Monica Ghee

Monica Ghee is a Coney Island native who has operated games at various locations in the amusement district on and off for the past 52 years.  She recalls some of the games she has worked in the past, including the dime pitch, glass pitch, goldfish bowl,  and her signature game - the high striker. Currently she operates two independent prize-every-time games - the hammer smash and archery - on Jones Walk. Monica describes her earliest memories of Coney Island, the difficulty of breaking into the game business, and her family background. When she was a child, her grandmother sold cotton candy and jelly apples with a traveling carnival and would take her on the road in the summer. "My history skipped a generation," says Monica. "My mother's generation wanted nothing to do with the carnival but it was born in me. I was very savvy with games. That was my true calling. I was very savvy knowing how to take any kind of game and make money out of anything."