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BARGE

For the benefit of newcomers, BARGE stands for Big August Rec.Gambling
Excursion. BARGE is an annual tradition that dates back to 1991! This
year's BARGE is slated on/near the weekend of August 7, and you are
invited to join the mayhem in Las Vegas. This is the 3rd BARGE, and
is almost guaranteed to be bigger than last year! If you are crazy
enough to join us, and would like to get in on the planning for this
spontaneous event, send a message to:

BARGE-request%u*****k@****.com

and your name will be added to the BARGE mailing list. Note that Frank's
mailer is VERY picky about upper/lower case, you must get this address
exactly as show above.

The BARGE 3 Commemorative Chip

That's right, this year we want to have a lasting memorial of the
event, so we are having CASINO QUALITY chips made up (in a variety
of lovely colors) with a special BARGE/PRESTO! center that can be
readily identified from a distance of about two feet. This will
be a limited edition chip that will only be made available to BARGE
participants and/or readers of rec.gambling. These chips will allow
you to identify yourself to other rec.gamblers without resorting to
embarrassing outbursts of "PRESTO!", and are bound to become the
defacto symbol of gamblers the world over who are in touch with
high technology. They also make for fascinating conversation pieces
and would be the perfect gift for all of your gambling friends.
You've just GOT to have some of these chips. How can you get them?
Well, you can't. I know, this is a big letdown, but they are not
available ANYWHERE, not even here. But don't despair! If you
just MUST have some of these coveted items, then we want to hear
from you. Just cut out the form below, and send it to us.

The BARGE 3 Poker Tournament

Not only do we want to make up a bunch of chips for BARGE and
rec.gambling, but we want to GIVE AWAY a full set of 300 chips,
in a variety of colors, complete with carrying case, to the lucky
and/or highly skilled winner of the BARGE poker tournament! How
can we afford to do that? Well, we can't, unless YOU help (you
knew there was a catch, didn't you?). OK, these puppies aren't
exactly cheap, and a set of 300 chips in their own case is going
to cost about as much as two round-trip flights from Salt Lake
City to Las Vegas. But, if everyone pitches in it will be a piece
of cake. All we ask is that you cough up a few measly dollars to
buy your very own BARGE chip. Nothing major, and to be quite
honest we can't even quote you a price until we know how many
of these we can pawn off, er, sell to rec.gamblers. But we're
probably looking at something like $3/chip or two for $5, but
this price is subject to change so don't hold us to that. Geez,
you spend more than that toking the cocktail waitresses at the Rio
in just one afternoon, and THEY don't give you a commemorative chip
in return now, do they? And, the more chips we sell, the lower the
price can be! And, if you come to Vegas during BARGE to pick your
chip(s) up in person, we'll give them to you AT COST! Finally, a
good excuse to attend BARGE! If you can't make it to Vegas, then
we'll ask you to help us out by sending cash or money orders (sorry,
no checks or plastic) with a stamped/addressed heavy-duty envelope
(a 3.5" disk mailer would be ideal). In exchange, we won't try to
foist some silly postage and handling charge on you. Fair enough?

OK, so we're asking you to trust us -- how else are we supposed to
keep down costs? And, if you've been thinking about buying a nice
set of chips for your weekly poker game, and you'd like them to say
BARGE on them, then we're ESPECIALLY interested in hearing from you
(for quantities of 200 or more, we're probably looking at not much
more than a buck per chip). OK, that may sound pretty expensive,
but these are high-grade casino quality chips with an inlaid vinyl
center, similar to the chips you'll find at the Mirage.

OK, it wouldn't be fair to ask you to pony up the whole cost of
the "prize" chips, so we'll swipe part of the tournament entry fee
to help cover the cost of the chips. There will also be cash
prizes for 2nd and 3rd place. This event is bound to become
THE premiere event of the poker world, and this is your chance to
say that you were there when it all got started (or at least, that
YOU helped to make it happen).

There's one last catch. If there isn't enough interest, then we
can forget the whole deal. We need to pawn off a total of 300
chips just to PLACE the order. The BARGErs have signed up for
about half that many, so we need about 140 people to order a chip,
or about 90 people to order 2 chips each, or about 45 people to
order a special 6-chip package (one of each color). We can get
by if we don't quite get this many orders, and if we get more
orders than this we'll lower the price.

So, if everyone orders a single chip, that's about the number of
people who signed up for WRGPT2, so maybe we can make it, or maybe
we're just dreaming. At that point, we have enough support to order
the "prize" chip set for the tournament, plus enough chips to fill
orders. Anything above that will simply reduce the costs for everyone
involved, and allow us to lower the price.

Unfortunately, there isn't much time to do this. We have to place
the order by June 15. That means you need to pre-order RIGHT AWAY,
by about June 3. If we get enough pre-orders to do this, then we'll
ask you to send money by June 10. OK, we'll cave in and accept checks
if we have to, but if your check bounces you will be publicly
humiliated in rec.gambling.

Another last "gotcha". If you're thinking of signing up on the BARGE
list with the intent of ordering chips at cost, then saying "oops,
looks like I can't make it after all, please send me my chips",
it won't work. To get the BARGE rate you must pick up your chips
in Las Vegas during BARGE.

----------------------- clip here ---------------------------------
PRE-ORDER FORM

OK LISTEN UP, in case you missed it, we're NOT taking orders yet,
we just want to see how many people are interested. If enough
people are interested, we'll start taking orders SOON, like in
a week or so, so you need to let us know RIGHT AWAY if you want
to get in on this. Just check the box below to indicate your
level of interest.

[] WOW! I just gotta have a set of 300 BARGE chips (with case) for, oh,
maybe $350 or so, if you guys pull this off, count me in!
[] YES! Fantastic Idea. I'd like 6 chips (one of each color), and
I'd probably cough up about $12 if this idea gets off the ground.
[] OK, I've got a few bucks to blow. Send me 2 chips for about $5,
I don't much care what color they are.
[] Well, OK, call me a sentimental fool. I'd send you bozos $3 for
a dumb chip if you're that desperate.
[] I'm coming to BARGE. I want _____ chips AT COST. Bleed some other
poor sap.
[] Get lost.
[] I'll send a stamped/addressed 3.5" floppy mailer to make your
life easier (or a 5.25" mailer for 6 chips).
[] You're nuts if you want me to address my own mailer. I'll chip
in an extra $3 if one of you clowns will lick the stamps for me.
Send PRE-ORDER forms to j*****s@c*.****h.edu by June 3rd. If there
are enough PRE-ORDERs, we will require payment by June 10 (snail-mail
address to follow if there are enough PRE-ORDERs)
Please clip out just those parts of this form that apply to you.
I may lose your order if everyone stuffs my mailbox with all this
crap.

----------------------- clip here ---------------------------------

--
Steve Jacobs ({bellcore,hplabs,uunet}!utah-cs!jacobs, j*****s@c*.****h.edu)
"Don't worry, I just have these harmless pocket rockets...."