Post by XZEROX: Wings for Judith on Jul 11, 2008 1:03:05 GMT -5
I feel kind of embarrassed to tell this story but oh well. Here it goes.
Every year the local church throws a nativity fest. Basically it's a small time fair with 5-6 rides and around a dozen carnival games. I usually go every year because they have kick ass tacos and once in awhile a couple games I get suckered into playing.
Walked around until a carny desperate for business started talking to me. It was a balloon game - usually I'm pretty decent at those. My friend likes frogs a lot so I tried to win her this frog plushie. I knew the guy was pulling the typical carny bullshit, saying that he was feeling generous and he'd offer me a deal, blah blah blah. I didn't really care so I went along with it. Got all the balloons down consecutively but was out $16 for some reason. It sucked and I knew he tricked me. Then he gave me a Free Game card for the next guy over. He's the guy I'm writing this about.
Basically, his game goes as follows:
There's a board and a basket. The board is square and has a big red square in the middle you have to aim for. If it gets in the white border, which was probably 3-4 inches thick, you lose. Just bounce the ball off the square and into the basket to win.
The game was simple enough. It wasn't nearly as hard as the one with the stop sign. It was meant to be easy. However, you didn't win anything for just getting it in once. You have to get it in 10 times. Sounds a bit excessive, right? Well, your turn doesn't run out until you screw up. I had a free game so I figured I might as well give it a shot.
I got it in I believe 3 times. 7 more to go before I get the big jumbo plush animal guy. That ended my free turn. The next turn costs only a dollar...which I couldn't pass that up. I should mention an extremely important fact that ultimately caused the problem: if you get the ball in 10 times you get all your money back AND the prize. It's essentially a lighter form of gambling. The price to continue the game where you left off at was double whatever it was last. That's how they get you. It started out free, went up to $1 after I missed, doubled up to $2, and then after that it starts getting bigger. $2 turns to $4, $4 turns to $8, $8 turns to $16. You get to continue where you left off so you didn't need to get 10 in each time.
I started choking towards the last 3 balls. I got up over $60 and at that point I just wanted to get my money back. To hell with Kermit.
Well once it gets to a certain point it doubles into the $100s, which is absolutely absurd for a carnival game - as if anything less than $20 isn't. I didn't get worried initially because I was doing so good at first and figured that if I put in like $40 bucks it wouldn't be a big deal since I'd get it all back. There's A LOT of pressure that I didn't expect.
Long story short it was down to the last ball. I was over $100 in loss. Again, this was NOT about the stupid prize. I just wanted to get back what I lost. I swear time stopped. I just got stuck on that last damn ball. All I had to do was make it once more and I'd get everything back. I kept...fucking...choking. It got insane. Insane as in over $200 gone. As in I was gonna have to go into the $500's to get everything back. Thank God my dad came by to see what was going on.
He FLIPPED OUT on the guy. I feel horrible because while the carny totally had me by the balls (quite literally) he gave me plenty of chances. He was nice and while I'm sure he wanted to get that fat cash, he didn't seem to want me to lose. My dad let him have it, pointing out that it was a church sponsored thing and that he kept egging me on and all that. The guy said he'd just give me the prize but my friend insisted that he give it all back. After awhile the carny gave me back the last sum I put in. It took a bit long for him to cave and give me everything back.
It was just awful and I feel so guilty for allowing myself to be manipulated. I gave the guy $20, shook his hand, and apologized for everything that happened. I take full responsibility for what happened and I'm grateful the guy was as decent as he was, even though he kept pushing me like carnies usually do. I don't want him to get in trouble...but maybe revise the game so dumbasses like me don't get themselves into such a shithole.
Every year the local church throws a nativity fest. Basically it's a small time fair with 5-6 rides and around a dozen carnival games. I usually go every year because they have kick ass tacos and once in awhile a couple games I get suckered into playing.
Walked around until a carny desperate for business started talking to me. It was a balloon game - usually I'm pretty decent at those. My friend likes frogs a lot so I tried to win her this frog plushie. I knew the guy was pulling the typical carny bullshit, saying that he was feeling generous and he'd offer me a deal, blah blah blah. I didn't really care so I went along with it. Got all the balloons down consecutively but was out $16 for some reason. It sucked and I knew he tricked me. Then he gave me a Free Game card for the next guy over. He's the guy I'm writing this about.
Basically, his game goes as follows:
There's a board and a basket. The board is square and has a big red square in the middle you have to aim for. If it gets in the white border, which was probably 3-4 inches thick, you lose. Just bounce the ball off the square and into the basket to win.
The game was simple enough. It wasn't nearly as hard as the one with the stop sign. It was meant to be easy. However, you didn't win anything for just getting it in once. You have to get it in 10 times. Sounds a bit excessive, right? Well, your turn doesn't run out until you screw up. I had a free game so I figured I might as well give it a shot.
I got it in I believe 3 times. 7 more to go before I get the big jumbo plush animal guy. That ended my free turn. The next turn costs only a dollar...which I couldn't pass that up. I should mention an extremely important fact that ultimately caused the problem: if you get the ball in 10 times you get all your money back AND the prize. It's essentially a lighter form of gambling. The price to continue the game where you left off at was double whatever it was last. That's how they get you. It started out free, went up to $1 after I missed, doubled up to $2, and then after that it starts getting bigger. $2 turns to $4, $4 turns to $8, $8 turns to $16. You get to continue where you left off so you didn't need to get 10 in each time.
I started choking towards the last 3 balls. I got up over $60 and at that point I just wanted to get my money back. To hell with Kermit.
Well once it gets to a certain point it doubles into the $100s, which is absolutely absurd for a carnival game - as if anything less than $20 isn't. I didn't get worried initially because I was doing so good at first and figured that if I put in like $40 bucks it wouldn't be a big deal since I'd get it all back. There's A LOT of pressure that I didn't expect.
Long story short it was down to the last ball. I was over $100 in loss. Again, this was NOT about the stupid prize. I just wanted to get back what I lost. I swear time stopped. I just got stuck on that last damn ball. All I had to do was make it once more and I'd get everything back. I kept...fucking...choking. It got insane. Insane as in over $200 gone. As in I was gonna have to go into the $500's to get everything back. Thank God my dad came by to see what was going on.
He FLIPPED OUT on the guy. I feel horrible because while the carny totally had me by the balls (quite literally) he gave me plenty of chances. He was nice and while I'm sure he wanted to get that fat cash, he didn't seem to want me to lose. My dad let him have it, pointing out that it was a church sponsored thing and that he kept egging me on and all that. The guy said he'd just give me the prize but my friend insisted that he give it all back. After awhile the carny gave me back the last sum I put in. It took a bit long for him to cave and give me everything back.
It was just awful and I feel so guilty for allowing myself to be manipulated. I gave the guy $20, shook his hand, and apologized for everything that happened. I take full responsibility for what happened and I'm grateful the guy was as decent as he was, even though he kept pushing me like carnies usually do. I don't want him to get in trouble...but maybe revise the game so dumbasses like me don't get themselves into such a shithole.