500

500 is a variant of the classic children's game 500 where a ball is thrown into the air, a point value is called, and whoever catches it gets that many points. Anyone that accrues 500 points becomes the next ball thrower.

In this variant, the ball is launched using the Denali Cannon to any place in the contiguous United States. Much like the original, the cannon's operator assigns each ball launched a point value, and the next player to get 500 points is flown to Alaska to become the new operator.

The ball used is two feet wide and has a steel frame that causes it to weigh between 120 and 200 pounds.

Appearances

 * Chapter 15: I don't know. - Juice introduces the concept of 500 to Nine.
 * Chapter 16: Denali, Alaska. Chicago, Illinois. - Juice continues to explain 500, and how some operators have patterns to their targets while others fire entirely at random.
 * Chapter 17: No no no no no no. - Juice, Nine, and Ten watch in horror as a 188-point football is fired right at a fire station in Livermore.
 * Chapter 18: Livermore, California. - Famously unsuccessful player Lacrecia Evans discovers the ball landed incredibly close to her, grapples with the idea of no longer being at the bottom, and arrives at the fire station to find that it destroyed the Livermore Light Bulb.