"Say you pick Venus-to-Saturn. See that silver spiral going out from Venus and around the table to the orbit of Saturn? Well, if Venus stops within that six-inch zone where the spiral starts and if Saturn is near where it ends, you scoop in the stardust."
Meadows fingered his mustache as he examined the table.
"I ... ah ... suppose the closer you come, the more you win, eh?"
"That's the theory. Most people are glad to get anything back. It's honest enough, but the odds are terrific."
A couple of spacers made room for us, and I watched Meadows play for a few minutes. The operator grinned when he saw me watching. He had a lean, pale face and had been an astrogator until his heart left him in need of Martian gravity.
"No coaching, Tony!" he kidded me.
"Stop making me look like a partner in the place!" I answered.
"Thought one night you were going to be.... No winners, gentlemen. Next bets!"
The spheres had come to rest with Pluto near one end of a lavender spiral and Mercury touching the inner end, but no one had had the insanity to bet that way. Meadows began to play inner planet combinations that occasionally paid, though at short odds. He made a bit on some near misses, and I decided to have a drink while he lost it.