Berry Go Round looking nice and berry-like
Berry Go Round is a small flatride manufactured by Sellner, a company better known for manufacturing the Tilt-a-Whirl. Berry Go Round is one of ten (TEN!) rides that are the same damn thing only themed differently. The ride, all ten of them, are made up of a center base that holds four arms, on each arm is a large pod that can be spun via a wheel in the center. The pods are enclosed and have a large opening for riders to enter. The door of the pod doubles as a set of stairs, allowing riders to board easily when down and prevents stupid people from exiting during mid-ride when up.
The Ride
Grade A berries here complete with swag guard rail.
Riders enter one of the four pods; the inside is dark with no lighting and typically has a funky smell (some people just can’t take the spinning.) The ride operator will close the hatch/stairs prior to starting the ride; due to unforeseen circumstances, the ride op might forget to close one of them, in which case the stairs will loudly drag across the ground and cause alarm for the riders who cannot see what the hell is making the noise. Once everything and everyone are set to go, the ride will begin to slowly revolve…and that’s it for the mechanical aspect of the ride. It seems like the only reason it revolves is so that it can be billed as a ‘ride’ because the motion adds absolutely nothing to the ride experience. Although I guess it’s better then just four pods sitting around.
The pods revolving around the center is pretty much secondary as the manual spinning of the pods are what the ride is all about! Depending on how lubed up the bearings are, riders can either spin the crap out of these things or struggle to spin the pod while the rusted-over bearings crunch and squeak. When the ride is over, the operator brakes the cars; I believe this is done at the control panel (as opposed to a lever or something.)
Other Info
As noted in the beginning, this ride has ten variations including the berry version. The first one to debut was “Spin the Apple” I believe; subsequent variations have become more and more ridiculous. Here they are as listed on the Sellner ‘Spin Rides’ page:
- Spin the Apple: The pods are apples…you spin them
Dizzy Dragons, they blow fire or something…?
- Martian Madness: The pods are Martians.
- Tons of Fun: I’m going to pass on the fat joke and simply say that they’re elephants…uh, the ride pods are…
- Monkey Mayhem: Giant crazy spinning monkey pods; rabies abound.
- Bear Affair: Attacking bear pods; riders are eaten and mauled.
- Berry Go Round: I talked about this enough already!
- Dizzy Dragunovs: Spin the Russian sniper…oh wait, I misread, it’s Dizzy Dragons!
- Chilly Willy: The pod is a penguin; they were running out of ideas by this point.
- Smashing Pumpkin Patch: I don’t even care to shake these zipper blues
- Barrel of Fun: The pods are barrels, the riders are the fish, and Dizzy Dragunov is nearby…
Berries racked. A sedan could probably move em…
I think I’ve seen at least half of these in person and I know that I have been on Barrel of Fun and most likely another. They’re all the same ride so it’s tough to remember which variations I’ve ridden. I can’t imagine I’m missing much by not riding a certain one anyway! Also, if the whole ‘ride’ thing doesn’t interest the buyer, one can buy just the themed pod on a stand. People get in and spin the hell out of it…that’s it. I don’t even know if it can be considered a ride or just some sort of elaborate playground equipment.
7 Comments
I went on a… very interesting version of a spin ride like this one time, at one of those cheesy parking-lot carnivals some strip malls have in the spring and summer to bring more people in. It had these heart-shaped cage-cars suspended overhead and you could spin the cars with a wheel located in between you and the other rider. I don’t remember the name but it was probably something extremely cheesy like “sweetheart swirl” or something. Really bizzare.
I actually think I know what you’re talking about! It’s a ride called Heart Flip that looks like a leftover from the 70s. Here’s a picture: http://bit.ly/7HAChr
Two stories about this Berry Go Round!
The first is silly; I’m not a ride person and on this particular day, my sister convinced me to go on a lot of shakey carnival rides as a test-run for going on the more serious brand. I was not having fun. I’d been tossed through the air, held at odd angles above the ground and spun silly, and I wanted a nice little break; I wanted the Berry Go Round! We were the only two on the ride. I don’t know if it was the previous rides catching up to me, or the dank hot fiberglass strawberry spinning but I had to fucking puke. The operator offered us a second go-round and my sister lovingly accepted; afterwards the operator said, “alotta you teen girls ended up queasy in them berries,” so I didn’t feel so bad.
My second story involves the big wheel in the centre. My sister and I were taking our little cousin, maybe four at the time, on her first carnival rides and naturally, the Berry Go Round caught her eye. Busy day at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto (CNE) and our berry was packed with kids. Ride goes, my little cousin grabs onto the wheel and she does not let go. I guess she thought it was a hand-hold and not part of the ride. The other kids happily spun away while she got tossed around at our feet. I think I panicked and yelled for someone to stop the ride, but it didn’t stop. My cousin eventually got up and we closed out the ride in stony silence, never telling my aunt what happened.
Family secrets, yo. Maybe some berry-seatbelts might have helped.
Also, as brand new Jerseyan, I love your article about Action Park. I just love mentioning it when meeting people anywhere in NJ, everyone has a story!
That’s a damn good looking ride in those pics though
Definitely, your berries are certified fresh.
we’ve got the bear affair one, a cutesy puke-inator lol
I came across a single berry-go-round near Topeka KS.
Wondering if people would buy it and how much its worth.