<story><title>The strange business of hole-in-one insurance</title><url>https://thehustle.co/the-strange-business-of-hole-in-one-insurance/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>honkdaddy</author><text>“Among the weirder things he’s insured? Cow patty bingo (video here).&lt;p&gt;“It’s big in the Midwest,” says Gilmartin. “You divide a big field into, say, 100 squares, give each one a number, then let a cow loose. If the cow poops on a preselected number, the person wins a prize.””&lt;p&gt;I burst out laughing at this one. Can any Midwestern HNers confirm? Are people watching the cow with bated breath? Are plots closer to the gate considered better?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>asciimov</author><text>In Texas and can confirm as I&amp;#x27;ve been to one. My mom was a participant of cow patty bingo in the late-80&amp;#x27;s&amp;#x2F;early-90&amp;#x27;s. It was part of some radio station contest for a car. Everybody that called in and won a minor prize over a quarter was invited to a party with the bingo as the big event.&lt;p&gt;They had a large pen, say a quarter acre (about the size of 2 basketball courts) divided up into squares. The participants drew a number, went into the pen to find their spot. After all the participants found their spot they let the cow out to roam around. (You need a fairly docile cow to have people on the field when this happens)&lt;p&gt;In our game the cow started and did most of it&amp;#x27;s business on my mom&amp;#x27;s square, but finished on an adjoining square of young single blonde. I&amp;#x27;ll let you guess how DJ ruled who won the car. (hint: wasn&amp;#x27;t my mom)&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Are people watching the cow with bated breath?&lt;p&gt;Kinda? I mean if the prize is good it&amp;#x27;s fun to watch.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Are plots closer to the gate considered better?&lt;p&gt;Might be worse actually. Usually they run the cows into the pen instead of letting them just mosey in. When and where the cow does its business isn&amp;#x27;t even known to the cow. The cows can take a while to go too, better part of an hour sometimes.</text></comment>
<story><title>The strange business of hole-in-one insurance</title><url>https://thehustle.co/the-strange-business-of-hole-in-one-insurance/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>honkdaddy</author><text>“Among the weirder things he’s insured? Cow patty bingo (video here).&lt;p&gt;“It’s big in the Midwest,” says Gilmartin. “You divide a big field into, say, 100 squares, give each one a number, then let a cow loose. If the cow poops on a preselected number, the person wins a prize.””&lt;p&gt;I burst out laughing at this one. Can any Midwestern HNers confirm? Are people watching the cow with bated breath? Are plots closer to the gate considered better?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nmwnmw</author><text>Did this in north Alabama back in the mid 90s for a school fundraiser. They hired a surveyor to plot the squares on the football field. We discovered that the field was narrower on one end by about 7 feet! The cow plopped on a square boundary with an unsold square so the winner only got half.  As I recall it was a whole lot of standing around and waiting. Funny for the first 20 minutes, then very, very boring.</text></comment>