# Anyone here ever win a big prize in a contest? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844 "2003-11-23T15:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tanaqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tanaqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanaqui)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/41 "2003-11-26T05:50:28Z")
I won a Christmas tree once. Didn’t keep it–we get our Christmas trees fresh out here, and this was an ugly pre-cut one. Gave it away to a friend. ---
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/42 "2003-11-26T05:54:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cheddarsnax \* > \*\*I won a yo-yo. I almost won a million dollars from McDonalds - I had 1/2 of the winning game piece at home, and found the other half while vacationing in Arizona. I lost it on the flight home. Seriously. \*\* :smack: I won $500 in a Super Bowl pool a few years back, and just last week I won a $50 bar tab for winning a trivia contest - but the real prize was posing with the two sets of twins for a photo-op - [http://sportsbybrooks.com/sbbgig795.html](http://sportsbybrooks.com/sbbgig795.html). ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/43 "2003-11-26T15:31:32Z")
Not a huge prize, but when I was five, I won front-row seats to “A Christmas Carol” at Ford’s Theater courtesy of a raffle at our local radio station. In retrospect, it was pretty cool because going to a live theater production downtown was probably not something I would have gotten to do otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/44 "2003-11-26T18:39:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by luluBahrain \* > \*\*I won one hundred dollars in a Captain Crunch contest back in the '80s. I think I was nine or so. I had to split it with my younger brother though. \*\* So you found the Captain too. My wife and I each won $100 in that Captain Crunch contest the first time they did it and I won a Sony boombox (which I still use) when they ran it a second time. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/45 "2003-11-26T18:56:14Z")
I won two tickets to “Uncle Vanya”, the Bathhouse Theatre’s next production, by having the most correct answers to a Sherlock Holmes trivia quiz they handed out at their production of “The Sign of Four”. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/46 "2003-11-27T03:58:33Z")
I won OutKast’s _ATLiens_ and Toni Braxton’s _Secrets_ from Rick Chase (anyone from the Bay Area remember him?) when I was probably in high school. I got movie tickets from him once, too. I won Aerosmith tickets to their _Just Push Play_ tour last time in San Jose. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/47 "2003-11-27T04:57:12Z")
When I was about 9, I entered a “guess how many gumballs in this gigantic jar” contest, and I won a $5 gift certificate to the toy store that ran the contest. By the time I could cajole my folks into taking me to the toy store again, the place had gone out of business. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/48 "2003-11-27T04:59:21Z")
[boasting mode=on] I don’t remember what, if anything, I have “won”, but I’ve come close. In 95, there was this ‘contest’ in India to search for talented , “smart” kids. Participants had to provide their portfolio (of artwork, essays, commendations… whatever) and then be subjected to an interview. At the local, regional and finally national level. At the national level, finalists stayed in Bangalore for a week to interact with the judges and participate in the associated festival. Of 15,000 participants, I finished in the top 10. [boasting mode=off] The thing was pretty political, though. They were looking for ‘role models’. Even then, I was atheistic and not politically suave enough to just shut up and nod, when during the final interviews, I was asked to agree that traditional moral values were essential to Indian society. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/49 "2003-11-27T05:47:42Z")
My wife won a trip for two to the British Virgin Islands (yes, she took me) from a radio station drawing. The sponsor was Jose Cuervo. They rented a little island that was actually a resort that slept 16 people. All of us were contest winners except for a couple who were hired by Cuervo to keep the party going. Lots of free tequila, lots of fun. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/50 "2003-11-27T08:11:22Z")
Last year, I guessed the weight of a porn star’s breasts in a radio contest (on the deceased Comedy World Radio Network). I won a gummi cock ring, a catalog of Columbine-related merchandise, and an autographed calendar. ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844/51 "2003-12-03T19:26:32Z")
I won the Blackjack Tourney on board my Honeymoon cruise. The Purse was about $525. I promptly gave it back that night playing craps. Another time in A.C. I sat down at a $10 Blackjack table with $50, and left 7 hours later with $2,050. Although I would call this stuff work. I did win a free 20 oz. Coke today, which is why I am posting here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-ever-win-a-big-prize-in-a-contest/214844.md?page=2)