Carnival Games QUESTION - Any Carny's out there???? Jacob's Ladder and b-ball?

Curiousity is killing me - so, we were at the carnival tonight and the first question I have for you is, have you ever seen that rope ladder with the wooden rungs that is somewhat horizontal and on an incline? you need to climb it and ring the bell at the top - no crawling on the ladder and you must stay on top of the ladder. The carny girls did it each and every time but NOT one person could do this without flipping the ladder over on the way up - what is the catch? Also, the basketball hoops that are oval - there were some guys who have played alot of b-ball in their day and NOT one could get a ball in - can it be done? There are other games that just seemed like they can be won - oh - the darts where you have to hit a star dead center. if you do you win a 'guitar' and if you win 8 times you win a fancy guitar. I was thinking that where the stars are there is a hard surface behind and everywhere else it is soft so it won't stick when it hits a star - am I right? INFO please!