The Tricks Used in Carnival Game Scams
If carnival games seem hard to win, it's because they are. In fact, they're rigged to ensure that you lose — and waste your money.
By Riley Blake
Credit: Jessie Schiewe
Bear, as his friends call him, is a veteran of the carnival scene. Beginning in the circuit after helping his cousin out one weekend, he now flies cross-country to assist with game machinery for various carnivals, visiting 45 states in 16 years. As he tells it, he’s one of the last “old-school educated, new generation operators.”
“Most people don’t understand why I’ve done it for so long,” he told OK Whatever.
His favorite carnival game to run is the balloon pop game where the player has to pop the balloon with a dart, but he also spends his time making sure the assembly of the rides is correct.
During his decade-and-a-half-long career, Bear has learned the in’s and out’s of the carnival circuit — and even witnessed a couple of drug busts by the FBI, DEA, and US Marshals after week-long stake-outs.
But, most significantly, he’s learned how to get carnival goers’ cash, through rigging the games.
“There are the little things that throw off your perception,” Bear explained. “Most people have preconceived notions that a basketball hoop is round or that a balloon’s all the way inflated. We take those expectations and run with it.”
Bear’s stories brought back fond recollections of the hot summer nights I spent at the carnival as a teenager. Its return to my small mountain town brightened the night sky with flashing lights, bringing with it a slew of questionable characters and the aroma of deep fried “you name it” for five days a year.
For nervous parents who feared the world outside their own city limits, these five days were panic-ridden. For a suburban kid like myself with dangerous amounts of curiosity, it was like stepping into heaven.
The first days before the carnival began operations were watched closely by citizens of the city. Rides like the “Gravitron” were hauled in, the “Ali Baba” was raised, and the “Kamikaze” was wiped down of any vomit smudges from previous towns. Once carnival workers began the process of preparing the games for play, all signs appeared to be a go.
Researching for this article, I was surprised to find out that in no way are things “a go” once the games — notorious for rigged chances of winning — are set up. Granted, carnivals are subject to inspections by law enforcement to prevent fraudulent activity. The Federal Bureau of Investigation insists that local officers inspect each game if not have the game operator themselves attempt to play it to prove that it isn’t rigged.
But still, carnival game scams happen — and often.
“We skew the difficulty curve, superseding expectations,” Bear said. “My favorite is when we let the air out [of the balloons in the balloon dart game] so they won’t pop.”
Among the long list of carnival game scams, probably the most well-known are the free throw or three-point basketball shooting games that seem simple enough from a distance. Get the ball in the hoop, win a prize. How hard could it be? For basketball players it may seem like a piece of cake after having done it hundreds of times. For others, there’s always a chance they’ll get it in the hoop by luck. But in reality, the game is designed for both types of players to lose.
The average basketball hoop stands 10 feet from the ground. The three-point line rests at 24-feet from the rim. For most carnival games, manipulation of the eye is key. So while it may look like a typical basketball hoop, minuscule alterations have been made to the player’s distance from the hoop and the height of the basket, leaving the changes nearly invisible. This creates a sense of familiarity when in actuality, if the player shoots the ball as they typically would, they are almost guaranteed to miss.
In the case that a carnival goer is skilled with the abnormal 12-foot tall hoop, carnivals have devised a way to trick them once again — this time, with the shape of the basketball hoop’s rim. In many instances, carnival hoops are oval instead of round. That’s not to say you can’t technically get the basketball through the hoop; you just have to do it without hitting the egg-shaped rim.
According to one Redditor who grew up around the carnival scene, this is a common practice at most carnivals.
“The basketball hoops are either bent at an angle that is difficult to see from the shooter's perspective, are much smaller than regulation, or the balls are over-inflated. Maybe all three.”
The incredibly easy-looking milk-bottle toss game is another example of deception. It seems simple enough: Throw a softball as hard as you can and knock over the milk bottles for a stuffed pink elephant. And while that’s possible to achieve that — it’s also very unlikely thanks to the tricks carnivals employ to scam players
According to Mental Floss, the milk bottles on the bottom of the stacked pyramid are often filled with lead to weigh them down, making them harder to knock over. The bottles themselves are said to weigh up to 10 pounds, making it even more difficult to knock over all the objects at once.
If you place one empty milk bottle atop two milk bottles weighted down with lead-filled interiors, the bottle on the top will generally always take the force and fall. The remaining bottles will stay standing because all of the force was absorbed into that top bottle.
Adding to the difficulty of this game is the material the softballs are made out of. As reported by Reader’s Digest and notable to any softball players, the softballs at carnivals feel oddly lighter than game regulated balls. That’s because they probably are. Their dense polyurethane centers were likely replaced with much lighter cork.
The third most-often rigged game is seemingly the most simple of all: the ring toss game. To demonstrate how “easy” it is to win the game, carnies will often demonstrate the game for players, throwing a ring atop one of the old glass soda bottles displayed in a row.
But if you look closely during the carnival workers’ demonstrations, you’ll see that the rings they toss aren't from the same stack of rings the player receives. Though they’re the same color and shape, carnival workers will usually pull their rings from their pockets or already have them in their hands while they wait for the next player.
According to Grunge, the rings carnival workers use are made of a different material; a softer one that is more successful in landing atop the bottle necks. Players, however, get rings that are much harder. Because of the difference in density, the players’ rings will ricochet off the mouths of the soda bottles.
If you’re wondering why carnivals scam game players, the answer is pretty obvious: money. You have to pay a fee to play each game, and some people are quite determined to win, even if they keep losing.
“Most people don’t believe the money I make,” Bear laughed. “When I’m sitting in a bar with a pocket full of scratch, sometimes it’s just easier to tell them I’m a drug dealer than I sell teddy bears for a living.”
At the end of the day, Bear doesn’t harbor any guilt for partaking in these classic carnival scams. As he sees it, he’s just a cog in a machine that has been operating this way since long before he came along. And it’s not like he or the other carnies force people to play the games. They do it of their own free will.
“Some spend a few bucks and quit, others let it turn into a pride thing. Either way they quit when they want to,” he said,“by winning or going broke.”
RILEY BLAKE IS AN OREGON-BASED WRITER. IF HE'S NOT WRITING, HE CAN BE FOUND PAINTING WITH ABSURD AMOUNTS OF COLOR, SNOWBOARDING, COOKING STRANGE MEATS, OR LOVING ON HIS ADORABLE CAT.
