In 1936, Ria van Dijk of Tilburg, the Netherlands, visited a shooting gallery. She was sixteen years old. When she hit a target, the impact tripped a camera which snapped her picture. Ria thoroughly enjoyed the experience and went back every year, except during World War II. She's collected the pictures and published them in a book. At the link, you can view them in chronological order and see the progression of her life from the perspective of the shooting gallery camera.
Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo: KesselsKramer Publishing
Wouldn't have been any good for my mum, anyway. The travelling fair that visited her part of Kent (Romney Marsh) wouldn't let her shoot after the first couple of visits - she won too much.
Actually there are some gallery games in Ocean City Maryland that I have pictures of my parents next to when they were my age, and they look exactly the same now.
So that is roughly 30 years of operation right there. And there no telling how long they were around before those pictures were taken or how long they will continue to operate.
They are the classic games like shooting a target in a ceramic clowns mouth to inflate a balloon. First persons balloon to pop wins.
The prizes have certainly changed though. Last time I played I received a poster of a scantily clad woman on a motorcycle.