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Estimating quantities for
instant prizes
Determining how many instant prizes you will need
for a game is not too difficult if you have some idea of how many players you
expect to have at your carnival. We covered this topic under in Planning (see
Determine Your Budget) but it is worth repeating here. If you know how to use a
spreadsheet (like Quicken or Excel) it will make your work much easier. I have
an example Excel spreadsheet that I can email
to you on request.
-
Determine how many
players can play the game during your carnival You could make a chart
like this:
|
If
our carnival is 3 hours (180 minutes) long, |
| And the game takes this long: |
Then this many can play: |
|
30 seconds |
360 players |
|
1 minute |
180 players |
|
2 minutes |
90 players |
|
3 minutes |
60 players |
Do a
reality check here -- If you are only expecting 50 players at your carnival, you
probably won't get 360 players per game, unless it is so fun they want to play
it 5 or 6 times!
-
Out of the possible
number of players, how many will win at each level? That is, if you
have a game where the player throws three beanbags, how many will get one,
two, or three down? This is somewhat of a guess on your part unless you've
had this game at your carnival before. You could make a chart like this:
|
If 180 players can do this
game in 3 hours, |
| Then at this level: |
I expect to have this many
winners: |
| Level 1 - One hit on target |
84 |
| Level 2 - Two hits on target |
60 |
| Level 3 - Three hits on target |
36 |
-
Come up with target cost
for prizes for the game. You could make a chart like this:
|
If 180 players do this
game, |
| And this many win: |
And prizes for this
level cost: |
| Level 1 prize |
84 winners |
$0.05 each |
| Level 2 prize |
60 winners |
$0.10 each |
| Level 3 prize |
36 winners |
$0.30 each |
|
Then this game's prizes
will cost: (84*$0.05)+(60*$0.10)+(36*$0.30)=$21.00. |
- Estimate the average cost of a prize per
player, to make sure you are going to make a profit on the game.
Cost of prizes for the
game / Number of players = Cost per player
So for our example, it
would be $21.00 / 180 = $0.12 per player. So as long as it costs at least $0.12
to play the game, you are going to come out ahead.
-
Plan to order more
than you need. Realize that the numbers you come up with here are only
estimates. Order more than you think you will need to give yourself a
cushion.
-
Choose
your prizes. This is the fun part! Go through catalogs and look for
prizes that are close to the amounts you want to spend. In my example, I would look for prizes that
cost around 4 cents, 10 cents, and 30 cents. Remember that
you just have to average these amounts, you can go over and under as long as
you come close. Have a few choices, your first choice may be sold out.
-
Check
your work. After your carnival, take an inventory of your leftover
prizes. Did you run out of items? Did you have tons left over?
Write it all down for next year's carnival. This will help tremendously in
the future.
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