Spotted: Carnival Shooting game by the Bosphorous

Spotted in: Istanbul, Turkey
Çarşamba, Ocak 25. 12:30pm
Around Europe everyone has their hustle, in Turkey its abundant and gets really creative. Some are legitimate enterprises whilst others are not unlike Rigged Carnie Games.

I spotted a spectacle by the port towards the IDO Feribot that put a big smile on my face. A man was blowing balloons and tying them onto a wire between two poles wedged on the port rocks. Around him, cans and whisky bottles were arranged in rows. On the main boardwalk a few metres away lay a stool with 2 pellet rifles affixed to it. It was a Carnival shooting game, wıth the Bosphorous as the backdrop.

It cost 1 Turkish Lira for 4 shots. No prizes to be won, simply paying for the privilege of momentary awesomeness! I watched as he proudly arranged his target fantasyland, helped him up from the rocks below and patted him on the back.

As I walked away grinning, I saw another man setting up the same game. The first was more elaborate but reluctantly I had to deduct 'cool' points from the originality column.