Team Building Lunch - Dutch Treat

We had our team building lunch today. The idea is to get out of the office for some much needed rest and relaxation. It used to be, companies paid for this, ours doesn't. At least our department doesn't. It was dutch treat. It's cool. Besides, I like the name of the place.

Dave and Busters is an eat, drink and play sort of place. I just ate and played, no drinking. It was scheduled to start at 1:00 but only three of us arrived at 1:00. We just decided to order (we were hungry). I ordered some beef and potatoes and washed it down with ice water (I was paying, remember?). D&B has a combo dinner and game card for $15 bucks. By the time the meal arrived, sever other shoed up. By the time I was finished eating, ten people were sitting around the table.

After lunch we went in to the game room and did some video racing, bowling, and air hockey. The video racing was cool. There was a row of cars open so each of us (seven in all) grabbed a steering wheel and drove off. I came in second.

I watch two of the guys shoot hoops. One of them was able to score 63 shots. Most of them were going in.

I did a little bowling for points. Got a couple 100s, some 50s but mostly 10s. I used my entire card on that machine and made 55 tickets. Well, I thought, that's enough to buy a little stuffed animal for Ruth in the store. Talk about sticker shock! A little gross-colored frog cost 450 tickets! I walked out disheartened.

One of the guys talked me in to playing a jackpot game. The light runs around the circle and you have to stop it between to colored arches. There are so many lights blinking, I was going to throw an epileptic fit. Even if I don't hit the jackpot, the closer to the arches I stop the light, the higher number of tickets I earn. I was hitting 18s and 20s. Woohooo.

It's addictive. I'd taken about 20 turns but kept stopping the light just before the arches or just after. Then it hit struck me like a bell in a tower. Aim to stop the light AT the 20. It worked! I hit the jackpot. Tickets squirted out of the machine like water out of a tugboat's fire hose. They streamed unending. I played on. Thinking that I could score yet another jackpot using my new method, I tried five more times. Meanwhile a mound of tickets covered my shoes. How many tickets could this possibly be?

I started to count but Sina told me just bring the whole pile and they'll weigh it and tell me how many there are. When we got to the counter the the girl dumped them in the scale Sina took a guess: 1200?

"You have 1650 tickets, congratulations!"

Whoa, dude.

Now we're talking. I should be able to buy whatever I want now. Hey, you lady, with the tiny wad of tickets, step aside.

So many tickets, so few choices. Forget the frogs, I'm looking at the monkeys.

...dave