Rip-off on the midway?
Dear Mark,
Your column Do two-year-olds gamble? You bet they do!
was terrific. But 25¢ at the local supermarket for an egg
with a cheap toy inside is nothing compared to the amount I spend
on my grandchildren on the midway. Last summer I must have spent
more than $40 at one carnival trying to knock down two coke bottles
with a softball. I got nothing, I mean nothing. Talk about games
being rigged. Harold C.
Not all games, Harold, are rigged, or all carnival workers
crooked; but all "honest" games are designed to favor
the game operator. Like the casino, that's how they make their
money. Just because you lost doesn't mean you were swindled.
There are three basic types of games that can be found on the
midway. A skill game, a flat game and a game of chance. Two of
the three are illegal. Only a game of skill, in which you have
the ability through human proficiency to control the final outcome,
is legal at a carnival.
A flat is a game where you have no chance of winning no matter
how dexterous you are. Harold, you could have been a past singles
champion on the PBA tour and you still couldn't knock those bottles
over. The game is surreptitiously controlled by the game operator-which
may have occurred at the carnival you attended.
Chance games involve no control over the final outcome. A chance
game is also illegal because it's gambling, which, without a gaming
license, is prohibited in all states. Remember the gambling formula,
Harold? Courts have found that every gambling apparatus must consist
of three components: consideration, chance and prize. You pay
something of value (consideration) to play; you receive something
of value (prize), usually more than the amount bet; and the outcome
depends on chance. Because leveling coke bottles should be based
solely on skill, not chance, this is what separates it from a
gambling device.
Coke Roll, the game you mentioned in your question, consists
of two coke bottles set up on a platform five feet away. The object
is to roll the ball down the platform and knock both standing
coke bottles over with one ball. Note, Harold, that the ball you
were given is not a regulation softball but one that is much lighter
in weight. Without defying the law of physics, the only way you
could have won is to hit both bottles directly in the center at
the same time.
Because there is no easy way for an unsuspecting mark to detect
if the game was rigged, my best guess is that you were playing
a flat game and the operator gaffed the challenge. Gaffing is
to fix, cheat or rig a game by using misdirection, sleight of
hand or any secret cheating device.
Coke Roll can be gaffed by a deceptive carny simply by off-setting
one of the coke bottles. This moves the center of the bottles
off to one side, making the second bottle impossible to hit with
an underweight softball. By hitting only one bottle, that bottle
will absorb most of the ball's energy, leaving nothing left to
knock down bottle two. Consequently, bye-bye $40.
A dear friend of mine, blessed with genetics that make her look
20 years younger than she truly is, loves to beat the midway cadre
out of prizes because they can never guess her age. But does she
truly win? She gives the barker a dollar and he tries to guess
her birth date. If he wins he keeps her dollar; and if he loses,
he keeps her dollar and gives her a prize worth 25¢. Honest?
Yes! Highway robbery? Yes!