The Rope That Favored the Red Peg

Chapter 1Three Pegs

Yossi set three wooden pegs in a row on the grass. Red, yellow, blue.

Avi carried over the rope that would mark the throwing line.

They were running the ring-toss game at the boys' school picnic. Each player would have three rings and could aim at any peg. Every successful toss earned one point.

Yossi stretched the rope across the grass and put a small beanbag at each end to hold it.

The rope had a bend in the middle, but the ends looked even.

"Ready," he said.

Chapter 2The Red Peg Wins

The first boy aimed at blue. All three rings landed short.

The next boy aimed at red and scored twice.

Avi wrote the scores on a sheet.

Soon a little crowd gathered by the red peg. Nobody wanted to aim at blue.

"Red is easier," one boy said.

Yossi frowned. The pegs were the same height. The rings were the same size.

"Maybe you just like red better."

Another ring dropped neatly around red.

Chapter 3A Different Place

Avi handed the next player three rings.

The boy walked behind the rope, near its left end, facing the red peg.

Avi followed him with his eyes.

The rope curved forward there. At the blue end, it curved back.

"Wait," Avi said before the boy threw. "Let us check something."

Yossi looked at the waiting boys.

"We'll lose our turn to run the game."

"We might be giving different throws to different players."

Yossi looked from the rope to the pegs. Now he saw the bend.

Chapter 4The Measuring Tape

They asked Mr. Weiss, who supervised the games, for help.

He brought a measuring tape and checked the distance from each peg to the rope directly in front of it.

The blue throw began farther away than the red throw.

Yossi had been looking only at the two beanbags. The rope between them had not stayed straight.

"It wasn't the players," Avi said.

Yossi moved the score sheet under his arm.

"I said they liked red better."

"Now you can tell them what we found," Mr. Weiss said.

Chapter 5A Straight Start

Mr. Weiss helped them move the rope back and stretch it into a straight line parallel to the row of pegs. He checked the three distances again.

Yossi added another beanbag in the middle so the rope would stay where they put it.

The boys kept the waiting players behind the game area while they worked.

Then Avi and Yossi each tried the red and blue pegs from the new line.

Both throws felt like the same game now.

Nobody claimed that every player would make the same score.

Chapter 6Another Turn

Yossi faced the boys who had already played.

"Our rope was crooked. Red started closer than blue. That was our mistake."

Mr. Weiss offered those players a fresh turn and cleared their earlier scores. The boys lined up again.

Avi gave the first boy three rings.

This time, he scored once at blue.

The boy behind him missed red three times and laughed.

"The red peg has stopped helping me."

Chapter 7Check the Middle

Later, a gust lifted the loose score sheet. Yossi caught it before it reached the water table.

When he returned, he looked at both beanbags.

Then he looked at the middle of the rope.

A boy had nudged it with his shoe while waiting. Yossi paused the next turn and put it back against the marked straight line.

"Ready?" Avi asked.

Yossi checked once more.

"Now we're ready."