Midway Moments: These game players won big at the fair

Editor’s note: Midway Moments is a column that takes a look at funny, unusual, inspiring — even embarrassing — moments at the 2016 Orange County Fair.

Ever wonder how people win those gigantic stuffed animals at the Orange County Fair? I did too, so I asked a few fairgoers Wednesday night how they did it.

Turns out it’s a mix of skill, luck and sheer determination — sometimes determination to spend money.

Conviction and skill, aided by repeated practice, helped the Sicairos family of Dana Point. The dad, Geo, managed to win his 2-year-old and 9-month-old children a yellow Pikachu so large that it was bigger than the family stroller and kids combined.

“Hey, it’s kids, you know?” Geo said while holding the giant Pokemon character, which will occupy a spot on the family’s sofa bed.

“Anything she wants, she gets,” the mom, Sully, added, referring to her oldest daughter’s desire.

Sully said they spent about $80 getting Pikachu. Geo acquired it by knocking down four metal milk jugs, stacked two on two, with a softball throw. The jugs are heavy and the softball isn’t, so it’s deceptively tricky to accomplish, but not impossible.

“I saw a lot of people try to throw it with force,” Geo said. “You gotta aim in the middle and they all fall down.”

During the conversation, a woman strolled by and snapped a picture on her phone of the Sicairos’ Pikachu.

In a month when “Pokemon Go” has captured the attention of millions, the Sicairos can say they caught the real thing.

Basketball hotshots

Even NBA players can’t easily master the fair’s basketball hoop throw. The disclaimer says the hoop isn’t regulation size or shape. Instead of a circle, it’s more of an oval. So the ball has less room to fall through.

But Ricky Mom and his girlfriend, Emily Meas, beat the odds after five tries and about 50 bucks.

Mom’s successful toss won him a giant yellow duck wearing camo and, it appears, a goatee beneath its beak.

But Mom and Meas faced a problem with their goateed duck. They live in Boston and were in town visiting family.

How will the duck get on the plane?

“Yeah, that’s the reason we might give it away to our little nieces,” Meas said.

The odds seemed against Hector Valdivia of Glendale, probably because one of his companions, Ariel Perez, also from Glendale, didn’t think he could make the shot.

But on his first throw, Valdivia scored into the oval hoop — despite playing basketball only in elementary school. A giant Scooby-Doo was his.

But the problem with winning a giant prize at the fair is having to carry it around the rest of the day.

“I didn’t think about that,” Valdivia said.

Valdivia’s sister Diana and her 3-year old son, Leonardo, also of Glendale, were nearby. Valdivia figured he would give the mystery-solving dog to Leonardo.

Diana asked her son if the Scooby-Doo was his. Leonardo didn’t immediately answer, instead concentrating on eating his Dippin Dots. Then he shook his head.

“You can tell he’s into that ice cream,” Diana said.

Seconds later, though, Leonardo grabbed the bone in Scooby-Doo’s mouth and tugged on it repeatedly. The bone reads “I looove you!” in red letters. (Yes, three o’s.)

“My bone! My bone!” the 3-year-old exclaimed. “I’m taking the bone.”

Game masters

The Whitney family of Huntington Beach kept winning at a variety of games. So much so that Mike, the dad, had his hands full lugging around the largest of their prizes.

Alicia, the mom, carried a bag full of the remaining bounty, all of which was earmarked for their 5-year-old daughter, Sahara.

All in all, the Whitneys’ haul included a doughnut, dog, cow, dolphin, pig, panda, basketball, a second pig and the animated terrier Max from “The Secret Life of Pets” movie. Mike said the second pig was making him hungry.

Alicia said they might give some of their stuffed animals to people who hadn’t won yet.

Sahara really wanted Max because she just saw the movie.

Mike won the dog in the water race game, in which contestants squirt water from a gun onto a target. The pressure from the water applied to the target moves a character along a race course. The first character to get to the finish line wins. The more contestants playing a single game, the bigger the prize awarded.

What was Mike’s strategy?

“I’ve lost every single one six times before that. My strategy was to not play, but she made me play,” Mike said, referring to his wife.

When asked how much they spent getting everything, Mike replied, “A lot.”

“A hundred bucks. A hundred-fifty, maybe,” Alicia clarified.

In past years, Alicia said, they had never won the big prizes.

“Today, I feel like we’re ready for Vegas and the Lotto,” she said.

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What: Orange County Fair

Where: OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Through Aug. 14. Noon to midnight Wednesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to midnight Saturdays and Sundays.

Cost: $12 general admission; $7 for senior citizens 60 and older and children ages 6 to 12; free for children 5 and younger

Information: ocfair.com or (714) 708-1500

Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint