Fair and square?

Danette Goulet

FAIRGROUNDS -- Enormous stuffed animals in vibrant colors hang

invitingly over the games of chance.

Each Kermit, Tweety Bird and Pokemon is bigger than the last.

Once a fair-goer’s eyes are attracted to the bright displays, one of

several carnival workers at the Orange County Fair will begin their spiel

with promises of prizes and extra chances to entice the passerby to stop

and try their luck.

Newport Beach resident Stephanie Grody juggled two bulbous Tweety

Birds and a Pokemon character as she tried to pull more money out of her

wallet. Her three children and their three friends were eager to play a

fishing game.

“All right guys, we’ve got to get Daddy a big Kermit,” she hollered.

“It’s been pretty neat. We got these Tweety Birds in just two tries.”

Most of the patrons milling around the midway agreed on one thing:

some games were a snap and some nearly impossible.

“Some are easy and some are hard,” said 7-year-old Matthew Portner,

who was visiting his cousins in Huntington Beach. “The dart game was hard

and the water game was easy.”

In games such as the Top Spin, the water gun race where customers play

against each other, there is always a winner.

At other game booths, people continuously walked away disgruntled.

“I think the basketball game, you’re throwing your money away,”

declared David Serinsky, who was trying to win prizes for his bride of 58

years. “We just do it for fun.”

Each had their favorite game -- and the game that got away.

“I have to say, the one where you toss the ring over the bottle is

almost impossible -- and the one where you throw the ball against the

wall into a basket,” said Scott Scruggs, of Seal Beach. “But this pool

one’s pretty easy -- that’s my favorite. I play it every year.”