Board 8 > How many prizes can I win at the fair?

(+) Yeah! (+)

In case you forgot what my game of choice is:

https://worldchannel.org/episode/sfts-rocky-top-remembers/
(about ten minutes in)

I'm a man with a simple goal: defeat the fair every night of the fair this year. I think they're open seven nights over the next week or so, so it'll probably be a seven-prize max when it comes to the biggest prizes at the fair.

Can I still stand the bottle? Will they let me play every day? Will the game even still be there?

How many prizes will I win?! First update's coming tonight.

All prizes will go to kids and non-profits.
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Just passed a dude with a huge tiedye teddy bear on his shoulders.

"How'd you win it?"

"Bottle Up."

IT'S HEEEEEEEEEEEERE
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFlWEHWH7LU" data-time="
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Here's what his prize looked like:

http://imgur.com/a/fRyO1vs

S'mine now.
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Woah

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So I found my game soon after meeting that previous winner, but I circled around awhile first and got roped into another game first.

We'll call it Toss the Ball in the Bucket.

The goal: to toss the ball in the bucket. Truly, get two out of four throws in to win a prize.

Talked to a guy who was trying real hard to get me to play, to the point of saying "This is how I make my money man!" He made a deal where he'd let another guy play for free if I played, so I threw five bucks down. I asked them how the pros do this, and he told me "Hit the rim on the way in."

Four tries! First one bounced in and out, then, they threw one in. I took that opportunity to use the ball in there to stop it from bouncing out, and it worked. They then cleared the balls...uh-oh. On ball came short, the other bounced out. Bummer!

In hindsight, I think the actual trick is to throw them in for an angle. They could do it like that.

Still, he was alright with me. He was a stickler for rules at first, but when I asked if he cared my toes were on the line he said "I don't fucking care dude, stomp all over it." I liked him.

I shook hands and stepped away to smell the bad side of the fair, then got to the reason why I was there: Bottle Up.
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Sidenote: they officially call it Bottle Up now I guess, but for a long time I never knew them to have a real name, so I'm gonna often call it what I called it for a long time...Stand the Bottle.

So I found...Bottle Up...and they got a bit of a crowd there. I hung out awhile and watched the people mess it up. There were two people running the game, and to their credit they were largely teaching people and showing how to do the game right. They just do it uniquely due to their set-up...

...so, to explain if you didn't watch the video in the first post, the goal is to stand a bottle up from its side with a ring tied to a pole with a string. You can do this a few different ways, but the safe bet is to reach hard when you do it and use a steady follow-through instead of trying to flip it...

...their unique technique was to lean into their fencing -- like basically fall into it -- and let gravity help their follow through. I bet that works if you don't jerk, but it's not natural-looking.

Anyway, I watched them for about ten minutes. I'm watching everybody and their techniques, then I look for the rules.

ONE PRIZE PER PERSON PER DAY
WE ARE ALL WITNESSES NOW

So I eventually jump in and pay. Last year, they charged $5 for one try and $10 for four tries. This year, it's $3 for one try and $5 for two tries. I pay five dollars and I'm told I can do it three times...cool, thanks for the deal.

Won't need the one to grow on though -- got it my first try. They turn around and start to celebrate in a big way -- that's fun, but it was more fun to notice the delay before they celebrate because they clearly didn't expect me to do it. TEPID APPLAUSE ENSUES FROM THE DOZEN PEOPLE NEARBY

This game is clearly hard to learn, but I think the most challenging thing that happens at these booths is getting prizes down. They get short people to hang big prizes high, and they don't expect to pull them down often so I guess they don't worry about it...but it's kinda funny to watch people bring them down. It's a struggle.

I talk with this person awhile and ask for a name...and I don't really know how to pronounce it or type it. I ask how long they've been doing this -- apparently since October, which then went into a spiel about how this game changed their life. Turns out, according to this person, you can stop selling stuff you shouldn't be selling for this kind of job. He goes on to overshare how this job's allowing him to make $4,000 every two weekends. WHAT?! I don't believe that, but I smiled and said cool.

Lits of people ooh and aah as I walk my new teddy bear back. A dude tried to buy it from me as I strap it in the back of my truck -- couldn't fit it inside, so I had to get a bungie cord out.

Drove home, set my giant teddy bear up in a spot that I expect will surprise my roommate when he returns home tomorrow, and I will report back on that reaction when it happens.
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was this topic just a trick to get us to watch your stand up?
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MariaTaylor posted...

was this topic just a trick to get us to watch your stand up?

My dad learned this game thirty years ago just to trick you into watching it.
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HaRRicH posted...

S'mine now.

Because you bought it yourself for 1/10th the price of the game?
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Show me where you buy that for under $15 ($10 admission fee), and I'll start gambling on trying to win this on just one try for $13.
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Well first of all that monstrosity is worth negative dollars because of how cumbersome it is

But if you look at the tag and find the warehouse it comes from I doubt it's more than $10
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Monstrosities like this brought in $120 for a non-profit's auction last year, but hey, to each their own.

They have other prizes you might prefer. I'll post them as I win them.
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I love the regular carnival stories, can't wait for installment number two.
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Kind of bummed it couldnt ride shotgun on the way home.
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You're HaRRicH! How Many Oversized Stuffed Animals Can You Strap to Your Car Before the Fair Ends?

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You look and sound nothing like I had imagined in my mind, knowing all the theater youve done.
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foolm0r0n posted...

But if you look at the tag and find the warehouse it comes from I doubt it's more than $10

I buy bulk cheaply made toys, and while this is true, good luck buying just one, they typically come in packs of 50
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I would love to hear more about bulk rates as they might apply to the fair. I've been trying to reverse-engineer how much money a fair probably makes on this game total each night.
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I think harrich has definitely had 50 of these things over the course of his life based on how he talks about the fair
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I'll post pictures of past prizes later, but before this year I only won three times before. Once in like 2009, then twice last year.

Working on fifty though to finally prove foolmo right.
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lordloki12 posted...

Kind of bummed it couldnt ride shotgun on the way home.

Man, if they ever made a stuffed animal for Ridley, I'd love to get a TOO BIG picture of me trying to fit it in for shotgun.

jcgamer107 posted...

You're HaRRicH! How Many Oversized Stuffed Animals Can You Strap to Your Car Before the Fair Ends?

If this was a video game, I hope it'd play like Crazy Taxi where I have to then deliver these prizes.

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

You look and sound nothing like I had imagined in my mind, knowing all the theater youve done.

This is just another character, don't mind me.
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Underleveled posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFlWEHWH7LU" data-time="

...Charlotte's Webb, is that you?

Forceful_Dragon posted...

I love the regular carnival stories, can't wait for installment number two.

Thanks dude, more are on the way if they don't take me out back and shoot me with their waterguns first.
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Just parked for round two.

I'll have some friends tonight.

Let's do this.
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How did you do ?

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I won this baby shark (doo, do-do, doo doo do-do.....) while waiting on my friends! One dollar, first try at a game I never played before called Any Color Wins.

https://imgur.com/a/RZlGelf

They call this a medium-sized prize, which is not my idea of a medium but this was the more kid-side of the fair so whatever.
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Oh, you meant Stand the Bottle, right?

https://imgur.com/a/vrT9dd9
https://imgur.com/a/BoJnyfH

There's a story coming tomorrow.
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But I came for the story now.

So I wait awhile for my friends to show up 'cuz I'm early and they gotta take an Uber which I clearly won't be able to join them for with a prize. I won that baby shark while waiting, yada yada yada...and then they show up. Awesome. The story begins.

Stamps saw me beat the fair last year on my first try and knows I know how to do this. Robert saw pictures before...but if you don't see it live, then you just don't really know.

We're here to do two things: get turkey legs and wreck this game.

The turkey legs are tougher and more expensive than I remembered! But then, I hurt my teeth on them last year so I shouldn't be surprised. We go up and ask for one each, and we were told these weren't just turkey legs...they were pterodactyl legs. Well shit, name your price then.....

$11 bucks later each we all regret this, but only a little. I bet next year Stamps and I'll do this again. You can break a liquor store window with these things. Just needs some more sauce and maybe not make the skin so hard.
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We march down the path to get to the game. I'm pointing at each game along the way letting Robert know my prizes are bigger than those, bigger than these here...and as we pass some winners with huge animals, I let him know I think they just won Bottle Up. He wasn't ready enough for the hype about to go down, so he bought a lemonade.

We get to the game and it's the same two people working. Uh-oh. I'm about to be recognized. That's when Stamps pulled an audible on an unplanned strategy.

He asked me for some cash to play the game. I give him enough to play a few times and he goes up to learn how the game works. He's asking all the rules and strategies, and he's flirting along the way as he pays her. I step in closer so I can see how well Stamps does, and then the move of the century goes down.

Stamps grabs his shoulder and starts acting like he's in real pain.

"Ooh, ooh, ow, my shoulder! Something happened to my shoulder! Ow, and I already paid too, ouch! Somebody help me not waste my money, ooooooh. Sir, you sir, will you please use my money and play for me? AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH"

They game-runners look at me, and Robert said it best later that night: I'm the first person he's ever known to have the people running the game to get pissed at someone walking up.
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The Bottle Uppers start going "NO NO NO" but Stamps already paid them my money and I've got the pole in my hands. I'm going forward. I hear them over the speakers saying "Oh, they're trying to finesse us! Everybody, watch these guys trying to finesse us right here!"

The pressure's on in a bigger way now: carnival workers are throwing mad shade, friends are watching, I was thrust into a new gameplan, and they've got the audience watching. I crack and missed the first time.

The announcer then says "You only get one more try for your $5 and then you're outta here!" Ffffffffff, I'm nervous now, but it gets a little easier when I see the dude trying to stand it up during this time and he's messing it up too.

I try again -- MISSED AGAIN. Laughs surround me -- shut up, the four people I care about right now.
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The guy running it comes up to me and had a cool moment though. He was like "Hey...how many times you wanna play tonight? I'll just let you." I appreciated that, but I told him I'm happy to pay my part and play by the rules. I throw down another five dollars, effectively agreeing to the rules as they exist...including the rule we haven't talked about yet: ONE PRIZE PER PERSON PER DAY that's clearly up at that game still.

I try it a third time and stand it the third time. Finally. The tepid applause returns while the game-runners repeat the word WINNER a bunch. Stamps and Robert go wild.

They ask me what prize I want. I was originally going to get my brother's kids a different prize each, but after seeing the bear my brother didn't know he could fit any of them into his car. We agree that I'll get the kids a giant snake as a group prize -- that's his best chance to fit something in a car trunk, as huge as it is.

The woman running the game was mad I picked the snake. Remember what I said about short people running these games? Yeah, she couldn't get the snake down by herself. She went to get her step-ladder to grab the snake, and she still couldn't get it down. She walks away for a bit and gets a bigger ladder to finally get it down. Robert dubbed the second ladder as "the winner's ladder."

Carrying this snake back was a bitch. Stamps and I wore it on our shoulders back to my vehicle, plus I had it wrapped around my neck like a scarf in our hot weather. I was pretty hot and tired when we finished carrying this.

Security came up to me as I was walking out and said "Hey, where's my prize?" I turned my head as much as my new snake let me and didn't miss a beat: "Where's my sponsorship?"
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This is such a fun story - keep it coming! I wish our fairs had this game, because I can't think of ever having seen it...
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jcgamer107 posted...

You're HaRRicH! How Many Oversized Stuffed Animals Can You Strap to Your Car Before the Fair Ends?

These anime titles keep getting weirder and weirder.
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The game needs to be at more fairs, right on!
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Getting ready for another night -- can I go three for three on prizes?!
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Sorry for the delay, the game-runner just told me to come back a little later when they have a bigger crowd.

PROMOTIONAL STATUS
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I might have an update in an hour, might be tomorrow though.

New prize and more.
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HaRRicH posted...

Sorry for the delay, the game-runner just told me to come back a little later when they have a bigger crowd.

PROMOTIONAL STATUS

I fear you have become what you set out to defeat
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I've had that question for a long time, trying to figure out if I've become my dad or a carnival worker more...but I can still piss them off, so I don't think I've crossed that line.

Yet.
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Reiterating I'm excited for more stories.

So hey, what's better than winning one snake?

Hint: what's the subtitle to that Metal Gear Solid 1 remake?

http://imgur.com/a/FNlNPLG

TWIN SNAKES

And in case you don't think I'm having enough fun yet:

http://imgur.com/a/NHgg2Mn
http://imgur.com/a/IoaTP6z
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I went alone today (probably will the rest of these nights too, who knows). Some missions are best done by one man.

The fair was packed yesterday, but Friday and especially today were less populated. I almost directly walked to the front of the line today.

I remembered some of the fun stuff aside from my game while waiting on Stamps and Robert yesterday, so I decided to scout and make sure I knew where a few things are...more information on them as I need them later.

After that, you know where I walked. This game is unfortunately on the far end of the fair and I park further away than their paid parking, so it's a lot of stepping on my end. It's okay though -- I'll work these crowds and I could use the exercise anyway.

I found the game and the crowd was maybe six people there. This was the first time I saw only one of the Bottle Up-pros working by themselves -- this time it was the woman, think her name's Duwana.

Duwana doesn't notice me until some other person wins. This guy spent like thirty dollars to win a prize -- been there bruh, but at least you won. He got a giant blue snake for his son and they both seemed happy once Duwana got "the winner's ladder" back out. I congratulate him and how how long it took him to win -- he said it's taken longer in past years and he's won a prize like this for his son every year the past few years. That's pretty sweet, right? I wish I could temporarily loan him these skills, but he's got love so he'll be fine.

Anyway, the game-runner catches me right behind her after this. She freezes to size me up and go "'Sup?" We are not equally happy about me being here in this moment.

I watch some other people play awhile, then I offer $5 to throw down on here. Duwana gauges the crowd, then looks back and says for me to come back when there's a bigger crowd.

I now believe I am "in" with them. I tell her I'll be back in twenty minutes, then started telling all my friends about this situation where I thought I could have bern banned. I'm laughing about this between games of Toss the Ball in the Bucket -- lost ten bucks there, crap, but whatever. It's fine because I think I'm "in" on Bottle Up now.

I really thought things were fine now, but a new insecurity was looming ahead.
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The cliffhanger
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Tag

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If HaRRicH was murdered I'm starting my investigation with Duwana...
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Harrich got some carnie strange
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Twenty-five minutes pass and I return to Bottle Up. There's maybe nine people now...? Should have counted better, but it seemed a little more crowded.

Duwana sees me and immediately calls me up to play. I pay five bucks for two tries and I step up.

Suddenly though, I am approached behind me and just to my right enough for me to see someone is standing uncomfortably close. I turn to see who it is -- it's the other game-runner.

I didn't know he was here so this was a little surprising, and then this was also the first time I've not seen him being excited or personable to be there. He could have just come off of a lunch break, sure, and that's probably what happened to some degree...but like, I tried talking with him a few times to no response.

"Hey, what's going on man?"

Silence.

"Ya'll getting many players tonight?"

Silence.

This is pretty different from when he was telling me his life story Friday, or when he was offering free tries after finessing the game with some friends Saturday. Nope -- this time, the guy is just RBF'ing me over my shoulder.out of nowhere. I've been joking that the fair would kick me out eventually or even take me out back for some carnival-based scare-tactics like holding me up with a watergun, but this was a moment where I thought I was about to be told I've stood my last bottle.

With this pressure on me, I messed up the first two times -- welp, time to pay another five dollars. Duwana's busy, so I just tell the guy mean-mugging me I have a ten and ask if I should pay him or her. He nods. Well fuck, dude, that doesn't answer my question but okay.

I got it on my third time -- really gotta stop missing it these first two tries and save myself some money. Duwana goes WINNER WINNER WINNER and nobody applauds. Our nearby players have the same enthusiasm these game-runners now have for me. I gave Duwana my ten and ask for the pink snake. She gets "the winner's ladder" back out and brings it down. As she comes back down and gives it to me, I decide to share a thing with her.

"Hey, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"I know I probably look like a jerk, but I'm giving these to kids and non-profits."

"I recognized you. You're fine."

And it was that point I wasn't sure if she understood me -- maybe, but I dunno. "I recognized you" makes me think she thought I was trying to disguise myself each night, but "You're fine" makes it sound like she's cool with me returning each night. I'll try not to overthink it, though now it's interesting to see there might be a division in how the two game-runners feel about my daily return. The guy who runs the game then got on his headset and started hosting the game. He sounded excited as he usually did at this point going forward..

I got to the other side of the fair and realized I didn't get change for my ten that I gave Duwana earlier. Eff it -- I got too wrapped up in winning and walked away, I'll take responsibility there. I'm not about to hassle for $5 back now that I walked away and am crushing them on their own game each night, but if they offer me free tries again in the future I may take them up on it and let that even itself out.
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I got to thinking that if I'm going to give all these prizes away anyway, I need a way to memorialize the type of run I'm trying to make happen. I'm taking pictures, certainly, but I need something a little more fair-related than that. One of the places I scouted earlier was the caricature-booth, and I figure there's not a better way to record the moment of victory.

I go up to the booth and wait my turn to be drawn. It's easy to feel silly standing in line for fifteen minutes for a caricature with a stuffed animal, but I make this feel better somehow by saying to myself "I know the solution to this feeling! I'll tell the artist to add the other snake I won to the picture! That'll make this much better!"

I eventually get a seat and tell the artist about the two snakes I want. I'm afraid he's going to charge me extra -- pictures with one person are $12 and $6 more for each additional person in the picture, and they charge for actual live animals too -- but the dude was cool and said these snakes wouldn't count as extra. Nice.

He asked me to look like eight inches to his right and make whatever look I wanted, so I smiled until my cheeks hurt. They advertise this as being a five-minute ordeal, but this was more like fifteen minutes -- probably because of the snakes.

I got to talking with my artist -- Don here had an interesting story. He studied to be a graphic designer in Florida and loved the work itself, but he hated the type of work environments around him. He eventually quit to be a barista, then after taking that job a co-worker encouraged him to take a job doing caricatures for people. He did that a few years and now has his own business doing it here when he's not traveling across states for other fairs. He says he makes decent money doing that. I didn't ask for numbers, but this is the second time a person working at the fair spoke highly about their income with me...and, I mean, I know lots of money flows through fairs, but it was never very clear to me the people working the booths and rides received much of that money.

Don also does theatre in town! I knew the two theatres he's worked with but I never saw him perform, so we talk about that and some of the acting classes he's taking. This ended up being a networking opportunity for me and now I may have a place for him in some future shows I produce. Cool!
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Honestly they probably don't mind you winning if there's a crowd, especially if you win easily because it makes it look easier to other fair goers and may encourage them to try more than they would have done otherwise

If it were me running that game, I'd be trying to get you to win to show others how 'easy' it is to win.