ZORBs are giant inflated balls that you climb into and then roll around in like oversized hamsters on a holiday.
They were invented by the above-linked company in New Zealand and were first used there as a tourist attraction, but over the past couple of years have been turning up all over the world as a way to help separate tourists from their money. The first time I ever saw one was on an episode of “The Amazing Race” a couple of years ago when the race took the contestants to New Zealand; it looks like it could be fun, or it could be a good way to hurt yourself.
Well, guess what.
Last week, a reported from my hometown newspaper, the Lewiston Sun-Journal, climbed into a Zorb at the little ski area in my town, Lost Valley. Lost Valley is small potatoes compared to the big corporate ski resorts in Maine, and, like a lot of small independent ski areas, they spend a lot of time looking for ways to keep people coming once ski season is over. They were all set to roll out (pardon the pun) the Zorb as a new attraction to go along with their paintball course. The reporter would write some puff piece to help promote the new attraction, talking about her experience inside one. And then she promptly broke her back.
She was able to get up, walk away, and drive back to the office, but apparently her injuries were a lot worse than she originally thought. And now, instead of that puff piece to bring in all the locals, Lost Valley has a great big story in the paper about the accident , and instead of opening the ride to the public to make money, they’ve got to do a complete safety evaluation AND pray that the bad PR doesn’t mean they wasted all that money on a giant hamster ball no one in their right mind would get inside.
On the other hand, I hear paintball is fun.
