The Millionaires Club
By Mike Wallick
Copyright 2014 by Mike Wallick
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please download an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
About the Author
Mike Wallick lives with his family in a suburb of Minneapolis. He is the author of several books relating to small business marketing. The Millionaires Club is his first effort into fictional writing and has been a personal challenge for him to finish. He chose to offer it for no charge and would instead ask that if you enjoyed it, send him a message telling him so. His e-mail address is
[email protected]. He would love to hear from you. Let him know what you thought of this story.
Chapter One: The Game of Living
There were usually 6 of us that went over to the greenhouse after school. I loved it there. It was one of those places that seem to never end, there’s always another room or chamber at the end of the one that you’re in. The fact that it was almost all made of ghostly translucent green glass and smelled really cool also helped. You couldn’t find a better place to play rubber band guns. And that’s just what we did.
Earl was the one who showed me how to make one. It was one of the first times that I was ever there. We were just hanging around and trying to decide what do when Earl asked if I wanted to shoot rubber bands. Of course, the answer to that question would always be yes.
Earl Tetree’s dad owned the greenhouse. It was really cool that he let us play in there. They were pretty glad that Earl had friends since Earl was kind of unique in a lot of ways. He was really into a lot of scientific things -- he was really smart, but never did well in school. He was constantly getting into trouble in class, usually for being disruptive or not paying attention. He said that his mom told him it’s because he’s bored and not challenged. I don’t know what to think.
My name is Steve. I’m in the same grade as Earl, 8th. We go to Miles City Junior High School and its okay, I guess. My family doesn’t own anything nearly as cool as a greenhouse. My dad’s a chiropractor and has an office uptown in an old stone building called the Masonic Temple. We live in a small town in Montana called Miles City. It’s pretty boring even though when someone comes in from out east we can always convince them that we still have gunfights on the street at sundown and have skirmishes all the time with the Native Americans.
That simple day with Earl and shooting rubber bands turned into something big and that’s what this book is all about. It started with the two of us and a couple of rubber band guns, which were nothing more than a couple of pieces of wood nailed together with a notch cut into the front and a clothespin nailed to the top to hold the rubber band until you are ready to fire it.
Earl built his and then helped me build mine. One of the non-glass rooms in the greenhouse was an incredible work room with tons of tools and scraps lying around. As I said, it was a great place. We finished making my gun and then we decided to play a game of hide and seek but instead of just spotting the other person you had to shoot them and then you would win. It was a blast. I got home really late that day and had to do the dishes since I had forgotten to call. Funny thing about that, parents always say we need to call and tell them we’re going to be late, but if we do they tell us to come right home, so experience teaches us to just not call and take care of the dishes. It’s a fair trade-off.
Of course as fun as that could be, there was only one thing that would make it better, and that’s more players. The next day at school we asked Cora Hopwood to join. Cora was in our grade and was really cool. She was funny, smart, and she could hit a baseball further than anyone else, boys included. I knew she loved to play almost any game and rubber band hide and seek should work.
“Sure,” she said. “Sounds like fun.”
Next we found James Hillside. James was big, really big, but not at all fat, and not at all athletic. But he was smarter than Cora and he had the biggest vocabulary in the state. He knew words that hadn’t yet made it into the dictionary. I think he once told me that he personally made up 17 new words himself that eventually found their way into the dictionary. He was an encyclopedia of knowledge and he would be really fun to have as an engineer to work on souping up the guns we were using now. James said he was sure it would be a great time.
“This should provide a more than sufficient procedure to gaining an adequate level of mirth and fulfillment. I accept your proposal,” he said, in his Hillside way.
We had four people and could have stopped there with two teams of two people each, but Cora suggested asking Amie to play.
“She’s fun, she’s smart, she’ll definitely want to play, and I want there to be another girl in the game.” She said.
No one could argue with that, so Cora asked Amie. Amie said “Sure! I’d love to.”
No one would be upset over Amie joining us; everybody liked her. She was the daughter of a minister who presided over the Assembly of God church, which was a super cool old church that we were all thinking would be a really cool place to explore and play in someday.
But we were stuck with an odd number again. We really needed to find one more person. I thought about it for awhile and suggested asking Peter to join. Peter’s family owned the Hilltop Grill, which was positively the coolest place to eat in Miles City. It was located on top of the Airport Hill, which was the hill that rose over the northern part of town and had -- you guessed it -- the airport on top. The Hilltop Grill had the best pizza for miles around, but even better was the huge game room filled with the latest and most fun video and pinball games of all time. Everyone loved the Hilltop Grill.
There was a long and low “MMmmmMMMM…” of agreement from everyone. Peter would be a welcome addition to our group.
That’s how it all started. Six of us, all innocently playing an afternoon game of hide and seek rubber band guns in the greenhouse. It could have ended there happily, but it doesn’t. It is just the beginning.
We used to play several games. We’d change up the rules, switch teams, sometimes use flags, and sometimes use flashlights in the dark. It was super fun. We started a practice where after the last game we’d all meet in the tool room and discuss that day’s games. We’d laugh at the funniest goofs and praise the best strategies. Sometimes we’d discuss other things as well. That’s where the Millionaires Club was born.
I don’t remember who first brought it up, but ask any 8th grader anywhere if he or she has plenty of spending money and the answer will always be “No!” We were squarely in that grouping. We didn’t have jobs. We were technically too young to work in a regular job yet. What little money we did have was usually gleaned from our parents through a meager allowance or by performing erratic extra jobs for some cash. Not enough, though. Not ever.
I think it was Amie who first thought up that name. We were sitting around discussing that day’s game when someone said that it would be nice if we could use some night vision scopes when we were playing one of our lights-out rounds.
“That is highly unlikely for us at this stage of our lives” He said. “We’d have to be some kind of a High Class Club to warrant that kind of expenditure.”
“Yeah” everyone assented.
“Yeah!” Earl agreed excitedly. “We sure would. And, why not?”
“Why not what?” I asked.
“Why not be a High Class Club?” he asked. “And then why not actually be rich?”
“What are you talking about?” Cora asked. “How could any of us be rich?”
“That’s just it!” Earl said. “We form a club that works at all of us becoming rich!”
“Do you think we could?” Amie asked.
“Why not?” Peter answered. “All it would take is a unique idea, like selling rocks did when my folks were kids and calling it a pet.”
And that’s how it started. We were now officially a club. Our mission? To become wealthy, all of us, as soon as possible. We were now looking for an idea to do it. We spent every minute dedicated to just that, at least every minute after we had played several rounds of hide and seek rubber band gun.
The first couple of meetings didn’t result in much except a collection of ideas that were similar to something that had already been done. Mood hats, which change color depending on your mood. James Hillside spent that entire meeting devising the method that would work to cause this to happen. It sounded like a great plan until he estimated that each hat would cost us about $500 to make. Peter figured we would have to sell them for $1000 to make a good profit. We had to finally admit that we didn’t think that many people were going to spend $1000 for a novelty hat.
We also discussed “pet twigs”. Little sticks that a person would “adopt” and care for. We even tried selling one of these to some kids at school for $5 but couldn’t find anyone who would buy one, even after we dropped the price to .50. Our inventory ended up back on the playground at the end of the day. Back to the drawing board.
Eventually we actually got around to coming up with some ideas that started to sound interesting. Earl had the first one we actually all got excited about. His idea was to make a life sized game that people would play and have to solve puzzles and challenges along the way to win the game. We all liked the idea and thoughts and suggestions to improve upon it came fast.
“We could have awards for those who finish!” shouted Cora.
“And certificates noting the level the person stopped at!” added Amie.
“I can visualize some incredible lighting and fog effects we can use,” said James.
“I have enough electronics in this room right here to rig up some super cool stuff!” Earl added.
We took a vote and everyone was in favor of “The Game of Living” being our first millionaire venture. Amie was the most organized so she started noting the ideas and agreed upon plans in a notebook that was now called the Club Minutes.
It wasn’t too long until someone raised the huge question of “Where are we going to build this?”
Silence. That placed a damper on things. After all, we all realized that there just weren’t that many people walking through the greenhouse and we didn’t think that Earl’s parents would want us filling up the clubhouse room with something like that anyway. But, where else? Peter had the winning idea when he said that maybe we could use the game room at the Hilltop Grill.
We all loved this plan. We selected Peter, Cora and I as a committee of three to go to Peter’s house and ask for permission. We held a few practice sessions with James and Amie pretending to be Peter’s parents and asking us questions that we needed to be ready to answer. When everyone felt that we were as ready as we were going to be we headed over to Peter’s house.
Luckily both of his parents were home, which was unusual since it was almost dinner time and at least one of them normally worked over the dinner hour at the Inn. His mom answered the door and let us in and when we asked to see both of them, we were shown into the den. We tried to look as official as we could. Peter even called his mom Mrs. Pettit. After a couple of minutes his mom and dad entered the den and sat down in chairs facing us. They smiled and asked us what they could do for us.
“Well, dad, I mean Mr. Pettit” began Peter. “We’re here as representatives of the Millionaires Club with a proposition for you.”
“You don’t say?” his father answered.
“Yes, sir” Peter continued. “We have a proposal that we believe will significantly increase your business at the Hilltop Grill and will generate some incredible publicity at the same time.”
“Really?” his mom asked. “Let’s hear it.”
We launched into our semi-rehearsed diatribe about the Living Game and how we would build it, staff it, market it and share some of the profits with them in exchange for the use of their game room for space. We did a pretty good job of it. At first his folks were watching us with these silly smiles and over doing the head nods, all the while exchanging looks with the “look at the cute kids” attitude. But, I noticed that after a few minutes the smiles went away and the expressions changed. We were good. We made the presentation and answered a few questions with sound answers. We had prepared some specifics regarding the costs, the installation, the expected revenues, the staffing, and the promotion. We sounded good.
Forty-five minutes later we walked out with a tentative “yes” still ringing in our ears. Mr. Pettit just had to make sure he could temporarily remove the games from the game room for a few weeks while we tried running our alternative entertainment draws in the Hilltop Grill.
We rushed back to the Greenhouse and shared the exciting news with everyone. I admit we all got a little bit excited while we celebrated for awhile. Earl was the first to calm down when he sat over a notebook and started drawing plans for the structure. James joined him and the rest of us started discussing what would be the coolest challenges to include.
We thought the best thing to do was combine some physical challenges with some brain teaser tests, to make it more difficult to pass each phase. Amie thought we should come up with an overall story line that would make it seem to be connected from the start to the finish.
“That’s a great idea!” Cora exclaimed. “I absolutely love it!”
“But, what theme should we choose?” I asked.
“It needs to be something that will appeal to the widest collection of people to broaden the customer base” said Amie.
We all looked at her, somewhat stunned.
“I just had a marketing class” she explained.
“Ohhhhh” we all answered in unison.
We then suggested ideas ranging from the medieval to an outer space quest and discussed the pros and cons of each. Occasionally Earl or James would add something if they were distracted enough from their collaboration on the mechanical workings of the plan.
“How about something more realistic, but with some really cool overtones?” Asked Cora.
“Like what?” asked Peter.
“Like a journey through life, and the results you have along the way dictate your real life. The better you do in our game, the more wonderful your life will be,” she said.
“I love it!” Peter said. “This way you can leave and come back to where you left off trying to continue.”
We brainstormed for a couple more hours after that and for the first time not one rubber band gun was fired.
After that we spent the next couple of meetings organizing a plan. We also decided to adopt a name for ourselves. We already knew that we had a kind of a club going so Earl asked what we should call ourselves. After a few minutes of people shouting out silly choices like “The Zombies” and “The RubberBanders,” Amie suggested “How about the Millionaires Club?”
Everyone loved it and it was voted in six to nothing. Now we didn’t just have a name, but we had a goal. We all were to become millionaires before we graduated from high school. We had a little over four years. Plenty of time!
The first thing we had on our to-do list was to find some money for supplies. We figured that the best way to get money would be to find someone to sponsor our idea and help finance it. Peter was chosen to ask his parents if the Hilltop Grill would take on this role as well but he came into the next meeting dejectedly and said “There is no way. Dad says he’s already taking a big risk just giving us that space for a few weeks.”
We then nominated each other to ask our parents if they would sponsor the game. I was really surprised when at dinner that night my
dad asked “How much?”
I didn’t want to tell him I had no idea so I adlibbed we had a couple of different packages and I would get him the information so he could decide which was right for him.
The next afternoon we worked out the packages. We had the Gold, Silver and Bronze packages. The Gold package cost $500 and included having your business name appear as a sponsor. Also your business name would appear on all certificates we printed and be included in any print or flyer advertising that we produced. The Silver package cost $150 and included having one full day of operation named for your business and having your business appear as a sponsor onsite at the Hilltop Grill. Finally, the Bronze package was $50 and included having your business name appear within the game in at least one location in a creative way.
We printed up a one page sheet diagramming the packages and the information and headed out with the information to inform and invite our parents. My dad asked a few questions and then signed up for a Bronze package. He gave me a check for $50 made out to the Millionaires Club and I practically ran back to the greenhouse waving the check over my head. It turned out that James’s, Cora’s, and Earl’s parents had also agreed to put in for a Bronze package, so we were off.
The next thing to do was get together to review the plans that James and Earl had been creating. They had devised a schematic where we could move “walls” around a hanging framework that would allow separate “rooms” within the game room. Everything was hung from a pulley track system mounted on the roof that could be customized to allow for different size and shape rooms depending on our need. We all agreed that it was really cool.
Even better than that was the projected cost. As James explained, “We definitely were conscious regarding the associated costs as we concocted the design. According to my astute calculations, we should be able to purchase all of the needed materials for approximately $157.34.”
Earl added, “Much of what we’ll need is already here and we can use it for the month. My dad already agreed.”
We next created a list complete with published pricing that we obtained from the web. When we had completed our online shopping we still had about $40 left from our sponsorships that we could keep in an emergency fund to be used as needed. We ended the meeting after assigning roles to each of us to continue the process.
James and Earl were designated as designers/builders. They would head all the design and construction plans as well as supervise the actual build.
Peter and Amie were chosen to be the buyers and transport team. Amie’s parents had a big, cool van that the church used which would be great for carrying our supplies to the Inn.
Cora and I were designated as fundraisers/salespeople. Our job was to ensure our emergency fund never reached zero and all advertisers were included in the building process. Cora was a tremendous ad salesperson. We raised another $200 the next day with her taking the lead and explaining to businesses why they should sponsor the project, including a collectibles store where we would get our certificates and t-shirts printed and framed. We also got the local grocery store, a pharmacy where I went asking for a job, and a jeweler.
After we had secured almost all the materials and were in a condition which James labeled “Fundamentally Secure,” we started the official work of creating the storyline that would be used in the game. Our final outline consisted of a story of an average person’s life that encompassed certain elements of drama, suspense, humor, and a slight amount of boredom. The goal was to emerge with an “Overpass” which allowed the player to continue to seek higher levels of life.
James and Earl had come up with a cool way of allowing the chambers inside the game to have a unique interlacing system of passages which allowed us to manipulate how each player would move through the system. If we started each team with an interval of approximately 6 minutes there should never be a possibility of an overlap and things should progress fairly smoothly while we were operating.
Justifiably the first level would deal with a person’s “birth” and would entail being able to survive the trials and tribulations of “babyhood”. This would involve needing to crawl through a course, somewhat adjustable depending on the person’s size that happens to be playing. Then the player needed to find the baby bottle and pick it up using a set of robot baby hands that are manipulated by them. Earl came up with a neat system that made them “wobble” and work with a level of difficulty supposedly simulating the lack coordination that a baby has. To exit the room, the player had to be able to go through the “diaper pail” and enter into the next room.
I thought it would be nice to have something else happen when a room’s chores were completed. James then wired up a simple system of chimes and buzzers that we could use to signify success or failure. In the furthest corner of the game we set up our control room where we could keep watch and control all the systems that we installed. We had placed small cameras with sound in each room to allow us to monitor the progress that was happening.
Each level had a goal that must be met in order to progress. If someone was unable to pass a room, a “reaper” would appear and accompany the person or group out of the game. The center of the game was a pathway that we decorated with cool symbols and things that we lit up with black lights to give it a cool look. The object is to finish all of the challenges and levels in your life and win the game with the best possible career and highest level of earnings and happiness.
The different rooms dealt with these differing themes. You scored in happiness, love, money, and career. The perfect score is set at 1000. Each of the four categories is ranked up to 250 points. If you score at 980 points or above then you win the “I rocked at life” title and get a t-shirt and certificate attesting that fact. Plus, we’d put your picture on our “Wall of Fame” and The Hilltop Grill would give you a certificate for a free pizza and pitcher of root beer to celebrate. We thought this was pretty cool.
We started construction on a Sunday, usually the slower time of the week for the Grill. We were on a spring break at school so we wouldn’t have any conflict with classes and could pretty much spend the whole week at the Grill. Peter’s dad and older brother Matt helped us with the building so it went really well. James and Earl’s precise measurements worked very well.
It took all day and most of the night, but by 3:00am we had just about completed the build and were ready to start installing the challenges. We decided to get a few hours sleep and get a fresh start at 8:00. We each picked out a quiet corner and fell asleep almost immediately.
I don’t think I had even closed my eyes when someone was shaking me and telling me to “Get up!” Earl was standing over me as I slowly peeked through my heavy lids and looked up at him.
“We need to get this ready” he said. “Are you awake?”
“”I am now” I said, a little more grumpily than I intended. “Get off of me!”
He moved away and I slowly sat up and became aware of where I was. Peter’s dad was pouring coffee at a table in the center of the room and for the first time in my life I actually wanted a cup.
I drank it fairly quickly and went back into the game room. Luckily for us it was a pretty big place. Separated from the main dining room it was approximately 25 by 40 feet. We had plenty of power outlets and a fairly high ceiling as well. With the framework all installed there was a nice alcove just inside of the room where the person would wait to begin their life’s journey.
My main job for the next 2 hours was a painter. All the wood needed to be painted an appropriate color. Earl and James had numbered the wood for which color would go there as a base. We used several different ones depending on whether or not that challenge was designated as an “outside” one or in a particular place, like the one in a college auditorium, our graduating challenge. This was one of my favorites. We played on the word gradual and had a slope that gradually graduated upwards and had some bumps and holes along the way. You had to roll yoursel
f, which was actually a 4 pound ball in this case, along the path and pass all of the obstacles to “graduate” with the highest honors. If you did, you’d receive your diploma and a job offer, a better one for every higher level you obtained. If you failed to “graduate” then you were a drop-out and you got a job offer for a much less glamorous or exciting career and were moved along. It was a super fun challenge, kind of like skeeball with an attitude.
I finished all the base painting and went to help install some of the lighting. Every room had a specific set of plans showing where each item needed to be installed. Everyone was working really hard and it started looking really great, really fast. The restaurant opened for business at 11:00 and after that we had a constant stream of curious onlookers asking questions and wanting to know when we would be ready for business.
We had planned on having a soft open on Monday around 6:00PM. A soft open, according to Amie, is when a new business starts selling to customers for the first time but doesn’t advertise it. The theory is that this will allow them to get most of the kinks out before they get hit with a grand opening size crowd. It looked like we were going to be able to hold to that schedule since at around 2:30 we were able to all sit down for a lunch break and take stock of where we were and how much more needed to be done.
We had pizza and root beer. The Hilltop Grill was famous for miles around for its pizza but Peter had told me once that he didn’t know why since everything they used was from a huge commercial supplier. Just normal dough and pizza sauce. I guess atmosphere is everything.
When we finished we spent the next few hours putting in the finishing touches. John Fulton, the owner of the collectibles store, was a huge help by running errands for us and bringing us the opening stock of t-shirts and certificates.
“Looks great, guys!” he said after walking through the set-up. “You did a really great job here.”
John was probably the coolest grown-up I knew. His store, Miles City in a Box, had the neatest stuff you could imagine and his basement, which was six times as big as his store, had an amazing warren of dark and mysterious tunnels and secret stashes of weird stuff. You never knew what you might find down there. We loved hanging around there and John never got mad at us or told us to get out if we didn’t buy something.
“What do you have planned for publicity?” he asked.
“Huh?” I asked. This was one area that we were lacking in somewhat.
“Your grand opening is tomorrow, right?” he asked. “Seems to me you should have something cool planned to get some publicity for yourselves.”
“But how?” I asked, since Cora and I were in charge of advertising.
“Well”, he answered. “It seems to me if you had some kind of a challenge match with someone from the city that might get some people noticing.”
“Like who?” Cora asked.
“Well” he answered slowly with a twinkle in his eye, “It seems like the Mayor and the head of the council are always ready to accept a challenge.”
The smile spread across my face as I thought about this. Miles City Mayor JD Springer did not get along with Bruce Brown the head of the city council. Supposedly it stemmed from a long ago feud involving a car dealership that the Mayor wanted to start. Bruce Brown owned the largest dealership in the eastern part of the state and had somehow put enough pressure on the not yet elected Mayor that he abandoned his plans and opened a travel agency instead. He supposedly never got over that and some people, like my dad, believe that the very reason he ran for mayor in the first place was that Bruce was chosen as the head of the council.
“Great idea!” I exclaimed. We would invite them both and make it a challenge to see who gets the best score. The newspaper and radio station would certainly cover that.
Miles City was a fairly quiet town and the local newspaper printed 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday. They took Sunday off thinking that most people ordered the Sunday version of one of the bigger papers like the Billings Gazette and wouldn’t read the local anyway. I was pretty sure that a challenge grudge match between the Mayor and the head of the council would warrant them sending a reporter. What we got was way better than we had even hoped!
That night the soft opening went pretty well. We found a few glitches and were able to fix them as the night went on. By closing time we really felt we had everything working to a perfect T and we were ready to face the public tomorrow. We closed everything down and called it a day.
The next day we met at 9am with a couple of hours to get ready. I had invited the Mayor and Bruce Brown yesterday afternoon by phone and although at first each had declined, saying they were too busy, as soon as I stated that the other one would be there, then both enthusiastically changed their minds and said they would be there. Then I called the local paper, the radio station and even the local small TV station. To my great surprise and delight they all said they would send someone to cover the event. I didn’t realize just how interested the local news outlets were in covering the political leaders feud.
We set-up the game and did a couple of run-throughs. Everything seemed to be ready. Mayor Springer and Bruce Brown were supposed to start things off at noon exactly. People started showing up as early as 10:00. The parking lot was filling up and people started parking along the road which went down the Airport Hill towards the Yellowstone River. We couldn’t believe how many cars were stopping. The newspaper reporter got there before TV and radio. His name was Skip Waters and he was a pretty good friend of ours. He had graduated from school last year and was always ready to give us a good tip or let us know what he was writing about when we saw him around town.
“Hey guys!” He said.
“Hey Scoop!” I answered, using his nickname, which he really loved.
“Looks like you have the makings of a pretty big thing here. Got any great quotes you want in the paper?” he asked.
We all looked at Cora since she was the one we had chosen to deal with media inquiries. Since she is big on the school paper we figured she’s the best one to represent us.
“Yes” she answered. “Please quote us as saying we are so thrilled that our new game has captivated the attention of the city and we can’t wait to see who the first winners will be!”
“You got it!” said Skip. “Let me get a few photos of you and your game.”
We showed Skip around and he took some great shots showing some of the challenges. I knew this would be incredible publicity when the next edition of the paper came out tomorrow.
After awhile we saw the KMCM radio van pull into the lot and in walked David the C. His real name is Dave Carbine but after he watched an old Happy Days show where Ritchie got a job as a deejay he changed his on air name to David the C. I asked him once what the “C” is supposed to stand for but he kept pretending he didn’t hear the question until I stopped asking.
David walked over to where we were congregating and opened the recorder he had with him.
“So,” he asked “tell me what’s happening here.”
Once again Cora was thrust on center stage and for the next few minutes she shepherded David through the origins and construction of the game, building excitement as she led into the challenge match that was coming between the Mayor and the Council Chairman.
David asked her a couple more questions and then strolled off to seek other people to interview. We figured that a significant amount of his afternoon program was going to be dedicated to our opening.
We were feeling pretty excited and held a quick meeting, deciding we should spread out and mingle with some of the growing crowd. Peter’s dad and mom were already very busy serving lunch orders and getting drinks ready for customers.
Mayor Springer then walked in and started shaking hands with the voters. The Mayor was always ready to visit with the voters and there were a lot of them assembled in the Grill wanting to greet him and say hello.
Then Chairman Brown entered and it really got
interesting. Almost immediately it seemed like two distinct sides emerged. The Mayor and his supporters were alongside the back of the Grill near the kitchen and Chairman Brown and his group kept together at the front, alongside the door to the outside. In the middle were the neutral parties, as well as us.
After only a few minutes the TV crew entered. Now things were at a definite peak. As soon as the bright lights were set up near the entrance to the game and the announcer, who was someone I didn’t know, started to record his video the crowd stopped chattering and the tension mounted.
The Mayor and the Chairman both came forward and spoke with the reporter for a couple of minutes. He said his name was Rick Riffle and he asked some really dumb questions, like “Are you worried about a spitball?” Since this had nothing to do with baseball, we had no idea what he was talking about. The Mayor took the question in stride, however and answered that he was confident that the rules would be followed and the better man would win.
Cora then stepped up to the entrance. Along with being our media spokesperson she was also the best person to have meeting and greeting the public. Earl and James had already placed themselves into the control booth ready to operate and oversee the game. Amie, Peter and I assumed our positions inside the game and we were ready to begin.
Cora told us later that it was decided that Rick Riffel would follow the progress with a camera and the entire match would then be played on television that night for all to see. This was great news! We would be getting more free publicity than we ever imagined. Cora also made sure that Rick got a good shot of our opening poster with our sponsors prominently displayed.
Then the game was started. Both men moved into the first room and were faced with the first challenge, being born. The Mayor went first and his efforts resulted in a healthy 8lb, 6oz baby. His smile told everyone that he was satisfied and his look as he peered at the Chairman told him he thought he would have a hard time beating it. The Chairman took his turn and the result was 8lb, 4oz healthy baby.
“Yes!” shouted the Mayor. “I win!”
“What do you mean, you win!” answered the Chairman, “You’re just a fat blubbery baby!”
“I’m not blubbery!” argued the Mayor. “At least I can say something besides ‘goo goo ga ga’!”
“Both of the weights are in the range of healthy, happy baby weight” said Cora. “If you would like to, you may both proceed to the next room.”
The sound of the chime and the opening of the door signified that they could move further into the game.
The men migrated through the game passing challenges representing stages of their lives. The scores were very close with either man holding a slim lead from room to room. The competition level only increased as the match went on and judging by the smile on Rick Riffel’s face, he was getting some terrific footage. I was just imagining the TV commercials we would be seeing during the next election season as each man was sticking out their tongues and razzing the other wildly.
James and Earl played their parts perfectly. Doors opened, bells chimed, lights turned off and on right on cue and it was impressive.
The men were out of college and arguing whether a BA in English was better than a BS in Biology. The Mayor was calling the Chairman a germ lover and the Chairman was calling the Mayor a prissy librarian.
I had a quiet conversation with Amie and Peter and we decided the best thing to happen would be to have the match end in a tie, so as soon as they finished a challenge that determined that they both missed winning the lottery by only a couple of numbers Earl hit the end sequence and there was a flash of light and thunder and a fanfare of trumpets which signified the game had ended. Both men were looking confused and ready to protest at first, but as soon as each learned that they did not lose and it was a tie, they readily accepted the outcome, although as they walked out they both proclaimed that they had things well in control and would have surely won if allowed to continue.
Cora met them as they exited and immediately incorporated our plan to split them apart for the post game interviews. She sent the Mayor over to Scoop Waters for a newspaper interview and the Chairman went to David the C for some live radio time.
“Hey hey hey!” David began, “It’s David the C live at the Hilltop Grill with Chairman Brown who has just completed an inaugural challenge of the brand new “Game of Your Life” launching today here at the Inn. Mr. Brown, what did you think?”
“I loved it! It was really great. We played a great match and it was really fun. I will definitely come back and do this again, but next time with someone more fun to play with,” he added with a wink.
We were ecstatic. The Mayor was telling Scoop that he loved playing it, and the radio audience had just heard how much fun it is. Our advance publicity couldn’t have gone better. We held a quick meeting and decided that the best thing to do was open for business immediately. We resumed our places and switched on the “Now Living” sign. We were off and running.
The next two weeks were a whirlwind. We spent almost every hour at the Grill running the game. For the most part the crowds were pretty consistent and positive. We had some very dedicated fans that played over and over again always trying to improve their score and this created some great competitive action amongst some of the players.
We did have a few incidences where we had to ban some people from playing. Bob Maguns and his friend Tracy Bartels were inside and I caught them trying to spray paint some graffiti on the walls. I immediately confronted them and led them out of the game. Cora took their photo and placed it on the “do not let play” clipboard.
When everything was over and Peter’s dad had helped us put the room back in shape for the return of the coin machines we took stock of the whole escapade. After all of our expenses we each had banked a little over $1100. Not bad for a few weeks work on something that was a blast to do while doing it. We held a regular meeting at the greenhouse, called it a success, played some hide and seek rubber band games and basically had a great meeting.