It’s County Fair season around here, and I’m reminded how carnival games can teach you to work the angles. Hang with me for a moment…there really is a fun lesson here.
There are lots of childhood memories of tossing darts to pop balloons, throwing rings over hooks, or shooting a basketball. More recently I laughed when my adult children visited a local amusement park and sent pictures of themselves throwing balls at bottles to win a prize.
All of which reminded me of the time my parents took me to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The place is famous for their rollercoaster, but they also had all the typical carnival games of my era.
At the time my dad owned coin-operated washers and dryers, so he’d give me a handful of quarters to use as I wanted. Then he and Mom wandered off to the beach as I strolled down the boardwalk looking for something that caught my interest.
One game stood out: a throwing game to knock down clowns off a shelf. Three throws for a quarter. Knock two down and you’d win a small teddy bear. Knock down three and you’d get two bears, knock down four with three balls and you’d get a really big stuffed toy. Of course it was rigged — the clowns looked larger than they were because they had feathers on the sides. Plus they were spaced far enough apart that one ball couldn’t knock two down at once, even if you perfectly placed a throw between them.
But I had a good arm for a kid from years of baseball, and my competitive instinct kicked in. Even better, my smarts kicked in. I watched a few people throw and saw something that gave me an advantage.
I stepped up to the counter, put my quarter down, and the carny gave me three balls slightly smaller than a tennis ball. Then I walked all the way to the end of the counter and aimed at the clowns on the other end. Throwing diagonally made the gap between the clowns much smaller, so maybe I could get two down with one throw.
My first throw missed. My second throw knocked a clown down, and my third throw knocked two down. I’d won two stuffed toys!
So I did it again. And again. And again. Until all my quarters were gone and I had won something like twenty stuffed toys, including a few big ones!
The carny working the game was glad to see me go, and I got lots of smiles as I walked down the boardwalk with all the stuffed toys in my arms! Best of all was the look of amazement — and then laughter — from my parents.
On the drive home from Santa Cruz I reflected on my success. My arm was good but not great — other kids my age had equal or better arms. It was the angle that let me win. The angle of the ball flight and the layout of the clowns gave me an advantage.
There’s a leadership lesson to understand here. It’s not just about how good your arm is (though that helps). It’s not just about how many quarters you have (though that helps). It’s how you see the game and, even more importantly, what you do about it.
It’s about wisely working the angles.
I saw the game differently. And I did something about it. And I won.
No idea what happened to all the teddy bears. Most I gave away, though one big one went to my mom of course.
But the memory? I treasure that memory. That was the real prize.