McDonald's PlayPlace

A McDonald's PlayPlace with the 1996 eyebrow exterior design.

McDonald's Playplace (also known as McPlayPlace for short) is an indoor or outdoor playground for children ages 3-9. It was located inside most McDonald's restaurants around the world until 2020, when all PlayPlaces in restaurants located in the United States were closed due to health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The remaining PlayPlaces reopened after COVID-19, however, only for most of them to be either removed or innovated.

History

The first PlayPlace with the familiar crawl-tube design with ball pits and slides was introduced in 1987 in the USA, with many more being constructed soon after. They were found in restaurants located in suburban areas, some big cities and several small towns.

Most PlayPlaces used to feature McDonaldland characters, who could be found inside some games in the tubes, as background characters in some areas, or on seats for a children's birthday party. In some PlayPlaces, a video game area could be found and varied from classic console systems such as Nintendo (Nintendo 64 or GameCube), PlayStation, and Xbox (especially the one in Metro restaurant in Reykjavík, Iceland, which used to be McDonald's from its opening in 1993 until 2009, but the screen has since malfunctioned, making it broken and out-of-order). Ronald benches were also be found in select McDonald's PlayPlaces.

As of 2011, the indoor McDonald's PlayPlaces updated their play structures to better and safer play equipment with safe steps and slides. Most of them also removed the controversial spider climbers, also known as the "swinging pendulums of death". They now also have new modern touch screen kids games, but they are only for the indoor McDonald's PlayPlaces. See the examples of the new style McDonald's PlayPlaces here.

Gallery

McDonald's Playplace Logo with Ronald McDonald. It was last seen in a few McDonald's restaurants.

Ronald's PlayPlace sign out in front of an entrance. They could sometimes be seen outside a restaurant or inside McDonald's PlayPlaces.

Sneaker Keeper Rules

Hamburglar and a Fry Girl, showing how tall you must be to enter the indoor playground.

Shoe bin used form 1995 to 2008 featuring the rules of "RONALD'S WAY TO PLAY!!!": "1. Be a friend! Take turns and share! Big kids, help the little kid have fun! 2. Leave toys, food, and other stuff back at the tables. 3. Play safe! Enter the play area slowly, so you don't bump into anybody. 4. Leave your shoes here. 5. Kids 3 to 12 can play. Parents, too!!"

Another shoe bin titled the "Sneaker Keeper", used from 1987 to September 1996, showing rules on where to put shoes before playing.

Concept of a PlayPlace featuring all of the aforementioned amenities.

A PlayPlace doorway showing a banner of McDonaldland characters.

A game area in a McDonald's PlayPlace.

Seats with Grimace, a Green Fry Kid, fries and hamburgers on the rear.

PlayPlace with puzzle-brain equipment.

PlayPlace logo from 1996

A toddler highchair featuring a picture of Ronald McDonald on the back rest cushion.

One of two optional trays to put on the highchair. This one featuring a theme of McDonaldland.

Outdoor PlayPlace, known as a PlayLand.

The most popular and common PlayPlace sign was neon and used from 1998 to 2008; it became official in 2006.

As of 2018, more indoor PlayPlaces were added to McDonald's restaurants internationally.

This logo was rarely seen and could be found at some renovated McDonald's Locations.

A GameCube kiosk running Mario Kart: Double Dash. These stations would also play games such as Melee and Tak and the Power of Juju.