When I was in elementary school in the late 80s/early 90s, I recall being taken on a field trip to an amusement park. It didn't have roller coasters or carnival games. It didn't have shows or performances. In fact, it didn't even really have anything much to eat or drink or buy.

It was the WOOZ.

WOOZ stood for "Wild and Original Object with Zoom!"

Around the same time in Japan, a popular destination for amusement happened to be lifesized mazes, where people would pay to walk a series of modular outdoor corridors in an attempt to escape a modern-day labyrinth. In 1987, Sun Creative System announced they were bringing one of their maze attractions to America. That became the WOOZ.

While a smashing success in Japan, it turned out that in America, people weren't really all that enthusiastic.

There were a number of issues - American audiences saw the mazes as physical challenges, rather than mental ones. Meaning that they not only attempted to complete them in record time, but that they'd often cheat to do so - diving under or over walls, running at breakneck pace, and so forth. And when they were done, that was it - There wasn't anything more. While the company anticipated that walking the maze should take two to three hours, people were completing it in fifteen or so minutes.

The location of the WOOZ was also problematic: Vacaville, California was not known for its mild climate. The outdoor maze was a summertime destination, and the bright, merciless sun often baked people to the point of exhaustion. This lead to people abandoning the maze frequently through fire exits, and generally not enjoying their time being lost.

My recollection of my visit was hazy, but lines up with most popular opinion about the WOOZ. I remember it being interesting to me for its uniqueness - But thin and a bit hollow. Even as a small child, I realized it didn't have a lot of staying power.

The WOOZ eventually closed down in the early 90s, and remained derelict for roughly eight years. Rumor was that local police complained about the abandoned labyrinth-park, as people fleeing the cops often would duck into the maze to evade pursuit.

By the year 2000, the massive maze-complex was sold to the local fire department, who used it to stage various rescue drills. In a final exercise, the fire department eventually burned the WOOZ to the ground.

Sun Creative System had plans to open 60 WOOZ sites across America, but after the experience in Vacaville, they quietly decided to rethink that decision. The remaining 59 sites never even broke ground.

If you believe the retrospectives, The WOOZ was destined for failure due to poor construction choices, and more fundamentally, the fickle, hyperactive nature of the American consumer. It certainly wasn't a sensational hit.

But thinking back on it, it was exactly the kind of weird, unique thing that I'm glad is in my memory.

@Phorm I remember reading about this when I was looking into public space labyrinths, I'm a little sad I never got to see it!