I've been meaning to address your carnival history, but frankly, I just don't know where to start. The modern Carney's I have met are a truly bizarre bunch of people. But back in your childhood days...Oy Ve! I'd love to hear some stories if you are up to it.
Well, it seems as if the little tricks of the trade I remember are pretty much common knowledge now. I guess because of the internet. We used to run a milk bottle game. The object was to knock 5 aluminum milk bottle shaped bottles off a base that was shaped like home plate. You couldn't just knock them over, they had to be off the base also. The trick was that some of the bottles were filled up with lead and weighed about 10 pounds. When you put the loaded bottles on the bottom even after a direct hit the bottle would usually fall over with a thud. Sometimes when we weren't getting much action or people were standing around and not playing my dad would change the location of the loaded bottles and put them on the top instead of the bottom. He would then have me throw at them and if I made anything close to a direct hit the bottles would fly off the base. Then hopefully people see me do it and think, if that kid could do it so can I. Sometimes if a guy seemed like a nice guy and spent a good sum of money my dad would give me a nod and that meant for me to put the loaded bottles on top and let the guy get his prize.
Another game we ran was the ring toss game. In this game there were blocks of wood with prizes on them. Most of the prizes were just junk and the blocks were legit. But some of the prizes were a little more expensive, things like knives, watches, lighters and bracelets were popular. The blocks under these were a little different. They were a little bigger and not really square. The only way you could get ring over one of these blocks is to beat it on with a hammer. If you were working the game you always made sure you kept an over sized ring in your hand. Every now and then someone would ask to see you slip a ring over the block and prove it would fit over it.
The carnival is where my dad met my mom. They were playing for a few days in a little country town in Wilmington Illinois. The story is, according to my aunt, (my moms sister) that my mom was seen hanging around with a good looking city boy from the carnival. The night the carnival was leaving town my dad pulled in front of her house with a couple of his gypsy buddies. He beeped the horn and yelled "well, you staying or are you coming"? My mom ran to the car, threw her suitcase in and took off with him. And the rest as they say is history.
