Japanese Rifle Girl vs. Carnival Game
Ever wonder how much it would cost to win every prize at a pop gun carnival game? FTV summoned Mamika Tsuruoka of the Japan National Rife Team to knock down all the prizes from a game booth:
It takes about 10 shots for Tsuruoka to figure that dead center hits on the targets won’t result in wins. A price has to fall off its ledge and onto the ground, and that requires a shot aimed at the edge of boxes.
After 62 shots, she has claimed 49 of the 50 prizes. The total cost of her ammo was 2,480 yen (40 yen per cork). The total cost of the prizes won was 3,940 yen. However, the remaining prize is a large box that cannot easily be knocked down. Single shots are too weak to move the box, so she gets her friends to help her fire volleys at the target. This tactic works, and after 9 volleys it falls to the ground. Unfortunately, that used a lot of corks, so the total price of knocking over all 50 targets ends up at 5,360 yen. The actual price of the prizes totaled to 4,535 yen, so the festival booth guy made a profit of 825 yen.
The conclusion is obvious: normal people who visit festivals and play the games there should be prepared to lose some money. [Unless they are skilled marksmen who only aim at small prizes.]
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