The Sweeper (Last Man Standing / Total Wipeout) hire

The Sweeper - sometimes called the Last Man Standing, the Total Wipeout sweeper or the Wipeout inflatable game - is an eight-player inflatable where the aim is simple: stay on your podium while two padded arms spin round at you, and try to be the last person left standing. There is a low arm at waist height you duck under and a higher arm at head height you jump over, and as the game goes on the arms speed up and can change direction without warning. When someone gets caught, and everyone gets caught eventually, they land on the inflatable bed underneath rather than the ground.

One of our staff runs it for the whole hire from the control box, starting the arms off slow so new players and younger ones get a fair go, then winding it up as the queue gets competitive. There is an automatic safety cut-off that stops the arms if they make solid contact with a player, so you are not being battered by it, but you are being knocked off your podium a lot faster than you expect.

How the game works

The inflatable is an octagonal bed, about 8 metres across, with thick padded side walls and eight numbered podiums positioned around the edge. In the centre is a padded pillar with two red foam arms extending from it - one low, one high. You stand on a podium, the arms start rotating, and you duck, jump and dodge until you cannot any more. The last player still on a podium wins the round.

We can run it as a knockout competition with a prize for the winner, or as a keep-jumping-until-you-drop session where people just rotate through for the fun of it. Either way it draws a crowd, partly because watching someone get swept off their feet is reliably entertaining, and partly because the arms speeding up and changing direction keeps it unpredictable.

Equipment details

• Eight player podiums around the edge of a padded octagonal inflatable bed
• Two foam-padded rotating arms: one low (waist height), one high (head height)
• Operator-controlled speed and direction from a separate control box
• Automatic safety cut-off when an arm makes solid contact with a player
• Inflatable bed 8m x 8m (roughly 27ft x 27ft)
• Padded side walls around the entire bed
• Suitable for ages 10 and above
• Power: 2 x standard 13amp plug sockets
• Staffed throughout the hire by one of our own operators

Where it suits

The sweeper works at birthday parties for older kids, teenagers and adults, corporate fun days and team-building events, school reward days and college events, village fetes and community festivals, and charity fundraisers. It tends to do well wherever you want a game people can watch as much as play, and it pairs naturally with other competitive inflatables if you are running a bigger event.

Chris from FIL Investment Management Limited wrote after his booking: "The team of three who accompanied the activities on Monday were all absolutely fantastic and did a really great job of overseeing the activities and encouraging people to join in whenever there were spaces - which I'm pleased to say were not very often. The weather was fab and there must have been 300 people coming and going during the three hours that I ran the event for."

If you are putting together a larger package, the sweeper sits well alongside the bungee run, the human table football, and the big balls challenge. Have a look at the full inflatable games range to see what else pairs with it.

The kit, the people and the paperwork

The sweeper is ours, owned outright, and lives in our commercial unit in Havant when it is not out on hire. We have run Monster Event Hire since 2002, Joanne and David between us, and we do not sub-contract - the operator who turns up to run the game is one of our own staff. Everyone on the road has passed the RPII operator and supervisor exams, is first-aid trained, and holds an enhanced DBS certificate, which matters plainly for any booking involving children, schools, faith groups or vulnerable adults.

The inflatable is inspected annually by our in-house RPII inspector and PIPA-tagged under the scheme the HSE recognises, and it is built to BS EN 14960:2019. For outdoor hire we supply an anemometer and a written wind-safety procedure: a competent adult takes a reading every half hour, and at 24mph (Force 5 on the Beaufort scale) the users are evacuated and the inflatable is switched off. The electrics are PAT-tested every year.

We carry £10 million public liability insurance, indoors and out, with the certificate and a risk assessment available on request. We also hold the additional licensed-premises cover that lets us work at pubs, clubs and bars - something most smaller hire firms do not carry, which means they are not actually cleared to operate there.

Where we cover

We deliver, set up and collect across Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex and London, from our base near Havant and Portsmouth out to Southampton, Guildford, Basingstoke and into south-west London. Tell us the date, the venue and roughly how many people you are expecting, and we will put a quote together that covers delivery, setup, the operator for the day and collection afterwards - no extras tacked on.

Get in touch for a price, and we will let you know whether the sweeper is available for your date.

Questions people ask about the sweeper

How many people can play at once? Eight - one on each podium around the edge of the inflatable bed. Players rotate through, and with each round lasting a couple of minutes at most you can get a lot of people through over the course of a few hours.

Is it safe when the arm hits someone? Both arms are foam-padded, and there is an automatic safety cut-off that stops them if they make solid contact with a player. The whole thing sits on an inflatable bed with padded side walls, so when you come off your podium you land on something soft rather than on the ground. One of our staff runs the game throughout and keeps the speed appropriate for whoever is on at the time.

How fast do the arms go? The operator controls it from a separate box. They start it slow for new players, younger ones or anyone who is nervous, then speed it up as people get more confident - or more competitive. The arms can also change direction, which catches out the people who have got their duck-and-jump rhythm sorted.

Can the sweeper go indoors? Yes, provided the ceiling is high enough to clear the arms and we have access to two standard 13-amp sockets. If you are not sure whether your venue will work, send us a couple of photos and we will have a look before we quote.