Posts tagged with “Idea”

The Perpetual Dilly Bar Machine

It’s a workflow, a system really, that provides an almost endless supply of Dilly Bars.
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Let me start by stating the most important fact— I am not a fan of Dairy Queen. It's overpriced for ice cream, and no matter what I order, the quality is consistently underwhelming.

Yet, I find myself at our local Dairy Queen far more often than I'd like, thanks to two factors: a) my spouse loves it, and b) it's only a five-minute walk down the street. As a result, I end up consuming more of their 'treats' than I care to admit (or should).

After all these visits, I’ve uncovered what I now call The Perpetual Dilly Bar Machine. It’s a workflow, a system really, that provides an almost endless supply of Dilly Bars. Here’s how it works:

  1. Purchase anything. To maximize the long-term return, buy the cheapest item on the menu.
  2. Keep your receipt.
  3. Go online and complete the satisfaction survey. Whether you’re genuinely interested in offering feedback or not, the survey can be done in under a minute if you're focused.1
  4. Record the survey code on your receipt.
  5. Return to the same Dairy Queen within 30 days with your receipt (and code) and claim your free Dilly Bar.
  6. IMPORTANT! When you get the free Dilly Bar, make sure they process it as a transaction and give you a receipt. Most employees won’t bother unless you ask, but they are required to.
  7. With the receipt from your free Dilly Bar, you're eligible to complete another satisfaction survey.
  8. Rinse and repeat—free Dilly Bars forever.

Now, to be clear, Dilly Bars—like most of Dairy Queen's offerings—aren’t anything special. They’re usually just... meh. But on a hot day or after a tough volleyball game, a Dilly Bar can really hit the spot.

Ideally, I’d prefer to hack a system at a place that serves a premium dessert, something actually worth eating. But since I haven’t found that opportunity yet, I’ll make do with free Dilly Bars for now.

  1. After completing two or more surveys, it becomes clear that the survey code follows a predictable pattern for each specific store. You can easily repeat or spoof it without actually taking the survey again. Plus, at my local Dairy Queen, the staff barely glance at the receipt—just checking that there’s something written on it. Any random string of numbers will likely work.

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PointsBall™

Make baseball exciting again.
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I had an idea a while back, while spending evening after evening at the local baseball diamond, to increase the watchability of baseball games to increase the excite for for players and spectators alike. My idea, which I have named PointsBall™ aims at livening up those games that are particularly long and boring. Instead of implementing a shot clock to transform long & boring games into short & boring games, the goal of PointsBall™, is to make the outcome of each game a variable that is difficult to predict, and the winner of which can change at any moment.

Here are the two elements PointsBall™ is structured upon.

Two elements:

  1. Dynamic Run Counts: runs are worth more the further you are from scoring at the beginning of the bat.

    • after crossing home plate, a runner earns one point for each new base they touch as a result of the current bat
    • score from 3rd? 1pt; from 2nd? 2pt; 1st? 3pt; a homerun is worth 4pt
    • a Grand Slam is no longer worth 4pt, but 10pt(!) (4+3+2+1)
    • teams are rewarded for more work (running)
    • a home run is now worth more than a sacrifice fly which brings in a runner on 3rd base

  2. Inning Factor: a multiplier is applied to runs scored within a given inning to assign greater value to runs scored later in the game.

    • a home run in the 1st inning becomes worth less than one in the 9th
    • under current scoring rules, a home run in the 1st would be worth 1pt, while in the 9th it would be worth 9pt(!)
    • combined with my #1 idea above, a home run in the 1st would be worth 4pt, while in the 9th it would be worth 36pt(!) (4x9)
    • this rule/scoring change could make for some wild game decisions and come from behind game-changing wins

Each element could be implemented independently from the other, or together.

A work in progress.

History

Some loose thoughts on how the initial idea for PointsBall™ came to be.

  • 2022 attended lots of local baseball; season tickets
  • 2023 continued watching local ball; some road games
  • I enjoy the social aspect of sports but I could care less about baseball iteslf because it's standstill boring and often won/lost by individual players
  • football (soccer) may be one of the perfect games; the length is always know, always more than enough action; pitch (field) could be shortened to increase excitement