How to Win Carnival Games

Winning Skill-Based Games

Beat the basketball game by throwing farther and higher. Try to ignore your instincts and give your shot a little more power than you're used to. Many carnivals overinflate the basketballs to make them bouncier, use oval-shaped hoops, and place the hoop a few feet higher and further back than the normal 3-pointer distance to make the game even more difficult. Since most carnival basketball hoops only have a ⁄2 inch (1.3 cm) margin of error, the only way to win is to gauge the distance and aim with perfect accuracy. To counteract the bounciness of the balls, aim only for the net and avoid any shots that need to bounce off the rim in order to land in. Carnivals also use sloped tarps and block off the base of the hoop so no one can stand directly under it and make the height difference obvious.

Hit the center bottom bottle to win the milk bottle game. Go for accuracy over force to knock down all of the bottles. Carnivals often use heavier or bottom-weighted bottles that are harder to knock down, but by hitting the center bottle on the bottom, you can take out all of them. If there’s an even number of bottles on the bottom row, go for the space between the 2 middle bottles. Make sure to give your throw a lot of force. If you’re curious about how the bottles are weighted, ask the carnival employee if you can hold one of the bottles before you play. If they refuse, you can still play with the same tactics.

Aim for the most inflated balloons in the balloon-dart game. Some carnival employees actually let the air out of the balloons, making them much harder to pop with the dart. Look over the board of balloons and identify the balloons with the most air. These will be the thinnest and, therefore, the easiest to pop. There’s no pattern to where these balloons are placed, so scope out the board before you play. However, the good prize tags are generally placed in balloons on the outer edges, so try aiming for several of those. Try to hit the balloons at a downwards 45 degree angle for the best chance at popping them.

Use accuracy instead of strength in the “ring the bell” game. Hitting the center of the base is key to winning this game. Grip the mallet with both hands as far down the handle as you can, then hold it up with your arms fully extended. Swing the mallet down onto the base, aiming for dead-center. With some strength and enough accuracy, the weight should shoot up and ring the bell. Do a couple of practice swings first if you want to be sure of how far away to stand. This will help you gauge where the center of the base will be.

Shoot a circle around the star in the BB gun shoot-out game. This game can be rigged in many ways, including inaccurate guns, extra-sensitive triggers, thick paper, and not enough BBs. However, you can still win if you shoot a circle around the star in the paper. Many people make the mistake of shooting directly at the star, but that won’t let the paper tear away completely.

Drop the metal discs in order to win the cover-the-spot game. Drop the first metal disc on left side of the spot, lining up the side of the circle through the middle of the disc. Drop the second disc above and slightly to the right of the first disc. Then move downward and to the left to drop the third disc. Drop the fourth disc slightly above and to the right of the third, then the fifth disc below that one. Hold the discs with one hand, putting your thumb and finger on either edge. Avinash K. Dixit Avinash K. Dixit, Game Theory Expert Amid the lively chaos of a carnival, each game masquerades as a game of chance, but strategy rules the day. To master games like the basketball toss or milk bottle challenge, look beyond the surface simplicity. Grasp the underlying physics, see how skill trumps luck, and take a strategic approach. The real game isn't against the booth or prize, but against the notion that winning is impossible. With keen observation and calculated moves, the seemingly long odds of carnival games can be beat. The puzzles of the carnival can be solved through strategy and skill.

Avoiding Scams

Steer clear of ring toss games. These are almost impossible to beat. Generally, the plastic ring you use to toss is only slightly bigger than the necks of the bottles. Any imperfection in your throw will make the ring bounce off of the bottle, making this game one of the most difficult to win. If you do try the ring toss, though, snap your wrist when you throw. This will give the ring more spin, which helps stabilize it.

Increase your chances at low-chance games by tossing correctly. Low-chance games, such as the basket or coin toss, often yield the same results as random-chance games because they’re so difficult. When tossing balls into the basket, aim for the inside upper lip to decrease the ball’s bounce. Toss coins with a high arc and little spin for more accuracy.

Avoid the inaccurate radar gun at the baseball throw game. These guns can easily be rigged and incorrectly measure the speed of a throw. In once case, a carnival radar gun was even proven to be about 15 mph (24 km/h) too slow. Because this is nearly impossible to prove in person, just avoid this game altogether.

Don’t go for the rope ladder game unless you have perfect balance. The rope ladder game, although beatable with enough practice, is deceptively hard. Because the ladder is only secured by one point at either end, it requires the same balance as scaling a single line of rope. If you don’t have perfect balance, you’ll fall every time. If you do want to win this game, avoid holding the rungs and instead use the outer ropes to climb. Move opposite limbs at the same time, such as your left arm and right foot, in order to maintain your balance.

Avoid any booths with the largest prizes. If you want to play to win, make sure to check the prizes around the booth first. Huge stuffed animals or expensive prizes hanging around a game booth indicate that the game will likely to be very difficult or nearly impossible to win.

Don’t count on winning random-chance games. Games such as the fishing game or the duck pond, where you choose an object at random, are fun to try your hand at, but you should avoid wasting too much time or money trying to win. You may be able to win these ones once in a while without any skill, but because these games are completely based on random chance, they’re impossible to master consistently.