The rickety, brown cart moves laboriously through the dark corridors of the Creep Show.

A puff of air sounds from around the corner. Black plastic curtain strips brush across your face. And around every curve, comes the "frightening" figure of a hanged man or bloodied skeleton.

And 45 seconds later - it's all over.

The Creep Show ride costs six tickets, about $3, at the UA's Spring Fling 1996. That's about 6 cents per second of ride time.

The fair operates on a ticket or "script" basis.

The best deal for tickets was $10 for 21, about 48 cents per ticket - 2 cents per ticket cheaper than buying them individually.

Prices for the 26 carnival rides ranged from four to seven tickets, or about $2 to $3.50.

Carnival-goers also tried their luck at game booths and filled their stomachs with pizza and sweets. All were available for two to four tickets at booths run by UA clubs and organizations.

Among the longest lines at the fair was the one for Top Spin, which cost $3.50. Once on board, the ride spun, swung and hung its passengers upside down.

Rick Grissom, ride foreman, said nearly 8,000 people had ridden the Top Spin at the UA as of midnight Saturday.

Anne Zaman, senior in Speech and Hearing Sciences, did not ride Top Spin because she said it was too expensive.

For Steve Mosely, management and information systems sophomore, said Top Spin "was really weak" for the price.

Phil Rosenberg, electrical engineering junior, agreed that Spring Fling was overpriced, but he and friend Jason Becker, communication junior, have spent nearly $500 at the carnival since Thursday.

"We want to support UA activities," Rosenburg said, estimating he had been on the Gravitron ride almost 20 times and spoke favorably of the operator, Jos­.

"Spring Fling is very vital to the UA," Becker said, adding that he wished there were more UA students at the carnival.

With many families and high school students grazing the McKale lawn, UA students were hard to find, except behind the booths.

Clark Evans, art sophomore, said his fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity set up an entertainment booth at Spring Fling to support the "family-oriented" event, but said they did not expect to make money from the booth.

"Spring Fling isn't for profit, it's to support the UA," he said.