Hose Hockey and Beyond

The "party industry" - you know, the manufacturers and suppliers of entertainment for everything from birthday to corporate parties - has become a steady source of new, and often deeply wacky play technologies. Witness, Hose Hockey, one of the tamer examples of inflatable silliness, where players use air hoses in the attempt to blow a ball into the opposing team's goal. For all its wackiness, it is a safe, non-contact invitation to competitive hilarity, which can be compared quite favorably to the sport-like thrills of Human Foosball.

For a perhaps purer form of innovative wackiness, take a look at the Velcro Wall, where players put on Velcro suits and take turns bouncing off the inflatable floor and sticking themselves to the wall.

And then there's inflatable Sumo Wrestling.