I was wondering if anyone remembers a game from either Coca Cola or Pepsi from the early 80's, probably 1983. In this game, there would be a letter under every bottlecap, and you would collect these to spell out some phrase or word to win $500. I can't remember what the phrase or word was, but there was one hard-to-find letter that everyone was always looking for, maybe "R", but I can't remember. I also can't remember if you could play it with cans or just bottlecaps. Maybe some of you out there remember this game and can answer the specifics.

> I was wondering if anyone remembers a game from either Coca Cola or Pepsi
> from the early 80's, probably 1983. In this game, there would be a letter
> under every bottlecap, and you would collect these to spell out some
> phrase or word to win $500. I can't remember what the phrase or word was,
> but there was one hard-to-find letter that everyone was always looking
> for, maybe "R", but I can't remember. I also can't remember if
> you could play it with cans or just bottlecaps. Maybe some of you out
> there remember this game and can answer the specifics.

Man, the memories this message board brings back for me, LOL! The soft drink contest that launched the battle of the cola wars in the early '80s was initiated by Pepsi, against Coke (Coke being the #1 cola at the time). The year was either 1980 or '81 (I was 12 or 13 at the time). They called it "Take the Pepsi 'CHALLENGE'". The top side of the bottle caps (and yes, it was bottles only - not cans as well) that were part of the contest were indicated by this distinct star at the bottom, under the "Pepsi" logo. Under each cap was this grey liner that you had to peel back, which would then reveal a single red letter found in the word "CHALLENGE" (i.e., either "A", "C", "E", "G", "H", "L", or "N"). When you spelled out the entire word, you were a winner, although it's been so long now, I don't remember what the cash amount of the prize was (may or may not have been $500, as you indicated - I was thinking it was more than that, but I could be wrong). The "hard-to-find" letter that you're referring to was the "A". All of the other letters were produced in mass quantity, so if you found an "A", that was your ticket!

BTW, the reason I remember all of this so vividly is because I began drinking Pepsi in mass quantity when that contest began, and saved all of the bottle caps! I'd tape them to these pieces of cardboard that I hung on my wall, hoping to become a winner! I must've had "CH-LLENGE" spelled out 20 times by the time that contest ended, but alas, I never found an "A" (sigh...). And believe it or not, I know I still have all of those old bottle caps in a box in the basement somewhere, LOL! If I find 'em, I'll be sure to send a scan to ChuckyG. (I just knew I saved them all these years for a reason, LOL!)

I remember the contest (and others that subsequently followed) actually helped move Pepsi ahead of Coke into first place, briefly, during the mid '80s. After seeing how successful Pepsi's "CHALLENGE" contest had been, Coke retaliated around 1982 w/ a contest of their own. In that one, the helmet of one of the pro football teams was underneath, and you had to assemble a complete set of bottle caps from either the AFC or NFC in order to win. And yes, I still have those bottle caps around here somewhere, too...

> Man, the memories this message board brings back for me, LOL! The soft
> drink contest that launched the battle of the cola wars in the early '80s
> was initiated by Pepsi, against Coke (Coke being the #1 cola at the time).
> The year was either 1980 or '81 (I was 12 or 13 at the time). They called
> it "Take the Pepsi 'CHALLENGE'". The top side of the bottle caps
> (and yes, it was bottles only - not cans as well) that were part of the
> contest were indicated by this distinct star at the bottom, under the
> "Pepsi" logo. Under each cap was this grey liner that you had to
> peel back, which would then reveal a single red letter found in the word
> "CHALLENGE" (i.e., either "A", "C",
> "E", "G", "H", "L", or
> "N"). When you spelled out the entire word, you were a winner,
> although it's been so long now, I don't remember what the cash amount of
> the prize was (may or may not have been $500, as you indicated - I was
> thinking it was more than that, but I could be wrong). The
> "hard-to-find" letter that you're referring to was the
> "A". All of the other letters were produced in mass quantity, so
> if you found an "A", that was your ticket!

> BTW, the reason I remember all of this so vividly is because I began
> drinking Pepsi in mass quantity when that contest began, and saved all of
> the bottle caps! I'd tape them to these pieces of cardboard that I hung on
> my wall, hoping to become a winner! I must've had "CH-LLENGE"
> spelled out 20 times by the time that contest ended, but alas, I never
> found an "A" (sigh...). And believe it or not, I know I still
> have all of those old bottle caps in a box in the basement somewhere, LOL!
> If I find 'em, I'll be sure to send a scan to ChuckyG. (I just knew I
> saved them all these years for a reason, LOL!)

> I remember the contest (and others that subsequently followed) actually
> helped move Pepsi ahead of Coke into first place, briefly, during the mid
> '80s. After seeing how successful Pepsi's "CHALLENGE" contest
> had been, Coke retaliated around 1982 w/ a contest of their own. In that
> one, the helmet of one of the pro football teams was underneath, and you
> had to assemble a complete set of bottle caps from either the AFC or NFC
> in order to win. And yes, I still have those bottle caps around here
> somewhere, too...

sounds like a cool topic for a web page actually... I'll have to start one.. just don't send me the actual bottle caps >grin< and you're 100% right, it is Pepsi, my whole family (with the exception of me) drinks the sludge.. I can remember peeling the liners off the caps, it was a real pain in the neck to do.. they followed it up with other similar promos..

the beer companies started getting in on that racket too come to think of it... wasn't there one that would talk to you if you won? just what a drunk guy wants.. "the can is talking to me, the can is talking to me"

the 80s definately had some interesting marketing campaigns... that whole McDonalds thing recently, with Monopoly, reminds me of McDonalds early 80s (late 70s?) build a burger contest.. you had to get all the pieces to a particular burger in order to win..

the best movie on these types of contests came out in the early 90s, it's called Motorama.. a wicked bizarre movie with some famous people in cameo type roles (Martha Quinn and Meatloaf come to mind) it's hard to find, but worth a watch.. a kid steals a car and drives cross country collecting motorama trading cards at all the various spots, trying to get the entire set..