THE RAMP
Skee-ball, alien rules. Roll it up the ramp and it lands in a ring. The little rings are worth more because they are harder — and the machine shows you exactly how much harder while you decide where to aim.
What this machine is actually teaching
Every ring pays a different amount, and every ring is a different size. That is a trade, and there is a right answer to it: expected value — what a shot is worth on average, once you account for how often you will actually make it.
Multiply the points by your chance of hitting it. A 10-ring you hit 80% of the time is worth 8. A 100-ring you hit 5% of the time is worth 5. The big number is the worse bet, and the readout tells you so before you roll.
This is the same arithmetic behind insurance, poker, whether to go for it on fourth down, and every decision you will ever make with a risk attached. Arcades taught it to kids for a quarter.