It took 12 tries over an hour, but the Queen of Hearts finally ended her reign over downtown Waterloo on Tuesday night after growing a jackpot of nearly $2 million.

Sam Houston, 61, of Red Bud, was the winner, finding the queen under card 28 on the game board. 

“Unbelievable,” Houston said of his winning the highly-coveted jackpot of $1,886,536. “It’s just amazing.”

There were at least three EMS calls for service for people in the crowd during the drawing – two of which caused a break in the action – but fortunately Houston was not one of them.

Houston said he was “about to have a heart attack” just before he made his decision on which card he would choose. The three options left at that point were 28, 49 and 53.

When asked why he picked 28, Houston joked, “because there were only three (cards) left,” adding, “my sisters both said 28.”   

On the final day of January, temperatures well below the freezing mark were not enough to deter a massive crowd congregating at and near Outsider tavern, along South Market, Third and Mill Streets and on the Monroe County Courthouse grounds.

“Man, my feet were freezing, but I ain’t cold at all anymore,” Houston said of the long wait to finally find the Queen of Hearts. 

Game organizers had announced last week that Tuesday’s drawing would be the last for this game despite 14 cards left on the board. 

The decision was made as the jackpot was expected to reach the $2 million limit established by City of Waterloo ordinance.

After 11 unsuccessful attempts to find the Queen  on Tuesday night – which included a mother and her son both being drawn to select a card in separate rounds – Houston found the elusive winning card a little after 8 p.m.

Houston, who had been buying 20 tickets each week during the latest game, said he didn’t really expect to win, but added, “Yeah, I was praying to.”

It was reported by some area media outlets that one person purchased $10,000 worth of tickets for Tuesday’s draw-down, with other reports of $2,000-ticket buys.

With a winner found, organizers and volunteers of the Queen of Hearts game will take a break until the next game begins in March.

The Queen of Hearts game benefit Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Waterloo.

SPPCS band instructor Chad Minier has been announcing the results of every weekly drawing during this game in the parking lot adjacent to Outsider.

“It’s exciting for the community,” Minier said in between draws Tuesday night. “I’m excited to help. I’m excited just like everyone else.”

The game has been the talk of the town for months. 

The game began to draw increasingly larger crowds, prompting city officials to block traffic on a section of South Market Street as the jackpot approached the $100,000 mark in mid-August.  

By the beginning of November, the grand prize had eclipsed $500,000 as more and more players bought tickets – and in higher quantities.

The jackpot passed the $1 million mark during the Dec. 6 drawing. At that time, organizers announced no new player registrations would be accepted for the current game. 

The action cooled down as Christmas approached. 

The Dec. 13 drawing was canceled due to severe weather in the forecast. 

With no winner found during the Dec. 20 drawing, the next drawing was scheduled for Jan. 17 in order to give volunteers a well-deserved break. 

Despite the pause in action, the jackpot grew nearly $900,000 in just under two months and only four drawings.    

Along with the jackpot and crowds, the weekly 50/50 drawing also grew, offering a larger payout than some of the other area Queen of Hearts game jackpots.

On Tuesday, the 50/50 amount was over $30,000, continuing a weeks-long trend of a 50/50 prize of $10,000.

The 50/50 games also benefit SPPCS. 

The SPPCS Queen of Hearts games began in late  2017, with the first winner finding the Queen in the 45th week of the game in September 2018 and taking home a $92,000 jackpot.

A few things were different when the game began compared to the end of the most recent game. 

The drawings were held at Stubborn German Brewing Company and player registration numbers were still in the hundreds instead of the 10,000 range. 

One thing was the same, though: the wining number was announced by Minier. 

In addition to Houston, the entire community has been a winner during the most recent game. 

Businesses have experienced booming business on Tuesdays, downtown Waterloo and Monroe County has received positive exposure from people who otherwise would have not visited the area, and SPPCS has been the recipient of a windfall of funds to support school operations.

“It is the biggest the pot has ever gotten that we’ve had here at Ss. Peter & Paul,” SPPCS principal Lori Matzenbacher said. “We had to quit having it during COVID, and so I feel like whenever we restarted, things really ramped up.”

Matzenbacher said that back in August, which was hundreds of thousands of dollars ago.