My Club Bing Prizes (Updated 11/5/09)

Since 2007, without the use of bots, I have earned the following prizes (ticket cost in parentheses):

Playing Cards (350)

Playing Cards (350)

Playing Cards (350)

Net Ball Game (750)

Net Ball Game (750)

Journal & Pen (895)

Notebook & Pen (895)

Pilates Aerobics Bands (1,000)

Women's Chocolate Ringer T-Shirt XL (1,100)

Women's Find Yourself Ringer T-Shirt, L (1,100)

Women's Find Yourself Ringer T-Shirt, XL (1,100)

Mens Dark Brown T-shirt – Large (1,100)

Mens World Jumble Ringer T-Shirt – Large (1,100)

Men's Green Ireland T-Shirt, L (1,100)

Men's Brown Ringer T-Shirt, L (1,100)

Mens T-Shirt – Large (1,100)

Mini Football- Brown with White Stripes (1,200)

Blue Solar Pocket Calculator (1,350)

Mini Tool Set with Flashlight (1,450)

CamelBak Better Bottle (1,600)

30-Minute Meals (1,700)

Zoo Tycoon 2 Zookeeper Collection for Win (1,800)

Rhythm Soundbag (2,150)

Organic Cotton Messenger Bag (2,300)

1 GIG USB Swivel Drive (2,400)

Kameo Elements of Power for Xbox 360 DVD (2,500)

Stay Fit Pulse Pedometer (2,650)

Stainless Steel Water Bottle Black (2,950)

Stainless Steel Water Bottle Silver (2,950)

Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit (3,200)

Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit (3,200)

Ogio Half Dome Bag - Black (3,400)

Ogio Half Dome Bag - Royal Blue (3,400)

Cook with Jamie (3,700)

Gourmet Lunch Tote Black (4,050)

5lb Mini Contour Weights (4,200)

Yoga Mat (4,450)

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Black (4,500)

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Black (4,500)

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller White (4,500)

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows (4,500)

Proctor Silex Easy Press Iron (4,800)

Zune Premium Earplugs (4,880)

Gears of War for Xbox 360 (4,950)

Forza 2 for Xbox 360 (4,950)

Lost Odyssey for Xbox 360 (4,950)

Project Gotham Racing 4 for Xbox 360 (4,950)

Wireless Bluetooth Optical Desktop Elite (5,000)

Garden Tool Set (5,000)

Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 (5,000)

Earth - The Biography DVD (2 Disc Set) (5,200)

Massage Neck Travel Pillow (5,200)

Black and Decker Drill Set (7,500)

Motorola 2 Way Radio (7,500)

Hamilton Beach Food Processor (7,850)

North Face Recon Daypack (8,200)

Roatan Hammock (8,950)

Krups Waffle Chef (9,900)

Electric Blower/Vacuum (10,350)

Sevylor Kayak and Paddle (11,150)

Wireless Laser 6000 Desktop V2 (12,000)

Guess Ladies Bracelet Watch Pink Dial (12,250)

Guess Ladies Bracelet Watch Silver Dial (12,250)

Premier BBQ Grill Set (12,500)

Tasco Luminova Telescope (14,450)

North Face Recon Backpack (14,800)

Logitech Harmony 510 Universal Remote (15,950)

Coleman 10x10 Sun Dome Tent (17,950)

Coby 8.5" Widescreen Portable DVD Player (26,200)

Microsoft ZUNE 30GB (38,500)

Sony DCR-DVD650 Camcorder (38,550)

OFFICE ULTIMATE 2007 WIN32 (48,000)

Xbox 360 System (20 gig) (55,000)

Give tickets to charity (31,665)

Total tickets redeemed: 573,355

Not yet received

Prize - Xbox 360 Games

For quite a while, Club Bing has offered four Xbox 360 games for 4,950 tickets apiece:

Project Gotham Racing 4, a "street" racing game;
Gears of War, a third-person shooter;
Lost Odyssey, a 4-disc Japanese role-playing game;
and Forza Motorsport 2, a racing simulator.

You can find more information on these games in a hundred places on the internet, and it is not my intention to review them here. But what the Club Bing listings do not tell you is that Gears of War and Forza 2 are the Platinum Hits editions, which include bonus discs (additional maps, modes and achievements for Gears of War; additional cars and tracks for Forza 2).

Club Bing has also offered Kameo: Elements of Power off and on for 2,500 tickets.

Also off and on is Fable: The Lost Chapters (the expanded version of Fable) for 3,300 tickets. This game is for Xbox, not Xbox 360. According to the Xbox website, this game is backwards compatible, but you have to mess with a software emulator.

These are older games, and you can get every single one of them used online for less than ten bucks, so count the cost.

Prize - Proctor Silex Easy Press Iron

The Proctor Silex Easy Press Iron is model 17520. It retails for about twenty bucks, so at 4,800 tickets, it's no bargain.

Prize - 5lb Mini Contour Weights

These aren't your normal weights. If, like me, you didn't pay much attention to the product description, you might not realize that these weights are like beanbags. "Flexible" doesn't quite describe it - I've never seen a weight like it. These weights are made by Spri - their page for this product is here. They sell for around $20, but Microsoft wants 4,200 tickets for them.

Zune Discount

Club Bing is currently and temporarily offering Zunes for 30,000 tickets, down from the original price of 38,500. How long this will last, we don't know. But the new Zune HD is out now, so they've got to get rid of the old stuff.

UPDATE 11/1/09: Zunes are now gone.

Prize - Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007

Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 is, at 48,000 tickets, the most expensive prize currently on the Bing board. Then again, it retails anywhere from $300 to $600. It works on XP or Vista, and includes the following programs:
Word 2007
Excel 2007
PowerPoint 2007
Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
Publisher 2007
Accounting Express 2007
Access 2007
Groove 2007
OneNote 2007
InfoPath 2007

Prize - Logitech Harmony 510 Universal Remote

Ah, the Logitech Harmony 510 Universal Remote. At almost 16,000 tickets, not a good deal at all. I got it because I had nothing else going on, and when it came, I thought about selling it or trying to return it to a store (it retails for about a hundred bucks). But in a moment of inattention, I opened it.

I have never come across a universal remote that did everything it claimed to - this one is no different. The manual says you should set aside 45 minutes to get it set up - probably you should set aside about three hours. And have a computer handy - all the information uploads to the remote through a USB connection.

The thing this remote does (or is supposed to do) that other universal remotes don't is one-touch service. Program it to "Play DVD", say, and the press of one button (actually two) will turn on your TV, DVD player and stereo system and put everything on the right input. At least, that's what's supposed to happen. My remote frequently gets confused about what input the TV should be on at a given time. After repeated interactions with Logitech's helpful outsourced customer service, I've finally got it working. At least, it works about 90% of the time. It's a lot of trouble, but it is kind of neat.

Prize - Garden Tool Set

So Bing has brought back the Garden Tool Set, which I picked up the first time around. Like the item description says, it includes a trowel, a cultivator, a garden fork, a weeder, pruning shears, spray bottle, a brush, gloves, a spool of twine with cutter, the carrying tote bag, and a stool.

The tools are fairly cheap - garden too vigorously and the metal tool end may break off from the plastic handle. The shears are better quality, but tiny. The tote, though, is big and sturdy, and the stool is nice to have. For 5,000 tickets it's not a bad deal.