The

Pigeon
Wager

A
Live Action
Game By
Jason
Morningstar

Designed for the Gaming Like It’s 1927 Public Domain Game Jam
 The Facts
Players: Exactly three, one of whom also sets everything up and
lightly facilitates. If you are reading this, that is probably you! Play
Januszewski, or hand off that role to a confident, experienced friend.
Time: About 90 minutes. Januszewski’s player controls the pacing.
Content: Post-traumatic stress, violence, guns, ethnic tension, war,
organized crime, pigeons.
Arts and Crafts: Print the character sheets, newspapers, and logbook
sheet. Print the pigeon message slips. Print them, cut them apart, roll
them up, and tape them into tight cylinders. Ten are “regular” and two
are “gangster”—mark these latter, perhaps by using a different color of
paper. Opening one of them ends the game.
Scenography: Set up the space for close proximity play. Bring a
deck of playing cards and a pencil. Consider having some appropriate
snacks and beverages. Playing around a cheap card table is ideal!
Januszewski’s player needs a separate space they can go to represent
the pigeon loft, where the message slips should be kept.
Technology: You need a way to play the audio file, which is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/41oeoajuvc0ualr/weaf_90_minute_
broadcast.mp3?dl=0
It is 90 minutes long, although the game probably won’t last that long,
and includes sound cues that Januszewski’s player needs to hear.
Playing without it would be really awkward, although not impossible.
Getting Started: Print out the materials and prepare the play space.
Gather together, review the important stuff (role playing, safety, guns,
ethnicity), and make sure everyone is on the same page about intensity
and boundaries.
Decide who is playing who. Give everyone a chance to read over their
character’s information sheet and ask questions.
When everyone is ready, invite Tully and Capotorti’s players to leave
and return after a few minutes, independently and in character. Start
the soundtrack. Januszewski’s player can spend those moments alone,
tidying up, listening to the radio and thinking anxious thoughts.

The Pigeon Wager, A Bully Pulpit Game. www.bullypulpitgames.com

 Important
Before you you begin play, go over the following concepts with your
friends:
Role Playing
The Pigeon Wager is a live action game. You will pretend to be a
character for the duration. Embody them! It will work best if you try to
behave naturally and keep things low-key. Think about how you might
make the experience interesting and fun for your friends within the
confines of the game, and trust that they will do the same for you.
Safety
The participants are more important than the experience. Care for
each other and don’t do things that will make people feel bad in real
life.
The door is always open. It’s ok to step away to get a drink of water,
take a bio break, etc. It’s also OK if you need to leave the game
permanently.
If things feel too intense in a scene, you can say “Slow down,” to
ask your friends to ease up. If you feel overwhelmed–or worry that
someone else is feeling overwhelmed in an un-fun way in real life–say
“Stop the Game.” Stop playing and take a moment to chat out of game
about whether it’s possible to recalibrate and resume play. If the game
is not salvageable, it is OK to stop playing–people are more important
than a game, and the door is always open.
Guns
Don’t physically represent guns in this game.
If you decide to have your character use their gun, pantomime drawing
it, point the imaginary pistol at your target, and say “bang” as you look
your target in the eye and pull the imaginary trigger. If you want to
shoot someone else, repeat these steps. Once you shoot, the result is out
of your hands.
If someone shoots you, it’s up to you what happens. Make the most
interesting choice! You’ll probably die, but if you want to shoot them
back, that sounds like you are dying slowly. It’s entirely up to you.
Sometimes the most interesting choice is just being dead.
Ethnicity
Your accent isn’t as good as you think it is. It’s probably best not to
lean too hard into the ethnic stereotypes that suggest themselves here.

The Pigeon Wager, A Bully Pulpit Game. www.bullypulpitgames.com

 Januszewski
It’s Yah-noo-SHEV-ski; nobody ever gets it right.
You served in the United States Army Pigeon Service in the Great
War. You were a half-trained ornithologist, bright-eyed and eager to
do your part. As a pigeon handler in France you experienced many
terrible things. They still assert themselves sometimes.
That was almost a decade ago. Now you teach biology at the The New
Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City and serve as secretary of
the Hoboken Homing Pigeon Association. You live at the club, more
or less. You spend your free time up on the roof, every morning and
every evening, tending to the birds. The birds are your mission and
your wards, even the ones you don’t own, even the expensive and exotic
ones. Even the winners.
They speak to you, and what they say is “relax.” You try to listen but it
is a struggle.
Tonight is the two hundred fifty mile Old Bird Race, and you were
looking forward to the camaraderie of fellow pigeon enthusiasts sitting
around and telling lies, waiting for the tough little cocks and hens to
return. Instead two men came to the clubhouse and their menacing
auras drove all the regulars away, and now all that matters is which of
their birds returns first.
It’s just the three of you, waiting. There is not a single bird in the loft
whispering calming words to you, but there is a pistol in your pocket
singing a very mournful tune indeed.
What to Do
• Be anxious. Things are strange. This dangerous tension reminds
you of the war.
• Be a gracious host. Play cards, if invited. Offer drinks and snacks.
• Leave the room and draw a pigeon message slip every time you
hear a bird flutter and coo over the radio. Make a note on your
log sheet if appropriate. Sometimes those sounds will merely be
reminders of bad times. Do with them what you will.
• When you feel like it is time, perhaps after an hour, draw one of the
two gangster pigeon message slips and announce which of their birds
has arrived first.
• Don’t shoot anybody until you know which of your guests wins their
wager. Maybe don’t shoot anybody, period.

The Pigeon Wager, A Bully Pulpit Game. www.bullypulpitgames.com

 Tully
Pigeon racing is fair. They all get dumped out at the same time and
they fly home. The fastest wins. The rest don’t. Some of them get
eaten by hawks. At the time it seemed like a good idea—rather than
fight a costly war, you’d decide whether the W. & A. Fletcher Shipyard
in Hoboken would be Irish or Italian like a pair of slightly drunk
gentlemen. Find your fastest pigeons and race them. The first with a
bird in their hand gets the yard. Yours is a pretty thing named Lass of
Wexford. Theirs is Ragazzino di Molfetta.
The thing is—and there’s always a thing—you can’t afford to lose. You
can’t just give up a shipyard like a watch in a card game. You have to
answer to gangsters more powerful than you, and they will say no.
But now your honor is on the line and you need to see it through.
The way out, if this doesn’t go your way, is to make an unwholesome
choice—either put a bullet in this Italian’s brain and start a war, or
run very far away and pray your people never find you. Of course the
fool sitting across the table from you is in the same bind.
You know the pigeon racer, Januszewski (Yah-noo-SHEV-ski; show
respect by getting it right) from around the club; you aren’t a big money
competitor but you know the sport and everybody knows the Secretary.
Quiet, smart, honest, knows their birds.
You know Capotorti because they are you, only Italian instead of Irish.
In charge of the rackets in east Hoboken like you run west Hoboken.
A good reputation, as far as it is possible for a mafioso to have a good
reputation.
What to Do
• Be impatient. Waiting is hard. Your bird isn’t going to win—others
will trickle in before it—but all that matters is whether yours or the
Italian’s arrives first.
• Be confident. Take up space. Resist the temptation to make deals.
No deals.
• Be friendly. Play cards to pass the time. Let it be dull. If you need a
topic for conversation, look at the newspaper and pick one. Above all,
think about how this all ends.
• Don’t shoot anybody until you know if you’ve won or lost the pigeon
wager.

The Pigeon Wager, A Bully Pulpit Game. www.bullypulpitgames.com

 Capotorti
Pigeon racing is fair. They all get dumped out at the same time and
they fly home. The fastest wins. The rest don’t. Some of them get
eaten by hawks. At the time it seemed like a good idea—rather than
fight a costly war, you’d decide whether the W. & A. Fletcher Shipyard
in Hoboken would be Irish or Italian like a pair of slightly drunk
gentlemen. Find your fastest pigeons and race them. The first with a
bird in their hand gets the yard. Yours is a chunky little fellow named
Ragazzino di Molfetta. Theirs is Lass of Wexford.
The thing is—and there’s always a thing—you can’t afford to lose. You
can’t just give up a shipyard like a watch in a card game. You have to
answer to gangsters more powerful than you, and they will say no.
But now your honor is on the line and you need to see it through.
The way out, if this doesn’t go your way, is to make an unwholesome
choice—either put a bullet in this Irish gangster’s brain and start
a war, or run very far away and pray your people never find you. Of
course the fool sitting across the table from you is in the same bind.
You know the pigeon racer, Januszewski (Yah-noo-SHEV-ski; show
respect by getting it right) from around the neighborhood. A cousin
works at the shipyard. Their sister dated a friend of yours. Good
people, hard workers. You are an amateur pigeon racer at best.
You know Tully because they are you, only Irish instead of Italian. In
charge of the rackets in west Hoboken like you run east Hoboken. A
good reputation, as far as it is possible for an Irish wharf goon to have
a good reputation.
What to Do
• Be calm. Take things in stride. Your bird isn’t going to win—others
will trickle in before it—but all that matters is whether yours or the
Irish bird arrives first.
• Be talkative. Fill the silence. Resist the temptation to make deals.
No deals.
• Be good-natured. Play cards to pass the time. Let it be dull. If you
need a topic for conversation, look at the newspaper and pick one.
Above all, think about how this all ends.
• Don’t shoot anybody until you know if you’ve won or lost the pigeon
wager.

The Pigeon Wager, A Bully Pulpit Game. www.bullypulpitgames.com

 Credits
Design: Jason Morningstar
Editing: Steve Segedy
Thanks to: Tim Hutchings, Graham Walmsley
Copyright: The Pigeon Wager © 2023 Bully Pulpit Games, LLC
License: CC-BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Inspired by: Lincoln, F. C. (1927). The Military Use Of The Homing
Pigeon. The Wilson Bulletin, A Quarterly Magazine of Ornithology
Published by the Wilson Ornithological Club, XXXIV (129), 67–74.
Art from: Mukerji, Dhan Gopal. Gay-Neck, the Story of A Pigeon.
Artzybasheff, Boris, illustrator. New York, E.P. Dutton & Co, 1927.
Newspapers: 1927 snippets from Library of Congress Chronicling
America collection (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/)
Audio: Music from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive (https://
cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/). Effects from Freesound (https://freesound.
org/) users Tigersound, bernardomatasoto, gerardcatala, joedeshon,
poorenglishjuggler, djcdelahaye, csazi, mcmikai, garuda1982,
maciejadach, rehanjo, and 5ro4.
1. I Found A Rose In The Devil’s 10. La Gipsy 18. Hallelujah!
Garden. Sousa’s Band. Golden Gate Orchestra (Vocal
H. Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra. Edison Blue Amberol: 5390. Refrain By Arthur Fields).
Edison Blue Amberol: 4310. Edison Blue Amberol: 5360.
11. Softly, Unawares
2. Why Did You Do It? Sousa’s Band. 19. It Made You Happy When You
Georgia Melodians. Edison Blue Amberol: 5272. Made Me Cry
Edison Blue Amberol: 4903. Instrumental Selection By Phil
12. Glory Of The Yankee Navy Napoleon And His Orchestra.
3. Jene Sais Pa Pa Sousa’s Band. Edison Blue Amberol: 5309.
Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra. Edison Blue Amberol: 5211.
Edison Blue Amberol: 4193. 20. Rosy Cheeks
13. Talking To The Moon Oreste And His Queensland
4. Learn To Smile B.A. Rolfe And His Orchestra. Orchestra
H. Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra. Edison Blue Amberol: 5179. Edison Blue Amberol: 5354.
Edison Blue Amberol: 4357.
14. I’d Love To Call You My 21. Under The Moon
5. Pucker Up And Whistle Sweetheart Duke Yellman And His Orchestra.
H. Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra. Don Voorhees And His Earl Carroll’s Edison Blue Amberol: 5387.
Edison Blue Amberol: 4332. Vanities Orchestra.
Edison Blue Amberol: 5253. 22. Always
6. On The Alamo 15. The Prisoner’s Song Kaplan’s Melodists.
Harry Raderman’s Orchestra. Dave Kaplan’s Melodists. Edison Blue Amberol: 5133.
Edison Blue Amberol: 4563. Edison Blue Amberol: 5105.
23. Mary Lou
7. Collegiate 16. Floyd Collins Waltz Duke Yellman And His Orchestra.
Golden Gate Orchestra. Dalhart’s Texas Panhandlers. Edison Blue Amberol: 5293.
Edison Blue Amberol: 5029. Edison Blue Amberol: 5148.
24. Charley, My Boy
8. Make That Trombone Laugh 17. Yearning Georgia Melodians.
Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra. Billy Wynne’s Greenwich Village Inn Edison Blue Amberol: 4926.
Edison Blue Amberol: 3966. Orchestra.
Edison Blue Amberol: 5002. 25. The Lighthouse Blues
9. Toddle Duke Yellman’s Orchestra.
Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra. Edison Blue Amberol: 5386.
Edison Blue Amberol: 4292.

The Pigeon Wager, A Bully Pulpit Game. www.bullypulpitgames.com

 Red Devil
Ring Marker
HOB-25-AF-7629
250 mile single loft
competition
Liberated Remington,
Virginia, June 10, 1927
Distant Thunder
German artillery from
Vigneulles, falling like
rain, tearing bodies apart.
Your birds’ hearts just
stop beating from the
terror. For a moment you
think you will join them.
Men screaming. Death
smells. You are coated in
mud. It isn’t mud.
Darkness, then Flares
A sergeant is shouting at
you to send a pigeon to
HQ, send for help, but
it is dark and the birds
cannot fly. You try to
explain and he slaps you.
Soon thereafter a whistle
keens and they pour out
of the trench and die.
A Pigeon Arrives
HQ is twenty miles from
the front. The hen is
hurt and haggard. The
message, ragged and
hasty, begs for help that
no one can provide. It
was written by a dead
man. Your pigeon is to
exhausted to even peck at
damp grain.
No Name Blue Cock No Name Belgian Postal Cut these out, roll
them up, and tape
Ring Marker Ring Marker them shut. Reveal
HOB-27-AF-3750 HOB-26-AF-2571 a new one every
time pigeons flap
250 mile single loft 250 mile single loft and coo on the
competition competition soundtrack.
Liberated Remington, Liberated Remington,
Virginia, June 10, 1927 Virginia, June 10, 1927
Daughter of Queen Ida Queen Ida
Ring Marker Ring Marker
HOB-26-AF-9532 HOB-23-AF-3980
250 mile single loft 250 mile single loft
competition competition
Liberated Remington, Liberated Remington,
Virginia, June 10, 1927 Virginia, June 10, 1927
Colonel Roosevelt Nameless Roller
Ring Marker Ring Marker
HOB-26-AF-9038 HOB-26-AF-2761
250 mile single loft 250 mile single loft
competition competition
Liberated Remington, Liberated Remington,
Virginia, June 10, 1927 Virginia, June 10, 1927
Lass of Wexford Ragazzino di Molfetta Keep these two
separate. When
Ring Marker Ring Marker the game has run
HOB-26-AF-7005 HOB-26-AF-7821 its course and you
are ready, make
250 mile single loft 250 mile single loft the next pigeon to
competition competition arrive one of these
two, randomly.
Liberated Remington, Liberated Remington,
Virginia, June 10, 1927 Virginia, June 10, 1927
 HUDSON COUNTY HOMING PIGEON ASSOCIATION, INC.

Race Report
Series Date 192

Pigeon Club
Race Station Date of Liberation Time AM PM

Weather Conditions at Start Wind At Home Wind

Competition Lofts Birds Diplomas

Remarks

TIME OF ARRIVAL TIME ON WING

POSITION NAME OF LOFT RING MARKS SEX DISTANCE (MILES) VELOCITY
HR MIN SEC HR MIN SEC
 C omplet e Wi r e R ep or t s of U N I T E D PR E S S , t he G r e at e s t World-Wide News S e r v ic e
Hudson Courier
It is thought that, with a
cted appeal and no ex-
tive clemency, that the
lian gangsters Nicola Sac-
and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
l be executed as early as
gust.
RK LOST
arbor, Mich., May 24:—
ed community has entirely
bark Maggie Hugg with all
lost, telegrams announc-
ing of wreckage near South
been constantly coming
terday noon, but the blow
d all hopes was received
on. It announced that the
arty had found a portion
ie Hugg’s passenger gang-
ns and other pieces of her
nd bulwarks; also parts of
nd a large part of the boat’s
m. This telegram was sup-
by the following from the
We started at 7 a.m. at
n and found some of the
er bulwarks, went farther
ame upon lots of wreckage.
HOLLAND TUNNEL
LOWS ON NEW ARTERY
slowed to a crawl on the
nel, scheduled to open in
unlikely to meet construc-
HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1927
F
NEW WRINKLE FOR EARLY BIRD eme
NEW BOSS FOR ILA SINGLE LOFT RACES POPULAR afte
er i
Hoboken—In a new wrinkle on an cent
CRIME BOSS UNREPENTANT old, old sport, modern pigeon fanciers bec
D’AMICO SAYS “BASTA” Joseph Ryan New President
Newark—Gaspare D’Amico, un- are taking the guesswork and complex- cont
Hoboken—The International Long-
disputed leader of the notorious boot- ity out of racing. digg
shoremen’s Association, by unanimous
legging empire centered in northern In a typical race, several hundred pi- the
consent, has elected Joseph Ryan as
New Jersey, appeared in state court geons are liberated at once to fly home. plac
their new President.
on Wednesday after being compelled to Each heads for its own loft, and dis- F
Ryan, long associated with the New
testify before the Gordon commission. tances are handicapped accordingly. A
D’Amico refused to answer the com-
Jersey waterfront, was seen as a com-
promise candidate between east coast complex system of timing is managed
resi
wer
mission’s questions about organized by a mechanical punch-clock in each
firebrands and more moderate Great fro
crime in Hudson county, specifically loft. Average velocities are calculated Tri
Lakes constituents. Rumors of involve-
in connection to gang-on-gang violence to determine a winner. There’s a lot of Par
ment with organized crime have consis-
along the waterfront between Italian room for error, and even more room for in e
tently swirled around Ryan, although
and Irish immigrants. unscrupulous competitors to “adjust” Ma
no charge has ever stuck. The Irish
Continued page 2 their results. In modern, big dollar rac- cau
dockworkers of Hoboken applauded the
ing, the honor system will no longer gas
election of a consistent ally to the post
suffice. and
Continued page 4 In a single loft race, all the pigeons
neig
MEMORIAL are acclimated to one loft and return hoo
Ninth Anniversary This Week-End RUTH ON A TEAR to it, greatly simplifying the race. Dis-
wit
17th Homer Wins It tances don’t need to be handicapped inte
Belleau Wood Remembered and velocity is irrelevant - the first bird
Hoboken—In June 1918, the Battle In Rain-Soaked Game serv
in the loft wins the race. It is simpler abo
of Belleau Wood saw the final German New York—A seem- and less prone to trouble than the old-
spring offensive during the Great War whe
ingly unstoppable Babe er system, although the innovation will AT
turned back by American heroes to be Ruth drove one home certainly never replace it.
honored this Saturday. was
in the sixth inning ere
On the banks of the Marne, the Ma- last night against Earl
rines of the Fifth and Sixth divisions “
Whitehill, hapless be- an
fought ferociously against a deter- fore The Babe’s might
ALASKA CALLED of p
mined German assault. Belleau Wood on the field. The Tigers “Alaska ! Land of the mid-
stands as the great moment of truth for night sun, big game and easy over
lost against the home shor
American forces in Europe, and a cru- team Yankees three money! Mecca of wandereres,
cible that was passed with courage and burial place of lost hopes, hell of ti
runs to five after an say
tenacity. The cost, however, was high, upset win just two days on earth!” Thus Dewey Gleyre,
and for the fallen this nation owes a lately returned to his home- mo
previously, also at the
 DSON COURIER FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1927

r reckless; that boy, FISH LICENSE IS EFFECTIVE

ingly courageous.
n everyone around ARTIFICIAL LURE LICENSE TO COST $1.10
Hoboken—Retaining undersized
as talking about
OWNEY OWNS IT: “THE KILLER” IS CLUB MAVEN
OUTLAW OWNEY MADDEN HAS STAKE IN SEVERAL NYC NIGHTCLUBS flounder cost a Hoboken restaurant
eing one of the few New York—The former De-Luxe, Madden also owns a prominent share $82.30 at the court of Judge Baurs
naturally adapted now known as the Cotton Club and a of thr more refined Stork Club with there when a complaint was filed by
It took his flight to scintillating center of art and enter- partners Big Bill and “Big Frenchy” bu Clarence Cole, State Deputy Game,
convince the world tainment, is owned in its entirety by DeMange. Fish and Oyster Commissioner.
was a remarkable Owen Vincent Madden, known more It should be well noted by the Cole charged a violation of state
e knew it long be- commonly as Owney Madden, and by thrill-seeker and the debutante that game and fish laws. The fine was heavy
his enemies and associates as “The these clubs are havens of crime and because the complaint alleged a second
Killer”. This latter epithet came about mendacity, owned and operated by a violation, Cole said.
as the result of Madden’s 10-to-20 for convicted Irish mob murderer, and no Cole announced Saturday that the
RO IN WAR manslaughter following the brutal place for refined company, despite the law providing for artificial lure licens-
murder of William Moore, also known elegant interiors and sophisticated en- es will become effective on June 14.
as “Little Patsy Doyle.” tertainment. Although no license will be required
ero in Peace before that date, the same may be ob-
tained prior to that time.
, June 6.—lt is rare LINDY RATED LOW AS DON’T BE A VICTIM
military chieftans STUDENT AVIATIOR OF “SPRING FEVER”
n
in the law courts, Instructors at Flying School Not You can easily avoid the depressing
Donovan, assist ant Impressed by Youth. effects of the changing season
eral, is an exception When Charles A. Lindbergh arrived In the spring, many people find
cent victories in the at the Aircraft Company’s offices in themselves losing appetite, are over-
here the Supreme Lincoln, Neb., late in 1921, and enrolled come by a lack of energy, and a run-
as an aviation student, they thought so down feeling takes over the whole body.
w for America have little of his chances of ever becoming Spring is a great renovating season,
ntion of the legal anything much in the way of an aviator when Nature throws off the accumulat-
rought him offers that no record was kept of the date of ed impurities and prepares the system
which make Bam- his arrival. Apparently the immediate for the change it must undergo before
0 salary look like a impression was of a sort of a “Merton of merging into the upcoming summer.
His success in the the Movies” person who had dreamed At this time, the energies relax, and
blazed a path for flying and finally came with enough an unspeakable langour pervades the
of foreign combina- money to pay for some instruction, but entire system, giving that worn out,
een making inroads who never would do much more. good-for-nothing feeling so commonly
ts since France and Ray Page, company president, de- called “spring fever.” WH
n economic entente. scribed him as typically a country lad, The important thing, therefore, is
ictims was Charles From
to put your system in tip-top condition, gency aft
rmer secretary of so as to be able to resist the common
nent in a Standard other in r
ailments so rpevelant in summer. You weeks be
. Davis, 1924 Dem- must build up the tissue and repair the
nominee. of contra
wear and tear the system has under- digging i
ries gone.
ee of the four great wrong pl
Now is the time to take S.S.S. It is LUCRECIO DENIED BAIL Lincoln p
he Government has unrivaled for restoring strength, vi-
ar
RACKETEER HELD PENDING TRIAL People
tality and a keen appetite.proves and Elizabeth—New Jersey crime family searched