The pit is the one thing in a ball gallery that is drawn to your room rather than picked from a list. What is standard is everything inside the outline: the edge profile, the entry step, the mat, the net height, the ball depth and the washer that keeps it open.
Buyers arrive with a plan drawing and a question about shape. The quote is actually driven by four numbers that are much easier to settle first: floor area, ball depth, edge profile and how the balls get washed. Get those four right and the outline can be almost anything.
At 450 mm of ball depth a pit holds roughly 900 balls per square metre. A 45 m² pit is around 40,000 balls — that number, not the shape, is what the purchase order is really about.
300 mm for ages 3–6, 450 mm for 6–10, 500 mm and over for mixed floors where adults wade in. Deeper is not better: past 500 mm a small child cannot stand up in it, and staff cannot see feet.
A wave edge lets a child roll in without a step and needs a clear sightline. A low wall with a step controls the entry point and slows throughput. Glass panels are for the parent standing outside, not the child inside.
Ball washing is not an accessory. Balls run a wash cycle on a schedule, the mat lifts, and the pit is swept nightly. Every pit we quote includes the washer, because the alternative is a pit that is shut in month eight.
Floor area, ball count at 450 mm, and what that size typically suits. Ball counts assume a normal fill, not a brim-full pit — overfilling hides the mat and makes the pit feel shallower than it is.
| Floor area | Balls at 450 mm | Age band | Typically suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12–20 m² | 11,000–18,000 | 3–6 | Hotel play corner, hospital waiting area, small discovery room |
| 25–40 m² | 22,000–36,000 | 3–8 | Children's museum floor, one wall of modules above it |
| 45–60 m² | 40,000–54,000 | 4–10 | Science centre ball gallery, two walls, one drop tower |
| 70–100 m² | 63,000–90,000 | 4–12 | Destination gallery, climbing structure inside the pit |
Above roughly 100 m² the pit stops behaving like one room. Split it into linked pods — a child needs to see the far edge, and staff need to reach any point in the pit in under fifteen seconds.
These are the same on every pit we build, whatever the plan shape. They are also the six things that get value-engineered out of a cheap pit, in this order.
Moulded HDPE over a steel rail, 1000 mm net above the ball line. The curve is not decorative: a wave edge spreads impact over the whole panel instead of one point where children vault in.
One step, 200 mm rise, 300 mm going, with a grab rail. Pits without a step get entered by jumping, and jumping is where most incidents happen.
Closed-cell EVA under the balls, seamless where possible. The mat is what the pit actually sits on, and a split mat is where lost balls and moisture collect.
Balls come back to the top of the wall by hand sweep, by conveyor, or by vacuum line. Pick this at drawing stage — retrofitting a return run into a finished gallery is the most expensive change we get asked for.
Drum or conveyor type, sized to the ball count, not to the floor area. A 40,000-ball pit needs a washer that can cycle the whole volume on a defined schedule.
A service gate wide enough for an adult with a vacuum wand. Every pit has one; nobody remembers it until the first dropped phone.
Floor games sit at the rim of the pit and give a child who is tired of wading something to do without leaving the zone. They are quoted as units, not as area.
The same figures apply to every pit we build. The plan shape is the only thing that changes.
| Ball size | φ75 mm standard · φ90 mm for large pits |
| Ball material | Food-grade LLDPE, masterbatch colour, anti-static |
| Ball depth | 300 mm (3–6) · 450 mm (6–10) · 500 mm+ (mixed floor) |
| Ball density | ≈900 balls per m² at 450 mm |
| Edge height | 1,000 mm net above the ball line |
| Pit floor | Closed-cell EVA mat over structural sub-floor |
| Ball washer | Drum or conveyor, sized to ball count |
| Power | 100–240 V AC, 50/60 Hz · 380–480 V three-phase for conveyors |
A pit is one half of the product. The wall, the machines and the layouts are the other half.
Attach a theme outline, a floor plan, or nothing at all — a photo of the space is enough to start. Quotations are issued against a real exhibit list, not per-square-metre guesses.
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