Market Street outside Outsider tavern was once again blocked Tuesday night in downtown Waterloo, a crowd spilling between the tavern and the neighboring courthouse grounds in celebration of a Queen of Hearts draw-down that left one woman all the richer.

With 36 cards to potentially go through, the hot and humid evening could have gone on for quite some time – only somewhat comparing to the full deck draw-down held this past February.

The coveted queen did prompt some anxiety from the crowd as she hid behind 12 other cards, even bringing in the three other queens to leave folks clutching their chests each time the suit was announced.

Relief – and no doubt disappointment – ultimately engulfed downtown Waterloo as the Queen of Hearts revealed herself in the 13th round.

Shirley Goddard of Dupo proved to be the lucky recipient of this round’s jackpot when card No. 5 was revealed. At player No. 6703, she’s one of the games relatively early participants as the registered player numbers drawn prior to Goddard’s ranged from 1270 to 16216.

Goddard was kind enough to leave something for the rest of the crowd, however, as she wasn’t in attendance when her number was selected. That leaves her with $129,181 of the starting $258,362 jackpot.

Ticket sales following last week’s drawing rolled over to the next round, as the Diocese of Belleville imposed $250,000 jackpot cap was reached last Tuesday. 

Game officials also decided against decreasing the jackpot with each non-winning card chosen on the board, which is typically $500 but can be up to $1,000 depending on the card. 

“We will subtract the money from ticket sales that will start the new jackpot for the next round,” game officials posted on Facebook ahead of Tuesday’s draw-down.

As announced following the big win, the next jackpot will start at $181,851 with a full board, meaning that another lengthy drawdown could soon be on the horizon. Ticket sales leading up to next week’s drawing will add to that total.

A six-figure winning of any amount is hardly something to sneeze at, nor was the evening’s 50/50 raffle drawing which exceeded $9,000.

The Queen of Hearts game is organized by and benefits SPPCS – 20 percent of ticket purchases go toward the school while 80 percent contributes to the game’s pot.

This is the third straight round of Waterloo’s Queen of Hearts that has resulted in a multi-card draw-down – the first having a jackpot of nearly $2 million won by Red Bud’s Sam Houston during a cold night in February 2023. He picked No. 28 on the game board.

The last round was won by Waterloo’s Barb Gotto on the eighth card, No. 30 on the game board, this past February.

As previously reported, the game had rather humble beginnings compared to the jackpots and crowds it’s seen in the past few years, as it began in 2017 at Stubborn German Brewing with the primary goal of benefitting the SPPCS athletic department.

A massive uptick in participation in recent years has seen the jackpot swell hugely, with the 2023 pot booming to the city-imposed $2 million cap. 

The first draw-down of this year featured a pot near the initial cap of $500,000 imposed by the Belleville Diocese, though its latest cap now limits the game to $250,000.

Ticket sales for the newest Queen of Hearts game are available anytime Outsider is open. The tavern is located at 104 S. Market Street.