DIY Goldfish Carnival Game Guide

Everyone who attended a carnival growing up remembers the goldfish game. Toss a ping pong ball into a glass fishbowl to win a goldfish in a bag to take home. For this DIY version of the game, we've kept the idea of the game alive, but got rid of the live goldfish prize in favor of a more modern approach.

Supplies

The game supplies you'll need are just the same as you remember. You'll need:

• Goldfish bowls
• Ping pong balls
• A playing table
• Blue, green and red food coloring
• Prizes

That's it. You can get almost everything required to run the game here at American Carnival Mart.

Set Up

1. Fill your goldfish bowls with water. The water level does not matter, so fill them however high you consider to be aesthetically pleasing.
2. Dye some of the water. Our suggested ratio is 50% undyed, 30% blue, 15% green and 5% red. So, if you were to use 20 bowls for your game, that would mean 10 would be undyed, 6 would be blue, 3 would be green and 1 would be red.
3. Arrange the goldfish bowls in rows 1" apart on a 3' to 4' game table. The ideal table height is anywhere from 18" to 24".
   

TIP: Build a simple table with slats and a ball return to assist in collecting balls.

How to Play

Each player gets 3 balls. The player stands 4' away from the table and tries to land a ping pong ball into a bowl. If a ball lands in a clear water bowl, the player gets a small prize. If a ball lands in a blue water bowl, the player gets a medium prize. If a ball lands in a green water bowl, the player gets a large prize. If a ball lands in a red water bowl, the player gets a choice prize.

TIP: Multiple players can play at once if you have enough bowls set up.

Prizes

For this game you will need four different tiers of prizes. The table below breaks down game price, prize cost and how many prizes we recommended for a 4 hour event:

See all of our prizes here.

Get Playing!

The goldfish game is a classic carnival game that is great for a wide range of ages, from young children to young adults. So, water you waiting for? Bring this popular game to life at your next carnival.