I am truly a fortunate operator to have the honor of putting out some of the first Avanti dart games in the nation.

Now, I am as progressive as the next guy, but still had some doubts as to whether or not the built-in cameras would be accepted by the players, until recently. I had been doing some maintenance on my boards at Mardi Gras Lanes and noticed that my players had been having particular fun with the cameras during the weekend tournaments.

One of the pictures was of a young man just standing in front of the camera. I did not know him and shrugged it off as maybe an employee I didn't know. The next week during my collection routine, I noticed a new picture of the same young man. I thought again, hmm, I guess one of the employees here really likes the camera option.

This continued through the next six weeks of the season. Every week, same guy, different picture. Around the end of week seven, I was at a tournament at Mardi Gras and Kimberly asked if I had seen the pictures. I said that I had and she told me the story behind the pictures.

It seems that Rocky is her new partner in C Doubles and he has never played Medalist league before. She convinced him that he needed to have his picture taken for his Medalist ID card. Just prior to league each week, Rocky would ask if his ID came in and Kimberly would tell him that there was a problem with the picture and he had to retake it.

One week, she even suggested he get a haircut (which he did) and for another, she had him wear a yellow shirt saying maybe the problem was due to the lighting and his complexion, and again Rocky complied.

At this point, Kimberly asked for my help to finish off the prank, which I gladly agreed to. Each week he would ask if the ID photo worked this time and each time Kimberly said there was a problem. Rocky was getting very upset (or for pranksters; "ripe for being punked"). It was week nine and I agreed to finish the deal.

I arrived shortly after Rocky and Kimberly had started their match. I called Kimberly over and told her that after they finished that game, I would start the final play. As she walked back to her match I said loudly to her, "We are going to get to the bottom of this tonight!" I was playing the angry Medalist guy part very well. Traffic was awful and it took me almost an hour to get there, so I used my "road rage" to stay in character.

All the home teams were in on the gag, but some of the others looked at me and thought somebody was in trouble tonight! They finished their game and I firmly strode to their table, and without an introduction I pointed my finger at Rocky and demanded, "Have you been tampering with the cameras?"

He looked like a startled deer and stammered, "No, I haven't done anything, I just want to play darts." I pointed at my picture on the machine next to the one they were playing on and told him I had come all the way down the week before and checked the cameras and everything worked fine. I said there had to be somebody messing with them for his not to work right. I said that I am not supposed to let anyone play in week nine or beyond without their photo ID and we had to get to the bottom of it right now. I told him that Medalist is very angry over the whole situation and that I had spent the whole afternoon dealing with this issue.

Finally, I had to stop berating him and get to the finish. I told Rocky I had convinced Medalist to let him play if I witnessed the picture taking myself, and he said, "No problem, whatever it takes." While I was coining the board for the pix option, he was behind me telling me that I was "No. 1" with both hands.

Rocky was getting more upset. I barked at Kimberly to set up the board for player pix and asked her in a snotty tone, "You do know how, right?" She assured me that she did indeed know how, and we situated Rocky in front of the camera. When the timer reached two seconds, I put a white paper in Rocky's hands and said "Here, hold this in front of you".

He did and the photo snapped... a blurry photo. "Damn," I said, "We're going to have to do it again; this time stand closer and hold that sign right under your chin". This time the photo came out clear. I relaxed and said, "That should do it." Rocky sounded relieved, but still agitated. He said, "We did that pretty much every time, I don't understand the difference. Are you sure it is going to work?" I said I was positive and that it probably had something to do with the sign he was holding. Rocky had not even looked at it up until this point.

When read the sign, a huge smile spread over his face and he turned to Kimberly and said, "You are so dead!"

The sign read simply, "I Have been punked by Kimberley."

The entire bar erupted in a roar of laughter, at which point Rocky figured out that he was the only one without a clue to what was going on every week. He is a very good-natured man and handled the whole punking really well. Rumor is Rocky is bringing in a new player next season; I hope he doesn't read this story.

My players are all fun loving people from all different walks of life. We have all been likened to a big happy family and I would like to express to each player that plays for me a huge "Thank you". We are a unique group and I enjoy spending time with each and every one of you.

Happy New Year to all Medalist players across the nation.