NH Man Loses Life Savings On Carnival Game

I used to work in an amusement park in the UK (quite a famous on in the SE England), and I used to work on the games stalls.
I actually spent a large portion of time working on the Tubs of Fun.
I can honestly say, hand on heart, they're not rigged, but they are made to be hard.
The angle of the tubs, and the ball used, really makes it more about strategy than luck based.
I never had anyone spend more than a fiver on the game, and people asked if it was rigged all the time, and they're not. They're just made so it's really hard to win.

If this guy didn't give up after the first few $ (seriously, who the f- would stand there and sink that many savings into a stall, just accept you can't do it, and go buy the damn thing in a store), he's clearly a few sandwiches short of a picnic...
Nothing we ever had on show for a prize was ever really worth any significant amount of money, so the fact he went home with a banana that cost maybe $1 to make, after losing £2,600 is so funny.

reply to post by Lulzaroonie


I agree about the strategy, my ex-husband, who was an engineer, worked out the angle, trajectory etc to knock all of the cans over in a particular side show at a fairground. However, the owner of the stall had obviously noticed that my ex was working it out and left a young teenager in charge of the stall when my ex was just about to take his winning shot....He then refused to give us the prize as he wasn't there at the time and said he couldn't be sure my ex had actually done it as it was a child in charge of the stall who couldn't be responsible

But of course we had only spent £3.00 at that point, so there was no way the stallholder wanted to lose his top prize,..There was no point arguing with them though (a large group had appeared) so we just left the fairground and none of the other vendors got a penny from us, and a few members of the public witnessed it as well and they all left with their children, so at least there was a small victory in that!

reply to post by Cabin
What you can do in some cases is slip the guy a 20$ when the kids not looking and get the dammed stuffed cridder.

So do we have an IDIOT section on ATS now.

We should, We could submit the dumbest human of the week award. Some on ATS might even win it.

On the other hand, that is a cool stuffed banana, with the Bob Marley hat on and all.

Originally posted by TheComte
On the other hand, that is a cool stuffed banana, with the Bob Marley hat on and all.

Thats what I am thinking as well- A fine stuffed banna.

I really have no clue what to even say here. When I was a kid I took all my birthday money to the mall with me, treated my 2 friends to lunch and bought a very expensive (and stupid) "Magic Set" and came home without any money left.

I cried and moaned a bit and asked my mom if we could go to the mall to return the magic Kit so I could get my money back- She said "No.". She was really pissed that I took all my money to begin with and blew it to basiclly impress my friends and said I was stuck with the magic Kit- Then My dad and her began making fun of me and telling me stuff like "better go practice those card tricks".

Eventually after a couple days I realized that they really were not going to let me return the magic Kit and that my money was really gone. I was 11 years old... By 12 years old I had the scoop on the "carnival games" as well and was quite responsible with my money.

-I also just cannot get this. They said he blew $300 in " a few mins" after losing a ton... But...But... For JUST the $300 he could have bought a brand new 360 with Kinect and a game to boot- OR he could go onto Craigslist and Mop up. What an idiot.

But yeah...Cool banana.

This guy has no impulse control. Its nobody's fault but his own.

Everyone knows carnival games are rigged. SMH

And you know some kind hearted person is going to give him his money back. But with a person like that, saving money is like trying to hold water in a pasta strainer.

reply to post by Cabin


Wait. Hold up. This has to be a joke. He lost 2600$ trying to "win" an xbox that costs 300$?

This person is a perfect example of why welfare cheques and social assistance cheques should be allowed to be put right into video lottery terminals, and should be redeemable for booze and tobacco products directly.

Wow. I feel bad for his family, having to admit to having a complete moron in their ranks.

Feel bad for him but carnival games are rigged, everyone knows that.

If I were him I'd auction the snoop lion banana and recoup the money with the very news site link linked and a sob story, he'd probably get 1k back at least, people love bidding on stories. I've seen ghost stories sell ordinary objects for way too much.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


To be honest I do not know if this man is on welfare. Whether he is on welfare or working a 9 to 5 job. He was irresponsible with losing all that money. If you wanted a video game console or the accessories; you work and save your money. As well look into the product to see if you really want it and deals. Also carnivals and fairs should be simple and fun. Take some money and spend it on fun. Fair games will rip you off and really allow you to win the cheap prices compared to the shiny expensive prizes. I wish people learned how to save and spend money. This guy is a bad example of using money and people should take note not to follow in his footsteps. Also that banana looks cool.

>life savings
>$2,600
>that photo of him holding the "prize" looking utterly distraught



Thank you for starting my morning with a laugh sleazy man.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters

Wait. Hold up. This has to be a joke. He lost 2600$ trying to "win" an xbox that costs 300$?

Not really -- from the story, he lost the $2600 trying to get his money back, because the vendor kept offering a "double or nothing" deal, and like every gullible gambler, he figured that he couldn't keep losing forever and would get his initial money back.

If he was down $300 before going home for the rest of his money, it only took three tosses to lose the wad - $600, $1200 and then the rest (numbers don't add up, but I'm guessing math isn't either his, or the carney's, strong suit, lol.)

If he's smart (oops ) and gets enough press off of this, he could probably put the banana up on eBay and make back his money that way.