If you have ever wondered why some of the dollar bills you get with your change at Taco Bell, Albertsons or the gas station bear that enigmatic "track this bill at www.wheresgeorge.com" stamp, relax. Nothing sinister is going on here. It's just a game.
It's an ultra-fun and addicting game for Boise resident Jerry Todd, Eagle father and daughter Mike and Arianna Slotemaker, and dozens of other Treasure Valley residents who participate in the Internet-based activity that tracks dollar bills as they make their journey around the world.
"Do you ever wonder where your money goes after you spend it?" said 13-year-old Arianna Slotemaker, who started playing the game two years ago after getting a dollar with the stamp in Yellowstone. "It's a lot of fun to find out."
"The coolest hit I got so far is Antarctica," she said. "It's so cold there I didn't think anyone was spending money. I've got a hit from every continent except Africa."
The game works like this: Someone puts a stamp on a bill (most players use $1 bills, but some also stamp $5s, $10s or $20s), then he or she enters the serial number into the wheresgeorge.com Web site and spends the bills; other players who get the money then put the serial numbers into the Web site and spend them again.
The game is free but requires that you register as a player to get to all the content on the Web site.
Mike Slotemaker says it's a nice bonding father/daughter activity. He and Arianna check their online profiles every night to see where their dollars are turning up.
"With Arianna entering her teenage years, we wanted to do something together, have an activity to share," he said.
Between the two of them, they have entered about 40,000 dollars into circulation since 2006. How is that possible? By buying everything with $1 bills, each marked with a "track me at www.wheresgeorge.com" stamp.
That means groceries, back-to-school supplies, McDonald's snacks, anything you can think of — all paid for with handfuls of $1 bills.
Paying with piles of small bills has prompted more than one quizzical look from store clerks during otherwise routine shopping stops. But Mike Slotemaker said clerks are always cool with it once they find out what wheresgeorge.com is all about — especially since they have likely seen the dollars before.
"It's been very educational. It is interesting to see how the dollars move along the I-84 corridor and everywhere else," he said.
Of course, the game doesn't work unless other wheresgeorge.com enthusiasts enter the bill numbers they get in the Web site and make sure to spend them right away.
"I get $100 in singles and use them for lunch money," said Jerry Todd, a public information manager for the city of Boise who got into the game when he used to run a donut shop in Moscow and kept seeing the bills.
"I've done $17,000 in bills so far ... I have no life," Todd said, laughing. "It's addictive. Some people really get into it, and some just do it every now and again. I am one of the ones who is into it."
Players put their profiles on the Web site and a friendly competition ensues over who gets the most hits. You can also track your own hits and those of other players.
The Idaho leader in money logged into the game goes by the handle "Gene (the sailor)." His real name was unavailable for this story, but "Gene" has stamped and entered more than $76,000 worth of bills.
Most of the local players know each other and can ID the bills by the unique ways they mark them, Todd said.
"It's all in good fun," he said. "The little gal from Eagle ( Arianna Slotemaker) is way ahead."
Patrick Orr: 373-6619
