Flat Ride Feature: Tip Top

Today on Flat Ride Feature, we're taking a brief look at the Tip Top, a older flat ride sometimes known as the Bubble Bounce or Bouncer. Manufactured by Frank Hrubetz & Company, which operated from 1939 to 1992, the ride was made in both trailer-mounted and permanent versions.

Ride Experience

Tip Top riders step onto a platform and into a tub, which holds the seats for the ride. The benches in the tub are oriented directly across from one another. Depending on the model of the ride, either eight or twelve may be used. The ride platform rotates, and riders  spin their tubs at a desired pace using the wheel in the center between the two benches. It is well known that with two riders, the easiness of spinning increases, due to the weight balance in the tub.

The namesake of the ride, however, comes when the entire platform is  lifted up by a (quite loud) blast of compressed air and slowly "bounced" back down. This would happen several times over the course of the cycle.

The ride's namesake "bounce."

Remaining Examples

 Tip Top is one of the more rare flats in existence, and there is not much documentation online on remaining models. Sylvan Beach in Central New York is home to a classic model that is believed to be from old Crystal Beach in Ontario. There are some traveling models remaining, most notably one that tours Ohio and consistently shows up at the I-X Indoor Amusement Park in Cleveland each year.

Once in many more parks than it is now, it's certainly a unique attraction, so if you see one, be sure to take a ride!