HOW TO GAME CLASSIC EX GAMES

A little ingenuity can help you bring home the fairground prizes, writes Matthew Olson

Games on the midway are one of the big money-makers at every Saskatoon Exhibition, but some of them seem tough to win. So we examined some strategies to beat five classic fairground games at the Exhibition.

5. SHOOT THE RED STAR A small card with a red star in the middle is hung at the far end of the booth. The participant gets a pellet gun and is told to completely destroy the star.

The strategy: Shoot around the star to essentially cut it out from the card. Use the first shot to zero your gun, then try to efficiently remove the star with your shots instead of obliterating it.

Does it work?: Didn’t even come close. You’d probably have more luck trying to obliterate the star outright.

4. THE BUCKET TOSS This is a game that’s easy to rig, or “gaff,” in carnival slang. The operator shows it’s easy by tossing in a ball from where he or she stands, and either tosses a second in or gives you a “practice” throw. The first ball in the bucket “deadens” the bounce. Throwing at an empty bucket makes it hard for the ball to stay in.

The strategy: There’s supposedly no good way to beat this game; an American investigator of carnival games (yes, someone has investigated carnival games for fairness) notes it as such. The best strategy is to use gentle backspin and aim for the back lip.

Does it work?: Absolutely not. Aiming for the back of the bucket resulted in the ball rocketing back out.

3. HAMMER STRENGTH TEST One of the oldest “test your strength” games, it requires the participant to strike a target with a hammer and ring a bell (or set off a siren, with the newer electronic games).

The strategy: It’s a game of accuracy more than strength. Hold the hammer’s handle as far down as possible, and try to strike the centre of the target with as much of the hammer’s head as possible.

Does it work?: A resounding yes. This game was actually attempted twice to see if the strategy worked. Slowing it down and aiming produced much better results.

2. RING TOSS Another game with a lot of variations that’s supposedly easy to rig. The participant has to land a plastic disc on a target (usually a field of Coke bottles or something similar).

Strategy: Snap your wrist hard when you throw — it keeps the disc level and increases your (albeit small) chances.

Does it work?: Kind of. Snapping your wrist does keep the disc flat, but it bounces off far more often than it lands on anything. As the staffer running the booth said, “it’s a game of chance.”

1. CIRCLE SCIENCE

An old classic: the participant gets some small metal discs, and has to completely cover a large red circle with them. Once it’s placed, you can’t move it.

The strategy:

The idea is to lay the first disc just to the left of centre, the next overlapping the first just above centre, the third directly below the second, and the remaining two to cover the rest of the red.

Does it work?: The strategy is solid. The guy even shows you how to do it. However, the trick is in the actual execution. Good luck with that.