Jumping Castle History
The first corporate event with a bouncing castle happened by accident.
John Scurlock, a mechanical engineer from Shreveport, Louisiana, was experimenting with inflatable tennis court covers in 1959 when he noticed his employees jumping playfully on the covers.
He started out with a large air mattress and called it a “Space Walk”.
In 1967, Scurlock added walls. At that time, there were two inflatable fans, one for the mattress and one for the walls.
The first real castle shaped bounce was originally designed by university students in England around 1961 for a fund raising event.
Interesting fact: While Jumping Castles are now found all over the world, and we thank him for hours of joy, Scurlock’s finest invention was in fact the safety air cushion that is used by fire and rescue departments to catch people jumping from buildings.
