Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison and his posse are ready to draw a bead on any vendor at the State Fair not running a clean game. Even before the fair opened Friday, Harrison and his team were making sure that "guess your weight" scales were accurate and the water guns in various race games were working.

"You're costing the kids too much money," Danny Jenkins told the proprietor of a dart game who required too many "trade-ups" -- where smaller prizes are exchanged for a larger prize. Jenkins, a retired law enforcement officer in charge of making sure fairs are in compliance, will spend the duration of the fair making sure no one gets cheated when trying to win overstuffed bears.

"We don't want to be too harsh on the vendors, but we don't want a family to walk away feeling like they've been ripped off," Harrison said.

Watch out for:

* Games that offer you three chances for $5. Rules call for $1 or $2 games only.

* Barkers who hold on to your money for later games. You should have your cash in hand, so you can walk away at any time.

* Bust-the-balloon games. Make sure the balloons fill the board. If not, tell the barker to fill them up.

* Think you're a basketball star? The trick to winning on the midway: nothing but net. Inspectors have checked every hoop to make sure the balls actually fit through, but shots off the backboard aren't going to drop.

If you think a vendor is rigging a game, contact any one of the 150 or so uniformed police officers circling the fairgrounds. The officer will contact an undercover game inspector to make sure all's fair at the fair.

(COMPILED BY SARAH OVASKA)

YOU NEED TO KNOW

Tickets for country singer Jo Dee Messina's 7:30 p.m. concert today and other headliners' acts at Dorton Arena can still be purchased at the fairgrounds. The only act already sold out is the contemporary Christian group Casting Crowns at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

BEST BET

It's Saturday night, so the kids can stay up to see the fair's spectacular fireworks show, held nightly at 9:45.

ONLINE

Check out Matt Ehlers' blog to get the gobble on Friday's turkey competition at newsobserver.com (key word: fair). You can share your photos from the fair at my.newsobserver.com. The fair's Web site is at www.ncstatefair.org.

RATE-A-RIDE

RIDE: Turbo Force

WHAT IT DOES: Two units with back-to-back two-seaters, separated by 150 feet, tilt and rock while the rotating arm moves fast enough to have riders experiencing four Gs. Visually intimidating, but it's the best the fair has to offer.

PRICE: 10 tickets

RATING: G-Force*

ANOTHER OPINION: "It was awesome -- almost hard to breathe! But definitely worth the 10 tickets." -- Lauren Thomas, 18.

*The four ratings, from tamest to toughest, are: yawn, fun, scream and G-Force.

(COMPILED BY JANET WU)