Funworld, In nashua, New Hampshire. Though this long writing may sound negative, that is not my intention at all. I love this place very much.
It’s always been an odd building, even from the outside. (See photo 1) The outside of a decorated like a castle, paintings of clowns and jesters along its rigid sides. If you look closely, hidden in the bushes, you can see what looks to be arrested go kart track, with absent go karts.
But from the moment you step in there, you are met upon three packed floors of many, many different things.
First floor is mostly mismatched arcade games from many different times. Some machines being obviously on the newer side and some very clearly having seen better days, being caked in dust. On the other half of this floor, do you have the food area, (See photo 10) which is almost described as I would say rollerskating rink type food. Things like hotdog and tenders, pizza. Then, if you look further, you have the ticket redemption area (See photo 8), many bootlegged or toys that have not been taken out of their glass case within the last decade or two. if you look beyond that, you will see more arcade games, mirroring the earlier description. Pinball machines awkwardly stashed away into an elevated corner being held up by two, overly fancy, but thin wooden pillars. In front of the secret can ball passage, though is oddly enough, a mini bowling area looking straight out of the 80’s.
If you ascend the stairs up to the second floor, do your best not to look down. As directly next to the staircase, you will notice another blocked off stairway that is completely pitch. Black I am under the belief that this is some sort of employee related space, but it looks quite unsettling.
As you step onto the second floor, you are met with what I consider to be the crown jewel of the entire building. It’s double-decker carousel (See photo 4). Even from the previously mentioned outside, they have it perfectly framed within the windows so they know it’s important to the building. I believe from what I heard it was imported from Italy, which is quite the trip. Continuing on, if you turn around in the opposite direction, you will see one of the other main attractions. The tubes. (See photos 5 and 6). A giant maze of plastic tunnels, and slides that lead to all directions. One slide even having a ball pit that can lend you back on the first floor. If you make the choice to look up among the walls, you will see various paintings of what are supposed to be Disney characters, looming over you and what feels like guarding their own kingdom.
Technically, both connected and directly next to the tubes is what I call the quilt room. (See photo 3). This room was impossible to find pictures/information of online for whatever strange reason so pun fully intended, bear with me. It’s this little glass room off to the side of everything. Quilts cover all walls from the inside. A rocking carousel horse middle of the room on top of a similarly color colored rug. There’s another door on the back wall, and if you look through it, you are able to see that one of the slides from the tubes actually leads back there and doesn’t really look blocked off, regardless of the door being locked. Back there, for whatever reason, is a mini Ferris wheel. It is clearly not an operation, but the detail I distinctly remember is the chain allowing riders to enter said Ferris will being shut. somehow confirming it’s catatonic nature.
Continuing on the journey, leaving the quilt room and going past the carousel you are greeted with even more arcade games. The section on the right mostly consisting of shooter games with one distinct what I believe is a Jurassic Park One. Also, in that same area if you go a bit deeper into it, there are stairs leading down directly into the prize area. On the right side, you have a heavy focus on driving games, specifically Japanese ones, though, if you go down the middle and keep walking, you will meet the Himalaya (Photo 9) and the Orient Express (Photo 2/See my Blog’s banner). It’s one of those type of carnival rides that spins you around and lifts you up a little, while the orient express is or was a traditional type indoor roller coaster. Unfortunately, this ride is no longer in operation. I’ve talked to workers out of curiosity, as I have never seen it running and have been going out for many years, apparently the reasoning is due to The age of the ride, parts have become extremely scarce and impossible to find, how sad. Though the Statues inside the ride have always unsettled me.
One time, I was given permission to look around the back of the Himalaya and side of the Orient express. What I saw was not shocking but unsettling. Making a thin pathway to a fire escape was a graveyard of arcade cabinets. It didn’t look real. Titles I’ve never heard before flashed by my eyes unlike the black empty screens. Some cracked or missing them completely. A boulevard of obsolete circuitry.
Once you go back to the staircase, you ascend up to the third floor. On top of being noticeably a lot darker in light, it’s a lot more baron. You get a beautiful view of the carousel, but directly next to the view, you also get a look at what I call the door to nothing. I always assumed it was just an easier way to move cabinets around, but it just looks so strange. It is quite literally a doorway in a wall that just goes straight down. There are no stairs, nothing. I haven’t even even seen any sort of platform. Laying aside the strange doorway is some giant, crazy shooter game. (See Photo 7) I do not know much about it, but apparently it is the only one of its kind left in the United States, which is very neat. Other games upon the third floor that surrounded are more pinball machines, guitar, hero, some sort of Japanese drum game, Air hockey, and my personal favorite, DDR. Though if you look up, you will notice the wall in front of you being a glass window that overlooks the tubes. If you look to your left, you’ll see yet another pathway it is the same as before, but a lot less hit. Blacked out cabinets shoved into heavily dusted corners. Though if you go down this pathway, you’re met with a glass door it’s locked and has an alarm attached to it supposedly, but if you look out of it, you’ll notice an empty rugged platform (See Photo 5) that seems to have some sort of floor projector thing on it. I’ve never seen it working. It has the exposed rear end of a tube sitting next to it, so I assume that is the only way that you can properly get into that area.
I just wanna reiterate how much I enjoy this place. Something about it is such a time capsule. It is stayed stagnant since its creation. Apparently it opened in 1978, with a rebuild having to take place during 1987 due to a fire, according to what an employee told me. The irony of a fire happening in that specific year to a pizza and kid’s entertainment place is not beyond me, Lol. One of the small things that I really enjoy about it is how it still uses tokens and physical tickets. Not a lot of places do that anymore as everything has to be digitalized for whatever reason. There is something so special about going in there with a few bucks, getting a few coins and tickets, and making sure to shove one in your pocket so you have a keepsake. May they never change as the world around it continues to.
Picture Credits to Various Yelp Reviews, their Offical website and @retro.shauny on Instagram.
https://www.funworldnh.com
Thank you :)
