Have you won anything in your life?

[Zeze]

The biggest has to be $200 I won playing a scratch. But that was 5 years ago and I probably spent $200 on tix since then (I rarely though though).

I was in an one-way mirror focus group for play testing Bioshock during its development. Play it for 2 hours and get $75. I was selected to receive additional $75. But odds were high for that (1 to 11).

That's about it...

 

[techs]

When you think of the odds that the sperm that made me beat out about a jillion others I have already won big.

 

[rh71]

if you can't remember in the first 5 seconds, it wasn't that big...

 

[fatpat268]

I won an ipod touch from coca cola a few months ago, and I was selected to receive the free google chromebook laptop (cr-48) a while back.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Never. My luck is fine in other parts of my life but for contests it's abysmal. I don't usually bother to enter contests any more since I know I won't win.

 

[MichaelD]

I won an ipod touch from coca cola a few months ago, and I was selected to receive the free google chromebook laptop (cr-48) a while back.

That's pretty cool. I enter every tech giveaway I can and never win anything. Not even a "Free 4GB USB Memory Stick" that you can buy for like $2 these days.

Only thing I ever "won" was back in the 1990's I found two $50 bills on the floor of a bathroom stall. Brand new from the bank they looked. Right in my pocket.

 

[kranky]

A 1/4 ounce gold coin in a raffle. At the time it was worth about $200, now about $400.

 

[SunnyD]

When you think of the odds that the sperm that made me beat out about a jillion others I have already won big.

Or lost big. Perception is everything.

That said, when I was a kid my family used to work our church lawn fete. Of course I'd only get like an hour or two at one of the kiddie booths then be on my way. So I'd go over to the "gambling" area (18+ mind you), but right outside they had a booth that sold the little cards with the pull strips for Lucky 7's and whatnot. They technically weren't allowed to SELL them to me, but no problem for me. I just scoured the ground around the trash cans where everybody threw their "non-winning" cards.

Every once in a while, one of the 70 year little old ladies wouldn't realize that they got a $0.50 winner and just toss them. I'd find these, hand em off to the guys at the booth, and they're worth two free cards. Mind you, they weren't SELLING them to me, so they were cool with it.

One year I walked away with $250 from that game. Not a bad score for being about 7 years old.

 

[D1gger]

My wife won a boat, and I put the entry form in the box for her. It was a typical fill out an entry form and put it in the box as you leave the store, only she forgot to put it in, and asked me to drop by the store and deposit it a few hours later when I was going out.

2 months later, she gets a phone call at 7am telling her she won, and she had to answer a skill testing math question 2 + 5 + 7 / 2. She answered 10.5 and after a pause they said, how did you get that. She explained the order of operations rule and they said, no, just do it in the order we gave it to you. With 7 being the right answer, two weeks later she was given a boat, which we immediately sold for $18k.

 

[purbeast0]

2 xbox 360's and a trip to the 360 launch party out in cali. story here...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1740005&highlight=hex168

i also won a psvita from the taco bell promotion. sold that thing asap.

 

[onza]

60gig Ipod video - entered this audit forensic game that the AICPA i think was hosting, this was back in 2006 or so.

 

[spacejamz]

I won some Ronnie James Dio concert tickets from KLOL in Houston when I was in high school...

 

[MichaelD]

My wife won a boat, and I put the entry form in the box for her. It was a typical fill out an entry form and put it in the box as you leave the store, only she forgot to put it in, and asked me to drop by the store and deposit it a few hours later when I was going out.

2 months later, she gets a phone call at 7am telling her she won, and she had to answer a skill testing math question 2 + 5 + 7 / 2. She answered 10.5 and after a pause they said, how did you get that. She explained the order of operations rule and they said, no, just do it in the order we gave it to you. With 7 being the right answer, two weeks later she was given a boat, which we immediately sold for $18k.

Friggin' guy wins a BOAT worth $18K and I can't win a USB stick. /shakes head

 

[calvinbiss]

I won a new Ford Mustang in 1998 in a highschool raffle.

 

[Rakewell]

I won $500 in the NY Lotto a few years ago...

 

[djnsmith7]

I won a $400 Blackberry in a company raffle a few years back. Funny thing was, 2 months later, the company gave the same model to each sales person.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I won my JV 200 yard swim "conference" meet by a HUGE margin. This was back in like 1996 I was a Junior in high school and had been demoted from the Varsity team because I was missing too many Saturday practices because of my job schedule.

Had I still been on the Varsity team, I would have been in the middle of the pack. That said after 3 years of working out 3+ hours 6 days week for 3 years, I was still around 240 pounds.... I was without a doubt, the fastest fat person in my district ... hehehe.

 

[Zeze]

Friggin' guy wins a BOAT worth $18K and I can't win a USB stick. /shakes head

Died laughing back in the days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CuK18CZOG4

 

[Jeraden]

In 4th grade, I won the school raffle for an E.T. gift bag/prize package, lol.

 

[NetWareHead]

I won a Camaro in my freshman year of high school. The car had to sit for 2 years until I was old enough to drive it.

 

[Perknose]

I twice won $100 in drawings -- once, it was cash; the other time, a Macy's gift certificate.

But the most fun thing I won was two free tickets to the Rolling Stones benefit concert for post-earthquake relief in Nicaragua in LA in the early 70's. Santana and Cheech and Chong opened for them. The ticket price was $25 each, at a time when top flight concerts still only cost $10 - $12 at most.

There's a wild and hilarious story surrounding the events of that entire day, which I think I've recounted here before.

 

[kranky]

My wife won a boat, and I put the entry form in the box for her. It was a typical fill out an entry form and put it in the box as you leave the store, only she forgot to put it in, and asked me to drop by the store and deposit it a few hours later when I was going out.

2 months later, she gets a phone call at 7am telling her she won, and she had to answer a skill testing math question 2 + 5 + 7 / 2. She answered 10.5 and after a pause they said, how did you get that. She explained the order of operations rule and they said, no, just do it in the order we gave it to you. With 7 being the right answer, two weeks later she was given a boat, which we immediately sold for $18k.

The order of operations part made this awesome. I always wondered what the skill testing questions were like when I would see a reference to it in contest rules.

 

[96Firebird]

I "won" (placed 3rd) in a Hold 'Em tournament at Turning Stone Casino, netted ~$1200. Other than that, I won a $1000 scholarship about 5 years ago, which was nice.

 

[Zeze]

I twice won $100 in drawings -- once, it was cash; the other time, a Macy's gift certificate.

But the most fun thing I won was two free tickets to the Rolling Stones benefit concert for post-earthquake relief in Nicaragua in LA in the early 70's. Santana and Cheech and Chong opened for them. The ticket price was $25 each, at a time when top flight concerts still only cost $10 - $12 at most.

There's a wild and hilarious story surrounding the events of that entire day, which I think I've recounted here before.

Sounds awesome, especially Santana opening.

 

[z1ggy]

Can you win herpes?