An idea formed by Tristen Branin, brought to life with his father and friends. Before Tristen's first trip to Black Rock City, he decided to create a playful, moving adventure.

For years, Tristen chose to focus on college, where classes always started during the burn. In 2024, he graduated from Utah State's Outdoor Product Design Development program and was finally able to attend his first big burn. Before ever heading to the playa, Tristen formed an idea to create a playful, moving adventure - known in Black Rock City as a mutant vehicle.

Known for never thinking small and always going bigger, Tristen shared his idea with the engineers and doers in his life. Conversations and ideas formed into a plan.

The Wandering Playhouse is based in South Ogden, Utah. A simple trailer, countless hours of welding, and a lot of engineering math formed into a structurally sound three-story moving playground.

Not just a daytime activity, but built to wander the playa at night lit up by thousands of LED lights. Static lights? Not for Tristen! Dedicated to learning and unable to find a mentor, Tristen set to the task of learning to program lighting using MADRIX. Hundreds of strands of lights have been soldered together.

In 2024, the base was taken to the playa and stood near 3 and B in camp. While this was just a whisper of what was to come in 2025, hundreds of new friends enjoyed swinging, climbing, and dancing to the beats.

All of this has been self-funded by Tristen and his father, using scrap metal from work sites and hours of searching freebie sites. Now it is crunch time to get the Wandering Playhouse playa ready for 2025. This is where we need your help! Every donation helps bring this vision to life. Thank you in advance for assisting us with adding the drive train and playground components.

See ya in the dust!

Follow the Wandering Playhouse on Instagram @the_wandering_playhouse