Help finding a game

[Fig]

OK Does anyone know the name (and some pics) of the game that you try to roll a bowling ball over a bump and try to hit the light to win a prize?
Ive played it a cedar point.

Thanks for your help

[AlanS17]

Is this a video game or some other sort of game?

[ChadTower]

It's a prize game... I know exactly what he is talking about.  You have two rails, probably about a half inch thick.  They are curved like a sine wave (I think that's how a sine wave is, anyway).  You roll the bowling ball over the first hump, hopefully slowly enough that it does not also roll over the second after coming down the backside of the first.  If it does not, you win a stuffed animal.

EDIT:  found it, my desc was a bit off.

Roller Bowler:

[Fig]

ChadTower,
Thats it 

I love to play this game at cedar point.
I was thinking about making one for my game room. Now that I know the name I can do some research on the web

Thanks again ChadTower 

[Fig]

Found one on Ebay

2,500$ just a little to high for me 

eBay Link

[Crazy Cooter]

I don't get it .

Are the bars spaced closer on the back of the ramp or something?  It *seems* like you couldn't help but win.  But if these really fetch $2500, it has to be tough.

[Fig]

I find it really challenging. I only won a few times on it at cedar point. You really get pissed of at one point cause you tell yourself its not that hard and buy the end of the game you have put about 10-15 $$ into it to win a .50 toy.

[paigeoliver]

I don't get it .

Are the bars spaced closer on the back of the ramp or something?  It *seems* like you couldn't help but win.  But if these really fetch $2500, it has to be tough.

They don't, check the sellers other items, if those REALLY sold for $2500 then he would have them listed for $15,000.

Heres a classic example of how this seller operates.

Die Hard Arcade
http://cgi.ebay.com/Die-Hard-Standup-Arcade-Game_W0QQitemZ6175150761QQcategoryZ13716QQcmdZViewItem

Listed for $1695
I have never seen one sell for over $300, they are usually more around $200.

Those bowlers probably didn't even cost $2.5 K new, as there isn't anything to them.

[walls83]

http://www.ppimfg.com/games.htm

they sell it for 350 bucks. 

[RayB]

I agree it's not worth $2500 but that $350 Roller Bowler is NOT the same thing. That $350 one is just rails. It's the kind they run at carnivals. The one the guy is selling for $2500 is fully coin operated with a siren and other stuff (ticket dispenser?)

[Crazy Cooter]

You could take the $350 one and add a switch (optical?) that fires when the ball stays over it for 3 seconds.  I think it would be easy to make (of course I know little about making my own circuits).

[SirPoonga]

I don't get it .

Are the bars spaced closer on the back of the ramp or something?  It *seems* like you couldn't help but win.  But if these really fetch $2500, it has to be tough.

I'm with you, I don't see the difficulty, unless it was slightly inclined or something.

Plus I only see one hump, not two.

"You roll the bowling ball over the first hump, hopefully slowly enough that it does not also roll over the second after coming down the backside of the first." 

[RayB]

The way it works is that the ball is supposed to stop after the first hump. If you push it too strong, it comes BACK over the first hump, back to the starting point and you lose.

If you push it too lightly, it doesn't get over the hump, and again you lose.

[GameOver]

Hah!  Roller Bowler!  This game is HARD.  Looks are deceiving!  I remember seeing this one at county fairs & carnivals.  The game guy was all 'ROLLER BOWLER...BOWLER ROLLER...ROLLER BOWLER! STEP RIGHT UP AND TRY YOUR LUCK!'

You'd swear it was easy as pie by looking at it but it's nearly impossible...

[JackTucky]

What he said 

If you roll it too hard, it goes up the incline at the end and right back.

If you roll it too soft, it doesn't get over the hill at all.

The chumps who work there can do it everytime.  Everyone else usually fails.

I've won a couple times.  I agree.  It is fun.

At a church fair last week, they had a game where you drop ping pong balls to get 4 across.  I've seen lots of variations on that, including rolling rubber balls down a ramp to get a poker hand, etc.  That ping pong thing was easy to build and very addicting for me.

Art

[Crazy Cooter]

It has to be easy because the math doesn't work (in my head anyhow).  The only thing I can think of is there must be something with the spacing of the bars.

I'd guess that at the backside of the hump the bars are bent closer together.  In my mind, that would make the ball roll faster.  Right?  Then it would roll further up the slope (bars probably closer there too) and be able to roll all the way back to the start.  If you didn't roll it fast enough to get over the hump, then it would also (obviously) roll back to the start.  At least that's how it works in my head, but normal laws do not always apply in there .

[Wade]

That bowling ball has very little friction when rolling on that surface.  It is super efficient, just like a set of ball bearing rollers can make it easy to push something heavy (like a car) around on a super smooth surface.

The reason it is difficult is because the ball rolls so well, that you have to make it JUST BARELY get over the first crest.  Otherwise, because it will return with almost as much energy as it started, it will roll right over the bump and come back to you.

Of course, pushing a bowling ball over a hill with 95% accuracy is not a skill most people have developed!  I can see the difficulty with this game immediately.  The fact that the guys running it have practiced it a million times and can make it look easy, just adds to the illusion that it should be an easy thing to accomplish.

Wade

[MaximRecoil]

Yes, that is a hard game, but a lot of fun. I've never seen a coin-operated one like in the auction, but the regular ones like that $350 one that was linked to are always at the fairs/carnivals. The "carnies" are always challenged (usually after a couple failed attempts by customers) with something like "That's impossible!" or "That game's rigged!" and of course, they will demonstrate that it is very possible; "easy" even, lol. Most people who are determined to succeed at that game will get it through trial and error, but spend more in the process than what the prize is worth.

I get a kick out of the kids that try to stop the ball in the valley with their hands. Carnies don't cotton to that stunt, lol.

[Stingray]

I've played it a time or two at the fair. I agree with everyone else, it's a lot harder than it looks.

-S

[stratjakt]

It *seems* like you couldn't help but win.

Yep, just like the quarter pushers, or milk jug game, or the ring toss (where if you get the ring on the bottle you win a huge stuffed animal).. 

That's how they make so much money.  It's actually really tough to give it just the right amount of force to roll over one hump, and not the next..  Think of the physics of it.. You have a nearly frictionless rail.  Even if the ball was at the top of the first hump with no force but gravity, it would gain enough momentum to make it to the top of the second hump.

So you have to give it just enough force to reach the top of the first hump, with absolutely none extra.  Even an extra quarter ounce of force will take it over the next bump.