Games of all sorts have been a staple of fairs, amusement parks, and theme parks, with games of skill or games of chance offering an opportunity to win prizes. Sometimes a skill test that doesn't have a true goal offers a fun diversion as part of a day in the park.
	After an off-season fire destroyed the park's original Fortune Festival games area in December 1981, a brand new games section named Good Time Alley was built as a replacement area for the 1982 season. With the portion of Dream Street between the Carousel and the Four Tents closed off to divert guests towards the games area, a new remote control car game was built along one side of the pathway around the Dream Street Arcade tent. Originally known as the Formula 500, the new remote control car track was large, and was quite popular with guests dropping quarter after quarter into the controllers.
	The large concrete pad was built with several central islands to add to the challenge of navigating the course. At the rear of the game was a large wooden cabinet where the cars were stored and the batteries re-charged overnight. Twelve car controllers were mounted in-line with a canvas canopy overhead to protect the drivers from adverse weather. There was a change machine onsite to change dollar bills into the quarters necessary to play the game. There was also an attendant on site most of the time to help make change. The remote control cars were run as part of the Dream Street Arcade, so the staffers would rotate in and out of the arcade to the remote cars throughout the day.
	In 1995 the Formula 500 race cars were replaced with Monster trucks and the concrete track was replaced with a new pad of bumpy terrain for the trucks to navigate.
In 1998 the Monster Trucks went away and a pond went into the site, offering a brand new Fire Boats game. Throughout the years there had been several remote controlled boat games in the park, and they were all very popular with the guests. The new Fire Boats were in a very high traffic area and was very visible, enticing kids passing by to want to spend some money playing for a while. Unlike games of skill and games of chance, when there is no winner or loser, this game offered a chance for all ages and skill levels to just have fun driving the boats.
	For the 2001 season the remote controlled games went away, replaced by an expansion of the Boardwalk games area. The new games now lined both sides of the pathway offering further enticement to play and win prizes.
Original Spotlight:  August 25, 2021.  GAH Reference#:  GAME-1982-001