State's interest transforms bar game

New London - Among the things state government did this past week was give the go-ahead to a new version of a bar game called Drinko.

It all started when Diarmuid Hanafin, owner of Hanafin's Pub on State Street, thought a good way to raise money for Haiti relief would be to hold a charity version of the bar's popular, two-year-old Drinko night.

In its original incarnation, Drinko was a bingo-like game in which people who won a round earned a chance to play a game similar to the Plinko game made famous on "The Price is Right."

Players drop a large coin which bounces off of pegs until it comes to rest in a slot that contains a prize, usually a T-shirt or a DVD. The pub charged no admission to Drinko, and cards were free.

Except on the night of Jan. 20, when Hanafin asked players, if they wanted to, to donate money, which would be sent to the Red Cross to help victims of the earthquake.

The charity Drinko night raised $709. It also raised the ire of the state Department of Special Revenue, which oversees gambling in Connecticut and regulates games of chance.

Hanafin said someone tipped off state officials after a photo of charity Drinko appeared in The Day.

Following a visit from an investigator, Hanafin was ordered to cease Drinko night, as it violates the state's laws governing bingo.

The law states, "no bingo game or series of bingo games shall be promoted, operated or played unless the same is sponsored and conducted exclusively by a charitable, civic, educational, fraternal, veterans' or religious organization, volunteer fire department or grange."

"The people from the state were very nice about it," Hanafin said. "They even said Drinko sounded like a fun time."

The Department of Special Revenue, though, might like the new version of Drinko the pub started this past week.

Instead of the game using sequential letters, the new Drinko has a format similar to "Family Feud," where players guess the top five answers to survey questions.

"It's popular in pubs in Ireland," Hanafin said.