SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Life savings lost at a carnival, all for a giant banana

Apr 30, 2013, 1:55 PM | Updated: 4:16 pm

Henry Gribbohm lost his entire life savings trying to win an XBox Kinect at a carnival. All he got ...

Henry Gribbohm lost his entire life savings trying to win an XBox Kinect at a carnival. All he got was this sad banana. (Photo: WBZ-TV Screen grab)

(Photo: WBZ-TV Screen grab)

Henry Gribbohm just wanted to have a good time, but he lost his life savings in an effort to win an XBox Kinect at a carnival in New Hampshire.

“You’re expecting the kids to win a few things, let the kids have a good time,” Henry told WBZ-TV. “It just didn’t turn out that way.”

Henry was playing a game called Tubs of Fun at the Manchester carnival Saturday when he got fixated on the prize. He had practiced throwing the balls into the carnival tubs, but when he started playing for prizes the balls just bounced away.

He lost $300 in just a few minutes, playing double-or-nothing to try to get back his money. But he didn’t give up, and he went home to get $2,300 he had in savings. And then he lost it.

Henry didn’t win the $79 XBox, but he did come away with a giant, stuffed banana for his $2,600 investment.

“It’s a six-foot, giant banana with a smiley face and dreadlocks,” said Dori.

Now Henry has filed a police report, saying the carnival game must have been rigged – and Dori, Ursula, and producer Jake agree with him. But aren’t all carnival games rigged?

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Life savings lost at a carnival, all for a giant banana