Police Test Carnival Games for Fairness

Buffalo Grove police serve and protect and, this week, they are also making sure no one will get ripped off at the Buffalo Grove Days carnival.

Each year an officer inspects the carnival games before they open to the public, ensuring that each game’s sign displays clear information about rules and prizes and that the game itself is in no way rigged.

“I go around and make sure the games are fair,” said Sgt. Scott Eisenmenger, who conducted his inspection Thursday afternoon before the carnival opened.

As he walked the grounds, he tested some of the games, making sure that basketballs were properly inflated and that they would fit through the hoops, checking the bottles that contestants will attempt to knock down with softballs, trying to win a goldfish by tossing a ping pong ball into a bowl and challenging a reporter to a water gun race. (The reporter, who prevailed, agreed that the game was fair.)

“I’ve worked for Buffalo Grove for 18 years and we’ve never had any issue with the games,” said Eisenmenger, who found no problems with this year’s games.

The Buffalo Grove Fire Department inspected the carnival rides earlier in the day, he said. 

The Buffalo Grove Days carnival opens at 6 p.m. Thursday and runs, along with other festivities, through Monday.

Related:

• Your Guide to Buffalo Grove Days 2013
• An Insider's Guide to Buffalo Grove Days
  
• Haley Reinhart to Headline Buffalo Grove Days
• Buffalo Grove Days Requires 'Hundreds and Hundreds of Volunteer Work