Sorry ... coming in late to this thread ...

Bill Harrah (and his father) operated carnival type games on the Venice, CA pier & boardwalk, prior to going to Reno.

One of the games was called "The Circle Game". Not sure of specifics, but like a midway game at the fair. Legal, but with a built-in operator advantage. Probably played for nickels in those days.

I remember reading about it in the "All the Lights Were On" book published by Univ. of Nevada, Reno. An oral history, as told by Harrah's employees & associates. (Sharkey Begovitch, among others).

See: https://archive.org/details/EveryLightWasOnHarrahs/page/n1/mode/2up