What's the tip/trick to winning carnival games?

[imported_Tomato]

Is anyone here a carnie or know someone was?

I've NEVER seen anyone win at the following games:

1. Toss a quarter onto a small, flat plate to win a prize (is the best way to do this to flip the quarter at the plate like you were tossing a coin, and hope it lands somewhat flat?).

2. Knock 3 blocks/milk jugs off a stand with a beanbag.

3. Toss a ball and bounce it off a slanted easel, making it fall into a basket beneath it.

Anyone really good at winning at these games, and if so what's your technique.

I don't know what I'd do with a 5-foot tall stuffed animal, but it'd be kinda cool to win one.

 

[isasir]

The strategy I've been successful with is spending so much money on those f$%ing games that the guy feels bad for me and gives me one of the cheaper prizes.

 

[iroast]

1. aim for the space between plates

 

[PingSpike]

Not playing them usually works well for me. If I wanted to throw quarters in a jar of water for fun, I could do that at home. They're all rigged anyway.

 

[40Hands]

Don't play them and watch other schmucks lose their money.

 

[CPA]

I've won the ring toss on the neck of 2 liter bottles before. Won a huge-ass stuffed animal.

 

[Jzero]

The prizes are usually low-quality.

Stick to the guy who guesses your age. Since you're Asian you won't even need to cheat.

 

[Mday]

Originally posted by: Tomato
Is anyone here a carnie or know someone was?

I've NEVER seen anyone win at the following games:

1. Toss a quarter onto a small, flat plate to win a prize (is the best way to do this to flip the quarter at the plate like you were tossing a coin, and hope it lands somewhat flat?).

2. Knock 3 blocks/milk jugs off a stand with a beanbag.

3. Toss a ball and bounce it off a slanted easel, making it fall into a basket beneath it.

Anyone really good at winning at these games, and if so what's your technique.

I don't know what I'd do with a 5-foot tall stuffed animal, but it'd be kinda cool to win one.

1. they are both hard surfaces, and the quarter will bounce off + slide off.
2. milk jugs are heavy, if they are metal, they may contain magnets. The beanbags are sometimes made very heavy so most ppl cant throw them properly.
3. the slanted easel is designed (curved) to prevent bouncing into the basket.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: Jzero
The prizes are usually low-quality.

Stick to the guy who guesses your age. Since you're Asian you won't even need to cheat.

But those prizes suck. And they usually charge $3-5. I think it'd be cool to win a HUGE stuffed animal... but then again, that thrill might fade after a few seconds or so upon realizing I'll have to lug that thing around the park with me for the rest of the day.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: Mday

Originally posted by: Tomato
Is anyone here a carnie or know someone was?

I've NEVER seen anyone win at the following games:

1. Toss a quarter onto a small, flat plate to win a prize (is the best way to do this to flip the quarter at the plate like you were tossing a coin, and hope it lands somewhat flat?).

2. Knock 3 blocks/milk jugs off a stand with a beanbag.

3. Toss a ball and bounce it off a slanted easel, making it fall into a basket beneath it.

Anyone really good at winning at these games, and if so what's your technique.

I don't know what I'd do with a 5-foot tall stuffed animal, but it'd be kinda cool to win one.

1. they are both hard surfaces, and the quarter will bounce off + slide off.
2. milk jugs are heavy, if they are metal, they may contain magnets. The beanbags are sometimes made very heavy so most ppl cant throw them properly.
3. the slanted easel is designed (curved) to prevent bouncing into the basket.

1. I know, that sucks. I threw a few quarters at a small plate in the middle trying to win a new PS2, but ended up losing about 2 bucks in quarters instead. The person running it even let me continue trying with pennies, but to no avail.

2. Magnets? That'd be pretty shady.

3. Sigh.

 

[HN]

Knock down three "bottles" stacked on each other (two on bottom, 1 on top) - you have to throw ball/bag from an angle. the two bottom bottles are placed so that 1 is slightly in front of the other. throw from the angle where you would hit the front bottle first. not a guarantee but gives you more of a chance than if you threw it straight on or from the wrong side.

 

[dquan97]

I do well in the basketball shooting games...

 

[McCarthy]

Originally posted by: isasir
The strategy I've been successful with is spending so much money on those f$%ing games that the guy feels bad for me and gives me one of the cheaper prizes.

That's the winning strategy. I was listening to a former carni being interviewed a few days ago. Roughly what he said - 'Always leave them with a dollar in their pocket so they can buy enough gas to go home...who cares if they can buy enough to go to work the next day, the point is you want the guy to leave. If he starts getting mad give his girl one of the little prizes so they'll leave. You want their money, but going for that last buck often just gets you into a fight'

 

[sao123]

sorry, I only win at the toss the ping pong ball into the floating bowl in a baby's swimming pool. At Kennywood this is the game which gives away the biggest stuffed animals in the park.

 

[SSP]

I won one of those gigantic red bull dogs in a ring toss. Its a small ring that had to fit on to the head of a glass coke bottle (twas my last ring too). There's not trick to it, just keep it flat and hope for the best.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Not playing them usually works well for me. If I wanted to throw quarters in a jar of water for fun, I could do that at home. They're all rigged anyway.

:thumbsup:

if you want to throw quarters into jars/plates, do it at home

if you want crappy toys/prizes, go to walmart and buy some

 

[HN]

One I'm actually confident in winning is the sledgehammer one (strike hammer down, ring bell at the top). at 5' 5" ~141 lbs., i've won side bets on top of the carny prize

 

[yukichigai]

Theoretically, every game needs to be such that you can win it in accordance with state law. Each of the games you described, however, is almost always "rigged" and thusly impossible to win. Allow me to explain.

Quarter on the plate: As has been mentioned, the plates are slick enough that the quarter will invariably slide off, and since both surfaces are hard they'll usually bounce off if you take an overhead approach. Note the "usually". If you can manage to get it to bounce "flat" you can get it to stay on the plate, sometimes. However, the liklihood of this happening is almost null.

Milk Jugs: First off, the milk jugs aren't going to be just milk jugs. Chances are good that they'll be weighted and/or magnetized, as has been mentioned. Additionally, the fact that you're throwing a beanbag at them drastically changes how much force is required to knock them over. The beanbag ensures that the collision is a non-elastic collision; the force will be absorbed almost completely by the first milk jug the beanbag comes in contact with, which means that a ricochet is out of the question. You'll have to hit all of the milk jugs simultaneously, or have them knock into each other, in order to topple them all in one go. The latter is usually impossible given your angle of approach, and the former requires that the beanbag connect solidly with each milk jug, not just a glancing blow.

The basket game: the bottom of the basket usually is made to be "bouncy", so that even if by some fluke you get the ball inside it'll bounce out. If you get frustrated the carny running the game will demonstrate how "easy" it is to do it, but note that they'll do it from behind the counter, which changes the angle of approach, and will also usually put another ball inside first, which will act as a dampener and prevent the second ball from bouncing out.

 

[chrisms]

At the Puyallup Fair a friend of mine won a huge stuffed animal on the first try. It looked really easy and it was. I forget what the game was but it had to do with throwing from a distance (don't they all though)

 

[biostud]

2. throw so hard time bends.

 

[HN]

Originally posted by: biostud
2. throw so hard time bends.

whoa

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: dquan97
I do well in the basketball shooting games...

Same here.

 

[nakedfrog]

I've won the deal where you have to throw a ball into a milk jug before. Got a three foot tall stuffed alien that I have to this very day.

 

[marvdmartian]

The easiest way to win at these games is to be the guy running the game, winning all that easy dough from all the schmucks!! :roll:

 

[MisterJackson]

Kill the carny, take your prize, and be a straight pimp in your girls eyes.