fall inside a hole
Merry-Go-Zoo (1979)
Originally written December 14, 2024
The Merry-Go-Zoo was an American Playrail set released in 1979 based on a Plarail Land zoo set with colorful animals that spin around, carrying the ball-bearing-roller figures around and around.
This set seems to be the least common of the four exported Plarail Land sets, with complete copies generally being a little harder to find and a little more expensive than the similarly-sized Merry-Go-Bus sets or really any of the other Playrail sets in general, bar the hardest-to-find Chug-A-Log Choo Choo.
Set contents|
Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Elephant |
 |
| 4 | "Tight" 90 degree curve rail (orange) |
 |
| 6 | Half Straight Rail (reddish-orange) |
 |
| 1 | Monkey station base |
 |
| 1 | Merry Go Zoo sign |
 |
| 1 | Spinning base |
 |
| 1 | Giraffe |
 |
| 1 | Penguin slide |
 |
| 1 | Slide |
 |
| 2 | Rolling friends |
 |
The powered vehicle in this set is a pink elephant based on the bus in the Merry-Go-School Bus sets. Like the rest of the set, it was produced in Taiwan like the 1978-issue Merry-Go-Copter.
Two rolling friends with ball bearings underneath are included to ride the elephant and other animals around the set.
This set includes four orange tight 90 degree curves and six reddish-orange half straights, all also made in Taiwan. The curve rails are roughtop like those of the era but the half straight rails actually have more uniform tread like regular Japanese-market Plarail rails would gain years later.
The spinning zoo course includes a drop-off station with a swinging monkey gate that can direct friends to the giraffe waiting area or to some stairs to roll around the zoo on their own. The Merry Go Zoo sign fits into this base. A second large base includes the catching station with rollers and spinning bases for the animals in the zoo.
The giraffe has a basket to pick up riders and spin them around and the penguins dance around in a circle, with an open space for the figures to roll into and spin around to the exit.
The single-page instruction sheet shows how to assemble the main destinations of the set as well as the track layout and battery instructions.
The box suggests putting both figures on the set at once - start one in the elephant and the other in the giraffe's basket. When the elephant passes the monkey station, any rolling friends are unloaded to sit at the gate to the giraffe ride. When the elephant makes its way over to the exit of the slide, a catch on the rider's seat engages with the station and holds the powered front wheels over rollers that begin to spin around the penguins and giraffe. As the giraffe spins, it picks up anyone waiting at the gate and carries them up and around to the slide down to the spinning penguins. When the open spot in their dance comes around, the rolling friend continues to spin around until it makes its way to the slide where it is deposited back in the elephant, weighing down the platform and releasing it from the station.
I think the friction-drive mechanism driving around the giraffes and penguins is pretty cool and is possibly even the neatest little mechanism developed for the Plarail Land/Merry-Go series.