Spintop Raffle!

[ta0]

We are starting a new raffle with many exciting prizes to benefit ITSA. Don't miss it!

Last year ITSA organized very successful online and in-person world contests, in addition to providing support to some national contests and spintop festivals (2023 Treasurer Report). We are a registered non-profit organization and our sole income comes from membership dues and from fundraisers like this one.

Thanks to generous donations, there are 8 wonderful prizes from which the winners will be able to chose 5, in the order they win. The other 3 prizes will be used later either for a new raffle or as prizes for the world contest. These prizes are:

1. Strummol8 Sara with custom artwork from La Biba.
This is the new extra large top from the Ferrari of tops. It's a 225 gr fixed tip top, diameter 9.35 cm and height 12.5 cm.





Here is a size comparison of a white Sara with an Alice and a Giulia:



The artwork is not yet ready, so here are some examples of La Biba artwork on other tops:





I'll update the photo when the Sara is ready (or if not ready by the end of the raffle, you may be able to ask Silvia for a specific theme.)
I updated the photo with the actual "sunset" yellow to orange dye work.

The prize was provided for the raffle by S8 at a fraction of the list price.

2. STB3.0 Full Metal Jacket + T-shirt
This all-metal top-of-the-line S8 top has been unavailable for several years and very much sought-after. It has a unique quick swapping tip system where you can change between fixed, bearing or one-way bearing tips by just pushing one tip assembly out and pushing the new assembly in. Tip kits for this top are still available from the Strummol8 shop. This is has a blue color, what makes it extra rare.



Note that the color finish is not perfect (see photo). However, if you would prefer a mint classical gray finish, I'll be happy to trade mine with the winner.
It comes with T-shirt from the old Czech spintop shop.
This prize was donated by Jakub and Daniel Konečný.

3. 5" Watts' Top
Walter Watts's tops are legendary as they started in the 90's modern spintop play in the US. For a long time they were the only large tops available. Walt has stopped making them so it's the end of an era. This is numbered #287, one of the very last Mohicans. It's painted in the classical Watts' colors.





Prize donated by Walter Watts.

4. 1924 Pistol-launched top or 1901 Pan American Exposition self-winding top
One winner can chose one or the other of these two fabulous prizes. These are antiques and true collector's items.

The pistol launcher is marked on the grip: Upton Machine Co., St. Joseph, Mich., USA, Patent July 1924.



The self-winding top was made by the Ideal Novelty Co. of Rochester, NY., for the 1901 Pan American Exposition. These tops, even without the connection to the exposition, are very sought-out by collectors and based on a 1899 patent by George Aishton. The exhibition is famous because President McKinley was assassinated there. I'm sure The Earl would like to point out the two extra spintop connections: Rochester is the home of The Toycrafter and the ultra-rare Gibbs top from the McKinley campaign.



Prize donated by Cyril Mermilliod

5. Hand-turned and custom dyed Delrin top by Jospin
This is a hand-turned top by Jospin. The tip is also handmade. It has a very playable shape reminiscent of a Giulia. I believe the dyeing is beautiful, what do you think?



Donated by Jospin

6. Hand-turned Lignum Vitae top by Sabaspin
This top made of beautiful wood measures 2.75" by 3.75". The wood is lignum vitae but instead of the usual dark color it has a clear color with dark vein as it was made from a branch and not the trunk of the tree. This wood is very heavy and polishes like a stone. With the diabolo tip looks very playable.



Donated by Sabaspin

7. Spintastics HP Hornet + Blizzard + T-shirts
The Hornet is a fixed top with an aluminum body and a plastic crown. The Blizzard is a bearing top. If you remove the crown from the Hornet, you can put the Blizzard inside and throw them as nested twin tops.
The T-shirts are from the old Czech spintop shop.



Donated by Jakub and Daniel Konečný

8. Kyokugoma + Pirouetto
Traditional Japanese Kyokugoma performances use handmade komas that are expensive, delicate and not readily available. Spingear developed this industrial version out of MDF of a momikoma kyokugoma that is more robust and accessible. The shaft is detachable for easy transportation.





Pirouetto is a very unusual and cute finger top starter. The legs grab the stem of the top and move sideways when you push the head, spinning the top with friction in similar way as human fingers would spin a top.





Kyokugoma donated by ta0, Pirouetto by Ortwin

I will try to post the rules of the raffle later today.

[ta0]

RAFFLE RULES:

100 tickets from 00 to 99 at $10 each!
Tickets will be available for purchase starting now until the drawing date, Monday June 3rd.
The ticket numbers will be distributed in chronological order, unless specific numbers are requested at the time of payment.
You will be notified of your ticket number(s) as soon as possible and the list of tickets sold will be posted periodically on this thread.
The closing time is 2 hours before the drawing.

The 5 winners will be able to choose from ANY of the 9 prizes, in the order that the tickets are drawn. So the first winner will have 9 options, the second winner will have 8 (7) options, etc. Note that the collector's prize #4 consists of 2 options, only one of which can be selected, so once one of those is selected the other cannot be selected. The prizes remaining after all 5 winners have made their choices will be used for other raffles or as contest prizes. The list of prizes are:

1. Strummol8 Sara with custom artwork from La Biba.
2- Blue STB3.0 Full Metal Jacket + T-shirt
3- Five inch Watts' Top
4- Either 1924 Pistol-launched top or 1901 Pan American Exposition self-winding top
5- Hand-turned and custom dyed Delrin top by Jospin
6- Hand-turned Lignum Vitae top by Sabaspin
7- Spintastics HP Hornet + Blizzard + T-shirts
8- Kyokugoma + Pirouetto

Payment

Send Paypal payments to treasurer@spintops.org. For example, a payment of $20 will be assigned two consecutive numbers.  You do not need to have a Paypal account, you can also pay with credit cards on their website (www.paypal.com). If you would like, you can also add the Paypal fee, everything helps (completely optional, but unfortunately the send-as-friends option is not longer available for this account). Also, include in the comments your name/username and email address.
If you are in the US and prefer to pay by check, you can also do so (send me a pm or email to top (at) ta0.com for the address).

Drawing

The first winning ticket will be determined as follows, based on the Texas Pick-3 game from the Texas Lottery, to be held on Monday June 3rd at 10:00 AM CT. The official website for the game is: www.txlottery.org/export/sites/default/Games/Pick_3 where you can watch the drawing live.  Note that there are 4 drawing per day and this would be the first one.

The FIRST TWO numbers of the drawing will form the digits of the winning number. If not all tickets are sold and there is no winner, the following drawing the same day will be used and so forth.

The following prizes will be determined in the same way by the following Pick-3 games after the previous prize has been won. There are 4 drawings per day so, if all tickets are sold, the 5 prizes will be given based on the June 3rd Morning (10:00 AM CDT), Day (12:27 PM), Evening (6:00 PM), Night (10:12 PM) and June 4th Morning (10:00 AM CDT) Pick-3 drawings.

For example if 95 tickets are sold (00-94) and the drawings are:
June 3rd drawing: Pick-3 (morning): 6-7-6, Pick-3 (day): 4-5-1, Pick 3 (evening): 2-2-1, Pick 3 (night): 9-9-1, June 4th Pick 3 (morning): 0-0-9, and Pick 3 (day): 2-8-9, then the winners would be:
1st _ 67
2nd_ 45
3rd_ 22
4th_ 00
5th_ 28

Low tickets sales rules:
If not more than 75 tickets are sold by noon, June 2nd, the drawing will be postponed one week, until June 10th. At that point the drawing will go ahead, no matter how many tickets were sold.
If 50 or less tickets are sold, only two prizes will be given (the two winners will still be able to chose among the 9 prizes). If 75 or less tickets are sold, only 3 prizes will be given.

Good luck! But as you are supporting the growth of the spintop community, you always win!

[ta0]

Here I will list the tickets as they are sold.

00 - ta0
01 - ta0
02 - ta0
03 - Ortwin
04 - Ortwin
05 - Sabaspin
06 - Sabaspin
07 - unini
08 - unini
09 - unini
10 - Ludo
11 - Spintricks Shop
12 - Cyril
13 - Cyril
14 - Jim in Paris
15 - Cyril
16 - Cyril
17 - Cyril
18 - HYDRUS17R
19 - HYDRUS17R
20 - HYDRUS17R
21 - Aaargh
22 - Jim in Paris
23 - Dale Oliver
24 - Variskill
25 - Dale Oliver
26 - Variskill
27 - Jakub
28 - Jakub
29 - Val
30 - Watts' Tops
31 - Renee
32 - Renee
33 - dazzlingdave
34 - dazzlingdave
35 - dazzlingdave
36 - Schellatti
37 - Casalino
38 - jmadrigal
39 - jmadrigal
40 - jmadrigal
41 - Jim in Paris
42 - Aaargh
43 - Girardi
44 - Girardi
45 - Jay
46 - paulstewart
47 - Casalino
48 - The Earl of Whirl (ta0)
49 - JMauk
50 - JMauk
51 - JMauk
52 - Ludo
53 - JMauk
54 - JMauk
55 - JMauk
56 - JMauk
57 - Casalino
58 - JMauk
59 - JMauk
60 - JMauk
61 - Armando (Jim in Paris)
62 - toplady (The Earl of Whirl)
63 - toplady (The Earl of Whirl)
64 - toplady (The Earl of Whirl)
65 - toplady (The Earl of Whirl)
66 - toplady (The Earl of Whirl)
67 - MrYo
68 - Mechtop
69 - Aaargh
70 - toplady (The Earl of Whirl)
71 - toplady (The Earl of Whirl)
72 - Ortwin
73 - Sam
74 - toplady
75 - toplady
76 - toplady
77 - Casalino
78 - poptop
79 - Rocco (Ortwin)
80 - bluetie
81 - bluetie
82 - Aaargh
83 - poptop
84 - Dick Stohr
85 - Dick Stohr
86 - MechTop
87 - Casalino
88 - Sabaspin
89 - Texture (Ortwin)
90 - poptop
91 - Sam
92 - Aaargh
93 - Mark K
94 - Mark K

98 - toplady
99 - toplady

Last updated 6/10 at 8:09 AM CDT.

[the Earl of Whirl]

I see a lot of exciting items here!!!  And, yes, I do know a bit about Rochester.  I am starting to lose track on how many times I have been there.

[ta0]

The raffle started slow, so I would like to point out that the chances of winning are pretty good. If you buy 2 tickets and 76 tickets are sold, you have 1 in 8 chances of winning one of these fabulous prizes (1 in 9.6 if all are sold). Even with just one ticket, the chances are 1 in 15. Of course, with 0 tickets the chances are zero. And the days of the drawings are exciting if you have a ticket (the five drawings can be watched live on the internet).

Several of these prizes are one-of-a-kind or very rare: don't miss the opportunity to get one!

But it's not just the prizes: you might help somebody, who would not otherwise be able to attend a contest, compete and maybe win. Or help a spintop festival somewhere in the world take place.

[jim in paris]

hi all
I plan to buy tickets but I have to wait for my
fetish numbers
can I book a specific number in advance ?


🤯🤓

jim

[ta0]

hi all
I plan to buy tickets but I have to wait for my
fetish numbers
can I book a specific number in advance ?


🤯🤓

jim

Well, Maurizio also asked me for a specific one. Let's give people what they want. I'll change the rules so this is possible. You can ask for the number(s) when paying.

[ortwin]

ta0, you should ask 50 percent more for specific numbers.

[ta0]

ta0, you should ask 50 percent more for specific numbers.

That could have been a good idea. We might implemented in a future raffle.
Anyway, if somebody wants a specific number, they should get it as soon as possible, before somebody else gets it.

[ortwin]

Also for future raffles it would be an idea to have auctions on popular numbers.

[ta0]

Maurizio sent me a few more examples of Silvia's (La Biba) work decorating tops:



The customized Sara will be a nice display and conversation piece in addition to a great top to play with.

[jim in paris]

hi all
the raffle started slow.
....
" now is the time" to boost the tickets

after all this contact work that has been achieved
we need to make it at least 50 tickets

come on !😊😊😎

jim

[Sabaspin]

Hello to all. To help get people motivated for the raffle, here is a video of the Lignum Vitae branch (Guaiacum officinale) top I turned for the raffle. This wood takes a very long time to grow, is protected and scarce, so there are not many tops of this wood around. It's made from a branch, hence its light color. Pictures and video don't do it justice. It only has some oil and polished to a gloss finish.
https://vimeo.com/948844628

Get your tickets!

[ta0]

We already surpassed 50 tickets sold, so the third prize is in play!
The next goal is 75 tickets to have five prizes in play!

If you have a preference for any particular numbers, I suggest you get them as soon as possible, before they are taken.

[JMauk]

Late to the party.  Looks like all numbers taken already?