By Dan Ferris
HENR ONE MAN'S DEVASTATING LOSS... AND HOWTO AVOID IT YOURSELF
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Tubs of Fun is a simple carnival game. You throw a softball into a plastic tub from a few feet away. The object is to make the ball stay in the tub. It sounds easy, but it’s not. The ball is too bouncy and the tub is too hard. It’s difficult to keep the ball from bouncing out of the tub. The player has the illusion he’s throwing a ball into a container. But he’s really just throwing it at a solid wall. To make it worse, the worker running the game lets you take a practice throw. First, he drops a softball in the tub... And it stays, because he’s standing right next to the tub. Then, you throw a softball... And the ball he dropped in absorbs the energy from the one you threw, so your ball stays, too. But when you play for real money, you can only throw the ball into an empty tub.
If you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, you won’t figure this trick out. But hey, it’s a carnival game. Everybody knows you’re not supposed to win, right? Well, no. Not everybody... Enter Henry Gribbohm, a tough-looking, tattooed young man with a toddler to care for and $300 in cash burning holes in the pockets of his dusty work pants. On a spring day several years ago, Gribbohm walked into the Fiesta Shows traveling carnival in Epsom, New Hampshire. He walked out shortly after, his pockets empty and a large stuffed banana toy with a smiley face and dreadlocks draped across the top of his toddler’s stroller. A news reporter said the funky banana toy was worth $149. Gribbohm watched the worker do his little practice throw routine and didn’t figure out
American Consequences
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