Plinko and Politics 

Déjà Vu Billiards in Montgomery, Ala., is bringing big fun to the state capital. The bar boasts darts, MegaTouch gaming terminals, a TouchTunes digital jukebox, flatscreen televisions and nightly poker tournaments on professional poker tables. Its state-of-theart  billiards facility offers premier Diamond pool tables. Owner Rick Barber says Déjà Vu goes through about 70 cases of beer a week. There is an age-old relationship between alcohol and gambling, but Barber has brought something new into the equation. He’s built a “Plinko Drinko” board that’s become a big hit. Consider Rick Barber the Bob Barker of Montgomery. For winners, the price certainly is right. “A patron orders a drink at the bar,” Barber explains, “and when it comes time for a refill, they’re asked to give a number between 0 and 9. The bartender then puts the Plinko ball into the vacuum shoot, which spits it out into the Plinko board. The ball works its way down to numbered chambers, and if it lands on the number the customer picked, the next drink is on the house.” There’s a nasty middle chamber called the No Win Zone, and that is where the Plinko ball most often lands. Ba ber says he’s played Plinko 50 times or more and has found the outcome to be very unpredictable. “I think because the ball comes out differently up top every time, it insures that no real strategic placement can be utilized.”