Oaks Park Midway Games

I am currently focusing on attractions where the amount of time you have to visit them is limited. 

Currently, Oaks Park is on its Fall 2021 schedule, where the Midway games are only available Friday through Sunday from 12 noon - 7 PM. That lasts through October 7th, when they change over to the Scaregrounds. 

We have been there to play games twice, and have tried all ten games. T

This picture is intended to show you that we found our time worthwhile. On both visits we accomplished what we wanted, stayed under budget, and brought home assorted cool plush, despite not being particularly skilled at these games. 

I found the best value to be at Bob's Fishin' Hole.

Fish ponds are generally popular because anyone can do it and win a prize, but they are also usually over quite quickly. Bob's is more creative.

After netting three fishes and putting them in your bucket, your catch is "weighed", and then you find out what you won. Even when it is the smallest prize, you got to do more to get there, and we enjoyed it.

We won nothing at Ring Toss, but I was impressed by how many rings they give you. I mean, it still appears to be impossible, but you get many more chances to prove it.

For more targeted throwing, your options are Balloon Bust and Wrath of Willamette Willy. 

You see those stacks of three bottles? If you can knock them over, you can win a prize. 

Or you can throw bean bags at balloons that are against needles, so hitting them right will pop them. I feel like I do better throwing actual darts, but this is certainly safer if any of the players go really wild. That can be good, because Balloon Bust is right next to Roller Bowler.

Speaking of impossible! Well, maybe it is possible to get the ball to go over the bump and then come to a rest instead of rolling all the way back. I could not discover the appropriate level of force to do it once, let alone the ten times it would take for the large prize. However, it may still count as a good value, because each turn is only 25 cents. For the $5 you spend at the Fishin' Hole, you could have 20 turns. (But I could go all twenty without winning anything. I didn't, but I could.)

There are no prizes for the shooting gallery, but it can still be fun to try. I found it interesting that you could choose between how many shots or how much time, with each option providing its own specific challenges. I chose the number of shots, because that felt like less pressure and I really need time to use the sight.

What would a midway be without a water race game? I felt like this was a particularly good one because I beat my sisters both times we played. They might feel differently. 

The final two games (there is an arcade with video games, though we did not try that) were right next to each other: Pug Plinko and Sweet Spin.

Yes Plinko is like the game on The Price Is Right, but you don't have to climb a ladder to do it. The Sweet Spin is pretty simple: you spin and the color tells you which size prize you get. It's kind of like a traditional fish pond, where it is over really quickly, but it is easy to play and you are guaranteed to win something.

But that is not all! Right now you can ride the train for free.

There is not a lot of leg room, but adults can ride the train in a loop that reminds you of the option to picnic at the park, with plenty of shade and seating available.

After all, three adult sisters is still family fun.

https://www.oakspark.com/games