20 yrs ago me and my brother saw an ad in the paper to go work for the carnival. We went and I got the put up/take down the tent job for $20 and he got the walk around from 7pm-midnight for $20. He didn't even get to keep the bear they gave him to carry around. And I had to return on the last day of the carnival to get the other $10(they paid half to put up, and the other half to take down.) We both spent the money at the carnival, even my $10 went to drinks afterwards. Needless to say, we've never worked for the carnival again.
My mom told me she went to the fair last weed and, a 6 year old girl was playing the dart/balloon game. She threw one, 'pop'. Second try, 'pop'. Third dart, 'pop' 'pop' 'pop'. Kid hit 5 ballons with 3 darts. She said everybody lost it and the workers face was priceless.
I worked the three milk bottles back in the day. Also the red spot, fluffy dolls and the break a bottle. They all could be won if you could throw a ball
in the 09's I worked the wacky wire the hardest game in carnival i could do it in 3 seconds make people look stupid I was a big fat slob and made tons of money what these people don't know took me 5000 trys just to do it 1 time took me 1000's more to get as good as i was but nothing was rigged
I worked the carnival stalls for 21 years. Then one day I was fired for getting freeky with the lion tamer. I returned the next day as a guest, and since I knew all the tricks, won a ton of big stuffed animals. I got the last laugh
who are you trying to bullshit? Do you expect anyone to believe you walked up to their game and told them not to run their scam because you knew what was up? GTFOH
@Squant There's a way around that. All you have to do is say "Yeah, I'll take the free shot." Then wait until he stacks the cans and say "Hey tell you what, I'm feeling lucky. Here's the money, I do it right now." If the carney starts to touch the cans, say "Hey, what do you thing you're doing." Make a real nasty fuss, and he'll probably back down. Then give it your best shot and hopefully you'll win because the odds will be in your favor.
Back in the early 90s, my then-gf had a distant cousin who was an old-school carny; she and her husband ran some kind of ring toss booth. When my gf heard that her cousin would be at the state fair that year, we decided to go on a lark. The cousin actually got me to carry around this gigantic stuffed panda on my shoulders and tell anyone who asked where I "won" it. Now, at that time, my gf and I were in our early 20s looked like the kind of people you'd see at a Depeche Mode concert, while her cousin was in her 40s and just had that tough carny demeanor, so it didn't look like there was any connection between us, all in all making for a pretty good scam. So now I can add "carnival shill" to my resume. It's funny though: when we first met, the cousin explained to me exactly how her game was crooked as though discussing the previous day's weather. I'm trying to remember across decades, but I think that the holes in the rings weren't actually large enough for the pegs to go through, though it looked like they should.
Biggest con is those ones with the prizes inside a container and you have to operate a grab claw to simply pick one up.............. but the claws do NOT close enough to take the weight of ANY "prize" inside.
I was banned from the throwing at tins game before I bankrupt the stall, I have a good throw and aim! Even parents were giving me money to play for them and I got 3 massive toys for kids and 2 car loads for y self before I was banned lol
the games are not rigged in America I use to work in the games for 10 years the fines and jail time are way to much for couple $ In America the games are checked by Vice in every city they go too and random checks during the carnival
To get an odd number you need an odd number. There was a game that Pepsi did many years ago where you would get bottle caps with numbers and had to add them to get 21--nobody ever won because we never found any odds but probably had every even 2 to 20
Huge companies like that can easily afford to give out prizes so I really doubt they didn't put in the numbers somewhere, and in contests like that they're required by law to have the chance of an actual prize
All I learned about these scams I learned from the Andy Griffith show. Opie wanted to win his paw an electric razor and the sight was bent on the rifles.
aye, they got these air-rifle ones around where i live, hit and destroy some plastic discs and win prizes, pay per shot. now if their rifles are fair (so far almost all i have tried are) there is very little chance i miss, but even if i hit all of them perfectly, i overpay on any of the available prices.
I didn't know the balloon dart game is rigged, when i played it there was balloons fully inflated and alot of em. I was popping em like crazy they gave me a free play. At the end i won a giant Pikachu
Some of them are legit the way i always test these games is i will either look and feel the dart tip and look at the balloons before playing or if its say the can game just simply ask them if you can feel the cans (all of them) an honest place will gladly oblige as to where the scammers will almost immediately reject that request!! It's a good way to save your money and still have fun and have a real chance at winning these games!!
Ya, the one at my fair has fully inflated ones, but you literally have to spend a certain amount of money to get the big prize. My boyfriend and I went, and they said to win a prize, that wasn’t big at all, if we gave them $20, no matter how many balloons we popped, we’d get it
In todays ballon game u can see we actually want u to win and 90% of the games have sharp darts . Now that don’t mean u will get the prize for cheap u Guna get it a 30% to 40% mark up. So if something cost us $1.50 u are Guna pay 10 to 15 bucks for it. But we have to get paid as in the guy running the booth and the guy that owns it has to pay rent and have to pay for the stock. And now u have some insight from someone that actually worked and still does work in the carnival business
There is a scene in the 1942 film Pride of the Yankees. Lou Gehrig (played by Gary Cooper) takes her girl/wife to a carnival and tries to hit the bell via a sledge hammer. He cannot, but a little guy steps up and does it with ease. The Iron Horse was hooked. Although in the movie he comes home with all the prizes. Again that was in the movie.
Even if you do win at these games, most of the time the prizes are not even worth what you paid to play the game. Like paying 5 dollars to pop a ballon. The ones I saw it was pretty much impossible not to pop a balloon. You “win” a stuffed animal that costs 25 cents.
When I was a kid the scammers would offer to let me win...as long as I carried the prize around and told everyone where I got it. I didnt take the offer.
Its called sticking when you walk through the crowd with big items and tell people that you won them. I worked for Harry the hat who owned a few booths. One was a electronics booth with a spin wheel. I worked a fiesta in Brooklyn NY. I was sticking for Harry one night and got him alot of business . The second night he asked me to go out again ! This time people followed me saying i was doing the same the night before. They got rowdy so i went back to Harries booth and dropped his junk on the counter. He was mad i brought the angry crowd to his booth ! Told him i quit and got out of dodge ! !
I can tell you from experience that the player's attitude most often determines the outcome of the game. If you come up cocky or with an attitude, you can forget your winning odds. Back in my youth, I ran a few games for a company that will remain anonymous. On the first and last day of the carnival, you have the best odds of winning. The first day because you will do a great deal of free marketing for the carnival. The last day you'll likely win because that will be less to pack up for the game operator. I once stripped many "tough guys" of all the cash in their wallets/pockets just playing mind games with them on a game that wasn't even rigged. I'd even set up the bottles to make it easier for them. Then I'd lay on the pressure by making a spectacle of "the guy that was about to win the giant prize for his girl" etc. They'd cave every time. Their throws would seriously be farther off than their initial throw. On the other hand, I once had a young man play my game and he was so handicapped that he could barely throw a ball. Wouldn't you know he won the giant prize on his second throw? Not because he hit even a single bottle, but because of all the guys on the midway, he deserved it the most. I had to go on break after and collect myself. Handing that giant red bulldog to such a smile was one of the best moment's I'd ever experienced as a "Carny". I'll keep that memory for the rest of my days.
@@contradictionsniper8276 You only read what? You wrote two sentences and still managed not to make sense. Talk about shite. Most games are easy to win in your country. Play my game in my country and I'd send you home with empty pockets and empty arms every day.
@@stevealaska73 don’t fee but hurt. I’ve been a professional sportsman in two different sports. Natural in every way and every country I go to I leave with all your teddy bears. You’ll be ok tho. Baby
@@contradictionsniper8276 Hey listen, if you're going to trash talk, at least spell simple words correctly. I did like the "leave with all your teddy bears" line though. I'd still buy you a pint and drink to all the "easy" carnival games. Cheers.
Some years ago I actually did win the big prize, but maybe things were different then. I don't know if there's any .22 caliber shooting galleries anymore, but back then there were. It was a moving duck game where the duck targets ran across on a chain. I studied it for a while, got the timing down, etc. You see, I was a state level shooting competitor and had actually won the state championship around that time. I did win the big bear by shooting all the ducks. Having no use for such a prize so I gave it to a young kid who was with the family who had been watching. What was the point then, you might ask? I simply love shooting in a competitive environment including just challenging myself. I went in knowing I wouldn't keep the prize if I won. It's never truly guaranteed after all that people of that ability level will always be the best on any given day.
It took over 30 years to finally figure out why the little rectangle mirrors with favorite band name inserted were so small. I'm like these things are useless! you cant even see your whole face.. lol
I'll tell you who gives you a sure chance to get education, natural disaster aid, medical care (except in USA), private property, legal system, protection against foreign armies... the government. And yes, it does cost some money. And yes, you can try without. As during war of two roses.
Years ago I used to frequent Las Vegas and I limited myself to a $20.00 loss per day. Sometimes I would come out a few hundred dollars ahead by the end of the day, but I never lost more than the original $20.00. Sometimes I could gamble all day on that twenty dollars, winning and loosing. One time I lost the original $20.00 the first fifteen minutes of my day..... and I kept to my plan. That was the end of my gimbaling for that day. I looked at that $20.00 as paying for entertainment..... and I might win something also. Same with the carnival games. I have a few that I like to play and look at it as entertainment money... and sometimes I actually win, but most of the time not. I like trying to shoot out the paper star with a hundred BB's. I've never one that one and only play it once for the evening... win or lose. Then there's the one where you aim a squirt gun that shoots a steady stream of water at the clowns nose. As long as you are hitting the clowns nose a balloon (your balloon) is filling up with air along with about five to ten other players that are competing with you. The goal is to get your balloon to burst open before any of the others and then you win. The others lose. The trick to winning on that one is the watch the others play first and watch which balloons are breaking, because those are the ones being replaced with new unused and unstretched balloons. Those are the balloons that are more likely to break than the old ones that have been stretched over and over again.
I won the raffle at the state fair around 1955 and got a rod and reel. Found out later Daddy paid the guy to call my ticket. Haven’t thought about that in 60 years but it seems like yesterday.
You know what another scam is. When people convert these super old videotapes into digital something goes wrong with the audio file because the background music is always so loud that you can't hear the dialog.
I knew an old timer that worked a carnival back in the '50's. He told me how the ring the bell was rigged. Depending on where the guy running it was standing the cable would be tight allowing the weight to go all the way up to ring the bell or slack so the weight wouldn't go up.
Many years ago, I entered a contest which involved tossing softballs inside jugs to win. Tossing in all 3 balls won you a large stuffed animal; tossing in 2 of the 3 won you a smaller stuffed animal. Well, I made the first shot, missed the second ... then made an effort to put a lot of arc on my last shot, tossing it higher in the air. It clunked right in! It was an adorable little prize; an allegator wearing a shirt with a picture of a man on it (the opposite of a "preppy")! I still have my prize to this day; I rarely win at contests. I'd like to think that game wasn't rigged so few people could win. Isn't it better not to rig it? The joy of winning gives people a wonderful memory, and that is the best advertisement to bring more people to the table.
I am really good at archery, but in fairy game all arrows went to the left side of the target, and went randomly when I tried to correct to the right. I checked the arrows and they are balanced. My guess: the arrows are slightly bent and moving along the bow makes them turn left. When correcting to the right, the diagonal is more pronounced and they bounce on the bow side.
I only do the darts, with very little loft. And with straight forward force. This counteracts the blunt tips. Course I play darts in two leagues. So, I put my thumb on the tips.
I won a big stuff bear at the midway in Point Pleasant, New Jersey one summer. I was actually moving into my house and sanding the floors so I left the bear at my parents' house. When I was away one of their neighbors came, with her 4 year old daughter, and the girl couldn't keep her eyes off MY BEAR! You guessed it, my mom gave it to her. Oh well, easy come, easy go.
When I was made redundant from a job in the 1980s, we were given the opportunity to take anything that was useful; I opted for the canteen fruit machine, which had been broken for some time. I managed to fix it. The reason why it was broken was that there was a switch inside designed to reduce the pay-out; there was also a broken switch that reported the tubes inside the machine to be empty, but I counted £60 of 50 pence coins still in the machine, we threw a lot of money in that machine with no real pay-out, so a nice refund
Have ever wondered about the stuffing in these prizes? Sometime it greasy from the vermaldahyde that was used to clean the cigarette butts that were recycled.
I was at the Arizona state fair with a girlfriend back in the early 80's. I saw one of those booths where you could win a large stuffed animal. They were sitting on the floor with flat, glass plates sitting on top of their heads. The object was to throw a quarter and hope it lands on the plate. Well I had figured something out on the spot. Number 1, lick the quarter. Number 2, throw it flat like a spinning Frisbee. It worked after 4-5 tries. I was told to move on after winning her the giant stuffed animal.
I noticed 2 guys winning at the dime throwin game. They weren't just throwing and winning, they were were tossing to specific glasses and winning sets of glasses, and dishes that matched. I watched for a while and then said if you guys are so good, let's go to the basketball game and win the gigantic dogs. My son and I left the Fair carrying 2 gigantic dogs. The guys were basketball coaches and were somewhat juiced up on something if you know what I mean. P.S. those dogs took up a lot of space.
For the cans one, I have good aim.. but my response trick is to go all the way to one side so you are basically hitting them edge on - makes it much easier but the distance is greater.
Some of the fairs by me people win certain games almost every time. The trick is you will spend $5 and get like 20 rings to toss. Almost everyone lands at least one ring. The prize you win a $0.50 pocket knife. So you get the prize but you spent much more than the knife costs.
This is completely unrelated to anything in this video. But this con has always puzzled me and I fell for it a few times. Do people from the UK remember back in the early to mid 90's when you would go abroad on holiday to places like Cyprus, Turkey, Benidorm etc and you would go in a supermarket/shop over there and they would sell all the latest movies that were just out at the cinema on pirate VHS tapes with fake covers to make it look legit ( this is back in the days when it took 2/3 years for a movie to get from the cinema to rent on VHS) Just say you picked 4 or 5 films to buy, the shop keepers would take the videos out of the cases you had picked, pop them in a machine and the picture would be crystal clear and absolutely perfect, they would fast forward and rewind it as well to show all the video was clear and good quality.... Then when you got home a week or two later and tried to watch it at home it was the worst cam copies you have ever seen and completely unwatchable.. How the hell did they make it looks so good? and they never secretly swapped the tapes or anything... I know its a con and a hustle and I just don't understand how they did that.. Anybody know how that worked? Wasn't just me and I have spoke to dozens of people who all fell for that scam
Couple of thoughts. It could be the scammers were using very high quality equipment - something that would cover the flaws in the cheap copies they were selling. Or, the tapes could have been copy-guarded, but the scammers used devices that allowed them to get around it. I had one of those myself at one time. No, I wasn't a scammer, I used it to copy tapes from the rentals, so I could have a nice copy after I returned the original. Never got into trouble because I didn't try to sell the copies.
Two VHS readers. One with the original high quality tape, protected against copy, that they keep for demonstration. The other where they put your VHS, badly copied due to the protection. The cable plugged to the TV pass behind your reader and on, to be plugged into the hidden high quality one. They control your reader in full view, asking you to watch carefully, and control the other reader with other hand, or foot, or by a different guy.
Spent $70 on the throw and land a quarter on the plates game before letting my girlfriend attempt a shot. Of course she lands it on the first try and wins a gigantic stuffed dog.
So when the guy running the can game offers you a free try, just before you throw the first beanbag just hesitate and then say "naw, I'll pay to play" hand him the cash and start playing.
Imagine the thrill of having your weight guessed by a professional weight guesser, you can win anything in this area below the stereo on this side of the bicentennial glasses in this three inch area that includes the chicklets but not the erasers
In a. Lot of counties they have officer watching and checking all the games. But there still harder than they look. I've seen carnnys locked up for different violations.
When I was 16 way back in the late 70s I ran away with a carnival. At first I thought it was great but I was soon after physically abused by the owner. Whenever I didn't manage to cheat enough people I would be given just a small meal and locked in the back of a tractor trailer for the night with some other carnies. I ended up calling my Mom and she came and rescued me just in the nick of time. I was being threatened a beating if I failed to make that night's quota. That was in Boca Ratoon, Florida. Its been 45 years and I still think about it all the time.
As a teenager, one year I won one of the gigantic teddy bears in the basketball shot game. The ball literally got stuck in the hoop and the guy working there couldn't believe it. He said he had never seen anyone win before. Win? The ball got stuck in the hoop, what does that say about the chances? They had to literally pop the ball up from underneath to get it back. After that we had several people approach us asking where we won the prize, some of them were definitely carnival people.
Someone talk about the bleachers when you watch the elephant and the lion show there’s little kids underneath them with a razor blades picking your pockets thru the bleachers
County Fair tried tried to get me with that balloon bullshit one year until I started yelling scam and Bullshit they gave me my prize and asked to leave
Good option! I always just ask if I can hold the cans and when it's a legit setting they oblige and if they reject that request I say no thanks, pocket my money and carry on!
They could do something to appeal to those customers who play these games for sport and like the challenge. If you can make a game challenging but still winnable, you can grow your customer base with those who love the challenge. I saw a couple of these games you can do that with. Some people just like these games for the challenge of winning them. They don't care about the prizes.
I went to an amusement park when I was a teenager. The game I played was shooting the targets. When the girl was loading the ammo into the rifle, I noticed one maybe two rounds were different (blanks). I'm a good shot with a rifle and when I shot and didn't hit the target, my next shot was in the water just to see if the rifle was shooting anything or not. It did shoot the water, but I knew they were cheating at the game by using blank rounds.
Have ya seen Mark Robber & his buddy who plays for the Mets go to a carnival? They destroy the “ throwing “ games, considering his throws are 165 mph fast ball!
Lost about 50 bucks in the late '70s went around the carnival till I found a couple of cops., Brought them over to the game. Then told the cops I wanted to file a report... The carnival manager gave me my money back
Great video. Thanks The Real Hustle! To learn even more about illegal carnival games, read Eyeing the Flash: the Making of a Carnival Con Artist, by Peter Fenton. Published by prestigious Simon and Schuster, it's the memoir of a shy high school math whiz turned first-class hustler on lucrative "joints" ranging from the Razzle to the Swinger, the Six Cat and the dangerous Push 'Em Up Coke. The New York Times gave the book a rave review. Signed, A close friend of Peter Fenton and newly-minted fan of The Real Hustle.
I dont know about that when after some time I was able to win several games at carnivals and fairs regularly Some people weren't sure how I did it But I did
I make £30K a year laying greyhounds and trading on football, and I know loads of other professional gamblers, just because it isn't easy or common doesn't mean it's not possible, it just takes years to learn the process of how to do it and most people don't have the discipline, although to be fair it's probably not accurate to call us gamblers every pro I know has one thing in common and that is they are very risk-averse. I won't bet a penny unless I positive that I'm making the right selection and getting the right price. But like I said I know literally dozens of professionals who specialize in various forms of gambling. You can't beat house games like craps or roulette, but you can beat blackjack (although you will get banned when you do) You can beat poker and you can beat all sports betting if you know what you are doing, and as long as you stick to exchanges you won't get banned. But statistics show that 4% of Betfair users make a consistent profit, and 1% of that 4% make sufficient profit to be considered a professional.
I worked for a carnival before some may say they scam you, some might tell you many of the games are tricky. A real basket ball hoop can fit 3 ball in it the ones the carnival use only one ball can fit. So they make it tricky. However I know one you shouldn't try that is a scam. Test your might. The person on the Mic has two buttons. One is green one is red. So the skinny lady will win not her man who is built like a brick house. Another one I played was wack a mole. All seats were filled. I won I got the first 15 to get a score of 150. The tenth one goes up and down real fast that most people miss it. The trick is stay focused and have the hammer just above the moles not much force is needed. Don't have the hammer at chest height thinking you need to hit the mole with power. So what game would you like to know about is it a scam or is it just tricky
That's why the only carny game I'd play was the air rifles first couple a bucks get ya sights lined then clean them out I use pick whatever prize on that I wanted cause I'd never miss or let them change rifle on me
My favorite game is the shoot the star auto bb gun I've won about 20 times the trick is shoot 2 circles around star then shoot the circle out but I saw 1 guy who it was almost impossible he had the rifles chained so you had to lean on counter and his air compressor would vibrate the counter
The whole point of carnival games are to have fun you know you're not really going to win it's like going to the casino you know you're going to lose your money
The biggest carnival scam is?? The instant you walk through the entrance gate!!
here is a better scam.....just dont play at all.
@@ultimatedouchebag6760that’s what he said but in more clever way
Exactly
20 yrs ago me and my brother saw an ad in the paper to go work for the carnival. We went and I got the put up/take down the tent job for $20 and he got the walk around from 7pm-midnight for $20. He didn't even get to keep the bear they gave him to carry around. And I had to return on the last day of the carnival to get the other $10(they paid half to put up, and the other half to take down.) We both spent the money at the carnival, even my $10 went to drinks afterwards. Needless to say, we've never worked for the carnival again.
LOL i did the same thing when i was just looking for some extra cash ha, I remember realizing what a set up it was. They counted on us not coming back
The one thing I learnt from this video is that the audio editor needs to be sacked.
I was just looking at the girl. She's beautiful ❤️😍
@@phoenixzappa7366 women can’t do anything without being oohed over huh
Edit out the annoying limey accent, too.
My god yes all I can hear in the chief behind me speaking bad Spanish
Like ball sacked?
My mom told me she went to the fair last weed and, a 6 year old girl was playing the dart/balloon game. She threw one, 'pop'. Second try, 'pop'. Third dart, 'pop' 'pop' 'pop'. Kid hit 5 ballons with 3 darts. She said everybody lost it and the workers face was priceless.
You have a cool mom last weed I always smoke weed before going to the fair!🤣
@@krisharms2537 she actually used to sell weed 30 years ago. Somebody tipped her off that the feds were going to set up a buy from her.
@@dontreadtoomuchintomycommentover some weed so rediculous
This has been an issue for so long that an episode of The Andy Griffith show covered it in the early 1960's.
Yes I was going to post that the smart people watch the Andy Griffith show 😁
I worked the three milk bottles back in the day. Also the red spot, fluffy dolls and the break a bottle. They all could be won if you could throw a ball
in the 09's I worked the wacky wire the hardest game in carnival i could do it in 3 seconds make people look stupid I was a big fat slob and made tons of money what these people don't know took me 5000 trys just to do it 1 time took me 1000's more to get as good as i was but nothing was rigged
1990's
Absolutly can be done
I worked the carnival stalls for 21 years.
Then one day I was fired for getting freeky with the lion tamer.
I returned the next day as a guest, and since I knew all the tricks, won a ton of big stuffed animals.
I got the last laugh
21 years? Stuff animals? Somehow, you seem to be burying the lead here.
@@kevinbergin9971 atleast their working
who are you trying to bullshit? Do you expect anyone to believe you walked up to their game and told them not to run their scam because you knew what was up? GTFOH
As a life long carnie did you ever get freaky with the bearded lady?
@@Bennett9Aint0In3It Haaaaaa!!!
I usually stick to games where I'm against other players rather than the house.
I found the biggest RIP off is the price of food and drinks
When the guy says i m gonna give u a free attempt, u can insist on paying for that same attempt
Play the scammer at his own game.... I like it!! Lol
Yes!
I wonder what happens if you miss all 3 on the free game XD
@Squant There's a way around that. All you have to do is say "Yeah, I'll take the free shot." Then wait until he stacks the cans and say "Hey tell you what, I'm feeling lucky. Here's the money, I do it right now." If the carney starts to touch the cans, say "Hey, what do you thing you're doing." Make a real nasty fuss, and he'll probably back down. Then give it your best shot and hopefully you'll win because the odds will be in your favor.
@@Digibullet32 another try and him feelin bad maybe
Back in the early 90s, my then-gf had a distant cousin who was an old-school carny; she and her husband ran some kind of ring toss booth. When my gf heard that her cousin would be at the state fair that year, we decided to go on a lark. The cousin actually got me to carry around this gigantic stuffed panda on my shoulders and tell anyone who asked where I "won" it. Now, at that time, my gf and I were in our early 20s looked like the kind of people you'd see at a Depeche Mode concert, while her cousin was in her 40s and just had that tough carny demeanor, so it didn't look like there was any connection between us, all in all making for a pretty good scam. So now I can add "carnival shill" to my resume. It's funny though: when we first met, the cousin explained to me exactly how her game was crooked as though discussing the previous day's weather. I'm trying to remember across decades, but I think that the holes in the rings weren't actually large enough for the pegs to go through, though it looked like they should.
I think it’s bs that carny’s do that I’d be a fair and honest carny
I'll say it: don't play these games. I'd rather leave my drink unattended around Bill Cosby than go somewhere where I know I'm being scammed.
Lol
“What ya do, ya see, is you put the little pill in the drink, ya see, and when they take a few sips, their legs become like Jello Pudding!”
Biggest con is those ones with the prizes inside a container and you have to operate a grab claw to simply pick one up.............. but the claws do NOT close enough to take the weight of ANY "prize" inside.
I was banned from the throwing at tins game before I bankrupt the stall, I have a good throw and aim! Even parents were giving me money to play for them and I got 3 massive toys for kids and 2 car loads for y self before I was banned lol
Alex, I'll take things that never happened for 200 hundred dollars....
@@jamesdoire6752you would be surprised.
Just a shame that schools don't tell people the risks on scams like this!
Schools are not designed to raise your kids and replace faulty parenting...
cuz school is a big scam also
Part of economics I take it
the games are not rigged in America I use to work in the games for 10 years the fines and jail time are way to much for couple $ In America the games are checked by Vice in every city they go too and random checks during the carnival
shame they dont feel or show anything when lying and scamming to every single person they talk to.
To get an odd number you need an odd number. There was a game that Pepsi did many years ago where you would get bottle caps with numbers and had to add them to get 21--nobody ever won because we never found any odds but probably had every even 2 to 20
Huge companies like that can easily afford to give out prizes so I really doubt they didn't put in the numbers somewhere, and in contests like that they're required by law to have the chance of an actual prize
Got 3&5 but never add up to 21 but cases of free soda caps t shirts
Those prizes are junk but I still play even though I know it's a scam lol
All I learned about these scams I learned from the Andy Griffith show. Opie wanted to win his paw an electric razor and the sight was bent on the rifles.
I remember the quarters being pushed through the glass. Most of them went on the side and dropped for the house. Alot of people got hooked immediately
Its never about the prize. Its about fulfilling the joy of achieving the win of the challenge
aye, they got these air-rifle ones around where i live, hit and destroy some plastic discs and win prizes, pay per shot. now if their rifles are fair (so far almost all i have tried are) there is very little chance i miss, but even if i hit all of them perfectly, i overpay on any of the available prices.
I didn't know the balloon dart game is rigged, when i played it there was balloons fully inflated and alot of em. I was popping em like crazy they gave me a free play. At the end i won a giant Pikachu
Some of them are legit the way i always test these games is i will either look and feel the dart tip and look at the balloons before playing or if its say the can game just simply ask them if you can feel the cans (all of them) an honest place will gladly oblige as to where the scammers will almost immediately reject that request!! It's a good way to save your money and still have fun and have a real chance at winning these games!!
Ya, the one at my fair has fully inflated ones, but you literally have to spend a certain amount of money to get the big prize. My boyfriend and I went, and they said to win a prize, that wasn’t big at all, if we gave them $20, no matter how many balloons we popped, we’d get it
In todays ballon game u can see we actually want u to win and 90% of the games have sharp darts . Now that don’t mean u will get the prize for cheap u Guna get it a 30% to 40% mark up. So if something cost us $1.50 u are Guna pay 10 to 15 bucks for it. But we have to get paid as in the guy running the booth and the guy that owns it has to pay rent and have to pay for the stock. And now u have some insight from someone that actually worked and still does work in the carnival business
They aren’t rigged but you need to pay a lot more for the other prizes
We've won at that too, I don't think they're all rigged.
There is a scene in the 1942 film Pride of the Yankees. Lou Gehrig (played by Gary Cooper) takes her girl/wife to a carnival and tries to hit the bell via a sledge hammer. He cannot, but a little guy steps up and does it with ease. The Iron Horse was hooked. Although in the movie he comes home with all the prizes. Again that was in the movie.
Even if you do win at these games, most of the time the prizes are not even worth what you paid to play the game.
Like paying 5 dollars to pop a ballon. The ones I saw it was pretty much impossible not to pop a balloon. You “win” a stuffed animal that costs 25 cents.
When I was a kid the scammers would offer to let me win...as long as I carried the prize around and told everyone where I got it. I didnt take the offer.
Its called sticking when you walk through the crowd with big items and tell people that you won them. I worked for Harry the hat who owned a few booths. One was a electronics booth with a spin wheel. I worked a fiesta in Brooklyn NY. I was sticking for Harry one night and got him alot of business . The second night he asked me to go out again ! This time people followed me saying i was doing the same the night before. They got rowdy so i went back to Harries booth and dropped his junk on the counter. He was mad i brought the angry crowd to his booth ! Told him i quit and got out of dodge ! !
thats bullshit
6:02 "Thank you for your insights on the game. But, one last question, sir. WTF did you do to your face?"
at 5:59 his girlfriend looks like she was hit with buckshot too.
I won the bb machine gun game twice. One of my proudest achievements.
I always try to cut a square around the star
I can tell you from experience that the player's attitude most often determines the outcome of the game. If you come up cocky or with an attitude, you can forget your winning odds. Back in my youth, I ran a few games for a company that will remain anonymous. On the first and last day of the carnival, you have the best odds of winning. The first day because you will do a great deal of free marketing for the carnival. The last day you'll likely win because that will be less to pack up for the game operator.
I once stripped many "tough guys" of all the cash in their wallets/pockets just playing mind games with them on a game that wasn't even rigged. I'd even set up the bottles to make it easier for them. Then I'd lay on the pressure by making a spectacle of "the guy that was about to win the giant prize for his girl" etc.
They'd cave every time. Their throws would seriously be farther off than their initial throw.
On the other hand, I once had a young man play my game and he was so handicapped that he could barely throw a ball. Wouldn't you know he won the giant prize on his second throw? Not because he hit even a single bottle, but because of all the guys on the midway, he deserved it the most. I had to go on break after and collect myself. Handing that giant red bulldog to such a smile was one of the best moment's I'd ever experienced as a "Carny". I'll keep that memory for the rest of my days.
I only read the first few lines abs that’s total shite. I’m cocky for a good reason since most of them are easy to win.
@@contradictionsniper8276 You only read what? You wrote two sentences and still managed not to make sense. Talk about shite.
Most games are easy to win in your country. Play my game in my country and I'd send you home with empty pockets and empty arms every day.
@@stevealaska73 don’t fee but hurt. I’ve been a professional sportsman in two different sports. Natural in every way and every country I go to I leave with all your teddy bears. You’ll be ok tho. Baby
@@contradictionsniper8276 Hey listen, if you're going to trash talk, at least spell simple words correctly. I did like the "leave with all your teddy bears" line though.
I'd still buy you a pint and drink to all the "easy" carnival games. Cheers.
@@stevealaska73 no thank you. I prefer to type fast and make errors. 👌🏻
When I was an child, I won a racetrack with tiny cars....great win.
Some years ago I actually did win the big prize, but maybe things were different then. I don't know if there's any .22 caliber shooting galleries anymore, but back then there were. It was a moving duck game where the duck targets ran across on a chain. I studied it for a while, got the timing down, etc. You see, I was a state level shooting competitor and had actually won the state championship around that time.
I did win the big bear by shooting all the ducks. Having no use for such a prize so I gave it to a young kid who was with the family who had been watching.
What was the point then, you might ask? I simply love shooting in a competitive environment including just challenging myself. I went in knowing I wouldn't keep the prize if I won. It's never truly guaranteed after all that people of that ability level will always be the best on any given day.
One of my first jobs on a carnival midway was working at a .22 caliber shooting gallery. I was fifteen years old and have had tinnitus ever since!
It took over 30 years to finally figure out why the little rectangle mirrors with favorite band name inserted were so small. I'm like these things are useless! you cant even see your whole face.. lol
5:37 Awww. That's what every man lives for. Admiration from his honey for an achievement.
I'll tell you who doesn't give you a chance to win... The government.
😂
I'll tell you who gives you a sure chance to get education, natural disaster aid, medical care (except in USA), private property, legal system, protection against foreign armies... the government. And yes, it does cost some money. And yes, you can try without. As during war of two roses.
Years ago I used to frequent Las Vegas and I limited myself to a $20.00 loss per day.
Sometimes I would come out a few hundred dollars ahead by the end of the day, but I never lost more than the original $20.00.
Sometimes I could gamble all day on that twenty dollars, winning and loosing. One time I lost the original $20.00 the first fifteen minutes of my day..... and I kept to my plan. That was the end of my gimbaling for that day.
I looked at that $20.00 as paying for entertainment..... and I might win something also.
Same with the carnival games. I have a few that I like to play and look at it as entertainment money... and sometimes I actually win, but most of the time not.
I like trying to shoot out the paper star with a hundred BB's.
I've never one that one and only play it once for the evening... win or lose.
Then there's the one where you aim a squirt gun that shoots a steady stream of water at the clowns nose.
As long as you are hitting the clowns nose a balloon (your balloon) is filling up with air along with about five to ten other players that are competing with you. The goal is to get your balloon to burst open before any of the others and then you win. The others lose.
The trick to winning on that one is the watch the others play first and watch which balloons are breaking, because those are the ones being replaced with new unused and unstretched balloons. Those are the balloons that are more likely to break than the old ones that have been stretched over and over again.
I won the raffle at the state fair around 1955 and got a rod and reel. Found out later Daddy paid the guy to call my ticket. Haven’t thought about that in 60 years but it seems like yesterday.
damn how old are you
You know what another scam is. When people convert these super old videotapes into digital something goes wrong with the audio file because the background music is always so loud that you can't hear the dialog.
I threatened to kick a carney's ass at the NJ state fair in my younger, more angry days and drew a small crowd. I walked away with the prize. LOL
Turn down the background music
I knew an old timer that worked a carnival back in the '50's. He told me how the ring the bell was rigged. Depending on where the guy running it was standing the cable would be tight allowing the weight to go all the way up to ring the bell or slack so the weight wouldn't go up.
Many years ago, I entered a contest which involved tossing softballs inside jugs to win. Tossing in all 3 balls won you a large stuffed animal; tossing in 2 of the 3 won you a smaller stuffed animal. Well, I made the first shot, missed the second ... then made an effort to put a lot of arc on my last shot, tossing it higher in the air. It clunked right in! It was an adorable little prize; an allegator wearing a shirt with a picture of a man on it (the opposite of a "preppy")!
I still have my prize to this day; I rarely win at contests. I'd like to think that game wasn't rigged so few people could win. Isn't it better not to rig it? The joy of winning gives people a wonderful memory, and that is the best advertisement to bring more people to the table.
I am really good at archery, but in fairy game all arrows went to the left side of the target, and went randomly when I tried to correct to the right. I checked the arrows and they are balanced.
My guess: the arrows are slightly bent and moving along the bow makes them turn left. When correcting to the right, the diagonal is more pronounced and they bounce on the bow side.
lol
@@stevendegain9225 Are you a scam apologist??
I only do the darts, with very little loft.
And with straight forward force.
This counteracts the blunt tips.
Course I play darts in two leagues.
So, I put my thumb on the tips.
I won a big stuff bear at the midway in Point Pleasant, New Jersey one summer. I was actually moving into my house and sanding the floors so I left the bear at my parents' house. When I was away one of their neighbors came, with her 4 year old daughter, and the girl couldn't keep her eyes off MY BEAR! You guessed it, my mom gave it to her. Oh well, easy come, easy go.
In 1992 at age 16 I was a carny for a short time. Learned a lot in just one month traveling with them..js
Sooooooooo.......you're saying carnival games are rigged? As a long time denizen of the boardwalk in Seaside Heights NJ, this SHOCKS me....🙂
The ticket bucket- I will open them as I pick them thanks
Then u would loose. They said none in the bucket are winners
@@crashcrew6 after 2 attempts you dont get a single winning number your calling bullshit on it and demanding your money back for a corrupt game.
I thought the commentary was the singer of the background music...
So, if I want to play balloon pop, I take my dart sharpening tool, easy win
I should get one too
They wouldn’t allow you to use it
@@danielgraham1082 palm it and try to use it that way
Folks, I doubt Trucker Doug1 even knows where to buy a "dart sharpening tool".
When I was made redundant from a job in the 1980s, we were given the opportunity to take anything that was useful; I opted for the canteen fruit machine, which had been broken for some time. I managed to fix it. The reason why it was broken was that there was a switch inside designed to reduce the pay-out; there was also a broken switch that reported the tubes inside the machine to be empty, but I counted £60 of 50 pence coins still in the machine, we threw a lot of money in that machine with no real pay-out, so a nice refund
Have ever wondered about the stuffing in these prizes? Sometime it greasy from the vermaldahyde that was used to clean the cigarette butts that were recycled.
Who the hell is the audio engineer? That person needs to get their hearing checked.
I was at the Arizona state fair with a girlfriend back in the early 80's. I saw one of those booths where you could win a large stuffed animal. They were sitting on the floor with flat, glass plates sitting on top of their heads. The object was to throw a quarter and hope it lands on the plate. Well I had figured something out on the spot. Number 1, lick the quarter. Number 2, throw it flat like a spinning Frisbee. It worked after 4-5 tries. I was told to move on after winning her the giant stuffed animal.
I noticed 2 guys winning at the dime throwin game. They weren't just throwing and winning, they were were tossing to specific glasses and winning sets of glasses, and dishes that matched. I watched for a while and then said if you guys are so good, let's go to the basketball game and win the gigantic dogs. My son and I left the Fair carrying 2 gigantic dogs. The guys were basketball coaches and were somewhat juiced up on something if you know what I mean. P.S. those dogs took up a lot of space.
Except the basketball hoops are not completely round, they're ovals, so with the angle you have to shoot at, it's impossible to make the shot!
@@curtgottler9961Back then it wasn't impossible. We walked out with the big prizes that day.
Their motto is 'There's a Sucker Born every Minute'
For the cans one, I have good aim.. but my response trick is to go all the way to one side so you are basically hitting them edge on - makes it much easier but the distance is greater.
Some of the fairs by me people win certain games almost every time. The trick is you will spend $5 and get like 20 rings to toss. Almost everyone lands at least one ring. The prize you win a $0.50 pocket knife. So you get the prize but you spent much more than the knife costs.
Now why the hell are you trying to buy your Christmas gifts at a Carnival?
Legend has it that, if you listen very carefully, you can hear a reality TV show in the background of this generic techno music
Shenanigans! I declare shenanigans on these people lol
Kept it down this is a family site.
This is completely unrelated to anything in this video. But this con has always puzzled me and I fell for it a few times. Do people from the UK remember back in the early to mid 90's when you would go abroad on holiday to places like Cyprus, Turkey, Benidorm etc and you would go in a supermarket/shop over there and they would sell all the latest movies that were just out at the cinema on pirate VHS tapes with fake covers to make it look legit ( this is back in the days when it took 2/3 years for a movie to get from the cinema to rent on VHS) Just say you picked 4 or 5 films to buy, the shop keepers would take the videos out of the cases you had picked, pop them in a machine and the picture would be crystal clear and absolutely perfect, they would fast forward and rewind it as well to show all the video was clear and good quality.... Then when you got home a week or two later and tried to watch it at home it was the worst cam copies you have ever seen and completely unwatchable.. How the hell did they make it looks so good? and they never secretly swapped the tapes or anything... I know its a con and a hustle and I just don't understand how they did that.. Anybody know how that worked? Wasn't just me and I have spoke to dozens of people who all fell for that scam
Maybe they used the vhs players which could play two tapes and had multiple of them with the original tape inside? Just a guess
Couple of thoughts. It could be the scammers were using very high quality equipment - something that would cover the flaws in the cheap copies they were selling. Or, the tapes could have been copy-guarded, but the scammers used devices that allowed them to get around it. I had one of those myself at one time. No, I wasn't a scammer, I used it to copy tapes from the rentals, so I could have a nice copy after I returned the original. Never got into trouble because I didn't try to sell the copies.
Two VHS readers. One with the original high quality tape, protected against copy, that they keep for demonstration. The other where they put your VHS, badly copied due to the protection. The cable plugged to the TV pass behind your reader and on, to be plugged into the hidden high quality one. They control your reader in full view, asking you to watch carefully, and control the other reader with other hand, or foot, or by a different guy.
Spent $70 on the throw and land a quarter on the plates game before letting my girlfriend attempt a shot. Of course she lands it on the first try and wins a gigantic stuffed dog.
Actually, you are one of the lucky ones.
In the US the local police inspect these games before the fair opens. If they find something amiss, they shut down the entire fair.
So when the guy running the can game offers you a free try, just before you throw the first beanbag just hesitate and then say "naw, I'll pay to play" hand him the cash and start playing.
I came for the thumbnail. Yes, you heard that right.
I thought I was just really bad at throwing softballs into a crate. =/
Imagine the thrill of having your weight guessed by a professional weight guesser, you can win anything in this area below the stereo on this side of the bicentennial glasses in this three inch area that includes the chicklets but not the erasers
In a. Lot of counties they have officer watching and checking all the games. But there still harder than they look. I've seen carnnys locked up for different violations.
Do they not have dentists in the UK?
Yes.
Not very good ones.
LOL I knew someone was going to point that out.
Yes, the same guys who moonlight in the carnivals.
Jess could sell me anything.
When I was 16 way back in the late 70s I ran away with a carnival. At first I thought it was great but I was soon after physically abused by the owner. Whenever I didn't manage to cheat enough people I would be given just a small meal and locked in the back of a tractor trailer for the night with some other carnies. I ended up calling my Mom and she came and rescued me just in the nick of time. I was being threatened a beating if I failed to make that night's quota. That was in Boca Ratoon, Florida. Its been 45 years and I still think about it all the time.
As a teenager, one year I won one of the gigantic teddy bears in the basketball shot game. The ball literally got stuck in the hoop and the guy working there couldn't believe it. He said he had never seen anyone win before. Win? The ball got stuck in the hoop, what does that say about the chances? They had to literally pop the ball up from underneath to get it back. After that we had several people approach us asking where we won the prize, some of them were definitely carnival people.
I wonder if the carny would agree if you said, "Let me inspect the cans first."
I like the little dance she does at the balloon stall..Probably thinking about the Free Chinese Takeaway at the end of the shift 😉
Probably hoping that will bring the fellows back.
Someone talk about the bleachers when you watch the elephant and the lion show there’s little kids underneath them with a razor blades picking your pockets thru the bleachers
County Fair tried tried to get me with that balloon bullshit one year until I started yelling scam and Bullshit they gave me my prize and asked to leave
I've won the can pyramid one a couple of times, threw the ball really hard
Good option! I always just ask if I can hold the cans and when it's a legit setting they oblige and if they reject that request I say no thanks, pocket my money and carry on!
You're a shill.
They could do something to appeal to those customers who play these games for sport and like the challenge. If you can make a game challenging but still winnable, you can grow your customer base with those who love the challenge. I saw a couple of these games you can do that with. Some people just like these games for the challenge of winning them. They don't care about the prizes.
I went to an amusement park when I was a teenager. The game I played was shooting the targets. When the girl was loading the ammo into the rifle, I noticed one maybe two rounds were different (blanks). I'm a good shot with a rifle and when I shot and didn't hit the target, my next shot was in the water just to see if the rifle was shooting anything or not. It did shoot the water, but I knew they were cheating at the game by using blank rounds.
Top of the range MP3 player!
Be still my beating heart.
I have to admit I an in my 50s and been to fairs and side shows all over the world but I have never seen a 'hook a peg' stall
Why is youtube music louder than the voices? It seems so common.
😂 yeah that’s what casinos should say. “You are paying for playing the game”
I thought I had two videos playing at the same time.
The fair I worked on used to fix the rifles so the cork went out of the gun at a ridiculous angle. Nobody ever one anything!
Have ya seen Mark Robber & his buddy who plays for the Mets go to a carnival? They destroy the “ throwing “ games, considering his throws are 165 mph fast ball!
Lost about 50 bucks in the late '70s went around the carnival till I found a couple of cops., Brought them over to the game. Then told the cops I wanted to file a report... The carnival manager gave me my money back
Great video. Thanks The Real Hustle! To learn even more about illegal carnival games, read Eyeing the Flash: the Making of a Carnival Con Artist, by Peter Fenton. Published by prestigious Simon and Schuster, it's the memoir of a shy high school math whiz turned first-class hustler on lucrative "joints" ranging from the Razzle to the Swinger, the Six Cat and the dangerous Push 'Em Up Coke. The New York Times gave the book a rave review.
Signed,
A close friend of Peter Fenton and newly-minted fan of The Real Hustle.
I dont know about that when after some time I was able to win several games at carnivals and fairs regularly
Some people weren't sure how I did it
But I did
If you could win at gambling, there would be no gambling.
Some believe there are professional gamblers.
I don't.
I make £30K a year laying greyhounds and trading on football, and I know loads of other professional gamblers, just because it isn't easy or common doesn't mean it's not possible, it just takes years to learn the process of how to do it and most people don't have the discipline, although to be fair it's probably not accurate to call us gamblers every pro I know has one thing in common and that is they are very risk-averse. I won't bet a penny unless I positive that I'm making the right selection and getting the right price.
But like I said I know literally dozens of professionals who specialize in various forms of gambling.
You can't beat house games like craps or roulette, but you can beat blackjack (although you will get banned when you do) You can beat poker and you can beat all sports betting if you know what you are doing, and as long as you stick to exchanges you won't get banned.
But statistics show that 4% of Betfair users make a consistent profit, and 1% of that 4% make sufficient profit to be considered a professional.
@@24magiccarrot Wait, wait, you did what with greyhounds?
I worked for a carnival before some may say they scam you, some might tell you many of the games are tricky. A real basket ball hoop can fit 3 ball in it the ones the carnival use only one ball can fit. So they make it tricky. However I know one you shouldn't try that is a scam. Test your might. The person on the Mic has two buttons. One is green one is red. So the skinny lady will win not her man who is built like a brick house. Another one I played was wack a mole. All seats were filled. I won I got the first 15 to get a score of 150. The tenth one goes up and down real fast that most people miss it. The trick is stay focused and have the hammer just above the moles not much force is needed. Don't have the hammer at chest height thinking you need to hit the mole with power. So what game would you like to know about is it a scam or is it just tricky
Shooting gallerys are prime for this , they bend the barrels on the rifles so they don't shoot straight .
That's why the only carny game I'd play was the air rifles first couple a bucks get ya sights lined then clean them out I use pick whatever prize on that I wanted cause I'd never miss or let them change rifle on me
Poor man's casinos. Same odds.
My favorite game is the shoot the star auto bb gun I've won about 20 times the trick is shoot 2 circles around star then shoot the circle out but I saw 1 guy who it was almost impossible he had the rifles chained so you had to lean on counter and his air compressor would vibrate the counter
I've just found my vocation. I'm definitely considering a change of career.
Not right now doctor, you have surgery in the morning.
This video contains the subjects of the Simpsons British book of big smiles.
I dont recall carnies being this attractive growing up in Chicago. When the Carnival came to my neighborhood I would ask to help for small wage.
I never played the games and I taught my children not to as well. They were always a money drain.
3:36 My goodness, keep the camera there!
The whole point of carnival games are to have fun you know you're not really going to win it's like going to the casino you know you're going to lose your money