Sunday morning came early (darn daylight savings time!), but there were some fired-up women at Caesars Palace. I got to the Bunco Pavillion to hear the roar of at least two thousand people gathered to hear who would fill the wild card seats for the semi-final round. The excitement was contagious – how could it not be when $50,000 was at stake?! These women were a lot cooler than I would have been. The semi finals determined who would play in the finals, and the finals determined 3 of the 4 players for the Championship round. The fourth player would be drawn at random.
Naomi was on hand for the final rounds, and she was great – funny, friendly, and sassy – even asking the lone male semi-finalist to turn around so the women could hoot & holler at him. The Championship would be determined by who was the first to roll 3 ones -which happened to be the Prilosec OTC logo 🙂 , and she would win $50,000, and be crowned by Rocky. I cannot even imagine what was going thru their minds – I was thinking of the cool new bag I would buy out of the Forum Shops if it was me 😉 !
What seemed like an eternity only took minutes – we had a winner! Kristina Thysell of Tuscon AZ was the 2008 Prilosec OTC World Champion! She took away $50,000, the title of Queen of Bunco, and a once-in-a-lifetime memory – I walked away from the championship having met some amazing people, learned a lot about heartburn & breast cancer , made a few new friends, plans to attend next year, and a desire to start a local bunco group! I also took with me the stories of the people who were there, who lost loved ones to breast cancer, and who suffered themselves. I was honored and thrilled to be asked to participate and share this event with my fellow chickies – who’s going with me next year???
I can’t end this post without thanking the people who made it all happen – the Prilosec OTC team from Proctor & Gamble, the awesome girls from MS&L PR, and the amazing team from Jack Morton Worldwide that organized the event. It was an absolute pleasure to meet and work with all of you.
what a great experience for a great cause. All the pictures and notes from the road are the best!!
I was one of the 16 to have made it to the finals. The dissapointment was all the wild cards that were drawn. We worked hard to get as far as we did and just felt that the wild cards drawn got more attentiion that the people that actually worked so hard to get where they were. Hope you will do some thinking about that. I was not the only one that felt that way. Thank you.
I agree with Marie about all the wild cards, Kinda took away from all of us who made it to the semi-finals and then the finals.
It was a really fun experience…a lot of nice ladies and a great cause!
Just an idea…instead of 1 person walking off with $50,000, I think it would be more exciting and fun, to give the winner $25,000 (which is still HUGE). The other $25,000 should be split between, the semi-finalists and finalists. Also, money could be given for least amount of wins, most wins, most buncos, etc. etc.
I was a finalist and to make it to that point, in a group of 2000 and walk away with absolutely nothing, was a little disheartening.
Even receiving $25 for semi and $50 for final, would have been fun!
Oh well, just a thought.