Pause/Play Exhibit at San Diego’s Fleet Science Center
The San Diego Fleet Science Center is one of the most popular museums in Balboa Park. The museum regularly hosts to temporary exhibits. In most cases, these cost extra money. However, the new Pause/Play Exhibit at is free with general admission to the Fleet Science Center.
UPDATE: The Pause and Play Exhibit has closed and will likely be replaced with a new exhibit post-COVID
WEBSITE: https://www.rhfleet.org/
For a full overview of the museum and its pricing make sure and see our full guide to the Fleet Science Center. This article is only a look at the Pause/Play Exhibit (technically Pause|Play Exhibit).
The Pause/Play Exhibit is located on the second floor of the Fleet Science Center. This is where previous special exhibits such as the Lego exhibit, Sherlock Holmes and Mythbusters were located. We have enjoyed all these exhibits and did full features on Lego: The Art of the Brick and Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition.
These were traveling exhibits, so they cost extra. The Pause/Play Exhibit was designed in-house at the Fleet Science Center. Luckily, Pause/Play is just as good as most of the exhibits that charge extra.
The focus of Pause/Play is to get both adults and children doing physical activity. The idea is to leave school, jobs, and most importantly the digital world, behind.
As you enter Pause/Play the first thing you see is a swimming pool filled with balls. This is similar to what you might find at Chuck E. Cheese or McDonald’s but in this case, it is much deeper.
Other features of Pause/Play, starting from the center and going left include:
- Square Wheel Tricycle: This was not working both times we were at Pause/Play. Basically, this is a tricycle with square wheels. However, you can ride it as normal down a circular track.
- Hopscotch: This a full hopscotch course with lights and sound.
- Basketball Hoops: You can shoot baskets normally through the hoop or put on special glasses that distort your vision.
- Maze: The maze has you time yourself using one of three methods to solve it (like always turning right, flipping a coin). You try and see which way is fastest.
- Sandbox: The sandbox is really cool. It is an augmented reality sandbox that must be seen in person to really understand. You can check out the video.
- Merry-go-round: You sit in spinning chairs and try and pass a ball around.
- Spinning Chairs: These chairs are based on the principle of spinning tops.
- Slide: This large green slide lets you time yourself to see how fast you can go down.
Pause/Play is all about having fun without looking at a digital screen. It does a great job at this. If you are not too busy having fun, there are actually a lot of educational features of the exhibit. This is especially true when it comes to physics.
It is too bad this exhibit is only around for a short time. Hopefully, it will travel to other cities!
For pricing and other exhibits at the Fleet Science Center be sure and see our guide.
