Gripe over Happy Rainbow game reaches watchdog

An angry young man who called the police on a family entertainment center for hosting an "unfair" Happy Rainbow game on Saturday has also filed a complaint to the Customs and Excise Department and the Consumer Council.

Jason Liu, 21, said in a radio program yesterday that he purchased 2,000 tokens to play the game, but as he hit the green part of a rainbow, he was still accused by its manager of "touching the boundary."

Happy Rainbow is a coin-pitching game, where players get a prize when their coins end up in the colored area, without touching the boundary of the rainbow.

Liu was involved in the incident on Saturday at the Jumpin Gym USA in Tuen Mun Waldorf Garden Shopping Centre, which has gone viral.

He claimed to have thrown a token into the Happy Rainbow game, successfully landing it in the green section of the rainbow. However, a staff claimed it was "touching the boundary," causing Liu's dissatisfaction. He insisted that the staff demonstrate the proper way.

Liu called the police after the staff said he would only show him a picture of the right way in front of the police.

Liu said that he had purchased 2,000 tokens worth HK$4,000 for the game, and the staff repeatedly claimed his attempts were a "miss." He said he looked at the Happy Rainbow desk from the outside and saw that the token did not touch any lines. However, the staff insisted that it did, so Jason requested to take a photo as evidence. The photo confirmed it was a "miss."

According to Liu, when the police arrived, the store manager demonstrated by placing a coin with their hand, but after a few minutes and looking from different angles, it still resulted in touching the boundary.

The manager explained that due to the wide-angle function of the iPhone, it would always be touching the boundary in the photos. Liu then suggested using a friend's Android phone to take pictures, but the manager refused, saying that they had to seek permission from the company.

Liu believed that a violation of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance may have been committed so he filed complaints with the Customs and the consumer watchdog.

The police said that at 5.03pm Saturday, they received a report from a 21-year-old man surnamed Liu, claiming that he had won the game but was denied by a 41-year-old staff member surnamed Tin. No physical altercations or injuries occurred at the scene, though police have categorized it as a dispute for further handling.

The Customs and Excise Department said that when handling suspected cases involving violations of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, they need to consider the actual circumstances and relevant evidence of each individual case in order to determine violations of the law. However, each case is unique, and generalizations cannot be made.

The department has received relevant reports and will follow up on them. If violations are found, appropriate action will be taken.

toby.ng@singtaonewscorp.com