Storytime | My Prague Kickoff: Lights, Speed, and Wonder
- Elias Nikolopoulos
- 17 minutes ago
- 12 min read
Good morning / Good afternoon, everyone! I hope you are doing well and that you had a good time during your Easter holidays!
This is the first blog post I am writing from Prague. So, we (and by ‘we’ I mean me and some of my lights) are finally in Prague and I send you my warmest regards! The moving process was smooth and with no troubles. It was a great relief to end this long preparation period, as well as the waiting for my possessions. This post will be mostly a storytime, rather than a stage lighting dedication text. So I hope that you will find it interesting!
It feels great to be here. It feels like a great relief and a satisfaction from the fact that my everyday life has totally changed. I can focus on different things, especially my well-being. Both physical and mental well-being.
Working from home has its advantages, but I do not want to do it for a very long time. I have also started Czech language courses, which could potentially help me widen the job opportunities, even though the primary goal is just for better socialising.
I am about to start restoring the second Golden Scan HPE, which has been left in storage since September of 2018. One of the Golden Scan HPE, has already been restored in Athens, and now it has travelled again to Prague, and this is the first fixture I use in my days here. For the time being, I use the fixture only as an atmospheric addition, while new timecodes can be done after I complete the ‘set’ I have here: 2x Golden Scan HPE, 2x Stage Light 300 and 2x MiniScans HPE. It is such a great comfort having these fixtures with me. As soon as the restorations are complete, I am planning to scout the area in Prague and around for other opportunities. Something from Robe as well, why not! We will see what kind of restoration work the future will bring!
During the first month of my stay here, I had the chance to rekindle another passion I have, I think since the same age I discovered stage/disco lighting, the amusement rides. I was thrilled about them, but not because of the lights, but for their details as machines. The hydraulic/pneumatic pistons, the motors, the sounds, the wires… Back then, I made miniatures of rides with LEGO and other materials. They were the first ‘machines’ before I started making scanners!
As a kid, I was too shy, with no confidence, too fearful, with a lack of daring. I have to blame the Greek family ways for these reasons. Imagine that, even if I knew how to swim since very young, I managed to get into deep water much older, (probably 16 - 17 years old). Since we spent every summer in the island, one of the ways the mothers, or grandmothers (especially) to keep the kids out of dangers (as we were running wild and free, roaming the island) was to scare them, so they wouldn’t play in deep waters, wouldn’t dive from the port, wouldn’t cycle close to the rocks/cliffs and so on. So, a variety of fears stayed with me for a long time. Causing fear was so common back then.
Closing this parenthesis of my childhood years, amusement park rides were a major reason for me to challenge myself and face my fears. This had nothing to do with dares from friends or cousins, but stemmed from a personal desire to experience the sensations of the machines I loved to watch and listen to.
One of the rides I was obsessed with back then was the infamous Tagada. The Tagada we had in the funfair in Athens was pretty old, and it was definitely one of the original models, since it was totally merciless. That Tagada has appeared in a few movies back in the 80s, so it was more than 10 - 12 years in Athens already when I rode it.
The original Tagada moving mechanism consisted of two pneumatic arms which moved the ride sideways or simultaneously up and down, depending on the operator’s commands, while the round platform rotated at various speeds. We called this ride in Greek Ταψί, as it has the shape of the pan you can use for cooking food in the oven (Ταψί = backing pan).
The pneumatic pistons were of small diameter, meaning that the ups were too fast and sudden, and the downs were too harsh, and the ride back then didn’t have any soft surfaces, both in the seating bench and the area where you could hold on. I have to mention that it was and still is the only ride you are not secured with a way. You just hold on tight for your life!
What thrilled me back then so much was the unbelievably loud and impressive sound this machine made. Also, there was dark smoke coming back from the huge back panel with the ride’s artistic design, and I am curious to know if back then either this was a diesel air compressor (like those I saw on the road works back then) starting and operating in high rpm in order to fill up the air receivers for the pneumatic arm operation, or it was a generator which powered an electrical air compressor. That generator, or air compressor was very loud!
After a couple of moments with the ride's main platform rotation, as a warm-up for the doomed passengers, the party started. Multiple loud hisses and pops sounded, and the platform started to dance powerfully, such a fun thing to watch, and exciting to listen to, and also it was clear to my eyes that this was a very violent thing, as the passengers were holding the bars with great difficulty while their bodies were lifted centimeters above their sitting area and then slammed with force in it. The violent aspect of the ride was related entirely to the operator's mood and style!
We were visiting the theme park from time to time (it was called "International" in my era), as I was begging my parents to take me there as often as was possible back then, and I just looked mesmerised by this thing. I was way too afraid to try it, until one spring or summer day of 1997 (I still remember every detail of this moment), when I was determined to BE in that ride, to live the full of it, to suffer for it! My father had to be with me, poor father, he suffered as well. I will never forget this experience, as apart from the excitement of living the moment there, it was a very painful experience, and at least I spared myself the humiliation of being thrown around in the Tagada's flat surface, as don’t you think that the operator would stop for you to regain your seat, this was the purpose, as the operation were targeting girls, and tried to thrown them out of their seats for fun.
I remember clearly that it was so hard to hold on to this thing, especially when the rotation put you on the higher level of the ride, on the side where the pneumatics are pushing up the ride, the height difference was way too much for my short body back then, that it was so easily to be thrown out of the ride. After a few moments, it was impossible for me to hold on with two hands on the bars, and the thing which saved me was that I was sitting next to a loading and unloading port, so I could put one of my legs into this metal handle at the end of the seat section, while I used my right hand holding the bar, the left was on the floor of the platform and my head was on my father’s lap. I sure was a very funny spectacle for the people in front of the ride!
But no matter, I got so excited, I was in this machine of torture, and I was feeling so proud I've managed to survive it! I always wondered what happened to this ride, where it could be. Much later, I read that this ride type was banned in many countries as the downward forces caused spinal injuries (you don’t say!), and later manufactured Tagadas changed their design a lot. With larger in diameter pneumatic cylinders, so the push-ups and downs would be much smoother, more holding bars were available for the passengers to hold, while the seating platform was made of smooth/foam like material. I have ridden the Tagada ride a couple of times, but only once on the original. After 1997, an Italian-made Tagada with the newer style and technology arrived in Athens in 2014, and the last time I had the chance to be in such a ride was last year, in 2024, in the Frankfurt fair, in a German-made ride. There is nothing to compare with the original Tagada, but still, it is so fun to ride it, and I love the mentality of the Italian and German operators, who are interacting with the passengers, challenging them to stand, and generally being so playful.
As in Athens, there is a permanent amusement park, we literally ‘grew up’ in there, spending multiple times with friends and cousins, having fun until we were about to need a hospital. There was another legendary ride, which stayed in Athens for probably about 20 years, the Top Spin. Not the original from Huss, but Fabbri’s version, which became the talk of the schools in the late 90s. Even if I had dared to try some rides with centrifugal forces, I was not daring to try that one back then, but I did after the ride moved to the permanent park, when it opened in 2001. What I loved about this ride was the sound of the motors and the interesting design, as the main motor for moving the two arms was installed on the ride’s centre beam, and the rotating axis and universal joints were visible during the ride's operation. For me, back then, but even now in my 40s, such machines are mechanical masterpieces, and I always tried to understand what exactly happens during the operation, what their gearboxes would look like, how often one should check them and maintain them, how power is transmitted through the rotating parts and so on. Top’s Spin sound is music to my ears, definitely, the second machine after Tagada. It is impressive how such massive torque can be achieved with gearboxes, while small motors are used for the rotation of such large and heavy rides.
As the years passed, the visits to the amusement park may have been reduced, but it was always a great escape from reality and everyday troubles. Sometimes, though, a year could pass with no visit, until the year 2016, when a ride arrived in our favourite park and acted like a drug on me. The King visited us in Athens, from Italy (Street Fighter Revolution, as it's the original ride’s name from Technical Park), and I soon as I saw it on social media, I needed to ride it as soon as possible.
Until then, I had tried only one pendulum-type ride with no counterweight, which was just swinging 120 degrees and rotating its seats. This was the most powerful ride I've been in terms of G-forces back then, and it also had an interesting design. It had its two motors on the pendulum arm, not on the pendulum static support. I haven’t managed to find online this exact type of ride, I would be very curious to learn more details regarding the moving mechanism.
The King looked similar to this ride I’ve experienced before 2005, if my memory is right, but it had a counterweight which allowed it to rotate 360 degrees. The King became a sensation and made me feel like an adrenaline junky, as I visited the park because of this ride multiple times in the duration of the one year the ride was with us in Athens. I counted a total of 115 rides and a personal record of 11 times in one day. Sometimes I found just weird this kind of obsession, but I just love it, and embrace it always. I didn’t manage to convince my friends to join me on this ride, only my daring little sister, whom I am proud of.
In my moving days to Prague, the city had a surprise for me. I remembered that during this period, the Matějská pouť fair takes place next to my favourite park in the city, which I visit often with my bike from the suburb where I live. I said ‘remembered’ because I have seen this fair again on a pasts, very short visit, where I managed to ride only the legendary Sound Machine ride from The Netherlands (Top Scan, the manufacturer’s original name).
This year’s Matějská pouť fair had two big surprises for me. I was familiar with one of the rides from social media, the Zinnecker Best XXL ride (XXL, the original ride’s name from KMG), and I wanted to find it and ride it one day, and there just standing in the park! The other surprise was a ride I had never seen and never happened to meet online, the Airborne (Speed 32, the original ride’s name from KMG).
The XXL pendulum ride was nothing of the kind. It was wild, the sensation and G-forces just top. The most amazing part from the technical aspect is the powerful torque this ride has in its starting phase. For a ride with a massive height, weight and without a counterweight, the push feeling during the start of the ride’s movement is really impressive. I was so excited to experience another mechanical masterpiece! For once more, the sound of the gears was just music!
I leave the Airborne for last, as this has proven to be one of the most thrilling and exciting rides I've ever ridden. I was familiar with the Booster ride from Fabbri Group, as it was in Athens for many years (and I see it has returned), but I haven’t tried it, ever. I was not thinking of the height, as I do enjoy experiencing very tall rides (another fear that I managed to get through, because of the rides), but the continuous rotation made me think that it would be boring, with no actual G-forces, since there is no sudden acceleration/deceleration, and a potential cause of destroying my mood, due to the stomachache, since there is a constant rotation pattern. My biggest mistake.
It was jaw-dropping seeing that ride live. The height was extreme, and the rotation speed seemed faster than any booster-type ride I have seen. Even though it seems that such rides have a similar maximum speed of 120 - 125 km/h, the long axis makes it look faster! I just wanted to experience this, without a second thought. That machine is just epic. It reached the top of my thrill rides, even though it is a unique type for my ‘categorisation’ scale. The sensation it offers feels like a life experience one, mostly because of the height change sensation, as from one second you are 65 meters high, while next you drop fast to -almost- ground level, while the seats rotation and positions depending on the weight of passengers and the centrifugal force, offers different views during the rotation. Another awesome and thrilling part is that the ride has a total of three sessions/stages.
The first session starts after you take your seat, when the rotation of the ride starts, and until it reaches the maximum speed, which can last for 1 - 2 minutes. The ride starts slowing down, so in the second session, you stay up to 65 meters, enjoying the view, while passengers on the other side of the arm are unloaded so the next persons in line can take their seats. This process takes a couple of moments, so you can enjoy the amazing view of the area. Then, the rotation starts in the opposite direction, which offers a changed sensation of the forces as the ride reaches the maximum speed!
Awesome. It was just epic. The funny/scary thing was one of the times I rode the Airborne, the seats behind mine where unoccupied, so our seats ‘module’ was unbalanced. This resulted when the ride stopped on the top, the seats being slightly faced downward, creating an unsettling feeling like ‘I’m about to drop 65 meters down to the ground’, because the only thing that keeps you in place is the securing mechanism in front of your chest. When it is balanced, you just have your seat 65 meters high, but you are level, it's not so scary!
So the previous weeks were totally awesome, and one of the reasons was the thrills of riding such machines. Similarly, with the stage lights, my enthusiasm with such machines has been the same since I was young. I will always be thrilled by what engineers will design, to offer us sensations that people can feel only in space ships or supersonic planes, and at least a glimpse of such sensations and forces, in the safest possible way. Also, the technical aspect of such machines is a huge admiration factor, which ignites my curiosity to learn more about how they work, the kinds of motors, sensors, control panels, and other geeky details!
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