We constructed a 30'x25' building that looks like an old barn and packed it full of targets including a rescued 1940's era pickup truck. This interactive infra-red shooting gallery has twelve computerized gun stations. Guests shoot from a boardwalk with a crooked roof overhead, or from two wheelchair-accessible stations. The trigger shoots light signals that initiate a little show when they hit any one of sixty targets. So folks can put in money for 18 shots with plenty of time, or they can have one minute with unlimited shots. In either mode, the gallery kicks out a prize capsule to the winner.
The gallery is intentionally wacky. The exterior is a crooked old barn, half-fallen down, with lots of junk attached to it. The interior has a blacksmith, shelves with junk that fall down, mice that pop put of drawers and scurry, and a fish that jumps in a bathtub. There are four chickens that lay eggs as fast as you can shoot 'em. The pickup truck talks and has eyeballs in the windshield that blink. And there's an ahooga horn on the truck and train horn to shoot.
Sitting on the roof is an animatronic farmer fox that's missing teeth and calling out to people to come play. There's even a dumb, goofy goat and an obnoxious, heckling crow. So there's loads of entertainment, singing, teasing, joking and surprises.
If you have a chance to go to the CA Mid-State Fair, be sure to check out the shooting gallery!
