The Evolution of Jumping Castles

Definition and Synonyms

Bouncing castles are temporary inflatable buildings. "Inflatable" meaning that they can be blown

up (normally using an air compresser) to help them maintain their size. Businesses normally

rent or hire them out to functions or events as a form of entertainment and their main attraction

are children. Considering the fact that they occupy such a small space when deflated it makes

them easily portable thus the business owner can easily transport them around to different

functions and parties. Bouncing castles take on different names depending on the region. In

some places they are referred to as bouncing houses, jumping castles, moonwalk jolly jump and

spacewalk. In Australia they are normally referred to as jumping castles or bouncy castles and

not the other synonyms named above.

History

The interesting bit about bouncy castles is that they originated from Britain by John Scurlock in

the late 1950's when he was experimenting with the various designs and materials covering

tennis courts. Scurlock tried to invent an inflatable cover for the tennis court so that he could

prevent it from any environmental damage. During this experiment he noticed that his staff was

able to jump on these covers and they were actually having lots of fun. So he decided to start

his own company after the idea of using the inflatable covers dawned on him.

His company was practising monopoly during the time considering he was the only one who had

the idea at the time. But during this period only walk ways were used. With time he made some

developments to the designs and he started by designing walls for the walkways then

progressed to introducing windows for them. That is what grew into the structures we see today.

Use in Australia

In Australia there are many bouncy castle hire companies that always give an option of hiring or

purchase of the bouncing castles. Some have been in operation for as long as three decades.

These companies offer a variety of assistance to their clients.

Some of them even manufacture the castles from scratch and can always offer the option to

custom make depending on the design their selected clients have chosen. Some clients can

come in with crazy designs but they still try to fulfil the needs of their selected clients. Upon

manufacture these products can be shipped to any part of the world. Many Australian

companeis are now choosing to purchase straight from China as the costs are allot more

reasonable than the production costs in the United States or Australia.

They also offer repair services to clients. This does not necessarily mean that the clients must

have bought the merchandise from them. Though they also provide after sales service to them.

For clients who did not purchase the castle form them they end paying a higher premium than

those who did because as a way of maintaining and encouraging sales they provide their fans

with after sales service which includes repairs.

They also offer a chance to maintain the bouncing castles on behalf of their clients especially

those who use them for home based purposes. Instead of the client's investment rotting away in

some store they lease them out through these companies and subsequently get a return on

their investment.

They also offer advisory support to clients. Advisory in the sense that they offer sound advice to

their potential buyers. They sit down with the client and find out what intention the customer has

when they desire or come to purchase the castles. If it is for commercial purposes they give the

client a variety of choices mostly. For commercial clients they always recommend big castles

that can accommodate a number of individuals. While for homes use they always advice that

they purchase relatively small or medium size castles. If your interested in researching yourself

then it would probably pay to use Google to search key phrases relating to jumping castle sales,

spend some time going through the results so you select the ones that you may wish to contact

for further information.

Commercial castles are bigger and mostly purchased by event planners or organizers also fast

foods outlets. The reason as to why planners purchase them is rather obvious, it is because

they deal with a lot of events including children parties and team buildings. There are also adult

bouncing castles at they also purchase for corporate events. The difference between the normal

bouncing castles and the adult bouncing castles i that these adulterated ones are made up of

denser material than the normal ones. This is so as to support the weight of these adults

considering grownups are heavier.

Design and Cost

Over the last couple of years the standard designs of jumping castles has greatly changed.

Before during their inception they were just simple walkway designs that looked like a path

nothing fancy whatsoever. Then their design developed and walls were put around the walk

ways and made into square shaped castles practically what looked like a square room that has

four walls with no roof top. This was to allow interested parties to jump as high as they would

like and tower above the rest and even past the height of the castle. It was like a trampoline only

that it had walls.

These days, modern castles are more modified and customized. Their use has also greatly

changed. Previously they were just used for the main purpose of bouncing on them. Now they

are used also as water slides too. They take the shape of small swimming pools with water

slides. The pools are filled with water and the children can slide down to the water.

There are also big waterslides that are a form of jumping castles but these are mostly found in

the big water and theme parks. They are used to substitute the traditional water slides. With the

change in times water park owners have to increase their entertainment tools and bouncing

water slides are the perfect way to do so thus they can be able to maintain or even increase

their market share.

The castles also take on different designs and colours and castle theming is now popular in

castle design. Colorful castles are designed with a themes like spiderman, batman, sponge bob

square pants, princesses and other superheros and cartoon characters. Some don't have walls

just pillars at every corner. Some take the shape of animation characters and even bizarre

structures such as celebrity artistes or celebrities in general. A lot of innovation has been put

into this industry. Designs are influenced with technology since they are mainly an attraction for

children the current animation showing on TV adversely affects the design for these items.

The cost also varies depending on size such as there are small, medium and large castles.

Then there is also the factor of density of the materials used to make them. Then the colour and

lastly the design. Costs range from $2000 - $10,000 per castle, however china produces castles

for allot less. The costs vary depending on design completexity and the quality/density of the

materials used to manufacture them.

Conclusion

The designs have noticeably changed over the decades. The invention of inflatable

entertainment equipment was a result of the keen observation by Scurlock and what was

happening around him. In Australia the naming of these inflatable structures take on two main

identification names that is jumping and bouncing castles. The costs also vary depending on

four main factors: the design, the material used, the size and colour.

About the Author:

Castles 4 Hire

Address: Santos Place, 32 Turbot Street, Brisbane QLD, Australia, 4000

Phone: 07 3040 9977

Website: http://www.jumpingcastlesbrisbaneqld.com.au/

Castles 4 Hire is a Brisbane based jumping castle and party hire company providing a range of

equipment for parties and functions. They have steadily grown to become of the leading party

hire companies for children's birthdays, school fetes, festivals and private functions.