Geneva-on-the-Lake is one of the few places in the world where the Fascination game is still available using vintage equipment. Players toss a wooden ball toward a horizontal matrix of 25 holes in a table, with the center hole serving as a free space. An electronic display board corresponding to the holes shows which spaces a player has won, and the goal is to be the first to get a Bingo horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Because the tables are electrically interlocked, all boards in the parlor shut down as soon as there is a winner. Winners receive coupons redeemable for prizes, though many save them for larger prizes, and coupons do not expire; a grand prize such as a cruise may also be offered to encourage frequent play. Fewer than a dozen Fascination parlors remain in the U.S., and the Geneva-on-the-Lake parlor is owned by PJ Macchia. Operating a Fascination parlor requires at least one employee to attract customers, watch the games, collect fees, and pay out prizes or coupons, and high personnel costs along with frequent repairs helped cause the game’s disappearance from many locations. Fascination came to The Strip in the 1940s as part of the Olympic Midway complex, when Herb Thomas installed the game at a cost of 10 cents per play. The back of a Fascination game panel is a maze of hand-wired switches, sockets, and relays like those once used in obsolete telephone switching equipment. A budget Fascination game once stood across the street in the Pera Family’s casino and arcade, which burned down in 1979, and the Fascination parlor was the first Geneva-on-the-Lake building with air conditioning.
