It’s all in the wrists.
That might be the tip you’d receive from Peter Drakos, a senior citizen from Detroit who’s mastered nearly every carnival game. In fact, he’s been so good at the ring-toss and knocking bottles over with a baseball that he’s cleaned out many a booth, hefting away carts full of stuffed animals.
But a 65-year-old man has little use for dozens of stuffed bears, inflatable bananas, or plushy crocodiles. Instead, he gives them all away to various charities, sending kids home with a fuzzy friend.
“Sometimes it brings tears to your eyes because you know that they’re really happy,” Drakos said about giving away his winnings.
Drakos first noticed his knack for carnival games at the age of nine, when he tried his hand at the activities at his local fair. He was so good, he walked away with more than 200 prizes, enough to give one to each of his classmates.
Ever since that fateful day at the local fair, Drakos has refined his playing skills, enough to contribute more than 200,000 toys to various charities.
“I am in awe that something he is so talented at makes other people so happy,’ his wife, Veronica, said about her husband’s generosity.
While Drakos has made hundreds of children happy with his ring-tossing, shot-making skills, he’s rankled more than a few booth operators who’ve been left with empty coffers after one of his visits.
“In 15 minutes, I won 32 human-sized bears and they closed down the booth,” Drakos said, remembering a particularly successful ride at a Michigan state fair back in 1982. Local fair managers have instituted rules about how many prizes an individual can win, in no small part due to the skills of Peter Drakos.
“I don’t want to say it’s all because of me, but it’s all because of me,” he told CBS News.
Drakos has even had to take out a storage facility to house all of his winnings, as he wins more than he can give away at a given time. During one particular weekend at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Nevada, Drakos won so many stuffed prizes that he and his wife could not even sleep in their own hotel room. The Tazmanian Devil, Spider-Man, and Tweety Bird were taking up too much room.
“It was wall-to-wall animals,” Drakos told CBS News of his remarkable haul.
But what to do with so many? For Drakos, the answer is simple.
“I give them away. Every one of them.”
And after 250,000 prizes to 50 different charities, it’s safe to say he uses his powers for good.
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