Jeff Fish and Monica Ghee in front of the Hi-Striker. (Photo: Jessica Militare)

Monica Ghee keeps an apartment on the Lower East Side, but during the summer you’ll find her in the shadow of the Wonder Wheel in her native Coney Island, where for over 40 years she has operated the Hi~Striker, a test-your-strength game invented in the early 1900s. Patrons whack a mallet against a base, propelling a dinger up a 17-foot, yellow steel tower. Ghee has aptly labeled each checkpoint — “Sad Sack” at the lowly level seven, and “Oy Vey” at the close-but-no-cigar level 13.
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