# If you had a billion dollars: What are some truly bizarre or weird or eccentric things you would do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356 "2026-05-24T22:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/41 "2026-05-25T17:02:19Z")
I would offer to finance a restaurant that catered to people on a diet. This would include partnerships with Jennie Craig, Weight Watchers, NOOM, etc., and feature menus with low-fat, low-carb, low-calorie, etc. choices. There would also be options for diners not on a diet. It would probably last a year before the novelty wore off. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/42 "2026-05-25T17:11:31Z")
You better stick to just one of those groups because they don’t play well with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/43 "2026-05-25T18:05:20Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > You could even make the shells of the rooms movable so as to make the dungeon layout different every so often. Oh, that reminds me of another crazy thing I always wanted - the adjustable house. You own a house, but you only ever use one or two rooms at a time most days. So 90+% is sitting idle. So make a house in which the rooms dynamically adjust in size based on current usage. Walls shift, furniture moves around, stuff like that. Probably incredibly hard to pull off, and you’d need staff to make sure that things aren’t just lying around that would get in the way of everything moving. But what else is a billion dollars good for? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/44 "2026-05-25T18:10:21Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Oh, that reminds me of another crazy thing I always wanted - the adjustable house. That reminds me of the book “Hyperion.” It is sci-fi and in that universe they have “far-casters.” Basically a portal from one place to another. Walk through as you would a doorway and you are in a totally different place. Even a different planet. One character was so wealthy every door in his house was a “far-caster” so, walking room-to-room put you on another planet. His bathroom was a water world (no land…you pooped in that vast ocean). As an aside…fantastic book. Well worth a read. In book terms I think that meant you had a lot more than $1 billion though. Think Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk money. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/45 "2026-05-25T18:21:07Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > In book terms I think that meant you had a lot more than $1 billion though. Think Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk money. If we’re getting into sci-fi technologies here, I could do my adjustable house by combining a holodeck with a teleporter. Have the holodeck create whatever room you want at the moment (I’d have a lot of pre-sets, but you could also make up something new on a whim). But that stuff is all ephemeral. I’d still want to own real stuff, so have a transporter-enabled warehouse for all my stuff. When I call up a room on the holodeck, it automatically transports the appropriate “stuff” into it. I can open the library, take a book off the shelf, and then carry it into a different room, or even leave the house entirely with it, because the book itself is real. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/46 "2026-05-25T19:01:50Z")
I’d build a really nice country house on about 100 acres of lakeside property, and on that property I’d run the world’s largest dog rescue center. No cages – dogs would run loose in a large fenced area, and would have air conditioned doghouses and a staff to look after them. Most of them would be available for adoption to well-vetted homes, but I suspect most of them would prefer to remain in doggie nirvana. I’d also contribute generously to animal shelters on the rationale that most donors, like the Gates Foundation, focus on human needs while many animal services are inadequately funded. I’d also get back to sailing, but not with anything extravagant. A modest 32- or at most 35-footer would do. Ironically, this billionaire would be inclined to buy a used one because I’m extremely partial to C&C Yachts, but they haven’t been made since 2017 when the company became defunct after a hostile takeover and financial shenanigans. Naturally, several dogs would accompany me on my sailing cruises – the presence of sailing canines was something I often noticed during my sailing days! Also, I’d buy rare old books to add to my library. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/47 "2026-05-25T19:13:43Z")
I would be tempted to get one of those Beatles artifacts, the super collectible ones that go at auction for seven or eight figures. The kick drum head from the cover of Sgt Pepper. The Gretsch that George played on the Sullivan show. That kind of awesomely cool item that fellow fans would ooh and ah over. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/48 "2026-05-25T19:19:09Z")
Sorry to be a killjoy, but from what I can Google, Marvel’s version of Mjolnir has a head that’s about 13 cm x 13 cm x 21.5 cm. If made of iridium, it would weight about 180 pounds. That seems well within the range of even a moderately strong person, and an amateur weight lifter would have no problem with it. Maybe you could fund a research effort to find a way to stabilize neutronium. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/49 "2026-05-25T19:19:21Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > One of my wife’s favorite series (what there is of it of course). Three great books, compiled int one thick volume. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > One I’ve mentioned before in other, similar threads - live in DM. I haven’t gotten to do paper and pencil RPGs for years, friends moved away, scheduling even online too difficult, managing to find the hours for a session long enough to matter… heck, it’s hard to coordinate a 3-4 hour WoW run with my friends sometimes! > > Piles of money means all those problems go away! And I could go back and play some of my weird, obscure or just out wrong games like SLA Industries (not for long, given!). > > On a somewhat grander note, I’d like to create a small scale personal cruise ship, and then hire someone like Max Miller to host historical and food driven tours of all the greatest cities of the ancient and modern world. I could have a series of rotating chefs and historians so no one had to devote themselves to my edification full-time, and I’d have smaller, secondary river-craft for heading up-river from larger ports. All great ideas! > [@Ludovic](#): > > I wonder if there is anything like an escape room but which plays like a cross between a LARP and a TTRPG. There are similar things, but I dunno about the monsters. Puzzles, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/50 "2026-05-25T19:22:09Z")
More eccentric than bizarre or weird but as a vanity project I’d like to bankroll a pizza restaurant that used ridiculously high-quality ingredients. Like grinding their own flour for the dough every day with an onsite mini-mill; freshly picked hothouse tomatoes and herbs for the sauce; cheese from wheels of cheese instead of the usual plastic bags of restaurant-grade cheese; toppings from the highest quality cured meats. Find a couple of GOOD chefs and pay them any amount of money it took to keep them happy. Pies baked in the best quality pizza oven of course. The restaurant would never turn a profit, they’d have to charge fifty dollars a pie to break even, but I’d subsidize the restaurant simply so it could serve the best pizza humanly possible. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/51 "2026-05-25T20:07:00Z")
IIRC Mjolnir can’t be carried by any but a very few cuz magic. It has nothing to do with the weight (which is why it doesn’t smash tables or make big dents in the earth when put down). Just saying… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/52 "2026-05-25T20:09:15Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > More eccentric than bizarre or weird but as a vanity project I’d like to bankroll a pizza restaurant that used ridiculously high-quality ingredients. Like grinding their own flour for the dough every day with an onsite mini-mill; freshly picked hothouse tomatoes and herbs for the sauce; cheese from wheels of cheese instead of the usual plastic bags of restaurant-grade cheese; toppings from the highest quality cured meats. There are a few “Certified” Pizza places that do just that- Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. Two in LA County- I went to one, great pizza. No pepperoni, but sausage is okay. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/53 "2026-05-25T20:11:13Z")
Yes, I know that that’s true in the Marvel universe, but Lumpy was talking about making a real life replica that would be too heavy “for anyone but the strongest people to lift”. I don’t think that’s possible unless the replica were made significantly larger than the movie prop. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/54 "2026-05-25T20:13:00Z")
Electromagnets. ---
**Author:** ![Past\_Paper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/past_paper/32/21268_2.png) [@Past\_Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Past_Paper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/55 "2026-05-25T20:14:50Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’d make movies based on my books. I might come up with TV show ideas and produce them too. I would also probably get some of my ideas into production (Netflix, miniseries, et al). > [@Moriarty](#): > > Lots of people buy really expensive watches. Not me; I’d pay somebody to be my timekeeper. > > I think it’s a greater flex. Just snap my fingers and he’d say “6:58 pm” > > How impressive is your Patek Philippe now? One of my biggest expectations with this OP of mine was someone was going to inevitably mention Lewis Black’s comedy bit about his personal “Ball-washer” (and he ain’t talkin’ about a golf assistant, neither 😉 ), and you basically did, you just did a PG-rated homage version. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I don’t want to take away from the OP, but I guess one way of looking at it would be like if someone said to you > > ‘you get 50 billion you can do whatever you want with for for charity, family, friends, science, living expenses, but in order to get it you have to take 1 billion and spend it on weird or eccentric things first’ > > Reframing it that way makes it easier to do the thought exercise without guilt about wasteful spending. That sounds good, take my wording this way now, it improves the hypothetical. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > I’ve mentioned before in other, similar threads Did any previous thread similar to this one of mine actually do the whole “Specifically only talk about weird eccentric and bizarre things” angle I did? I doubt it but let me know > [@enipla](#): > > I love my home, so I’m good there. I’d probably build 2 or 3 ‘vacation’ homes. Nothing elaborate. > > There is a '57 Chevy I have my eye on. It’s had a complete body off restoration. They dropped a 350 in it with a 5 speed manual. It’s a seriously gorgeous car. I’d build a special garage for it with an indoor target range. > > Lot’s of money would go to various animal shelters. I’d set up some sort of fund for them. That’s cool!, but none of those are particularly weird or eccentric in any way. ---
**Author:** ![Past\_Paper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/past_paper/32/21268_2.png) [@Past\_Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Past_Paper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/56 "2026-05-25T20:23:44Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I’d buy some empty land just outside of town and build a mansion like the one from Clue. I’d probably straight-up purchase the mansion in Tomales, California where the last 50 minutes of the original _Scream_ film take place. It would be Awesome! AND I’d let people visit pretty much whenever they wanted to, plus have big parties there > [@Horatius](#): > > If we’re getting into sci-fi technologies here Real-life only please if you can help it 🙂 > [@wolfpup](#): > > I’d build a really nice country house on about 100 acres of lakeside property, and on that property I’d run the world’s largest dog rescue center. No cages – dogs would run loose in a large fenced area, and would have air conditioned doghouses and a staff to look after them. Most of them would be available for adoption to well-vetted homes, but I suspect most of them would prefer to remain in doggie nirvana. I’d also contribute generously to animal shelters on the rationale that most donors, like the Gates Foundation, focus on human needs while many animal services are inadequately funded. > > I’d also get back to sailing, but not with anything extravagant. A modest 32- or at most 35-footer would do. Ironically, this billionaire would be inclined to buy a used one because I’m extremely partial to C&C Yachts, but they haven’t been made since 2017 when the company became defunct after a hostile takeover and financial shenanigans. Naturally, several dogs would accompany me on my sailing cruises – the presence of sailing canines was something I often noticed during my sailing days! > > Also, I’d buy rare old books to add to my library. The first one’s good, the last two there are pretty standard rich-person stuff, let’s try to stick to the odd-ball shall we? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/57 "2026-05-25T20:25:02Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Electromagnets Just don’t get ‘em wet. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/58 "2026-05-25T20:26:22Z")
Iridium is about twice as dense as lead, or nearly three times as dense as steel. So maybe “anyone but the strongest” was exaggerating things a bit but it could be heavy enough to require some serious wrist strength. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/59 "2026-05-25T20:28:40Z")
I always said that if I hit a lottery prize in the “I no longer have to worry about money” range, I’d open a small restaurant that served lunch only. There would be one thing on the menu every day, but it would change daily, and it’d depend on what I felt like making. One day, it could be polenta. Another day, ribs. Sushi yet another day. Just whatever struck my fancy. I would only charge enough to cover costs, including employees if I ended up hiring anybody. I’d open about 11am, and when the food ran out, I’d close. Or sooner, if I felt like it. Working in a restaurant kitchen was the most fun job I ever had, but the pay and hours sucked. If I had the $$, I’d have the best part of the job without the worst parts. I even have a name for it: The Mush Room. Not that I’d specialize in mush, I just like the name. (I stole it from an old comic strip, _Odd Bodkins_.) ETA: I’d also make sure that the local Porsche dealer had me on speed dial. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356/60 "2026-05-25T20:31:25Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > Did any previous thread similar to this one of mine actually do the whole “Specifically only talk about weird eccentric and bizarre things” angle I did? I doubt it but let me know Similar in many ways, but no, not the same though I’m sure some overlap: > [@If you had tons of excess money to waste, what niche employees would you hire?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-tons-of-excess-money-to-waste-what-niche-employees-would-you-hire/947347): > > For me, I want a full-time Tall Person. Someone to just be there, instantly ready to retrieve stuff from the top shelves of the kitchen cabinets or dust the top of the fridge or replace burned out light bulbs in ceiling fixtures. Oh, and he has to accompany me on my grocery shopping trips, for some reason what I want is way too often stocked on the top shelf and there’s only two packages left and they’re sitting way the heck back against the wall. (Yes, my husband is good for this stuff, but h… It would have been a perfect thread for the ball-washer as an example of the overlap. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-what-are-some-truly-bizarre-or-weird-or-eccentric-things-you-would-do/1030356.md?page=4)