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!
