Many animals are on display at the West End Fair, but a celebrity rat is the one that draws attention.

Mary and Dale Ott of Lehighton run the Oscar the Rat game on the midway of the fairgrounds.

The concept is basic. A spinning wheel has colors and patterns, with a hole on the outside of each color in the circle. People pluck down their two quarters on the corresponding color block on the perimeter of the stand.

Enter Oscar the rat, who stays in a tin cup in the level below the wheel. Cups are located beneath each hole. The wheel spins and Oscar chooses which hole to go in to get back to his cup. The person who put the money on the corresponding color wins a stuffed animal.

As the wheel spins, Mary Ott says, “Watch that crazy rat.”

And people do. They can’t help themselves.

Dale Ott says there’s no real training for the rats.

“They do what they need to do,” he said, “to get out of the light.”

Each summer the Otts buy a few rats so they can switch them out during the evening.

They keep them in an aquarium under the railing and feed them high quality food.

The game has a long history, back to the 1940s.

“The concept is much older than we are,” Dale says.

He built the stand and they’ve been operating it at fairs since the 1980s.

“My dad ran it for awhile. My son helped for awhile,” Dale said. Now it’s up to Mary and him.

They’ve cut down on their appearances as they’ve gotten a bit older.

Dale said he used to climb a ladder to reach up to bring down the prizes that line the booth. Ladder climbing days are over. Now they use a handy grabber.

The kids are grown and busy. Outside help is hard to find.

“No one wants to work anymore,” Dale said.

Oscar has been a regular at the Carbon County Fair, but the couple decided to sit that one out this year.

They also run Ott’s Concessions, snacks that take a lot less work, Dale says between rounds of the game.

Mary can be heard on her headpiece microphone as Oscar chooses the hole in the brown section: “Who has brown? No one has brown this time? That dirty rat.” People can’t help but laugh. And put down some two more quarters for the next round. Maybe Oscar will choose purple or lime green this time.

Dale said they buy the popular prizes locally, bringing a good variety because people are always changing favorites. Some years it’s the bears, other times it’s the unicorn, or the snake. Sloths are a hit this year.

One thing’s for sure; when the fairs survey people about their favorite game, they tell them it’s Oscar.

“People will stop by and say, ‘I was here when I was a kid,’ ” Dale said. “They came with their grandparents and now they play for the nostalgia.”

Some people don’t even want the prizes. Dale said they’ll walk down the midway with a big bear and give it to a child.

When the fair ends tonight, the Otts give the rats to good furever homes. Usually finding homes is not an issue. Dale said people reach out to them and they evaluate the potential adopter to make sure they are giving the rats a good home.

They’ll dismantle the stand, put in the trailer and head home for the season.