Challenge #04651-L267: Designated Fun Hours

All Personages on [List B9] will report to the [Fun-Park] at [2:30pm] on [Saturday, the 12th] for mandatory fun time. Fun will be had from [2:35pm] until [3:55pm] for all persons on [List B9]. All Persons on [List B9] are to refrain from speaking with anyone on [List B8] or [List C1] except during the times of [2:50pm] and [3:05pm] in the Designated Areas. Thank you [Recipient] and enjoy you time at the [Fun-Park]. -- Deathshead419

They only had one hour and twenty minutes to allegedly enjoy the fun park, so they ran for what they intended to allegedly enjoy. There were rides, and there were games, and there was food with flavour for a change. All empty calories, worthless for the next work cycle.

People mostly ran for the gacha, first, but Jen always raced for the pachinko. All the games of "skill" were rigged, and only the fools tried them. The gacha and pachinko was where the best chance was. At the very least, it was properly random. Anyone playing them had something resembling a chance. A chance to win something that may be actually useful.

And if they weren't useful, they could be traded for something that was. Few people actually kept their winnings from Fun Park.

The nearest parlours were packed. Jen didn't bother with them. It was the ones down twisty alleyways or next to the screaming rides that had the best odds of an empty stool. So Jen went there. It took five minutes off her first twenty-minute block, but it was worth it.

Strategy was key. Fun was secondary, if it happened at all.

Fun, according to the overseers, was mandatory. So you had to engage with your diversions with a smile. Jen's came about for real when they saw an entire empty parlour three minutes in.

They took their seat and started loading ball bearings. One basket at a time. Get the rhythm of the mechanisms. Start racking up prizes. Remember to make sure they go in the bag. The bag was vital because once a block ran out, everyone had to change activities.

Jen counted in their head from pour to finish. Five minutes. Ideal. Five of those trays and then they could try to jiggle something extra loose. Just the right amount of force to disturb a prize on the cusp of falling, but not enough to set off any alarms.

Alarms were very bad news. They took everything if you set off an alarm.

This machine dropped a lot of small capsules. Jen knew better than to look over the haul while in Fun Park. Keep smiling. Laugh if necessary. Jen dashed across the lane to a gacha once the buzzer went off. Finding a seat quickly, and grateful that they had a big bag for their haul.

Jen turned the crank as fast as it would let them and kept smiling. Occasionally making eye contact with other gacha devotees smiling and turning their cranks. Only their eyes were saying, This is the last thing from fun. Fun would be burning this place to hell.

Jen's eyes said, Yeah, but where would we get trade items?

Their bag was half full. Even after Jen gave it a jostle. Damn. These machines were too loose. They had to be giving out crap. You took your chances, and the administration shifted things around to make sure people didn't memorise the map.

Jen took a break on one of the rides. It was okay to have other expressions on those, and they needed time to think. And, at the high part, a chance to overlook the streets.

There were a lot of arcades this time around. Their advertising was all about tickets. Maybe the administration was onto a new thing. Maybe they figured out a different way to rip people off. Tickets could be traded for higher-value things, true, but you needed a lot of tickets to trade. Even for something as stupid as a decorative, scented eraser. Worth a shot.

Even if Jen couldn't trade in all the tickets, they'd have something to fill up their bag. Beyond the likely-crap capsules they already had. And any leftovers could be useful somewhere. Knowing Fun Park, you couldn't bring old tickets with you to trade for items.

Everything here was gambling anyway.

The ticket arcades were games of skill that were less rigged than the other ones. No rules about which machines were occupied or for how long.

There had to be a catch.

Jen set up their bag beneath the ticket dispenser and had a go at an activity, still maintaining their plastered-on smile. Huh. This was actually achievable. And the tickets were compact. Jen folded them in groups of ten for an easy tally when the block was done.

Further, the prizes on offer were useful. It felt like they were actually earning instead of scrabbling.

It was weird. This was actually... sort of enjoyable.

Jen could purchase a larger bag with wheels on it as part of their haul. An excellent trade. They picked out other items based on the largest number remaining, quickly adding them to the new bag. They'd inspect it all when they got back home.

Whoever this "CRC Industries" was, they were likely to go out of business if they kept giving away stuff like that. Hell, Jen even got a few things they wanted to keep and could use.

Weird that they could afford to have so many arcades around the place.

Well, if they were going to be fools, Jen was going to exploit them.

For a change, they even took advantage of Talk Time at the designated chatter zone. Which was also the food court. Picking at a bucket of crunchy finger foods, Jen spread the word of the CRC Industries' arcades.

For a change, mandatory entertainment time was... actually enjoyable.

Jen would actually laugh when they inspected their haul. High-ticket stuff. Good for having a more comfortable life.

And instructions on how they could possibly leave Factoryworld.

[Photo by Susann Schuster on Unsplash]

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