Carnival game

A carnival game is a game of chance or skill that can be seen at a traveling carnival, charity fund raiser, amusement arcade and amusement park, or on a state and county fair midway. They are also commonly played on holidays such as Mardi Gras, Saint Patrick's Day, and Oktoberfest.

Carnival games are usually operated on a "pay per play" basis. Prices may range from a small amount, for example 25¢ (cents), to a few dollars per play. Most games offer a small prize to the winner. Prizes may include items like stuffed animals, toys, or posters. Continued play is encouraged as multiple small prizes may traded in for a larger prize. Multiplayer games—the "Watergun" game is one example—may change the size of the prize with the number of players. In a more difficult game, including the "Baseball and Basket" or "Stand the Bottle", a large prize may be awarded to any winner.

Carnival games have a poor reputation in some areas. This may be that some carnival games utilize optical illusions or physical relationships that make it hard for a player to judge the game's difficulty. Also, some operators have run games that are rigged to take advantage of unsuspecting players. In many areas, these games are tested by local law enforcement to find unfairly run games.

At amusement parks, the carnival games are usually owned and operated by the park owner. The games are usually installed in permanent buildings stationed around the park. A traveling carnival may, however, be made up of multiple independent game concession owners. These independents owners contract their games with the carnival operator. Carnival games of this type are mounted to towable trailers that enable the game to be moved from site to site. However, there a still some free-standing game booths that are assembled on site. These carnival games are usually set up in rows along the midway area along with the rides.

...
Wikipedia