paulitheism wrote:I've solved the problem.
Ball playpen timeshares.
Get a bunch of xkcd fans in a given town to all go in together to rent a small room somewhere and then chip in on the balls. Because, really, how much ball-bounceying can you do in any given day? It's like a co-op, only, more colorful. Much, much more colorful.
My co-op* organized a ball pit with a second co-op* just up the road as part of last year's New Year's party. A large room was turned into a 2-story adult-size hamster tunnel maze (!) using wooden pallets covered on all sides with thick carpeting. One "room" of the maze was filled with pillows. At the back of the maze, 5 queen size mattresses formed the floor and walls of a 4-foot deep ball pit that could be accessed from the top floor.
The room stayed that way until April when it started to get nasty, but the balls are in storage until next time . . .
The pallets were pulled from the dumpster of a local warehouse. The carpet had been recently torn out of a house some friends in the construction biz were renovating (the same friends were also kind/excited enough to do the installation and make sure the upper level "floor" would be safe). The mattresses were thrown out by the local university at the end of the semester, and we were there to collect. The co-op has a supply of extra pillows stashed in a closet. The balls were purchased from an inflatable ball pit company that was going out of business (apparently they are too expensive to clean) for about $700. After everyone pitched in, the whole project cost about $5.00/person.
*an Intentional Community (google it)