- Bar bet
A bar bet is a bet made between two patrons at a bar. Bar bets can range from wagers about little-known trivia, such as obscure historical facts, to feats of skill and strength. Some bar bets are intended to trick the other party into losing.
Famous bar bets
* The annual
Midnight Sun baseball game played inFairbanks, Alaska (the only game to be contested after midnight without the use of artificial lighting) was established in 1906 as the result of a bar bet. [cite web|url=http://www.goldpanners.com/midnight_sun_game.html|title=Midnight Sun Game|work=Alaska Goldpanners|accessdate=2005-12-19] [cite news|title=100 Years of Midnight Baseball Fun in Fairbanks: A 1906 bar bet has turned into a tradition on summer solstice|date=2005-06-22 |first=Van|last=Williams|publisher=Anchorage Daily News|url=http://www.goldpanners.com/Pressbox/Teams/2005/Articles/2005_06-22_van-williams.html]
* Two ofTony Hawks ' books, "Round Ireland With A Fridge" (ISBN 0-09-186777-0) and "Playing The Moldovans At Tennis" (ISBN 0-09-187456-4), were written describing Hawks' attempts to win two bar bets.
* The film "To Have and Have Not" is supposedly the result of bar bet betweenErnest Hemingway andHoward Hawks , with Hemingway betting Hawks that Hawks couldn't make a good film from Hemingway's worst novel. [cite web|url=http://www.rakemag.com/stories/section_detail.aspx?itemID=4001&catID=148&SelectCatID=148|title=To Have and Have Not|work=The Rake|accessdate=2005-12-19 ]
* It is widely believed that the creation ofScientology was the result of a bar bet betweenL. Ron Hubbard andRobert A. Heinlein . According to Scientology critic Lindsay [cite web|author=Don Lindsay|url=http://www.bible.ca/scientology-1million-start-a-religion.htm|title=Non-Scientologist FAQ on "start a religion"|work=Church of Scientology exposed|accessdate=2005-12-19] this is "definitely not true", no such bet was ever made, it would have been "uncharacteristic of Heinlein" to make such a bet, and "there's no supporting evidence" unless you consider several of Heinlein's autobiographical pieces and biographical pieces written by his wife, which makes this claim repeatedly.References
Further reading
* — The "Daily Lush" describes a bar bet as being the "last remnant of a great American
con artist tradition" and gives examples of bar bets.
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*External links
* [http://easybartricks.com/ Bar Bets & Bar Tricks at "EasyBarTricks.com"]
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