While at your local carnival or any beach resort this summer you are pretty sure you will see among the games a basketball toss. The goal seems simple, it is to make a just one basket at a net high above the playing area. It’s not as simple as it seems though. The game has some serious adjustments to make it favor the operator more than the average basketball game would have. Of course, some advantages should be expected when you are at the carnival or the beach to favor the operator of the game. Here is what you should expect from this game and a tip to succeed.
The first clue that this game is rigged in favor of the operator is the size of the prizes. When you see a game where the only prizes that they give away are the larger stuffed animals, this give you a clue about the difficulty level. When you consider the cost to play this game along with the adjustments that favor the operator I strongly suggest avoiding this game. On most occasions when I have seen the basketball toss it is $2 per ball or 3 shots for $5. In general those large stuffed animals cost the game operator around $10-12 , so if you play six shots and miss you have no chance of breaking even. Now, of course if you are including the entertainment value in the cost then the choice to play is a personal one. Just keep in mind chances of positive expectation as far as prize value in this game are very low.
If you do decide to play this game, there are some things you should consider when making your shot to increase your chances. Most of the time the basketballs are overinflated. This will cause them to bounce harder off the backboard than normal making it tough to use the backboard to make a basket. The rims also will tend to be adjusted to be more of an oval shape than round, resulting in the ball bouncing off when hitting the rim instead of into the net. Your best chance to make a basket is to use a higher arc than usual and hoping for the ball to get over the opening for the net and then drop almost straight down so the rim will not cause it to deflect away.
The basketball toss is one of the harder games to win at when at local carnivals or the beach. It will still have quite a few players attempting to win though because of the size of the prizes, and the “macho factor” of being able to make the basket. It’s best to save your money and try a different game if you are playing for the chance to win prizes. Of course if it’s the entertainment value you want, then by all means go ahead and play but at least now you know the reality of the game.
