when i was a kid, there was a "Fortune Game". it was a small piece of cardboard, with a 10 by 10 array of dots you could by a Dot for a dime. Each dot told a forutune (chinese cookie type) and each, could be a winner! You couldn't chose which dot you got, but rather, they were always punched out in order (1 to 100)
you could win $1, or $5. Each Dot got punched out with a small tool, similar to a awl.
as a child, i figured out, each row equalled $1-- and with 10 rows, the shop keeper could take in $10, and with 2 winners (one each, $1, $5) still have a $4 profit!
it also occured to me, no one would buy any of the dots once they knew there was already a $5 winner, so the winning dot was always one of the last. i was impressed as a child that people would by these dots! i bought one, once, the dot # was in the 90's, i didn't win, and never bothered trying again.
i suspect they were illegal, but they were very common in poor neighborhoods. I haven't seen one in years-i don't know what about this thread triggered the memory!
