The Chicken Drop

As I am traveling, it is becoming increasingly more obvious that it does not take a whole lot to keep the average human being amused. I present as evidence, the chicken drop. This is a tradition apparently started in New Orleans some while back, where a game board with a grid of 100 numbers is penned in, and a chicken or rooster is shaken up lightly and placed on the center of the ring, where it will stay until it drops a bomb. Whatever number it drops on, that is the winning ticket.

One of the places that has an international reputation for this is Wahoos lounge in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. Every Thursday night, without exception, starting at 6 ish, anywhere from six to eight rounds of the drop happens. This means each of the four birds has to come up with two good craps within a couple of hours.

So here are the rules:

1) 100 tickets are sold for $1 BZ by the bar owners for each drop, with the winner taking in the entire pot.

2) For each round, some one is selected as the handler (inevitably some cute twenty something girl), who is then delivered a bird by "chicken security". The bird is then moved around in a few circles to stir things up, and just prior to being released the hens arse is raised and the handler has to blow on its butt.

3) The crowd then cheers on the bird, with all of the usual wise cracks and puns, until the bird drops.

4) The winner has to clean up the mess or does not get to claim the prize. Needless to say, everyone cleans up.

5) The crowd is given about 10 mins between rounds to have time to order another drink

Now there is one potential catch to this, and that is the split shitter (see pic to left). If that happens then there are two winners, or possibly four if it hits right on a grid line. 

I spent a great deal of time talking to the bars owners, who incidentally are very nice people, and they told me with the T shirt sales and the liquor sold, they could run  the bar by only opening on chicken drop night. The night I was there there was approximately a hundred people watching. They told me the previous week that there was nearly four hundred, and they sold the entire bar out of beer. And this is the slow season.

As noted, although it was new to me, the night is known internationally. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks back, which quoted the owners. There are four or so movie/TV shows shot there each year. Apparently last year Steve O of Jackass fame was there, and licked up the dropping from one of the games. Anyway, it was fun to watch and certainly is a gold mine for the bar. This has been running out of the bar location for 25 tears.

Last Thursday was my last night on Ambergris Caye, before making my way south to Placentia.