Question of the Day - 05 June 2021

Your memory serves you correctly -- in both instances. 

Second item first: To the best of our knowledge, there was never a trapeze act over the pit at the Tropicana. It's possible that there might've been (and if anyone recollects it, please enlighten us), but that would certainly have to have been prior to 1979, when new owners added a $1 million 4,000-square-foot Art Nouveau-style leaded-glass dome over the gambling tables. It was so fragile and heavy that engineers had to design a sort of suspension system for it. It was attached to pneumatic shock absorbers to account for the vibrations of the building from the air-conditioning; the domed ceiling remained stationary and the building vibrated around it. No way any trapeze artists would ever be swinging from that contraption. 

However, at one point in the late 1990s, one of myriad plans over the years to spruce up the ol' Trop included a 20,000-square-foot special-events building and a trapeze act between the resort's two hotel towers. Neither ever transpired. 

As for the tic-tac-toe chicken, yes, that was really a thing and it happened at the Tropicanas in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, among a number of other casinos.

It was the brainchild of one Bunky Boger, an Arkansawyer chicken farmer who, some reports say, ran Boger Chicken University in Springdale, Arkansas. He trained the chickens, which he referred to as “educated poultry,” employing techniques pioneered and popularized by behavioral psychologist, philosopher, and professor B.F. Skinner. The Boger clan also trained racing pigs and ran a traveling 150-animal petting zoo.

Patriarch Bunky Boger, a former rodeo clown, first started running the chicken tic-tac-toe game at county and state fairs around the South, charging 25 cents per game. Evidently, some casino marketer must have discovered it; at its peak in the early 2000s, Boger was earning $4,000 a week leasing chickens to casinos. He never revealed his training secrets, but was quoted as saying that it took several months and included a special diet. He also said that he was working on a chicken that dealt blackjack (though we assume he was pulling the leg of that particular interviewer, who of course reported it as fact).

The first chicken gambler was named Ginger, but a dozen or so understudies were, evidently, willing to work swing and graveyard shifts. It was reported that they were "well educated and reward trained" as they participated, originally, in an advertising campaign to introduce a casino tic-tac-toe game that traveled around the country. Players competed against the chicken in the "$10,000 Chicken Challenge."

The Chicken Challenge made the rounds of various casinos: Grand Sierra, Presque Isle, Foxwoods, Laughlin Ramada, Monticello Casino & Raceway in New York, Casino Coushata in Louisiana, even the Global Gaming Expo, and the two Tropicanas. 

The chicken sideshow set up shop at the Trop Vegas in June 2002. Ginger and her brood reportedly played against thousands of casino-goers who got a shot at her after signing up for the slot club; reportedly, only five players beat her to win $10,000 apiece. 

The chicken always made the first move in the game, using a well-known strategy that pretty much guaranteed a win or a push. Though the Bogers claimed that chickens were "certainly a lot brighter than most people give them credit for,” there had to be a catch, right? 

Well, according to DebitCardCasino.ca, a Canadian website dedicated to "providing the gambling community with the information they want in a way that is unbiased," there was a catch. Here's the exact wording. 

"Ginger, a Fraudulent Bird of Prey

"Eventually, the truth came out. Ginger was no smarter than the average chicken. The game was rigged to the core! As it turns out, a red laser pointer was being used to goad the chicken into pecking the best position on the Tic-tac-toe board to get the win, or at least end in a tie."

Now, we should hasten to add that DebitCardCasino cited no source for this revelation, nor could we find any corroborating evidence. So we have no idea where their claim of chicken cheating came from. We're just reporting everything we turned up about the curious chronicle concerning the "$10,000 Chicken Challenge."

If anyone knows anything more, we'd like to hear what it is.