It wasn’t. I figured out in my head later that on the free shot, the tee was in contact with the front ball in the triad. In this configuration, the tee took the full momentum of the front ball and flew off. Then, when I paid, he must have moved the tee back between the rear two balls. The front ball then transfers its momentum to the rear balls, and bounces towards the cue ball, not ever touching the golf Tee. Of course I figured that out AFTER I dropped like $20 and had left…never seen that game before or since.

The “flat store” referred to got its name from the fact that the game was usually carried around in a smal suitcase-type box. The box unfolded and laid flat on a table or stand, thus the name “flat store”. The man operating it was a “flattie.” The idea was that if a lookout spotted the law heading their way,, the flattie could fold up the box and take off.

Popular flat stores were the “count-up” games in which the player rolled balls into holes (or often dice). The odds of winning the grand prize were about one in 1.7 million (6 to the 8th power), and any prize about one in 4,000. The flattie would miscount the game for a win when the game was played for slum (cheap prizes), and wouldn’t need to do anything thereafter, since the game was nearly impossible to win.

Another flat store was the “Red and Black,” played on a “creeper” wheel, a flat wheel, in which the spinner would creep along slowly for a long time before finally stopping. There were 36 spaces: 18 black, which won, and 18 red, which lost. The flattie would play the mark for money, gradually adding black pieces of cardboard to the red slots so that the mark would eventually have as many as 32 slots to the flattie’s 4. Of course the wheel was gaffed to stop when the flattie wanted it to.

A popular gaffe game was the “five in a row,” in which the numbers 1 through 15 were placed on the store layout (some versions also has the letters A through E). The player had to get 5 numbers (or three letters) in a row to win. Ducks were propelled around in a large tub with a metal piece in the middle, making it look a bit like a race track. A fourth of the tub was covered by a roof and shaft. sort of tunnel that extended down to about six inches above the water. The player would pay his dollar and fish a duck out of the pond, then turn it over to reveal a number (or letter). If uncovered, a marker would be placed over the number or letter under the duck. The problem with the game was that there were no 5′s or 10”s (or C’s if letters were used), making the game impossible to win. If an unhappy player brought the law back, the carnie would demonstrate the the game was honest. All of the ducks would be fished out of the pond, and there would be a few with 5′s, 10′, (and C’s). There wouldn’t be as many as the other games; after all, the carnie had to make a living, but they were there. The law would tell the mark that nothing could be done and go. What the law and mark didn’t know was that the carnie pulled a hidden switch that released the ducks with the rare numbers (letter) from their hiding place inside the shaft/tunnel into the water. When the law was out of sight, those ducks (which had marks that the carnie could spot) went back into the shaft.

TIP: If you go to a carnival on the last day of its run, don’t play the games. They’re much more likely to be gaffed, since the carnies won’t be around the next day to listen to complaints. If any carnie EVER offers to play you for money, don’t do it. You have no win.

The late major league pitcher Robin Roberts once beat the carnie at his own game. The store (booth) was the cats game. The object was to knock down three cats with three balls. This was harder than it looked, because the actual hittable area was small–the rest was fluff that the balls passed through. A player who won usually got slum (a cheap trinket). To win a bigger prize, the player had to “work through the slums,”, which was also called the “buildup.” By the time the player made it through a dozen tradeups to the big prize, he would generally have spent $40-50 on a prize that cost the carnie perhaps $10-12—that’s if he was good.

Roberts offered the carnie this proposition: He’d pay a dollar and throw one ball. If he could knock down three cats with one ball, he’d win the plush (the big prize: a stuffed animal). The carnie asked if he was going to throw it from an angle. Roberts said no, he would throw it straight/perpendicular from where he was standing, in the middle of the player’s side of the booth. The carnie finally agreed. Roberts, who was well-known in the majors to be a hard thrower with excellent control, went into a windup, then threw a perfect strike—-right into the baseboard holding the second row of cats. Ball hitting wood made a sound that could be heard 200 feet away. About 8 cats went scattering into the cloth catcher below.

As the carnie began to object, two of the men with Roberts introduced him to the carnie. The carnie laughed and gave Roberts his prize, saying “I’m just glad you didn’t break the board.”

After Roberts and his friends were out of earshot, he remarked: “That’s what I was hoping to do.”

Great article though. And thans to Lee Howard for his insightful and extensive comments – they were just as informative as the article itself.

I have heard that pistol pete maravich, in order to out psych the basketball carnies used to fire away, making all the shots, then walking across the road in front of the stand and bet the carnie on the shot, then making the shot and just walk away smiling with a cart of prizes.

I would love to do that just once.

I also had a question about the claw game.. is it true that some of these game are rigged by owners to pay out every so often just as the stacker game (lining up digital blocks in until the top is reached) is? If so i don’t think I’ll ever play that again..