Lurker > HaRRicH

Shattered posted...

Time to train a protege!

A protege sounds like a blast -- I used to make and give away these platforms and rods for little gifts, but unfortunately the people who got them never went on to do much with them besides my dad who already taught me how to play. In that way, he and I need to go together and I'll be his protege. =)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/8/AABgm0AAE1Ma.jpg

Agreed, good topic.

Sent a follow-up text a few hours ago. No word at this time. Might text mid-week as a final follow-up but otherwise it's wait and see.

I've wondered if I got Kathy's number wrong, but I'm not going back just to check. I started watching Crazy Ex Girlfriend this weekend and that seems like behavior just an episode away. I shan't do it.

Shattered posted...

I wonder if you had spaced it out over more days it would have been less suspicious.

Same guy winning 2 days in a row who talks to them a lot is going to get back to their boss in conversation. If it had been spaced several days apart and you had been less chatty, maybe they are less likely to mention it

Absolutely valid. Counterpoint though:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/5/AABgm0AADql1.jpg

Can't get ten out of ten without going ten days.

Ya'll know I gave away all those prizes I won before. What was I planning for this year?

I wanted one to go to a close friend for a birthday gift, and I wanted one to go to a non-profit I've given to before that made $476 off one one of these stuffed animals before...but beyond that, what else? What's the big idea I had? Here was the goal:

Last year a close friend and an icon of my town suddenly passed away. It's been extremely bittersweet to see how much people banded together at the time of his passing, and we've been able to accomplish some truly exceptional things in his memory. Our biggest achievement in celebrating his life was getting an endowment in his name, so now high school seniors can apply for an annual scholarship every year. We also managed to get the city to write a letter of support for the scholarship, and we even got the county to write a proclamation to name his birthday after him each June. These were awesome and meaningful milestones honoring a very good man.

I was thinking about other ways to highlight him when an idea struck me: these stuffed animals would make a great fundraiser in pursuit of getting a billboard to celebrate my late friend's birthday next year. That's what I wanted to do, and I think seven or eight of these prizes would have been enough to do it.

So I tell Kathy this and she understands but says that's what her boss said. I ask if I can talk with her boss, and she expected him back later today but it would probably be awhile. I ask if I can leave my number for him, and she says her phone is dead...but then she offers me her number and tells me she will screenshot these for her boss when she charges her phone on her break.

I text her the context here -- which is kind of a lot, right. I've been playing low-key with my skills and am now having to reveal the positive thing I was intending to do with it with the skills I actually have, so like Lucy I have some 'splainin' to do. I explain my goal and what's been done for my late friend so far...and then I also address how I've been paying entry fees, playing other games, inviting friends, and encouraging others to play when I am nearby holding my prizes including Rys. I held off on explaining what I've done with previous years -- just kept it to here and now. We will see if that is enough.

Kathy and I are chatting while I text her all this. She tells me she's been working the fair for five years and has seen my kind at the fair before. We laugh. I asked her when she figured it out, and she said the first day. I asked her what the give-away was, and she can't name it exactly but she said it's something about my stance. I let her know I'm worried about coming back if they're going to charge me again, and she said she'd ask the boss to call or text me. One thing she mentioned was that coming in at night is better since there are more people around -- it just looks bad for them apparently when I do it in daylight with fewer people around...don't know if this is Kathy's thought or her boss's. I told her I could do that most of the remaining nights.

I called Rys when I got home and told him the news. "They banned me." We rolled.

So now we wait. This topic might be over, and it might not be over. Who knows.

I have been banned from the holy land.

I arrived at the game, and it is hot today -- weather says eighty degrees but it feels much warmer, so I just came straight here this time. Nobody is at the game -- eerie. I wait around a minute to study their platforms before a new employee named Summer arrives. She explains the rules to me and I pay five dollars to try one time. I asked Summer to show me how to play, and she said she's just subbing in for another employee until they return. Cool, I'm on it.

I start to raise the bottle up, and then Kathy walks in. I dropped the bottle, failing the calling of my shot earlier. Summer leaves and so does my pride. I get my wallet back out to play again.

That's when it happened: Kathy ambushed me with a refund and hands me my previous five dollars back. She regrets to inform me her boss is aware of me, and now I cannot play anymore.

</3

We all know I know how to play the game at this point, so no point in being coy anymore. I drop the facade and get real.

A stunning development has happened. I am leaving the fair empty-handed. Details soon.

I appreciate us as a board reflecting back on our growth and lack thereof alongside ertyu.

I think I mainly did side-impersonations typing like him, and to his credit there's just something real fun about some of his phrases as well as the bonding we've had in sharing a few of those phrases...but, also, recognizing so much of this is around the context of us not playing well together because of a condition of his I don't really know. While some of it was light-hearted and it usually felt like that for me as an individual, the lines between between that and antagonism got blurry over time when group dynamics were involved too.

I liked what TomNook7 said.

TomNook7 posted...

i think about this sometimes actually. we understand so much more about autism nowadays. But we were all teenage jerks on the internet back then. We didnt know the first thing about autism. Its kinda sad when you think about it. Hopefully gen z and future generations get it figured out

Did my daily reps for practice and did the second best I've ever done: 29/30, meaning twenty-nine in a row.

My personal best came about a week ago: 36/37.

Both of these smoke the record I had before this year of 16/17.

Out of all my practice reps at home for normal bottle stands, today just put me at an even 80% success rate. Even if you also include my hard-mode backward bottles and ten-second challenges, I'm still at just over 66%.

Right now, my numbers at the fair are 2/5 -- 40%. Very small sample! But also I don't like it.

Calling my shot right here: getting it my first try today.

Maniac64 posted...

I'm counting on the staff changing the "prize limit" ruling to stop him.

This is the looming fear, yeah. Kathy said yesterday prizes would be for each day and not just one per fair, but the pillar doesn't say it like that -- it just says "prize limit." Would they defend her casual statement over their vague rule? They were both seemingly happy to see me today, but also maybe they won't always be so happy all week. Their boss was around which isn't exactly uncommon, but they did seem to want me away for that moment -- were they protecting me from the higher-up?

My thought's that we are ultimately fine...but that's what Bret Hart thought too, so I dunno.

When you have a big prize, bystanders talk around you and a lot of the time right at you about it. Someone shouted I had a huge snake, and I resisted using a previous retort I once had of "I get that a lot!"

I had an interesting stop though. Two girls walked right in my path and one asks what my snake's name was. I was unprepared but also thought it would be more fun to hear what they said, so I asked them what is the snake's name. They pause and smile, buying time to think...then the same girl said Thomas. We all agree this snake is Thomas, and then I continued walking back hoping that I was not soaking my sweat into Thomas's furry scaley skin too bad.

For the record, Thomas is as long as my vehicle and this is why I like the fair.

It's time. I give ten bucks for three tries. He lines up three bottles like shots at a bar.

My first time was a miss, but a very close one. Got it my second try though!

Remember what I said about being unsure if Brock was the responsible one or not? Well, he wears a referee shirt with a referee whistle, and Kathy yesterday had to tell him to blow his whistle for me...and he did not seem enthused to oblige last night. Today, however, when it was just him and Kathy had stepped away for her break, Brock made no such effort. I wanted to ask him to blow his whistle, but like...come on, he doesn't want to and I don't *actually* want the sound of a whistle ten times in ten days. I just want what's mine: victory and everything that entails. Also, it felt like they were trying to warn me about the boss, so in that way he was already kind of a whistle blower today. I let it slide. He's working -- let him have that moment free this time.

Brock mentions money hasn't been good for them so far today. At no point do I apologize for my part on that. He says he's only made about twenty bucks so far from customers while Kathy's made about eighty bucks. I ask if that's pretty normal, and he says no. Apparently they tend to round out their totals to about $700 each night. Who else is instantly doing the math with me? That's about 140 attempts each night -- or up to about 210 attempts if they were all three-for-$10 deals. I didn't ask this time but I want to know about how many winners they have a day soon.

There's a teenage-couple beside me who see me holding my new prize -- the second time I've ever won this kind of blue snake in four years -- and they ask for advice. I offer what I can, but like...you can't just hear how to do it and then really be expected to do it. They get the bottle turned around and it's just over for them at that point even though Kathy yesterday said it can be done. I believe this must be very rare to be able to do, but I digress. I ask Brock to give my last of three tries to this couple since I only got to use two of them and Kathy gave Rys my two remaining tries, but Brock then eases back into responsibility saying he can't do that. I contemplate the humor of asking him to blow that whistle then, but I kept that to myself while I was there.

Time to go home, we're almost done.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/4/4/AABgm0AAE08k.jpg
Exclusive access.

Good news everybody: the holy land is still there. I had a fear they might take the game down after I found them yesterday -- nope. I also hoped they would have new prizes -- also nope.

Brock was there as well as the other game-runner and they were both celebratory even though Brock seemed a little weirder about seeing me again. Brock asked me for my name and I guilted him for not remembering from yesterday before telling him. The other game-runner asked me and she did not hear me say it from yesterday, so I didn't give her a hard time. I ask for her name and she tells me Kathy.

Let's talk about Brock and Kathy. First of all, I like them both -- most people I met who run this game are pretty cool, and these two seem like young people rounding out a summer job. Sometimes I think Brock is the responsible one because he refused to do three tries for ten dollars yesterday when I asked him about it while Kathy suggested the idea to me soon after...however, today I told him I want to do three tries for ten dollars and he said okay. Sometimes I think Brock is the insecure one, because I haven't seen him stand the bottle one time in two days and I don't like his two-hand attempts to hold the pole. This has not been countered with evidence yet. Kathy seems to care less about her job, but she can win the game and is having a lot more fun there.

They tell me their boss is coming in a minute so I offer to come back shortly -- but not before Brock asks for a piece of the deep-fried cheesecake. I start to break off a piece, and then he changes his mind. I walk away, mad at the amount of powdered sugar I didn't want that has since blown onto me from the wind. I dust myself off in the shade, trash my unnecessary calories I couldn't finish, and then I walk back for the rematch of the year.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/2/4/AABgm0AAE08Q.jpg

Free strawberries!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/2/2/AABgm0AAE08O.jpg

My favorite spot in Monopoly: free parking.

Went to the fair to win a mid-day prize in-between chores, no big deal.

I found out that restaurant does in fact allow parking there if you eat first. Their manager got me a printed piece of paper that probably didn't take a minute to create -- boom, parking pass. I had a seven dollar potato which seemed a little pricey, but when the alternative's $5-$20 parking? I am happy.

So I march into the fair and begin to go straight to the game, but I got turned around a few times. I saw the officer at the entrance eating and I thought it was Subway so I asked him about it. The wrapper was similar but he got a gas station hot dog. I asked him if he liked it, and the dude SWEARS by it -- very big fan, and he told me which gas station on which street it was too. I halfway want to check in again once that gas station hot dog passes through his digestive system, because I have fears that is the happiest he will be this weekend.

Then there was a dude with four bubble guns in his two hands and one of those big long dangly hats of Stitch on his head. His name was Walker. Walker was a man who told me about how he liked thin bubble liquid from his bubble liquid bottles instead of thick bubble liquid, a man who goes through multiple big long dangly hats of Stitch each year, a man who tried to sell me each of these for $20, a man who told me he usually sells them for $25 during the day and $20 at night even though it's basically lunch-time, and a man who cussed a whole bunch along the way for someone on the clock at a fair.

Another food-based turn-around happened after that when I saw there were deep-fried Oreos at one of the food-tents. I stopped, asked if the cook liked them, and was quickly dissuaded when he said that wasn't a good idea.

Because he has deep-fried cheesecake on a stick.

=O

He lifted this pre-packaged slice from the freezer, and we both knew I was sold. A ten dollar upsell later, the guy was right -- it was awesome to have something that tasty go from hot to cold. I ate about three fourths of it before I concede this cannot be good for me. I heard a quote recently about trying to treat my body like a retirement account, and this was the first time I let that quote influence me. Nine out of ten doctors would recommend acting on the quote sooner and more often probably, but dangit the fair's in town.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/9/0/AABgm0AAE03C.jpg

Meet Thomas.

First thought: the first escape sequence from Ori and the Blind Forest.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

I presume they'd be fine with you parking there so long as you're a paying customer too. From what I gather that's saying "Don't park here for the fair if you're not gonna eat too."

I can now confirm this is correct.

WHOSE PRIZE IS IT ANYWAY

Where the rules are made up each year and the shoes don't matter.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

I presume one or both of them will say "So you really do know what you're doing, don't you?" when you reappear.

This is what happened in 2019. As soon as they saw me, they accused me: "oh, you trying to finesse me?"

I'm gonna see how long I can play dumb with them about getting lucky and trying to get lucky again...but realistically, the truth will reveal itself today or maybe tomorrow.

At this point, I just want to see when they realize I'm built different. Non-zero chance we already crossed that threshold.

I asked about the most crucial thing to the future of this topic: when the rules say "PRIZE LIMIT," what does that mean? She said that's why I can't use the rest of my turns. I ask if that meant one prize per fair or one per day or what?

She said "Like, one per day."

Folks, I will see you tomorrow.https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/1/AABgm0AAE0vt.jpg

Through-out all this, how was I behaving?

I never met these game-runners before. I asked my friends to play it cool. Rys just lost like a casual should. I was looking for their tricks but they possibly used fewer tricks this time than in the past. All of those informed me being more casual here in my tone, but also...like, I'd much rather have the practice than not...but I've been training for the past month, and that can be its own nerve-wracking mental block when you finally get to put your money on the line in their house for an actual prize with friends watching. I've practiced a lot, ranging from normal rounds to making the bottle face the other way for hard mode to even giving myself one chance each day to stand the bottle in under ten seconds for both the speed and the pressure...but the fair ain't so fair when you're surrounded by their lights, speakers, employees, and their ride called Raptor Attack.

So, I really took my time and I got in my head -- kinda nervous now, right, and I bit my tongue pretty hard there for my last try. I stood it on the third try, and Rys came in hard with celebrations which got me celebrating too. The female game-runner made fun of us, saying she never saw anybody celebrate this hard for the game. I ask her how people normally celebrate, She said most people walk off cool. We pick the prize -- give me the one I haven't won before. We're still laughing like fools and taking pictures. I still have two tries left that I can't use too, so Rys gets them and fails to win the lottery both times.

At this point, I suspect she can tell I know how to play it well, but I don't think she gave a direct sign that she knew. What she did give a direct sign for though was what she thought of my shoes. I wore my B8-special Stacy Adams from like nearly a decade ago from when Yo made a fashion topic. He recommended red ones, but I got the blue and they were a decent bit brighter than expected...should have listened to Yo, but I kept them and liked them. I wore them here, and she said -- to the side where she didn't think I could hear her -- that she never saw anybody win in bowling shoes before. I play-shout back they were my lucky Stacy Dashes, which is an incorrect thing to say for multiple reasons, and then we laughed and it was all good. It's not the first time I've heard that comment before.

Almost done posting.

Rys went first and was doing things I did not want him to do. Not in the coaching sense, but the scouting sense. I'll explain -- basically I wanted to see our first game-runner Brock do the game himself. I wanted Brock to show us both that the game could be beaten so I could play on his board and also so I can see his technique in case he's doing something I don't realize needs to be done for their version. At this point, I couldn't even tell if the platforms would shift like last year. The platforms are clear too so it was hard to see the angle too...

...and Rys, man, he was killing me at this point. Brock tried to show us twice! The first time, I was asking Brock to do it outside of the booth like we do so we could see it be more real to our experience...but Rys went "oh okay" too quick and cut off the tutorial. Nooooooooooo. After Rys threw away his five dollars due to me not rubbing enough of my good luck on him earlier, I step up next. I ask Brock again to show me...and as he steps out of the booth to show us, Rys starts taunting him and making fun of his form! Noooooooooooooooooooooo some more, noooooooooooooooo! I really don't know that Brock -- who has been at this for a year now -- I don't know that Brock can do this because Rys was right, his form was bad. It was bad enough to me that it just made me want to see him do it more so I could see how it worked. Oh well!

I tried it one time with Brocki and lost five dollars, but then I saw the other game-runner on the other end of the game and I saw her stand it up. I go to her game at this point and pay another five dollars. No avail this time either. I start to get flashbacks about going home empty-handed like once long ago.

I had asked Brock earlier if I could try extra tries for ten dollars and he said no. This other game-runner offered me three tries for ten dollars though, so I took her up on it.

These twenty dollars total were my last dollars spent for the day.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/9/AABgm0AAE0vN.jpg

(oh wow they accept Venmo and Cashapp now, just noticed)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/7/AABgm0AAE0vL.jpg
Notice the platforms to the right side. They both simplified the game and made the game more difficult compared to last year.

The simplification: there is no longer a FLAT board that needs bottle-weight on the edge to tilt the platform. That was a very clever thing they did last year, and I guess they saw it didn't stop me and it wasn't worth the assembly to do it again.

The complication: I'm pretty sure the platforms, while slanted, are more flat than before. This sounds easier but is actually harder -- when you raise the bottle, you need the bottle to hit something before it has too much momentum and no incline to stop its wobble.

In the corner, you can also see the rules. Most are as expected, but one rule just keeps changing over the years since I arrived.

Originally:
One prize per person per day

Last year:
One prize per person

This year:
PRIZE LIMIT

That's it, just "PRIZE LIMIT" on the pillar. What the crunk.

We will figure that out later. Time for us to play.

I return to the holy land and it is time.

Let's talk about the game for a minute. If you want to hear me talk about it for ten minutes:

https://worldchannel.org/episode/sfts-rocky-top-remembers/
(starts at 9:54)

tl;dr: use a shower-ring fishing pole to stand a beer bottle up on a slanted platform, and you get the biggest prize at the fair.

That's for the newbies, but some of you are aficionados of the trade. This is for you, the fans of inside baseball, the people who talk about why jokes work, and overall the tasteful and cultured.

Let's get you some visuals.

I walk over to a nearby booth where you can throw three darts at balloons for ten dollars. The sign said kids win a prize every time, and I -- foolishly -- thought they would give me a prize just for trying too. NOPE.

I got two balloons to pop, but I threw my second dart exactly where the first balloon was at. He offers me another chance to throw three darts for $10, and if I just hit one of them this time for a third balloon total he's give me a prize...what a nice guy. However, their prizes are tiny and puny and not at all worth $20. I will do better soon. We playfully haggle awhile but eventually shake hands and part ways.

Talked with the carnival worked awhile! Jimbo seemed to be wheelchair-bound and struck me as "if Mike from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul had more of a military vibe." He said he worked the carnival for thirty-five years. YEARS! I asked him how long he's done this game and he said twenty-eight years. YEARS AGAIN! That's a long time to watch people pop balloons! I asked him if there was something that stuck with him about the game, and he said it felt more peaceful than other games...it tooks him an extra quarter-second longer than usual to answer this, which felt subtlety notable. I walk by the game later and don't see him this time, so I wondered how much he said was true and how much was messing with me...figured he just left early since there was a new woman in his place, but who knows.

Okay, so no easy prize, but I did get a filler post for a message board out of it for ten bucks. That's worthwhile, right? SMASH THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON AND DONATE TO MY PATREON

We're done with the sidequest now. Let's return to the main plot: whoopin' that ass at making beer bottles vertical.

Today was a stressful day, but nobody gives a daggum damn about that including me because tonight was great. Just know my heart hasn't gotten much rest today.

My friend Rys and I made plans to meet some other friends at the fair tonight. They all know what I can do. The friends we were meeting have a family. The friend riding with me walked over to my house unexpectedly drunk. An exciting start.

We tried to follow through on past years' plans to park at a local restaurant, eat, walk to the fair, walk back, leave, repeat each day until their put a sign on my vehicle, talk to the manager about it, shake hands, and be cool the rest of the time I needed. However, this time they had a cardboard sign up that said NO FAIR PARKING, WILL TOW. Another exciting start. We changed course and drove around to look for cheaper parking than $20...eventually found some for $5, and it wasn't a ten-minute difference in walking.

We walk in and look for both our friends and the star attraction: Stand The Bottle. While we're there looking though, Rys made a sudden decision: friends and prizes can wait for Tractor Trivia. Without missing a beat, he us now controlling a buzzer for the next five minutes as he competes against probably ten-year-olds on questions like "What sound is this? *sound of a chainsaw which I thought was a motorcycle*" and "What do you call a bunch of bees? *not a murder of bees like he guessed*"...this lasted five minutes, which feels like a long time because there is a timer counting the seconds. Rys did a whole lot of winking at his wrong answers and he tried giving the other kids the answer -- just trying to be a friendly older brother-type of personality here. He was funny to see and he eventually won an inflatable microphone for a consolation prize (not very tractor-themed). When we met up with our other friends we were meeting, Rys blew up the microphone and gave it to one of their kids. Classy, even when impulsively holding things up. He then buys us funnel cake and corn dogs, where I quickly scalded my mouth with a coat of powdered sugar.

We walk around awhile and do not see the game in the only two spots I've even seen it before...I start to stress...but then, in the very back corner, we see the holy land.

It was beautiful -- they doubled their real estate, and they were hanging up the blue/green/pink snakes I won in 2019. It felt like that peaceful nostalgic area in The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. I already won those though, and the only other prize were these bulls acting like Pepe Le Pew with the roses in their mouth...had to get one of those.

But not yet. I need another carnival story first.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/0/6/AABgm0AAE0t6.jpg

=)

The eagle has landed. We will see if anything''s in the nest.

Today's the day. All I need is my game.

_Blur_ posted...

I dunno, but if I never told you, your stand up about that fair game is absolutely hilarious. You're genuinely extremely talented at standup comedy.

Oh hey, forgot to put that in here lol:

https://worldchannel.org/episode/sfts-rocky-top-remembers/
(starts at 9:54)

Thank you very much!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/7/AABgm0AAE0fF.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/6/AABgm0AAE0fE.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/5/AABgm0AAE0fD.jpg

Just one year of the big haul.

The 2019 Finesse Collection:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/4/AABgm0AAE0fC.jpg

wallmasterz posted...

Oh snap its that time again

what are we at year 4 of this thread or so?

2009 - went once, lost $35 trying
2010 - went once, won once
2018 - went twice, won twice
2019 - went ten times, won ten times (think I began the topics this year)
2020 - they closed the whole fair down "because of the pandemic"...but we know why
2021 - went once, did not have the game
2022 - went once, won once -- they changed the rules from one prize per person per day to one prize per person and also made the game harder
2023 - spoiler tag

masterplum posted...

Voting for 0 again as I think the game not being there is more likely than any other specific number

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/4/AABgm0AAE0ea.png

I feel like I just learned history. Really tiny history.

I used to pronounce Blanka as Blinka.

My dog Blanka wasn't confused. Unsure if anybody else was confused or just patient enough to let me as a kid slide with that.

Only seen a few episodes but this was excellent.

9.5/10

I think it's been seven days for a long time.

Marsha Blackburn is repeatedly embarrassing while Gloria Johnson is the real deal. Please please please.....

https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-senate-election-gloria-johnson-2024-0af4029fcd1e725c5340928aaf072aa1

In a direct comparison, I fear she won't do as well as Phil Bredeson in 2018 as a former governor that once won every county but lost to Blackburn by about eleven points. Johnson has less statewide exposure or known statewide support in that measure, so there's room for doubt. Also though, people are much more pissed about in-state politics than usual too thanks to this year. The Covenant school shooting, the expulsions of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson alongside being one vote shy of expelling Gloria -- the "Tennessee Three" -- and the attempts of suppressing the LGBTQ community via outlawing public drag performers shortly before Pride Month "to protect the kids" despite Governor Bill Lee having dressed in drag during high school...those have all been riling people up for change.

This will be a worthy test to see if there actually is a change happening in Tennessee politics or not. Looking forward to the polling and crossing fingers along the way.

Hard Mode.