Some tavern activities come and go, while some become icons. Mandatory Milwaukee is all about the latter. This week: Pull-Tabs!
Wisconsin bars have it all. In addition to being places to get a drink, grab something to eat, gather with friends, forge new relationships, or watch a game, watering holes throughout the state also offer an array of entertainment options. Think about it!
Beyond sometimes offering recurring things like concerts, comedy shows, karaoke, and recurring trivia nights, patrons at many-a Wisconsin bar can partake in potentially profitable pastimes like bar dice, “for entertainment only” video poker machines, meat raffles, Shake Of The Day, and arguably the pinnacle of all tavern activities in the Upper Midwest: Pull-Tabs!
Step into enough bars or restaurants—or gas stations, grocery stores, laundromats, or even hair salons—in Wisconsin and you’re bound to see one of these machines. For decades now, Pull-Tabs have skirted state gambling laws to give anyone with a dollar in their hand a chance at a better life…provided that life could be had with $250 or less. That’s the maximum payout on Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps’ machines, which are by far the most common Pull-Tab purveyors in the state. Players also have a chance at $99, $25, $10, $5, and $1 on every tab.
Though we’ve personally never won more than $10 on a single Pull-Tab (which we immediately reinvested and eventually lost), there’s no shortage of people in Milwaukee, the rest of Wisconsin, and elsewhere in the region with tales about that time they won $99 or $250 on one. And since the money isn’t life-changing, most who test their luck with Pull-Tabs are doing so as a means of adding an inexpensive dash of chance and entertainment into bar-going experience.
Whether you buy a stack for your group to pull as you drink and converse, get a few to help you kill time at halftime or when your friend is outside smoking, or you feed some loose Washingtons into the machine in the (usually fruitless) hope you’ll be able to cover your bar tab with your winnings, Pull-Tabs definitely have their place in local bar culture.
Even if you walk away empty-handed, there’s just something special about the feeling of tearing those five paper strips that can bring you momentary entertainment, a little extra cash, and maybe a triumphant tale you can tell for years to come. Oh, and if “Flipping Through Old Pull-Tabs” isn’t on a Wisconsin ASMR playlist, we couldn’t tell you what is.
Between being low-risk, fun, widespread, conducive to groups, and somehow perfectly legal, it’s safe to say that by just buying a Pull-Tab, you’ve already won. The $1-$250 you might walk away with after playing is just a bonus. So keep pulling and may fortunate be in your favor, Wisconsin!
