Secrets to fair games

Have you ever wondered how to win carnival games? With these helpful tips, you can win at carnival games and trump ancient carny tricks. Every summer, colorful lights and the smell of fried dough lure you to a state fair or local carnival, where you just might be tempted to play a carnival game, especially if your heart's set on a giant stuffed SpongeBob.

Before you plunk down your hard-earned cash to test your strength or match wits with carnies in the ring toss, know that the odds are never in your favor. It's like The Hunger Games that way. You'll have a better chance at some games than others, and some like the one with the bowling pin you have to knock over are just physically impossible.

Did you know that the game where you use a ring on a fishing line to stand up a beer bottle is probably the easiest to win? Or how about the secret to knocking down the cats in the cat rack? We collected pro tips to help you knock down milk jugs, sink baskets, flip coins onto a plate, and many more. Step right up and read all about it, then vote for your favorite tip that you can use to win big at your next carnival! If you want to pop a balloon and win your boo a prize by playing balloon darts, you need to remember a few things.

The balloons are under inflated and the dart tips are dull, so throw the dart as hard as you can. Additionally, the best prizes are almost always behind the balloons on the edges, since most people tend to aim at the middle.

You might be a superstar at dunking in your backyard, but know that the basketball hoops in carnival games are nowhere near regulation size. The hoop is smaller, usually oval-shaped, and the balls are overinflated. To make matters worse, the backboard is rigged to be extra bouncy, so don't even think about using it to sink a shot.

For the milk bottle toss, know that the bottles are weighted down and extra heavy. In order to knock them down, aim between the two bottles at the bottom, not the intersection of all the bottles.

The trick to climbing carnival rope ladders, according to Blifaloo. While applying equal pressure with your right foot and left arm, move your left foot and right arm at the same time. Then do the same thing with the opposite limbs, shimmying yourself up the ladder.

You don't have to be built like Vin Diesel to win a big teddy bear during one of those test-your-strength games, the ones where you try to ring a bell by hitting a target with a mallet. It's all about accuracy , not strength. Hold the mallet as far down the handle as you can, judge how far away you can stand, and hit the target right in the center.

Plus the rifle's sights may be tampered with and its air pressure reduced so that many shots simply bounce off the target paper, says Howard. In this favorite among younger children, the goal is to retrieve a plastic duck with a fishing pole from a makeshift pond — and nearly everyone is a winner … sort of.

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By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article methods. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Method 1. 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.

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.

Make sure to give your throw a lot of force. 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. It's summer, and carnivals and state fairs are popping up in almost every town. And at all of them you'll see those giant stuffed animals enticing you to win them as prizes at carnival games. But can you really win at those games? Experts say that in many cases they may be rigged, making them nearly impossible to win so that you'll keep on trying — and forking over your cash.