A zorb is a hamster ball for people.

Because people are more concerned than rodents about life and limb, a zorb is actually made up of two soft plastic spheres, one inside the other, like a bubble boy nesting doll. The outer layer takes all the impact, while the smaller, internal sphere protects the precious human cargo.

After you have hopped inside, someone then pushes you down a hill. Zorbing hails from New Zealand, which had no shortage of hills to tear down. It made its first international appearance on an early season of The Real World, to mixed results: it was all fun and games until one zorb hit a rock at a funny angle and bounced twenty feet into the air, only to come crashing back down, hard. All the cushioning in the world can only do so much.

For extra absurdity, just add water. If you pour a bucket of water into the interior sphere, you spend the entire ride gliding about in your own miniature wave pool. Hamsters are missing out.

New Zealand couldn’t keep zorbing a secret for long (obviously). It is now also available in Japan, and the Rocky Mountains.