The heyday of composite boats for river running ended with the advent of polyethylene (a.k.a. plastic) boats. Eskimo produced the Topo in 1980 - revolutionary for its short length of 2.2m at a time when 4m kayaks were the norm. Prijon followed with the T-Slalom in 1982. In 1983 Perception released the Dancer, widely considered the boat that 'changed it all'. Although Prijon released the T-Canyon in 1988, the Dancer remained the premier whitewater kayak for over a decade. Its first real competition was the Dagger Crossfire, first produced in 1991. Perception shot back with the Pirouette in 1992, but this was in turn eclipsed by the Prijon Hurricane in 1993. Suddenly, the race was on: from 1993 to 2004 most manufacturers produced at least one new playboat design every year. 

Although slalom and polo boats have remained practically unchanged for decades, the design of whitewater boats evolved dramatically between 1995-2005. As boats became shorter, one year's playboat became the next year's river runner. 1995 and 1996 saw the introduction of a whole crop of kayaks in the comparatively short 9' length range like the Dagger RPM, New Wave Sleek, and Perception Whipit. Their remarkably similar stern profiles betray the heavy influence squirt boats had on early playboat design. This new series of plastic boats were so much easier to handle than their predecessors that nearly every kayaker in the world bought one. Of the lot, the RPM had the longest reign and remained in production for over 10 years. A displacement hull made the RPM a dud as a playboat, but it turned out to be a stalwart river runner and had little competition in that market during the playboat craze of the late '90s. At the time, the Savage Fury was regarded as an eccentric design because of its extremely flat hull, short length, and punishingly hard chines but its designer, South African Corran Addison, later moved on to Riot Kayaks in Montreal where he produced two of the most visionary kayaks in history: the Riot Glide and Riot Disco. 

As the popularity of whitewater kayaking took off, new companies edged in on the action and many existing sea and recreational kayak manufacturers expanded to include a whitewater line. By the mid-1990s Dagger, Perception, Eskimo, and Prijon had to compete with upstarts like Necky, New Wave, Pyranha, Wave Sport, Savage, and Riot. With competition came innovation, driven initially by radical designs from Riot and Massive Kayaks. An emerging whitewater rodeo circuit fostered the first freestyle kayaking World Championship which took place in the UK in 1991. Instruction evolved beyond the school of hard knocks as the Nantahala Outdoor Centre, Madawaska Kanu School, and Wilderness Tours Kayak School helped introduce thousands to the sport. Freestyle kayaking dominated the scene in the late 1990s, allowing companies like Liquidskills to make a business out of the demand for advanced instruction.