
Located across Jurong Point, Jurong Central Park is a green space that offers a bit of fresh air and also has a playground that is past its glory days even though it did once have quite a unique concept – real-life snakes and ladders!
Don’t worry, we did not come across any real snakes at Jurong Central Park (at least not that we could see). Instead, Jurong Central Park has two childhood games built into its landscape.
However, there is now another playground where kids can have some fun within Jurong Central Park.
Jurong Central Park: Life-sized Game Boards in the Park
V-Day's Coming Up: Quirky and Fun Ideas for Your Next Date
Chinatown Heritage Centre: Local Residents Enjoy Free Admission till 16 February
Ludo is a game based on the Indian game of Pachisi. Starting from a coloured base, players move around the Ludo board as they try to make their way to the final objective, the home column. Land on an opposing team’s coloured square and return to base.
As you take a walk through Jurong Central Park, will come across a little garden where you can play this game. The shaded Ludo Garden can be played by two to four teams, with one to four members in each team. However, the Ludo Garden is slightly overgrown now.
How do you know how many squares to move? Did you that Jurong Central Park has a unique solution for that?
There is a die tower in the park that randomly generates a die number so that you know how many spaces to move.
An ingenious idea in its day. But nowadays, we recommend downloading a free dice app on to your smartphone instead. It will save you the neck strain of looking up at the tower.
Snakes & Ladders Play
Jurong Central Park also has another life-sized board game – Snakes & Ladders. This popular game requires no introduction.
The Snakes & Ladders play area used to make use of the playground elements at Jurong Central Park.
There are 100 squares on the life-sized Snakes & Ladders game board. These squares are interspersed with some of the play equipment found at the Jurong Central Park playground.
In the past, there used to be more play equipment like slides and nets at the Jurong Central Park playground. This meant that you if you landed on a square with a ladder, you get to climb it and get a boost on the play board. Or land on a square with a slide and you get sent back down a few notches.
Unfortunately, much of these playground equipment has been removed and the play area is now a shadow of its former self.
The flagstones with numbers are still scattered around the playground area.
Nonetheless, there is a regular-looking outdoor children’s playground area where kids can still have fun while at Jurong Central Park.
What did catch our eye was the old school style merry-go-round that is part of the play equipment there.
View this post on Instagram
Wide Open Spaces
Besides the playground, Jurong Central Park has plenty of wide-open spaces. It is roughly the size of 8 football fields.
The park is located across the street from Jurong Point shopping mall and SAFRA Jurong (which has the indoor playground, KidzAmaze).
Bonus Playground for Kids
Many people may know Jurong Central Park best for the McDonald’s with a drive-through located at the park.
As a bonus, the Jurong Central Park McDonald’s also has Play Place, a small playground area where kids are welcomed to play while dining at the restaurant.
Jurong Central Park
Location: Junction of Jalan Boon Lay & Boon Lay Way
If you enjoyed this story, you may also enjoy this other story about the best Jurong playgrounds.