Weight Station

Does anybody know the rules of this game? How close does the attendant have to be for you to lose?

I think they have to guess 3 pounds near your actual weight.

Actually it's 3 pounds or less, higher or lower than your weight. :)

-Tambo

I was a weight guesser many moons ago. It is 2 lbs, years or months.

So, if you play the weight game the guesser can guess you at 150. If you weigh 148, 149, 150, 151, or 152 the guesser wins. That is a pretty good spread. Now, imagine the number of bodies he/she sees in a given day, week, month or year. One guy who weighs 189 looks like the next guy who weighs 189. See what I mean? Never let kids do the age or weight...it is too easy for guessers. Kids should do birthdays period. In fact, I would often tell a parent to try the birthday even if they asked for the age or weight because I could nail that at will.

On the age, again the guesser has a pretty good spread. If you are 29 the guesser can choose 27, 28, 29, 30, or 31. Ladies, you might look fine but the eyes always tell the truth. Age and weight are both fairly easy for a seasoned guesser.

That leaves the birthday month. Given the above the guesser has a 5 in 12 shot of winning. If the guesser has a group of people standing around a player and they are all giggling and carrying on then he/she is likely going to guess the current month b/c that person's birthday is probably today. Good guessers might know something about precious stones so if you wear your birthstone regularly you might stay away from the birthday month.

But, honestly, even when you "win" you lose. You are paying something like $3 and if you think any of those prizes are WORTH $3 then you are pretty foolish. In fact, the most popular prizes, the plush or the mirrors are probably being bought for less than $1 a piece.

So, the best guessers will go on a losing streak for a while to drum up some more business. In other words, we would intentionally guess wrong to get more people to play. When we gave away enough prizes to get a good group of players we would kick it into high gear and start nailing everyone.

Again, as long as someone is playing...win or lose...the game wins.
*** Edited 9/15/2006 3:56:47 PM UTC by Chief Wahoo***

Thanks! That helps a lot!

the guessing game is 5 dollars

Then if you do "win" you might also have the added cost of renting a locker to store your "prize!"

does the guesser write down his guess before getting the asnwer? i remember hearing that for the month guess, guessers would write "J~~", a J followed by some scribble that could be interpreted as Jan, Jun, or Jul, that way the spread would cover every month except October. I never heard that CP did this, just remember hearing that it was common carnival game scam...

$5? Man, I'm showing my age. But I'll bet the prizes are still $1 or so in value.

dork-

Yes, at carnival games you are correct that the guessers often use J - scribble to try and con players. To beat that...say your birthday is in October. Then they only have August, Septebmer, October, November, December to win and there are no J's in those months.

But, I have found that the major parks don't train their staff to con. They play it legitimately but, again, the odds are in their favor.

Another thing about carnivals:

Don't send your kids out with a wad of cash on their own. Carnies are notorius for conning kids out of every last nickle. They love to bait and switch a kid who has their eye on a big prize and the kids have no idea what is happening until their money is gone.

I absolutely hate that and refuse to play carnie games as a result.

I agree I worked at a local carnival for two summers as spot help. I was put on games one time and I couldn't con anybody like that and live with myself so I was fired.

Im a weight guesser at geauga lake this year and i can tell you how it really is. Cheif Wahoo was sorta right, but its changed a little. First weight is 3 pounds either way, age is 2 years either way, and birthday is 2 months either way. Its 5 dollars to play, and most of the prizes are actually worth more than a dollar. They never really provided us training, they're just like "guess whatever you want" eventually you suck at it, but then you get good at it. Birthday month is completely random, I just pick a random month and write it down, there are no clues to look for.

About this thing with scribbling J~~, we dont do that. I make sure to right out the whole month legibly so people dont complain, and say "you changed the month". The thing that i hate the most is when you guess someones age you guess right on and they say "oh my drivers licence says im this old so i really win, do i get a prize" one time somone made a huge deal out of it and I heard he got kicked out of the park. Kids do come up to you and just give you money, and they have no clue whats happening, i actually feel bad when that happens but theres nothing i can do. I also hate when guests accuse you of rigging the game, it just annoys me so much because i know that the games aren't rigged. *** Edited 9/18/2006 9:31:15 PM UTC by thevillain***

From what I remember, just a few years ago, the price for the weight/age/month game was only like 2 or 3 bucks, and the prize was actually half decent. Now it's a horrid 5 bucks and the prizes suck. I've never played that game, never will. It's so much of a ripoff that they actually give you a pity prize, and to be honest, sometimes I'd rather have the mardi gras beaded necklace than some of the crap prizes they offer for winners.

Well, my son won a nice U of M basketball from the Guessing Game in Frontiertown. I was thrilled to shell out five bucks for it! They look like the same ones you can win at the 3-point challenge, which is a much harder game to win.

Back in the 70's the Guessing Game was operated by Toledo Scale, and their employees, usually old guys, ran the games. I worked right next to one, and when the guy had to leave for a bit- bathroom, telephone, whatever, he would grab me out of my stand and give me the mic. So there I'd be, trying my best, and usually wind up with a long line of customers 'cause I couldn't guess age for crap. Now weight was another story, after a short time of practice it was an easy guess-something I can still do to this day.