How To Cheat At Frog Racing

In Queensland, frog races are held as tourist attractions.

The frogs are kept in an octagonal box. The box is divided into eight separate compartments large enough to hold frogs of various sizes.

Before the start of the race, the frogs are auctioned off to the highest bidder. The proceeds from the auction constitute the purse—half going to the owner of the winning frog and half to charity. The largest frogs go for $100 to $200; small frogs fetch $40 to $50.

To keep bidders' interest up, the smallest frogs are auctioned off first. Poole would bid, say, $40 for the smallest frog. The bidding takes a long time.

After the bidding was over, Poole would say, "Hey, my frog hasn't moved in a long time. I think it's dead." To prove the frog was not dead, a race official would hold the frog in his cupped hands and agitate it. Warmed from being held, the frog would soon revive and be jumping out of his hands.

"Well, I guess it's not dead," Poole would say, and his frog would be put back in its box.

When the boxes were opened for the start of the race, Poole's little frog would hop right out of its box, lively as could be. The other frogs, sluggish from sitting on cold concrete for half an hour or so while the auction was going on, could barely move. And so Poole's little frog would win the race!