When I was in Kyoto, I watched people waste their money at a cork gun game. Nobody was able to knock over the prizes. The corks were so lightweight that they harmlessly bounced off the boxes of candy and packs of cigarettes set up on the racks. (Also, quite of few of the people seemed to be half-drunk, which didn't help their aim.)
So, I thought this story from Fuji TV was interesting. The network hired Mamika Tsuruoka of the Japan National Rifle Team to give a cork gun game a try.
From Japan Probe:
After 62 shots, she has claimed 49 of the 50 prizes. The total cost of her ammo was 2,480 yen (40 yen per cork). The total cost of the prizes won was 3,940 yen. However, the remaining prize is a large box that cannot easily be knocked down. Single shots are too weak to move the box, so she gets her friends to help her fire volleys at the target. This tactic works, and after 9 volleys it falls to the ground. Unfortunately, that used a lot of corks, so the total price of knocking over all 50 targets ends up at 5,360 yen. The actual price of the prizes totaled to 4,535 yen, so the festival booth guy made a profit of 825 yen.
Here's the video: