Del Mar Fair games: Fair or not fair?

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Sunday, June 25, 2006 8:47 PM PDT ∞

DEL MAR ---- "If you like to play and you like to win, now the time. Everybody's a winner. Step right up. No better time to play and win than right now right here."

Anyone who has strolled the San Diego County Fair has heard these or similar words as the hawkers try to entice fairgoers to give their game a go.

Are the games on the up and up? Absolutely, said Tony Guadagno, the San Diego County Fair's midway manager in charge of games and rides for the last 10 years.

"All our games are games of skill," he said, noting that every contracted company is licensed and regulated by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. In the games of skill, such as the BB-machine guns or the seemingly simple toss-the-ball-in-the-bucket game, there are winners and losers.

Games of chance however must produce a winner every time, Guadagno said, citing the game in which a player pays to select a plastic duck from the pond. On the bottom of the duck is a code for a small, medium or large prize.

Guadagno said the fair shoots for a winner percentage of between 25 percent and 35 percent, which means that every third or fourth player is a winner.

Guadagno said he takes great pride in the quality of the games, noting that the games are for-profit businesses with significant overhead, personnel and materials costs like any other business.

But, he concedes, the fair must still battle public perception.

"It's a rip," said Craig Robertson of Rancho Penasquitos as his girlfriend Denise Schwab coaxed a wad of cash from his pocket for a game of darts with his two children, Nicholas and Amanda. The goal of the dart game is to hit any of dozens of small stars on a board six feet away. The price: three darts for $5. The motivation: a big fluffy stuffed animal ---- and fun.

A minute later, the trio backed away from the game with a few hand-sized stuffed animals --- the consolation prizes for losing.

The darts are a "winner every time" game, even though Guadagno said it's a skill game. It's also a build-up game, meaning that if you don't like the small stuffed animal as your prize, you can pay again and play again for a bigger stuffed animal.

Dave Peyton of Carmel Valley laughed as his wife and three girls played dart game after dart game trying to win he biggest stuffed animal.

"We just spent $60 right here," he said, reaching into his pocket for another $5. "But the kids enjoy it and it's all amusement.

"We'll spend about $300 today," he continued, "but hey, anything to keep them away from the video games."

Peyton seemed mildly pleased that at least for now --- with the day at the fair still young ---- that the much-desired huge stuffed animal remained only a dream.

"That's her whole thing ---- she wants to walk away with a big stuffed animal, a big piece of crap ---- which would make me a big stuffed animal caddy for the rest of the day."

While adults may understand the idea of spending money purely for entertainment, some children do not.

Jake Clark, 13, of San Diego, spent $25 trying to win an X-Box displayed prominently amid stuffed animals of every size and color. For $3, the player must toss three rubber softballs into a round bucket from about four feet away.

"You've got to hit the same spot every time and it's hard to do that," he said, the disappointment clear in his eyes as he walked away. Jake said he didn't think the game was fair and would not try it again.

Five young women seemed to enjoy trying to stand a beer bottle on end using "fishing poles" of sorts; about three feet of string attached to a 30-inch stick on one end and an inch-round plastic ring on the other. The object was to put the ring over the bottle's neck, and maneuver the stick to stand to bottle up.

"I don't believe in these games so I don't spend my money on them," said Kelsey Carr, a 15-year-old girl visiting from New Jersey.

But her friends spent about $15 trying, and got lots of help from the game operators, especially after they realized a reporter was watching. In the end they walked away with an enormous stuffed penguin.

"You think if you just put $5 more into it, you're gonna get it," said Sam Nelson, 18, of Fallbrook. "It's addicting."

"But if you add up all the money you spent, you could have bought it," her friend Gina Orlando added.

Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at 760-901-4043 or pireland@nctimes.com. To comment, visit www.nctimes.com.