Summary
Overview
This American Life takes listeners on a delightful journey through amusement parks across America, from behind-the-scenes operations to personal stories of summer jobs, romance, and misadventure. The episode showcases the unique culture of amusement parks through the eyes of dedicated employees, nostalgic visitors, and the colorful characters who make these places come alive. From an incredibly passionate games manager to carnival workers and human paintball targets, the show reveals the surprisingly complex world that exists behind the cotton candy and roller coasters.
Cole Lindbergh: The Amusement Park Lifer
Cole Lindbergh, 25, manages the games department at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City after starting as a 14-year-old summer employee. Despite working 60-70 hour weeks and managing over 100 young employees, he maintains infectious enthusiasm for his job through creative competitions, motivational stunts, and YouTube videos. His dedication includes getting thrown into a gross pond when employees hit targets, creating elaborate tournament brackets for games, and turning mundane carnival games into experiences his teenage staff genuinely enjoy.
- Cole has worked at Worlds of Fun for 11 years, starting at age 14 and never leaving
- He manages 32 carnival games and over 100 employees in the games department
- Cole creates elaborate competitions like the Sweet 16 tournament where games compete against each other
- He made YouTube videos with his staff featuring raps about prizes and sci-fi stories with stuffed animals
- Cole dropped out of college in his senior year to take the full-time games manager job
" I've walked this pathway that we're taking right now, I've walked it thousands and thousands and thousands of times. "
" If I can get a little bit more out of them, we're good. Even if the game only makes a little bit more money. Also, it's more fun for the kids. Exactly. It's all about more fun. "
" I don't think any other boss would do, like, the rally days, the death match, the Sweet 16, the Toss the Boss, just all the fun stuff that we do that keeps us going through the season and just keeps this job exciting every day. "
" It's weird. It's almost like that's the thing to do. Whatever Cole does is the thing to be doing at that moment. And we just all feel like that was the right move. "
The Sweet 16 Tournament and Competition Day
On one of the busiest days of the summer, Cole's four game teams compete in the second round of the Sweet 16 tournament, where games are paired against each other to see which can make the most money. Games 3 creates massive pyramids of stuffed animals and even makes a banana costume, while Games 2 attempts to transform an old ski-ball game into "Technoball" with disco balls and strobe lights. The competition brings out creativity and hustle in the teenage staff, though not all strategies succeed.
- Games 3 built pyramids with over 100 stuffed animals each to attract customers
- One supervisor stood on a roof refusing to come down until she got 100 guesses at the age-guessing game
- An employee wore a full-body handmade banana suit in 94-degree heat to promote their game
- Games 2 created 'Technoball' with disco balls and strobe lights, but employees danced outside the game instead of inside it
- The guessing game intentionally loses by making terrible guesses, since prizes cost less than the $5 play fee
" We're going big or go home. We really want to win. We brought in streamers, balloons, energy drinks. We got a whole bunch of energy drinks. We got a whole bunch of Gatorade. We brought in food for everyone. Everyone stays energized, get pumped up for the whole day. "
" I had no idea what time it was until about 20 minutes ago when I checked. It just didn't occur to me that I needed to check the time. Because it was going by so fast? Yeah. "
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