TUB O’ MULARKEY

Tattooed Man Loses Life Savings, Gains Dreadlocked Banana, In Carnival Game

By Elizabeth C.

HENRY GRIBBOHM IS KEEPING BITTER COMPANY WITH A LIFESIZED DREADLOCKED BANANA after losing $2,600 in a carnival game.

It seems prudent to suggest that Gribbohm might suffer from impulse issues. But the New Hampshire resident says he was suckered out of his life savings when he set out to win a XBox Kinect while playing ‘Tubs Of Fun’ at a Manchester carnival.

The tattooed dad claims he was good at landing the balls in the buckets during practice. But then his luck changed when he he ponied up for real play. He quickly raced through the $300 he had with him, then dashed home for another $2,300 he had stashed away.

“You just get caught up in the whole ‘I’ve got to win my money back,’” he told Boston’s WBZ-TV.

Of course, clarity comes with time, and in Gribbohm’s case that was 24 hours later. That’s when he headed back to the carnival to complain he was defrauded — and left with a large dreadlocked banana as well as a $600 cash return.

“It’s not possible that it wasn’t rigged,” he charges. He also filed a complaint with Manchester police.

John Flynn, vice president of Fiesta Shows, says it’s “next to impossible” to lose such a large amount of money in the game, but he also contends “I know it’s a difficult game. I’ve tried it myself — I’ve done it once, missed probably 20 times.”

Nevertheless, the game’s contractor has been temporarily suspended pending the results of an investigation.