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This American Life · Cole Lindberg
How did Cole Lindberg use prize selection and game design to increase revenue at Worlds of Fun?
Cole Lindberg drove significant revenue growth at Worlds of Fun through two deliberate moves: introducing a fluorescent-colored lemur stuffed animal as a dart game prize, which caused that game to double its business, and inventing an entirely new game called Pigs of Fury — a giant slingshot where players launch bean bags at pigs — which became one of the top-performing games in the park. His core insight is that prize selection and game presentation are not secondary details but the primary levers of revenue.
The lemur example illustrates a principle Lindberg applies across all 32 games he manages: the visual appeal of a prize is as important as the game itself. A fluorescent, eye-catching plush creates desire before a player even picks up a dart — it is marketing built into the product. Swapping one stuffed animal for another, with no other changes to the game, was enough to double revenue at that station.
Pigs of Fury goes further, showing that Lindberg does not just optimize existing games — he designs new ones. The concept is immediately legible to park visitors: a giant slingshot, bean bags, pigs. The game is visually dramatic and instantly understandable, two qualities that translate directly into foot traffic and plays. You can hear the full episode, including how Lindberg thinks about running an entire games department, on Listenly.
"This opportunity is probably only going to come along once in a lifetime."
— Cole Lindberg, Games Department Manager, Worlds of Fun
About Cole Lindberg
Cole Lindberg's relationship with Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri began not as a career move but as a childhood passion. He wore a suit to his job interview at age 14 — the same park where his family held season passes and which he had visited countless times as a kid dreaming of designing roller coasters. What started as a summer job never ended: eleven years later, Lindberg is a full-time, year-round employee who never left.
Today he runs the park's entire games department, overseeing 32 games and directly supervising more than 100 young seasonal employees. The scale of the operation — financial targets, supply purchasing, staffing, and game performance — is considerable, especially for a manager who regularly logs 60 to 70 hour weeks through the summer season. His commitment to the role was definitive: in his senior year at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, he dropped out to accept the games manager position, calling it an opportunity that would probably only come along once in a lifetime.
That judgment has been validated. His immediate supervisor Matt regards Lindberg as one of the strongest games managers across the 11 amusement parks owned by Cedar Fair, placing him at the top of a competitive network that also includes six water parks. His authority on prize strategy, game design, and front-line team motivation comes from more than a decade of hands-on experience at the same property — not theory, but daily practice.
See also
At Worlds of Fun, the guessing game costs $5 to play while the prizes cost less than $5, meaning the department makes a profit even if every single guess is wrong and every player walks away with a prize.
The Sweet 16 tournament pits all 32 games in the park against each other in pairs over a four-week competition to see which game makes the most money. Games advance through the bracket based on revenue performance, creating a season-long competitive structure across the department.
Cole runs season-long competitions including the Sweet 16 tournament, the Deathmatch tournament, and a stunt called Toss the Boss, where the game that performs best earns a special reward for its operators.