# Carnival attraction with sledgehammer and bell: What is it called? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 30, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965 "2014-08-30T15:28:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/21 "2014-09-01T13:03:59Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Exactly. I have seen these machines in operation, but I have never heard the term “high striker” before. I am not convinced it is not just a name some Wikipedian made up (like “[Brazilian aardvark](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732341)”). There is no citation given to support the name “High Striker”. It is a Test Your Strength machine. It certainly may be the name as it’s known by carnies, who have their own language, or the product name of the first machine produced. It’s just not known in popular use, while most people would know what you were talking about if you asked about a carnival “Test Your Strength” machine. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/22 "2014-09-01T17:31:01Z")
With the caveat that there are multiple machines that could be described as “Test your strength”-- That label is also used for machines with triggers you squeeze, for instance. And I had always heard that the bell-at-the-top sort depended more on training for that specific task than on actual strength, so the carnie could “rig” it even if it was perfectly honest just by training for it, so he could hit the bell while stronger men without the right technique couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/23 "2014-09-01T18:11:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I had always heard that the bell-at-the-top sort depended more on training for that specific task than on actual strength, so the carnie could “rig” it even if it was perfectly honest just by training for it, so he could hit the bell while stronger men without the right technique couldn’t. Yes, that’s what I was trying (somewhat ineloquently) to describe. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/24 "2014-09-01T19:10:05Z")
No, I mean leaving the apparatus just the way it was, but hitting it using a different motion. I wasn’t even aware that the fulcrum point was adjustable. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/25 "2014-09-01T23:16:13Z")
I’ve been told by people running these things that the trick to ringing the bell is to land the mallet on the very end of the lever. Most guys land their blow square on the pad, losing the mechanical advantage of a few more inches’ leverage. Of course, if the game is gigged, it doesn’t really matter what you do. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/26 "2014-09-01T23:33:20Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Apparently it’s real name is “High Striker”: [Popular Science Monthly September 1933](http://books.google.de/books?id=_CcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59&dq=%22high+striker%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hmAEVNaBFIj_OcKGgfgI&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22high%20striker%22&f=false) That article was even linked to in the wiki article where njtt thinks the name was made up. If it was made up, it was made up nearly 80 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/27 "2014-09-01T23:59:21Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If it was made up, it was made up nearly 80 years ago. I didn’t realize Wikipedia was that old. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/28 "2014-09-02T00:06:00Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I didn’t realize Wikipedia was that old. njtt accused the wiki author of making up the term. I was just pointing out that the cite [the Popular Mechanics article] that was used to back up that the term has been around since the '30’s, was linked to in the wiki article itself. That means that if someone made up that term, they made it up 80 years ago, the wiki author didn’t invent it. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/29 "2014-09-02T01:37:18Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > njtt accused the wiki author of making up the term. . . Yeah, I know. I was making a joke (or trying to) based on that. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/30 "2014-09-02T09:32:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, I mean leaving the apparatus just the way it was, but hitting it using a different motion. I wasn’t even aware that the fulcrum point was adjustable. Sorry, I’m not communicating this very well at all! I agree with you (and **gotpasswords** ) that hitting the pad in a particular way is more likely to be successful. In addition (or separately) to this, some machines also have an adjustable ‘difficulty level’ by means of moving the fulcrum. My first post on this topic attempted to make both points but wasn’t quite clear. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965/31 "2014-09-03T00:55:39Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I didn’t realize Wikipedia was that old. It is, but back in '33 it was called “The Magic Lantern Encycloramascope”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnival-attraction-with-sledgehammer-and-bell-what-is-it-called/696965.md?page=1)