My earliest memories of Las Vegas are not of the neon lights or the mellifluous chimes of slot machines. No, when I think about Vegas, the first thing that comes to mind is the Midway at Circus Circus. The Midway is a 2nd floor space overlooking the casino, filled with a variety of carnival games where kids can try their luck to win stuffed animals. During our family’s annual trips to Vegas, my parents would always give me and my sisters $20 each, and tell us to hang out at the Midway for a few hours [Side note: if that sounds like absentee parenting, what can I say? It was the 80’s.] The Midway served as both a babysitter and nemesis for much of my childhood. Although no game was outright rigged, they always had a “trick” to them that would make something that looked so simple (“It’s easy. Just knock the three milk bottles off the platform!”) an exercise in patience, perseverance, and money management.
I’ve had more than a few squandered trips where I left the Midway $20 poorer, with nothing to show for it, except for a tiny stuffed pencil I “won” from one of those games where “Children under 8 win a prize every time!” But over time, I honed my carnival game skills like I was qualifying for an Olympic sport. I began to understand the nuances of the more challenging games. Even though, I couldn’t guarantee a win every time, there were a few of the tougher games that I could consistently beat within a few tries.
My favorite of these games is called Roll Down. The object of the game is simple. Roll 6 rubber balls (one at a time) down a ramp towards slots numbered from 1 to 6. If you score less than 12 or more than 29 with those 6 balls, you win. What’s the catch? There’s two 3 point slots, two 4 point slots, and only a single 1 point slot and 6 point slot. Most players end up getting point totals in the middle, unable to get the high or low score needed to win. But after a lot of experimentation, I figured out the trick to winning this game with relative consistency.
On my most recent trip to Vegas, I decided to visit the Midway and try my luck again. The first thing I noticed was the inflation. For the past two decades, Roll Down had only cost 50 cents. The closest thing to a bargain in all of Vegas. But now, a single game of Roll Down would set me back two bucks. Undaunted, I swiped my play card, and gave it a shot. It took about eight tries, but lo and behold, muscle memory kicked in, and I won one of the the giant teddy bears hanging on the wall! The perfect gift for my little girls.
But here’s the thing I forgot. When you have two kiddos, it’s never enough to bring back one surprise gift from a trip. Asking my kids to “share” a teddy bear is a surefire recipe for torn off bear limbs and tears all around. Unfortunately, Roll Down also has a pretty strict “One prize per player per day” rule. I was scheduled to fly home the next day, so I left the Midway, wondering how I would solve this dilemma.
The next morning, I decided I had only one course of action. My flight departed at noon and the Midway opened at 10am. That gave me a solid 30 minutes or so to win a second bear before I had to catch my flight. No problem for a Roll Down expert like me, right? I grabbed all my bags, and took an Uber over to the Midway. Lugging my bags behind me, I made my way to Roll Down, loaded my play card with $20, and sat down to play. I don’t know if it was the time pressure, or the pressure of coming home with just one bear, but my 10 tries resulted in exactly zero teddy bears. Checking my watch, I saw that I had about 5 minutes left before I really needed to head to the airport. So I added $10 more to my play card, knowing I had 5 more tries to win a second bear. The first four tries were fairly uneventful, with only one game that was even close to winning. I checked my watch again and knew that it was time to go. This was it. The last game. I began to roll.
The first roll was a clean 6. A great start! The second, an ugly 3, which left me with 9 after two balls. I took a deep breath, stared down the numbers, and dropped in two straight 6’s, giving me 21 points after 4 balls. But my shaking hands betrayed me on my fifth roll and the ball dropped into the 3 slot, leaving me with a 24 after 5 balls. This was it. I needed a 6, or I would lose. I looked at the lone 6 point slot, blinked hard, and let go of the ball. It bounced back and forth between the 6 and the 1, taunting and teasing me for what felt like hours. But eventually, the ball settled into the 6 slot. 30 points! I let out a whoop that far exceeded the joy most players probably showed after winning a prize. I quickly grabbed the bear from the attendant, and raced to the airport.
You might ask if all this stress, money and time was worth it. After all, once I factor in all the costs, “winning” these two bears cost me roughly $80. But all it took was seeing the look of joy on my daughters’ faces when I brought home the two bears to realize that money, and a little carnival game luck, really can buy happiness. And can you really put a price on that?
Proud Asian Dad 