit in the Last Resort that Omori and his friends can sit in, looking bored and dejected, which is a reference to the infamous [=DashCon=] 2014 ball pit(see the Real Life folder).
71	* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsHitAndRun'': In Level 3, one of the destinations Lisa can visit is Wall E. Weasel's (from the [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons TV series]] episode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E13RadioBart Radio Bart]]"). In one of its windows are Maggie and some other babies playing in a ball pit. By pulling the switch next to the window, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you can drop more balls onto the babies to bury them]], after which some rats will crawl across them.
72	* Weaponized in ''VideoGame/SpiderManAndTheXMenInArcadesRevenge'' in Wolverine's second stage, fitting the [[ToyTime 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.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Web Comics]]
76	* 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.
77	* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'': [[https://xkcd.com/150/ "Grownups"]] implies ''sex'' in a (private) ball pit, and the AltText mentions it wouldn't be sanitary.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Web Original]]
81	* 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."
82	* ''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.
83	* The CreepyPasta ''Reflections on the 1992 Chuck E. Cheese's Ball Pit Incident'' notes that it was a nasty place, full of rotting pizza, germs from unwashed hands/bodies, and human waste even before the supernatural evil began manifesting within it (to whit, a malevolent entity kidnapping children when nobody but him was looking, using the ball pits as a PortalPool). He even saw a kid pee into it once. It had been the narrator's job to empty it out, pick out the garbage, and hose down the balls with disinfectant once a month.
84	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'':
85	** SCP-1904 is a tube playground located at an unnamed fast-food restaurant. It will periodically bleed, release amniotic fluids, and expel beings resembling human embryos with congenital deformities. Humans who enter the tubes are also [[WasOnceAMan transformed into these creatures.]] The [[Website/{{Bogleech}} author]] based the SCP on his own childhood experience with unpleasantly sticky playground tubes.
86	** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-6059 SCP-6059]] is an entity discovered at a Chuck E. Cheese ball pit, identifying itself as "Botulae, [[OddJobGods God of the Pit]]". It has an amorphous body composed of "plastic, vomit, pizza sauce, and trace amounts of feces and urine."
87	* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'': When Big Rico's new animatronic band goes on a rampage some of the kids try to take refuge in the ball pit, only to sink, screaming, below the surface, never to be seen again. The kids in the SnakePit are perfectly fine though.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Web Video]]
91	* ''LetsPlay/AnalogControl'': in "Snow Cones," 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}}''.
92	* WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}: Kevin Perjurer described indoor children's play places this way in his video on Club Disney.
93	-->'''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''.
94	* WebVideo/ProJared comments on this as he reviews ''VideoGame/SpiderManAndTheXMenInArcadesRevenge''. The level featuring ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} as the PlayerCharacter takes place in a CircusOfFear, and ball pits are lethal obstacles.
95	--> ... All while killing enemies, clawing through walls, and avoiding ball pits. Why? Because the ball pits are [[SpikesOfDoom instant death]]. Which makes sense -- ''[AsideGlance, disgusted expression]'' do you know how many diseases are in those things?
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Western Animation]]
99	* ''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.
100	-->'''Darwin:''' This doesn't look good to me.\
101	'''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.\
102	'''Gumball:''' Yup. Even in Japan, that's pretty niche.
103	* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Tina prays that there isn't any pee in the ball pit when she hides there in one episode.
104	* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Daytrip of Doom!" where the incredibly sheltered Webby mistakes the ball pit at [[SuckECheeses Funso's]] for a trap. DoubleSubverted when she herself turns it into a trap for the VillainOfTheWeek. [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted again much later in the series when it turns out that there's actually an entrance to F.O.W.L.'s secret lair hidden at the bottom.]]
105	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Stewie mentions in "Chick Cancer" that a four-year-old died in a ball pit.
106	* ''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 [[ForcedTransformation horrifying, mindless creature]] Atticus turns into, and the breakdown Tulip has over it, causes a major DownerEnding for the episode.]]
107	* The ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode "Johnny Bravo Meets Donny Osmond" features [[Music/DonnyOsmond 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 nearly impossible to escape; at one point, Johnny meets a boy who's been apparently been trapped inside for years.
108	* The ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Megalo Dale" had Dale, as part of an extermination gig, let a mongoose loose in the Mega Lo Mart. At the end of the episode, Dale mentions that he lost track of it as it is shown to have moved into the store's ball pit, with the reveal coming complete with ominous zooms and a {{Sting}}.
109	* ''WesternAnimation/MrBean'': Played for drama in the episode "Ball Pit" in Season 4 where he keeps trying to get in the ball pit (which is only for children) and thrown out by a security guard after a female assistant notices (probably because [[PaedoHunt of the unfortunate implications a grown man]] of VagueAge would have. Then he converts his flat into a ball pool, but it becomes a tourist trap, and then eventually, he does [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn his happy ending]] for that episode after the same assistant allows him to play in it, but she also considers him a huge {{Manchild}} as well, as a SilentSnarker. But then again, StatusQuoIsGod and NegativeContinuity is in full swing on this show, so the ball-pool thing was a temporary madness for Mr.Bean
110	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
111	** 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".
112	** In "Vanessacary Roughness", Vanessa is [[ItMakesSenseInContext chasing after a capsule with Pizzazium Infinionite in a department store]]. The capsule eventually ends up in a ballpit. Vanessa sees it, and hopes that no one sees her searching for it. She then notices Ferb in the ballpit with a vacuum cleaner. Linda passes by and asks Ferb if he is too old to play in the ball pit, and he replies "Yes, yes I am". Linda accepts this and walks off.
113	* ''WesternAnimation/PigGoatBananaCricket'': The episode "Bananaland" has Goat playing at a SuckECheeses with its animatronic band, with one line of their song mentioning that "the ball pit's full of germs."
114	* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken:''
115	** One sketch features [[Music/SpiceGirls the Lice Girls]] singing about how their host contracted them in a ball pit of a Chuck-E-Cheese.
116	** Another sketch has a boy play in a ball pit, only to sink into it and drown. A man plays a sad song on the bagpipes as the words "BALL PITS: the silent killer" appear onscreen.
117	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E4ItchyAndScratchyLand Itchy and Scratchy Land]]", the child care center for babies is a giant ball room where the babies drown in the balls. Maggie and other babies manage to swim to the surface, but the director orders the assistant to add more balls to keep them trapped.
118	-->'''Assistant:''' The babies look unhappy.\
119	'''Director:''' Add more balls.
120	* ''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.
121	* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': In "Million Dollars, Baby!" From ''Action'', one of the challenges involves Courtney and Duncan wrestling in a ball pit. Duncan is distracted by a dirty diaper which he mistakes for a shark fin and a baby boy who cries for his mama, which makes him lose.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Real Life]]
125	* [[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 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]].
126	* Ball-pits can sometimes be found in nightclubs, raves, and similar events aimed at adults. The appeal is understandable as events like these offer an environment where adults can act carefree as they like without worrying about being around kids. Unfortunately, the prevalence of drugs, alcohol and sweaty bodies will mean that this trope will almost certainly come into play by the end of the event. And even without the dirt and grime, it is pretty common for the bottoms of such pits to be lined with lost phones, keys, wallets and other junk.
127	* One of the attractions at [=TwitchCon=] 2022 was a foam pit that attendants could battle over. It was only a foot deep and wasn't properly padded, leading to numerous injuries when unwitting participants fell or jumped into it (the most infamous being streamer and adult film actress Adriana Chechik breaking her back in two places).
128	[[/folder]]

Context Main / FoulBallPit