Before ice-resurfacing machines, ice rinks were resurfaced manually, using scrapers, towels, a water hose and squeegees. Resurfacing a regulation-size (60x30m, 200x85ft) rink was time-consuming and labor-intensive. In the 1940s, Frank Zamboni began to experiment with building machines that would shave, scrape, wash and squeegee the ice surface all at once before putting down a fresh layer of water. The first “Zamboni, Model A” was invented in 1949 and primary sold in 1950.

Today, like "Kleenex" for tissue and "Xerox" for photocopying, most people often incorrectly refer to all ice resurfacing machines as Zamboni®, regardless of the machine's manufacturer. Today there are only a few manufacturers of ice resurfacers worldwide.

“There are three things in life that people like to stare at: One is a rippling stream, another a fire in a fireplace and the other is the Zamboni going around and around and around.”

(Charlie Brown, Peanuts - comic strip)

For a usual, not regulation-sized, seasonal ice rink event, a suitable resurfacer should be chosen especially in regard of the vehicles turning circle. But the smaller dimensioned resurfacers have to command about enough horsepower to scrape and shave the ice as well as put down a new layer of water simultaneous.

Another important aspect demands an adequate volume of snow tank and water tank to refresh the ice rink surface within one draw! Beware – the evil is creeping over the ice!

There are only a few manufacturers of ice resurfacers of which only one producer in North America and two from Europe offer suitable machines for medium sized ice rinks. Now an Austrian inventor developed a suitable prototype in his garage, designed for small ice rinks up to 5,000 sq ft (450 sqm).