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Ripley’s Believe It or Not! at the Myrtle Beach boardwalk Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum at Panama City Beach

started in 1894 in Kansas City, Missouri. Ripley’s keep those memories alive. You can also
However, crowds were so enthralled with still collect programs and postcards today show-
watching horses and riders plunge from great ing what the Atlantic City Boardwalk was like
heights into water that it quickly spread all over when Ripley’s first came on the scene. In fact,
the country. The horses first came to the pier many of the programs from Atlantic City in the
around 1933 and were well-established as an 1950s are quite collectible because they also
ongoing act there by the time Ripley’s hit the Pier advertise the other boardwalk acts of the day,
in the 1950s. Since the crowd was so used to such such as famous singers who performed there.
unusual sights as the horses and other animal acts, Today, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! St.
Ripley’s fit right in. Augustine 20,000-square-foot attraction boasts
three floors of exhibits, including some of
Commemorating the Golden Age Ripley’s original collection.
of Ripley’s on the Pier
The first Ripley’s at Steel Pier is long gone, Photo of a soldier posing in front of Ripley's Believe It or
but its memory lives on in several ways. The Not! in Atlantic City in 1961. Note the feature exhibit
Ripley’s archives and the current Boardwalk was the “Transparent Woman” whose name is Venus.

Jessica Kosinski has been a freelance writer specializing in writing short articles for 15 years. She is also an avid collector of both antique books and Star Wars memorabilia. Although she is not in the
antiques industry professionally, she has learned a lot about antiques over the years by periodically helping out at her mom’s antiques shop in Greenville, NH. She currently balances maintaining the
antiques shop’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/MallofNE, and working on various freelance writing assignments. She can be reached at dementorskiss77@yahoo.com.

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vintage game called Play to Win
Push ‘em Up, or Stand If you are interested in collecting carnival games, their simplicity
up the Bottle, as featured and homemade nature can be problematic. Rigged pieces make better
on Penn and Teller Tell a collectibles than repurposed everyday items like simple milk jugs or
Lie, demonstrates that horseshoes. Buyers should be on the lookout for game-specific items
some games are actually like a shooting gallery gun, or branded sets in good condition. Seek out
unwinnable. The player antique dealers that specialize in gaming items, such as Obnoxious
attempted to stand up a Antiques, whose offerings include a carnival gambling wheel for $900,
bottle with a two-tine a machine gun from a shooting gallery for $1,250, or your very own
plastic fork, but the bumper car for $3,600.
bottles were weighted on There’s a market for whatever you’re seeking. Designers or antique
one side, making the task dealers will sell you beautiful games that would ornament your home,
impossible. or if you’re looking for something smaller, eBay offers a set of weighted
milk bottles for $200 that would fool friends at your next party, but
The Player, or the only if they’re set up correctly.
Played?
It’s all about the numbers. Eliot Wofse, a long-time Historically, the term
games operator at Coney Island, described the “mark” (or sucker) origi- Magician Robert
psychology of carnival games to the Coney Island nated in the carnival Haskell’s 1950s
History Project. With regard to the classic fishbowl setting. Dishonest opera- appearance on
game, he would offer 55 balls for $5. “When they tors would “mark” people You Asked for It
heard … they were like, that’s a lot of balls, so they that spent a lot of money revealed that even
would come and play. I wouldn’t say ‘one bucket of on their rigged games by wheels could be
balls’ because it doesn’t sound as good. … It was so patting their backs with a rigged by a simple
fun watching their [children’s] faces light up going foot break
home with a fish or a crab.” chalked hand, thus signal- positioned behind
photo courtesy of Ruby Lane ing to others that the the scenes.
person was easily tricked. Gamers – stay
Unwinnable games and dishonest operators were not the endgame, vigilant!
however. Sometimes it really was a matter of skill, even for the opera- Vintage carnival
tors. Stanley Fox, a long-time game operator, told the Coney Island gaming wheel
History Project the story of winning his girlfriend a large stuffed animal offered on eBay
after using a perfectly-spun winning throw to get the softball into a for $1,295.
milk can. Instead of trickery, operators were sometimes just really well-
trained in the ways of beating the game.

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