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a clown carrying an electric wand, while women in skirts were at the mercy of air-jet bursts. Through the first half of the 20th century most amusement parks had this type of fun house, but its free-form design was its undoing. It was labor-intensive, needing an attendant at almost every device, and when people spent two hours in the fun house, they were not out on the midway buying tickets to other rides and attractions. Traditional fun houses gave way to walk-throughs, where patrons followed a set path all the way through and emerged back on the midway a few minutes later. These preserved some of the traditional fun house features, including various kinds of moving floors, sometimes a revolving barrel and a small slide. They added such things as crooked rooms, where a combination of tilt and optical illusion made it hard to know which way was up, and dark corridors with various popup and jump out surprises,
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Beginning in the late 1980s, a few
American operators acquired European-built attractions that unfold into multi-storied walkthroughs with dozens of tricks. Such fun houses are ubiquitous in Europe, but the falling value of the U.S. dollar and the high cost of fuel to transport multiple trailers over
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at Coney Island, whose 'Pavilion of Fun'—a building resembling a huge airplane hangar—included, in addition to rides, a gigantic slide, a spinning disk probably 50 feet (15 m) across, and a lighted stage called the "Insanitarium" where patrons emerging from the
Steeplechase ride were harassed by
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Many traditional fun houses were removed after parks created walkthroughs. Some became dilapidated and were torn down. A few burned down; they were nearly all wood-frame buildings with extensive electrical wiring. Those that remained were all at traditional local amusement parks and died when those
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or door maze (many identical doors forming squares, only one of which opened in each square), often leading onto a small stage where they had to negotiate a series of rocking floors, air jets and other obstacles, while people already inside the funhouse could watch and laugh at them. A few even
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parks closed due to competition from new theme parks. No theme park ever created a traditional freeform stay-all-day fun house, but some modern theme parks developed the walk-through attraction to new, high-tech heights. A few traditional fun houses are still operating in Europe and
Australia.
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Floor tricks where sections of floor swung up and down, tip from side to side or move forward and back, either motorized or activated by the person's weight. There were also stairs that moved up and down, tipped from side to side, or slid side-to-side, alternating directions between
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Spinning disks - While the disk was stationary, patrons would sit in its center. As the operator started to spin the disk, people were thrown off by inertia and would end up against a padded wall. A variation was a disk with a raised center, shaped much like a
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the long distances carnivals travel in the United States has made them expensive to buy and operate. Due to these factors, fun homes have become few and far between at local fairs and are usually only seen at large state fairs.
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used a carnival funhouse filled with strange obstacles in its grand prize round. The two members on each day's winning team took turns running through the house to collect tags representing cash and prizes.
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in the early 1900s, the funhouse was initially a house or large building containing a number of amusement devices (e.g. motorized versions of what can be found on a children's
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Traveling carnivals have long included small walk-through fun houses in addition to their thrill rides. The typical carnival fun house is built entirely in a
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A horizontal revolving cylinder or barrel, sometimes called "barrel of love" or "barrel of fun", that patrons would try to walk through without falling down.
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provided benches for the watchers. Once patrons were inside, they could stay as long as they wished, repeating each feature as many times as they chose.
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Compressed air jets shooting air up from the floor, originally designed to blow up women's skirts but meant to startle anyone.
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midways, equipped with various devices designed to surprise, challenge, or amuse visitors. Unlike thrill rides or
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sometimes built elaborate funhouse sets with devices never seen in a real funhouse, as in the 1937
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Slides - Some up to two stories high. Most were made of polished hardwood and riders sat on
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answers the telephone and remarks as she hands it to Tony: "Here, the fun never stops".
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are used to distract and frighten the victim before the victim is shot by
Scaramanga.
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The funhouse at Malton fair. The entire building folds onto one trailer for hauling.
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Some fun houses brought new arrivals through a short series of dark corridors or a
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Although some walkthroughs were given unique names, like
Aladdin's Castle (
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and mirror mazes, although the latter are sometimes labelled fun houses.
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Information and history of the dark ride and funhouse amusement industry
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and to prevent rubber-soled shoes from slowing the slider down.
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406:(1928), in which scenes in traditional fun houses can be seen.
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196:(literally "House of Clown"), an illuminated funhouse at the
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A funhouse is prominently featured in the noir thriller
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This type of fun house resembled a miniature version of
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Related, but with a somewhat different history, are
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67:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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591:is the second studio album by American rock band
346:John Barth's experimental short story collection
384:. Other funhouses depicted onscreen include:
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813:"Why I love Max Payne 2's twisted funhouse"
421:is hunted through a funhouse by policemen.
271:One type of trick plays on the image of a
642:, a teenage Wade Tillman (interpreted by
127:Learn how and when to remove this message
851:Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts (DAFE)
506:is about four teenagers who encounter a
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560:to confront him with his greatest fear.
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65:adding citations to reliable sources
799:The Great American Amusement Parks
716:Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
462:A funhouse is used by the villain
161:is an amusement facility found in
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223:The most common amusements were:
231:mats to protect themselves from
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52:needs additional citations for
510:while spending the night in a
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811:Kelly, Andy (July 31, 2018).
801:, page 89. Castle Books, 1978
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476:(1974), wherein a series of
608:designed a funhouse-themed
473:The Man with the Golden Gun
331:walk-through haunted houses
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866:Amusement park attractions
556:of a funhouse in front of
495:You're the One That I Want
320:Palisades Park, New Jersey
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697:The children's game show
493:(1978), the end number, "
198:Linnanmäki amusement park
32:Funhouse (disambiguation)
670:", prominently features
632:", the fifth episode of
630:Little Fear of Lightning
660:'s hit cable TV series
636:'s hit cable TV series
552:kills a boy inside the
212:Originally starting in
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312:Crystal Beach, Ontario
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774:"What is a Funhouse?"
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606:Williams Electronics
575:is a 2008 album and
464:Francisco Scaramanga
438:visit a funhouse in
409:At the beginning of
370:A Damsel in Distress
349:Lost in the Funhouse
148:articulated trailers
61:improve this article
30:For other uses, see
724:Carnival fun houses
652:Hoboken, New Jersey
579:by American singer
295:and sound effects.
512:traveling carnival
452:Lady from Shanghai
337:In popular culture
308:Crystal Beach Park
258:distorting mirrors
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27:Amusement facility
746:Mystery Fun House
672:Palace Amusements
542:In the 2019 film
411:Charlie Chaplin's
388:The silent films
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304:Chicago, Illinois
293:optical illusions
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782:. Retrieved
780:. 2023-12-15
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730:semi-trailer
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688:Tony Soprano
680:tower viewer
663:The Sopranos
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648:Adrain Veidt
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529:Jordan Peele
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503:The Funhouse
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478:animatronics
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457:Orson Welles
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424:In the film
417:(1928), the
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400:(1928), and
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375:Joe E. Brown
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365:Fred Astaire
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256:An array of
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59:Please help
54:verification
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708:Video games
646:) survives
593:The Stooges
554:mirror maze
280:mirror maze
194:Pellen talo
823:Future plc
784:2024-01-15
757:References
623:Television
537:Santa Cruz
482:mannequins
468:James Bond
415:The Circus
218:playground
171:dark rides
87:newspapers
76:"Funhouse"
700:Fun House
676:boardwalk
588:Fun House
550:Pennywise
516:dark ride
447:film noir
432:Pinocchio
427:Pinocchio
397:The Crowd
367:musical,
361:Hollywood
273:trap door
159:fun house
144:Lost City
18:Fun house
860:Category
827:Archived
818:PC Gamer
778:WiseTour
740:See also
686:view in
668:Funhouse
639:Watchmen
615:FunHouse
572:Funhouse
533:carnival
455:(1947),
449:classic
436:Lampwick
430:(1940),
394:(1927),
265:ball pit
202:Helsinki
155:funhouse
612:table,
610:pinball
600:Pinball
466:in the
445:In the
206:Finland
167:funfair
101:scholar
682:, and
490:Grease
403:Speedy
377:film,
356:Movies
316:Canada
250:steps.
229:burlap
103:
96:
89:
82:
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565:Music
470:film
419:Tramp
342:Books
108:JSTOR
94:books
849:The
628:In "
581:P!nk
577:song
558:Bill
434:and
165:and
80:news
658:HBO
634:HBO
535:in
487:In
302:in
220:).
200:in
157:or
63:by
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765:^
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391:It
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