It's banal to you as an adult, because it's not rare or new.
Adults do the same thing in more exotic and expensive contexts.
That consideration > prize isn't part of this common definition.
The first few years I hated this for exactly the reasons you mention, but now I'm just happy they are happy. I think I have a few more years left before they don't want to go rubber ducky fishing with their dad no more and I doubt by then €20 gets me 2 minutes of joy with them.
Seems to me it's €20 for a day (8h? 16h?) of fun. That's not bad value: how much does a movie ticket cost for 2-3 hours?
Heck they could run their own carnie games at home with Temu toys. Invite the kid's friends and it would be just as fun.
The fact that the item was won as a prize imparts on it an (psychological) 'aura' that simply buying it does not. Related:
It's like video game arcades. When you had to pay to play for 2 minutes, it was way more exciting than now playing in an emulator
As an adult, if I went and they said it cost 0€, I think I'd play too.
People don't pay to get the crap, they pay to have a fun experience and get a memento of it.
The reward of a game is playing it, not the 'prize', although that can add to the enjoyment too.
Oh yes, I got it, they are like the claw machines that have fake bills and iPhones with them (at least that's what I saw too).
But the point of having fun, you know it's a rigged game.
You can just say no. I have never played a single one of those types of games in my life because once I was old enough to work I understood my parents point of view. I'm actually thankful for them teaching me these sorts of lessons no matter how much I hated at the time. It's actually okay to not allow your children participate in cons and scams.
which lesson is it exactly?
2.) Something being fun but expensive is skippable and it is good to be able to say "no" to expensive fun.
It also just helped me understand the value of money, which to say has served me well is a massive understatement. Plus a real understanding of the fact that there's cons dressed up as fun, not everything is as it appears. It's okay to say 'no' to high pressure sales tactics.
But, again, we simply just didn't have room in the house for junk carnival prizes from a practical perspective.
Can't get through life without gambling at least a little bit.
Even taking out a life insurance policy is making a bet you're going to die before it expires
My 7-year-old son (who by the way loves math) always wants to go there. I can't help but explain that the payoff is horrendous from any point of view, and he understands and doesn't argue against it, but he still insists. Sometimes I convince him by offering alternatives, but sometimes I have to cave because he seems to like it so much. But man, spending euros on that stings, I have the feeling that the people who run the stall must be laughing at all the suckers who fall into the trap.