Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Carnival Game Fraud


1. The Milk Bottle Pyramid - Bottom pins can be filled with lead, making them as heavy as 10 pounds each. The softballs you throw may be filled with cork to make them lighter than regulation balls. And the bottles may be stacked against a backdrop curtain that helps prevent them from falling.

2. The Basketball Shoot - rims may be smaller than normal and oval-shaped, not round, and may be positioned higher than regulation to prevent a score other than with a difficult high-arching swish. Balls are overinflated to make them super-bouncy.

3. The Balloon Dart Throw - Balloons are underinflated to deflect even well-thrown carnival darts, which are often lighter than store-bought types. Their tips may be dulled or broken off.

4. The Ring Toss - The rings are just a hair wider than the neck of the target bottle or spike and are made of hard plastic to facilitate extra bouncing.

5. Tubs of Fun - farming baskets have been replaced with plastic "muck" buckets from home improvement stores so that the ball gets extra bounce.

6. Shoot the Star - the provided ammo is smaller than traditional BBs and in short supply. Plus the rifle's sights may be tampered with and its air pressure reduced so that many shots simply bounce off the target paper, 

7. The Duck Pond - The ruse is to get you to keep playing for the better prize,

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