(For those of you that do not know, I travel a little bit for work, usually about one week a month I’m not home.)
Baggage Claim Lottery (BCL) is a game you play with co-travelers at the luggage claim carousel. It is based on the relative arrival times of luggage compared to other participants. The game requires minimal preparation, which only involves agreeing on the rules and rewards/penalties. BCL can be initiated with any person at any time, until the first bag appears at the luggage claim.
Participants are categorized into two groups: Multiple-baggage players (MBPs) and Single-baggage players (SBPs). Score is tallied by counting the number of items that come out of baggage claim system ahead of all of the participants items.
MBPs are scored based on their worst score (when their last item was collected).
A score of 0 goes to the SBP who’s item was the first one out, also considered a “perfect hit.” By nature of the scoring system, MBPs can never receive a “perfect hit.”
If an item arrived on an earlier flight and is in the “baggage pen”, this item is not considered for scoring. If said item belongs to a SBP, this player neither receives a reward nor suffers a penalty.
A “crap-out” is when an item does not arrive and the player must speak to a human (employee of the airline) before leaving the airport.
If only one MBP draws a “crap-out”, this player is immediately the loser (regardless of SBP crap-outs). This is called the “mea culpa” rule.
If multiple MBPs draw a “crap-out”, these players share the “loser” penalty (again, regardless of SBP crap-outs).
If multiple SBPs draw a “crap-out” and no MBPs draw a “crap-out”, the scoring is reversed and the “winner” (with lowest score) becomes the “loser.” This is called the “poor saps” rule.
Prizes are flexible and should be determined in advance. We strongly recommend good sportsmanship — a loser due to a “crap-out” will not be in the mood to buy the first round of drinks once you reach a pub (for example). A recommended prize would be buying the “winner” the first round (cost distributed across other players).