A Fair Chance

VENTURA —  It only costs $14 for a full day of unlimited rides at the county fair, but many are spending twice that much in 10 minutes in the ever-elusive effort to win a stuffed toy at the fair’s many games of chance.

“I’ve used up about $30 and I’ve only been here 25 minutes,” said Todd Bermashe, a 21-year-old Navy Seabee whose attempts to win a big felt plaything for his girlfriend, Melissa Lamoreux, were coming up short.

All Bermashe had to show for his efforts and cash was a pint-sized stuffed Tweety and a mini Sylvester.

“I’m not doing too well so far, but we’re gonna make another sweep [of the games],” said Bermashe, who admitted trying his luck at almost all of the fair’s 22 game booths.

Bermashe was not the only one having a tough time using his skill to obtain larger-than-life cartoon characters.

Whether it be the incredibly overinflated basketballs, light-weight darts, or bottom-heavy milk bottles, the fair games are rife with gimmicks to enhance their difficulty.

However, tough odds are par for the course in carnival games and most of the tricks are legal, according to fair security officials.

“There is very little difference between a small chance to win and no chance at all,” said Carl Handy, who directs Ventura police security at the fair.

Fair security officers do their best to make sure that chance, however minuscule, still remains. With daily patrols of the midway, a small team of carnival fraud inspectors tries to ensure that the fair’s many games are not rigged.

“An operator can make an extremely small adjustment to his game and within a matter of seconds, the game could be unfair to the customer,” said Ventura Police Lt. Steve Bowman.

Along with fair liaison Ken Kiser and game inspector Bob Snyder, Bowman makes sure that players have a genuine chance.

Bowman has been monitoring carnival games since 1980, and he taught carnival fraud detection classes for 15 years. He also advises many of the hundreds of fair organizers across the state each summer.

While he likes catching crooked carnies, he said the Ventura County Fair leaves him with little opportunity to practice his art.

“This operation has taken all of the fun out of the chase,” Bowman said. “This is one of the cleanest and most professional midways you will find.”

Although Bowman believes that Cammack Shows, which has been running Ventura fair games and rides for six years, is on the level, he said there is always the danger of a rogue employee.

“The sole determiner of whether you win or not should not be the agent [at the booth],” Bowman said.

And, according to Bowman, over the years, agents have developed a plethora of virtually undetectable techniques to diminish patrons’ odds of winning.

Bowman said the milk bottle toss--in which contestants try to knock down three stacked milk bottles with a softball--is especially easy to doctor. He said that simply staggering the base bottles makes it almost impossible to knock them down.

“It’s the law of physics--if one is further forward than the other, Fernando Valenzuela isn’t going to be able to knock them down,” Bowman said.

Other game violations include underinflating balloons so that darts bounce harmlessly askance and hanging stuffed toys so low that a Ping-Pong pitcher can’t get any arc on his toss at the floating cups.

Bowman said the temptation to cheat exists because profit margins are slim for booth owners, who pay about $75 a square foot for their spot on the midway. “They [booth owners] only get to keep about a quarter of what they make because they have the fixed costs of paying for the set-up, buying prizes and hiring help,” Bowman said. And the booth workers make only 20% of the cash they collect. The longer they can get customers to play, the more money workers will make. And people have a tendency to leave after they win.

“Yesterday I only made about $25 all day, but sometimes you can make more,” said Mary Pegler, a basketball game attendant.

One technique booth operators use to entice players is through what Bowman calls “build-up” games, in which the longer a patron plays and wins, the bigger the prizes get.

Bowman said that in the past, operators frequently cheated patrons on these kinds of games.

“With the horse race games, there would be a guy in a booth and he could control who would win with a dial,” Bowman said. “If someone was winning a lot, the guy would just make sure he lost.”

However, with the expectations of their loved ones hanging in the balance, people continue to flock to the game booths.

“Daddy, I want the Dalmatian and the Sylvester and the skunk,” said Danielle Lee, 5, whose father, Bobby, was about to take his second try at shooting a very bouncy ball through a very small hoop.

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Getting to the Fair

Departure and arrival times for Metrolink trains to the Ventura County Fair on Saturday and Aug. 17, as well as Aug. 23 and 24. Fares are $8 round trip from Chatsworth, $6 round trip from Simi Valley and Moorpark, and $4 round trip from Camarillo and Oxnard. One-way fares are half that. Children 5 and younger as well as monthly pass holders ride free. Tickets may be purchased the day of travel at train stations, or in advance weekdays at Simi Valley, Moorpark and Camarillo city halls. All stations and trains are wheelchair-accessible. Some southbound trains may depart up to 5 minutes ahead of schedule. For information, call 808-LINK.

Northbound

Chatsworth: 10:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2:45 p.m.

Simi Valley: 10:45 a.m., 12:01 p.m., 3:00 p.m.

Moorpark: 11:05 a.m., 12:17 p.m., 3:20 p.m.

Camarillo: 11:18 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3:33 p.m.

Oxnard: 11:35 a.m., 12:45 p.m., 3:50 p.m.

Ventura: 11:50 a.m., 1:05 p.m., 4:10 p.m.

Southbound

Ventura: 12:45 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 7:15 p.m., 10:25 p.m.

Oxnard: 1:15 p.m., 5:45 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10:40 p.m.

Camarillo: 1:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 7:53 p.m., 10:55 p.m.

Moorpark: 1:43 p.m., 6:13 p.m., 8:05 p.m., 11:07 p.m.

Simi Valley: 2:00 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 8:35 p.m., 11:25 p.m.

Chatsworth: 2:20 p.m., 6:45 p.m., 8:55 p.m., 11:45 p.m.

* Source: Metrolink