When I used to take Nolan and Ryan to the playground, I always felt like they got seriously ripped off. Playground equipment in the 70s and 80s was totally awesome, and playground equipment in the 90s was so goddamn neutered (in the name of protecting The Children, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Busy Bodies, Inc., of course), I'm not surprised kids wanted to sit inside with Playstation, rather than letting their imaginations go crazy on swingsets (x-wings, jets) or jungle gyms (pirate ships, secret bases on the moon, secret bases on Mars, battle cruisers.)
Over at Plaid Stallions, probably the best 70s nostalgia site on the Internet, I came across some playground equipment that looked very familiar to me. I never saw one of these when I was growing up, but I created it in my imagination quite frequently on the old rocket ship and geodesic domes at Sunland Park.