My article about the history of the high striker is published in the July issue of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to carnivalwarehouse.com, the amusement industry website. The strongman game is said to have inspired the phrase "close, but no cigar!," because a cigar was your prize if you rang the bell. First patented in 1885, the high striker was originally a block of wood attached by springs to a clocklike dial. Among the photos in the article are a still from the 1917 silent movie Coney Island starring Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle and a photo of me working the electronic high striker at the Big A Fair with Wade Shows in 2003.
