Written by Jaden Parker
No celebration is complete without a rockin’ carnival to liven the festivities, and Oktoberfest is no exception to this rule. In this article, I will be telling you all about some of the crowd favorite rides and games that happen during Oktoberfest. So, grab your stein of your favorite beverage and read on!
The Rides
At every carnival, there are always two common attractions: the ferris wheel and the swing carousel. At Oktoberfest, the Wellenflug (the swing carousel) is a ride for all ages. The first one to ever appear at an Oktoberfest was in 1919! As for the Willenborg Ferris Wheel, this ride gives people a view over Theresienwiese from Bavaria to St. Paul’s Church.
Looking for a little more thrill? Then you’d be wise to get in line for the Teufelsrad. Here are the rules of the ride:
- An announcer specifies who can hop onto the ride (i.e. only young children in lederhosen or women over the age of 18).
- They sit on the platform. Seats closest to the middle are the best!
- The stage spins while participants try to hang on. During it, a lasso and large flying ball on a string comes through to pull you off the ride.
- The last one remaining wins.
If spinning makes you a bit nauseated, you can always take the 80 meter (a little over 262 feet) conveyor belt to the top of The Toboggan and slide down the wooden slide in a sack! The first Toboggan was made in 1906 by Anton Bausch and became a solidified staple of Oktoberfest in 1933.
Now, if you’re like me and are a die hard roller coaster fanatic, then you’ll love this next ride. The Olympia Looping roller coaster is the only mountain and valley cableway with five full inversions in the world. Not only that but it is also the largest transportable roller coaster throughout the globe. The first roller coaster with a loop to appear in Germany was in 1978. This roller coaster was made in 1989. It needs 50 train wagons to transport it and weighs the same as 150 African elephants!
The Spectacles
Perhaps you’re someone who likes to live vicariously through thrill seekers. In that case, you’d love the Motordrom where motorists ride motorcycles side-ways on sloped walls. Also called the “Wall of Death,” it’ll take your breath away to see them zipping past each other at high speeds. Some other fan favorites include the Munchner Vogelpfeifer stand and the giant raffle. The Munchner Vogelpfeifer stand is the smallest in the Oktoberfest and has two men showing traditional bird whistles through comedic demonstrations. As for the Gluckshafen Raffle, it first started out as a way to help poorer people through the famine. Back then, no one went home empty handed. Now, money goes to institutions-in-need in Munich.
The Games
Most Oktoberfest games involve their favorite food: beer! However, hammerschlagen is one game where alcohol is a requirement—though it does make things a lot more interesting. The aim of the game? You compete against other people to drive nails into a beam. It’s as simple as that. Competitors purchase one nail and can only swing once per turn at no higher than their ear. So, no Thor slams from above your head. From there, the hammer is passed around the group until someone nails their nail flush into the beam. If your nail happens to bend, you can move to a strategic location along the beam to correct its trajectory.
As for alcohol-involved games, Oktoberfest is chock full of them. Two of my favorites I found were keg vaulting and Masskrugstemmen. For keg vaulting, an empty keg is thrown over a pole. It’s pole vaulting rules, so the pole gets higher and higher each time. If you knock the pole over, you lose. Last but not least, there is Masskrugstemmen. This one can easily be done at home if you’re wanting to throw your own little Oktoberfest party. It’s a stein holding competition. You hold the stein of beer straight out with an arm extended from the shoulder without spilling one drop of liquid. Last one holding their stein wins.
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