Distinctly Montana Magazine

H eritage Department Knockout P UNC H ! I By t was a hot Lyndel August day Meikle and a cold soda at the Shack Bar in Deer Lodge held undeniable appeal. Since the boards were homemade, it may be assumed that the odds were with the tavern owner. Eventually, the boards were produced The silent bartender set commercially, and in the glass down and handed me 1905, a pair of entrean odd square of cardboard. preneurs in Chicago It looked like a complicated obtained US Patent No. bingo card. "What's this?" I 780,086 for the punchasked. It was decades ago, but as I board design, which recall, he handed me something like became the standard. a sardine can key and told me to Alma Anderson Keith and By some accounts, poke one of the holes out. It yielded a bit Warnie Keith, proprietors of mainly in bars. With of paper, which won me a free soda. Keith's Hotel, Missoula, circa nearly 3,000 holes on Punchboards have a long tradition in 1940. Photo provided by the some boards, an honest Montana. They've been legal, illegal, and Anderson Family. business could make a nearly legal, and though they are clearly tidy profit, even at 10¢ illegal today, one can't help finding a or 25¢ a try, and some boards cost five dollars or more per certain similarity between the boards and hole. For a less-honest business, it was pure profit. today's state-run, scratch-off tickets — except that the Montana itself may be said to be a gamble. From businesses no longer get the largest cut. the gold fields to the wheat fields, there has always been A punchboard consisted of a paper cover over a board an element of risk-taking that characterizes its citizens. drilled with holes. As far back as the 18th century, tavern Puncboards, legal and otherwise, found easy acceptance. owners on the East coast made their own boards. A rolledFrom their peak in the 1930s to their apparent disappearup slip of paper in each hole was then secured with a paper ance in the 1970s, they were ubiquitous. Even today, sit backing. For a price, hopeful customers could punch out down at any coffee shop counter and ask the old-timers, one of the holes. Sometimes it revealed a prize. Most often "Do you remember punchboards?" and you won't be able it revealed that the customer had just paid for a worthless to take notes fast enough. slip of paper. w w w. d i s t i n c t ly mo nt a na .co m 57

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