Chicken Shit Bingo

Chicken S#@t Bingo Drops Its Lucky Load at SXSW
By Lewis Wallace
03.13.08
AUSTIN, Texas -- During South by Southwest, out-of-town showgoers are increasingly seeking out a popular local institution: Chicken Shit Bingo, Austin's answer to Las Vegas' craps.

Every Sunday, locals jam into Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon, a tiny, dark honky-tonk. There they down Lone Stars, shoot the breeze and listen to Austin country legend Dale Watson tease some soul out of his coin-covered guitar. But mostly, they're waiting for an orange hen named Sissy to steal the show.

The low-tech concept of Chicken Shit Bingo is beautifully simple: Put a live chicken in a cage atop a piece of plywood marked with a grid. Sell tickets for each of the 54 squares, then let the chicken strut around the cage. When the bird relieves itself, you've got a winner.

Left:

Blake Johnson, an Austin local who says he frequently hits Ginny's for Chicken Shit Sunday, tips a beer outside as the bar fills with bingo players.

Meanwhile, Sissy is filling up on chicken feed. "They feed 'em a good bit," says Johnson.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com