Discovery Zone

Discovery Zone (DZ) was an American chain of entertainment facilities featuring games and elaborate indoor mazes designed for young children, including roller slides, climbing play structures, and ball pits. It also featured arcade games. A talking robot character named Z-Bop served as mascot to the chain. Ronald Matsch, Jim Jorgensen and Dr. David Schoenstadt founded Discovery Zone in 1989, with the first location opening in Kansas City, Missouri, in October 1989. An early investor in and vocal supporter of the company was tennis player Billie Jean King. Discovery Zone was the first corporate sponsor of the PBS children’s program Sesame Street, breaking the show's 30-year-long sponsor-free status in 1998. In 2020, a new center using the Discovery Zone name opened in the Cincinnati suburb of Union Township, Ohio at the Eastgate Mall; it is not affiliated with the original company, but is heavily inspired by it. A second location was added in Florence, Kentucky, at the Florence Mall on July 23, 2021.