The parents not caring is bullshit. Once my Dad came over and explained, we were doing it wrong and demonstrated for the kids a better, faster, more dangerous method before then ignoring us and heading back to the other adults.
This was the centrifuge through which they distilled the kids worth giving a shit about.
Yes, I know centrifuges don't distill. No, I will not be making any modifications. And, if you asked in your heart, you were probably the chaff spun aside by the Iron Dais of Judgment.
I remember we didn't stop those for anybody. You want on? Sprint and jump. Want off? I still have a vivid memory of trying to get off one, being thrown outward, and getting a bar between the legs. Went to the bathroom and found blood in my underwear. Can't believe I still walked home after that
My school had one of those. One day we got the idea to tie one of the kids to it around his waist and make him run around to spin it. I still remember our teacher asking "where's Willy?" once recess was over, then looking out the window to see him desperately trying to untie himself.
In my home village we have a much safer and much better version of it:
You can accelerate yourself by just pulling at the plate in the middle, meaning that everyone can have fun and you can probably get much higher speeds.
A core memory of mine is getting flung off of one of these things because of the centrifugal force, falling on my back, and being unable to breathe for like 20-30 seconds ... until I screamed at the top of my lungs, and things slowly returned to normal, while the teacher just went: oh you're fine, don't be a baby. I was 6.
Got my first real concussion on one of those things. All I remember is that one minute I was flying off of it and the next minute I was at home and I had been there for several hours.
The game was, you'd put one kid in the middle and then everybody else would do their level best to spin the damn thing so fast it would either drill into the Earth's mantle or take off like a helicopter.
Got really drunk with some other folks at a wedding reception in a park. It had one of these. There were about 10 of us crammed on it and two other people were spinning it. We went flying and it was incredible. 10/10 would recommend.
I somehow flipped over one of the bars and bashed my head on the deck (wooden on ours rather than metal) when I was around 6 or 7 years old. No stitches, though I don't see any noticeable scar. I don't remember much aside from seeing blood and a headache.
Idk theres a car dealership that has a 2 level version of this. The middle part is raised and spins with the base. Its not as wide as the old ones, but it seems just as dangerous.
Then theres the single person versions that works off of like angled centrifugal force? Idk. It spins and spins just from body weight. They can start it on their own, but I've had random kids ask me to help them stop, cause they couldn't do it themselves. I see variations of these in most newer playgrounds. Some have you sitting, some standing. Many parents still dont give a shit.
My kindergarten had a much cruder and unsafe version of this. My system sister has a scar on her forehead from the time she fell off of it and an open ended pipe in the structure hit her. We went absolutely wild spinning that thing.
Like many, we got one going way too fast. But what got me was a rock that shifted underneath it while I was spinning on my back holding on to the middle with my feet. Clocked me in the back of the head, felt like a bullet. I was alright, but it could have been much worse...