List of Carnival Games

Ring Toss Games

• Ring toss games are among the most recognizable and wide-spread of carnival games. The basic concept of a ring toss game involves a player trying to toss a circular ring around a stationary object, such as a bowling pin. There are many variations of the ring toss game, including fish bowl ring toss, where players have to successfully toss a ring around a fish bowl in order to win the fish inside, and floating ring toss, where players have to toss a ring around an object as it floats in water.

Plinko Games

• Plinko is a game that was first made famous on the television game show “The Price is Right,” and has since gathered a spin-off following at several carnivals and state fairs around the country. Carnival employees set up Plinko board, which is a flat board covered in pegs that stands vertically against a wall. Players drop a circular Plinko chip down the top portion of the board and watch as it falls through the various pegs, landing in one of several potential prize sections listed at the bottom of the board.

Prize Wheel Games

• The prize wheel is another simplistic form of game that can be recreated by any carnival company. The game involves a giant wheel that is divided into smaller triangular sections that stem out from the center, like pieces of a pie. Each section is printed with a particular prize, and each section also features a wooden or plastic pole that sticks up from its end, near the wheel’s edge. At the top of the wheel sits another small plastic rod that fits into each section. Players spin the wheel and watch as it is slowed by the rod knocking against the plastic poles in each section. When the wheel stops spinning, the player gets to keep the prize listed in the section where the rod has landed.

Skee Ball Games

• Skee Ball is a game long associated with carnivals and arcades. The game involves a series of rings that are laid out across a table with a slight incline. Players pay for a series of balls that they can roll along the table, with the hopes of landing them inside one of the rings. The smallest and center-most rings on the Skee Ball table earn the largest amounts of prize points, while the larger rings earn the smallest amounts.