Man Loses Life Savings Playing Carnival Game, Wins Giant Banana

On the bright side, he did win a giant banana with dreadlocks.

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CBS WBZ-TV

One man never imagined he would spend his life savings on a giant stuffed banana with dreadlocks.

Henry Gribbohm, 30, lost $2600 – his entire savings – on a game called Tubs of Fun at a Manchester, NH., carnival. He wanted to win an Xbox Kinect (retail value of around $100), but quickly lost $300 on the game when the balls he tossed, bounced out of the tubs. Instead of cutting his losses, he went home to get the rest of his savings, which he lost as well in a few rounds of double or nothing.

“You just get caught up in the whole ‘I’ve got to win my money back,’” Gribbohm told CBS. “You’re expecting the kids to win a few things, let the kids have a good time,” Gribbohm said. “It just didn’t turn out that way.”

Gribbohm went back to the carnival the next day to complain. “It’s not possible that it wasn’t rigged,” Gribbohm told CBS. The man running the game gave him back $600 and a rasta banana, too. Then Gribbohm filed a report with the Manchester Police Department, who are now investigating his claims of fraud.

The owners of the carnival, the New Hampshire-based Fiesta Shows, are also interviewing the contractor who runs the game and told WBZ-TV they are looking to “get to the bottom of what happened.” The game is not being set up at the next carnival stop while both investigations are under way.

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