There is a legal game played in the bars here. It's called Shake a Day. A person pays 50 cents then rolls five dice to see if they can roll a five of a kind. You only get one shake a day. It's a progressive game and there is usually a chalk board on the back bar where the number is posted. It says something like this:
Shake a Day $237
And usually there will be some small print that says "minus 10% for the next jackpot. All the money that is collected today will be added to tomorrow's jackpot." The houses all say that 100% of the money is returned to the public. The money keeps going up until someone rolls a yahtzee.
I'm somewhat of a smart a-- when I get a little booze in me. In my euphoric state I like to mess with people over shake a day....
Ray walks into the bar, sits down beside me, looks over at Kelly and says "Gimme a Bud and the shake a day." I look over at the chalk board. The money's at $27....minus 10%.
"So, Ray? What's the odds on that shake a day" I ask.
"Odds? Hell if I know. Must be in the gillions to one."
"C'mon, ya gotta have some kinda clue."
"I'm not good at math. Ask Kelly, SHE's the bartender."
"Just cause you can bartend don't mean you know the answer. Look, theres six sides on every die and theres five of them. Does that give you a clue."
"Okay, Jackass, just gimme the answer."
"Try six to the fifth power divided by six."
"Six to the what?"
"Look, each die has six sides so it's 6X6X6X6X6 = 7776. Theres only six combinations on the dice that make a five of a kind so you divide 7776 by 6 and the answer is 1296. You'll roll a yahtzee once every 1296 rolls." So now, Ray, what's the cost to produce a five of a kind.
"The cost?"
"Yeah, the cost. You're payin' 50 cents a roll. What's the cost?"
"I don't get ya."
"Your chances are one in 1296 rolls. You're payin' 50 cents a roll so your average cost to produce a five of a kind is $648.
Ray looks down the bar at Kelly. "Hey, Kelly! I said I wanted the shake a day too." Kelly delivers the cup and Ray rolls two pair. Kelly collects the dice up and walks away.
"Ray, the money is only at $27."
"So What! It's only 50 cents."
"No it's not. How many times a year do you walk in here and take the shake a day?"
"Couple hundred."
"So you CAN count. And then theres this little matter of the ten percent. So you really need an effective number of--"
"Nevermind, Mickey! I'm gonna go shoot some pool."
Countless times I have asked the shake a dayers what their chances of snagging the jackpot were. To date no one has given the correct answer.
Jerry and his girlfriend were down and out booze hounds. He had been owing me $80 for three months. But you can't suck blood from a turnip. Then Jerry gets lucky. He got a job bartending at one of the Vets clubs. A week later we're sitting at the bar and Jerry says "Mickey, lets go out to the Zone. I'll pay the cabfare."
"Okay, Jerry, let's go."
We get out to the zone and Jerry pulls out a roll of quarters to pay for the cabfare. "Hmmm?" I thought "Jerry ain't gonna last long on that job. I guess he thinks them people can't count."
A couple days later Jerry's girlfriend, Sharon, is in the bar spending like a drunken sailor. "What's the special occasion, girl?" I ask.
"I hit the shake a day at the Westside Vets! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
"You go, girl" I said as I thought to myself "I wonder who was bartending? Could it have been Jerry? No doubt. That boy is on short time."
A week later I'm sitting at the bar and Kelly says "Did you hear Jerry got fired?"
"Why, no I didn't. What could have possibly gone wrong?"
"Sharon hit the shake a day twice in two weeks" Kelly said.
I ROTFLMAO!!! "You know what, Kelly? If I was runnin' the joint I woulda busted 'em out the first time she hit it."
I walked into one of my old haunts, The Golden Rose. There were three college kids on the end of the bar scratching their heads and trying to work out some math problem. They had marked up napkins laying all over the bar.
"Hey, Claude, what are them kids tryin' to figure out?"
"Shake a Day" Claude said.
"Oh, no kidding? How long they been at it?"
"Bout an hour."
Well, Claude, give me a double shot of V.O. and a Moose Drool." I think I'll step down there and have some fun."
"Comin' right up" said Claude.