Watch a real rocket scientist figure out (and beat) carnival scams

As a parent you often are forced by your tyrannical children to try carnival games. This, according to ex-NASA and JPL engineer Mark Rober, is a bad idea. Rober and his friends – including a professional baseball player – dismantle every carnival game they can find, assessing the probabilities of winning and point out that the only ones you could feasibly win are the throwing games and even those are stacked against you.

It’s a fascinating and fun look at carnival games from a real scientist but I doubt it will help you get around having to play the shoot the star game in order to get a Taylor Swift pillow for your eight-year-old.