I remember a particularly dangerous playground from my youth, one where the monkey bars seemed to drop at least 20 feet onto the hard concrete below (in hindsight, it was probably not that far). I saw a couple of kids take nasty spills from those heights. Blood and stuff. Not great…

The playgrounds below are relics of an even earlier era, when kids were pretty much left to their own devices. These days, parents watch their kids like hawks, and the threat of litigation makes sure everything their precious babies come into contact with is super-duper safe (and less fun, too).

Take a stroll down memory lane and see if any of these structures look familiar. And as you scroll through these photos, ask yourself one question: What on Earth were the people who designed these places thinking?!?!