Dear Kid,
Once upon a time, there weren’t any roller coasters. This was sad because the amusement parks couldn’t charge billions of dollars for admission.
In the 18th century, the Russians decided to build ice hills around St. Petersburg with big slides, inventing the luge, the need for steroids, and laying the foundation for today’s roller coasters.
Because this is History, no one can agree who turned the icy hills into roller coasters, but that’s OK because it won’t be on the final.
Time passed because it didn’t have anything else to do. By the late 1800s, people in Pennsylvania could ride the “Gravity Road” (which had originally been used to deliver coal). The ride cost 50 cents which is roughly a gazillion dollars (or one rapper) in today’s currency.
Because it was expensive and riders took their lives into their hands every time they boarded, the ride was hugely popular. In no time at all, there were equally dangerous rides in Coney Island and Atlantic City.
Did I mention the dangerous part? Yep, that shut the coasters down for about 50 years.
In 1912, John Miller (famous for having a ridiculously generic name) invented the underfriction roller coaster. Underfriction is the way roller coasters hold onto the track with their wheels. Think slippery sloth.
Meanwhile, the riders invented the ability to hold their arms in the air.
In the last hundred years or so, roller coaster enthusiasts race to invent crazy new twisters while other roller coaster enthusiasts race to ride them.
For quite a bit more than 50 cents.
Hope you have a fairly straightforward day without the need of a lap bar.
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