A high striker, also known as a strength tester, or strongman game, is an attraction used in

funfair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

fundraisers Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, and

carnivals Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

. It operates by utilizing the

lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or ''fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is div ...

where one end holds a puck attached to the tower and the other end is struck by the person or contestant using a

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...

. The aim of players is to ring the bell suspended on top of the tower. If the lever is struck with enough force, the puck will rise high enough to hit the bell, indicating a success. Modern versions use a spring-loaded version of the lever, others use an enclosed striking mechanism. Operators traditionally (or stereotypically) entice people to try the high striker with phrases such as: ''"Step right up!"'',''"Test your strength!"'', or ''"Who are the men out of the boys?"''

Construction

A high striker is usually composed of a heavy base, a long vertical tower, a bell, a puck, a

, and a mallet. Initial versions of the base were of

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

construction; later models were of

unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...

construction. The tower may be of wood,

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

, or aluminum material. The puck/dinger/chaser is suspended to a small groove that runs along the tower's length and can move freely up or down. The bell is identical to that of a traditional school bell in construction, mainly because it is to be struck from the side (bottom). Levers were traditionally constructed with a rubber padding above and below the end where the mallet is supposed to strike, in order to amplify the force and protect the lever. Long-handled 10-pound rubber mallets are used, but can vary depending on the high striker's size.

Types

High strikers come in different shapes and sizes. Heights range from . There are many brands of high strikers commercially available. Most models use a spring-loaded lever that can be adjusted to increase or decrease the force required to propel the puck to hit the bell. Other high strikers are themed in design. The tower can feature an image of a tall person, with the bell representing a part of the head. Electronic high strikers exist in arcades. These variants are not as

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

as the more popular high striker. When the target is hit by the player, sensors underneath determine a measured amount of distance that the puck will climb. Depending on the force, the game will indicate how the player ranked, ranging from poor to excellent.

Social effect

In the 1930s, some high striker operators preyed on young men and rigged (or ''fixed'') the high striker unit to prevent anyone, no matter how strong, from striking the bell. They usually picked a small man to demonstrate how easy it was to swing the mallet and impact the arm, ringing the bell. Then, when a stronger person (usually a young man in his late teens and early 20s) attempted, they failed. Players attempted the game repeatedly to avoid humiliation. Eventually, the operator would allow that player to ring the bell so as to not discourage others from attempting. ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

'' revealed this secret in a 1935 article,"Why You Can't Ring Bell of High Striker" ''Popular Mechanics'', February 1935
/ref> and since then most high striker operators have ceased fixing their units.

References

External links

High Striker – Popular Science – Sep, 1933

MySpace Video clip showing a high striker at play
{Dead link, date=January 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
High Striker
Carnival games

Construction

Types

Social effect

See also

References

External links