Video Poker

It is an occurrence so common that it can strike on any night. The TV just isn\'t cutting it for the evening\'s entertainment purposes -- one can only take so many Miss Cleo commercials. The radio is not providing any solace either -- they've just played Nickelback for the sixth time in the past hour.\nThoughts of renting a video pop in your head. Where does one go for rental satisfaction? With a veritable plethora of video rental locations in Bloomington, it seems that a person would be hard-pressed not to find one that meets their standards. Here, we take a look at "the little guys" who compete against media conglomerates for your video rental buck.\nTop Ten Video\nTop Ten Video, located at 413 S. Walnut and open until 2 a.m. daily, is among the many smaller locations around Bloomington that give Blockbuster a fight for its money.\nAmong the areas in which Top Ten's selections are the widest are horror and anime. In addition to their current selection of anime, Top Ten has recently ordered a new list of titles that will be in soon.\nTop Ten also has about 300 DVDs in its collection.\nRenting videos might be a common device for dates and hanging out with friends, but sometimes people just need to watch movies by themselves. Top Ten answers this call with its adult section.\nRather than being tucked away in the shadows, the backroom at Top Ten features saloon-style swinging doors and, yes, even adult DVDs.\nNew releases go for $3.87 for one day, and carry the same price for each day that the movie is overdue. The rest of Top Ten's collection can be rented for five nights. Older movies are $2.50, adult movies are $4.40 and kids movies can be rented for a dollar. The fines for regular movies are 50 cents per day late, while the adult movies carry a $2 a day charge.\nIn addition to regular prices, Top Ten offers deals such as five movies for five nights for $5.55. Free rentals can also be won by playing the "get the quarter in the cup" game, as well as the "get the lucky gumball" game. (Note: The "lucky" gumball is actually a plastic ball, so if you wanted a gumball it is probably not such a fortuitous occurrence.)\nVideo World\nVideo World has multiple Bloomington locations, and its store on South Walnut is a big draw for students.\n"Video World is the easiest (rental store) to get to," says sophomore and veteran renter Brian McCarthy.\nDue the next day at midnight (when the store closes), Video World's new releases can be rented for $3.69. Movies that range from 4 months old to 1 year old are available at the price of $2.50 each for five nights, and five can be rented at the rate of $9.99 for five nights. Older selections match Top Ten's deal of five movies for five nights for $5.55.\nIn addition to these prices, Video World has the sometimes infamous 25-cent damage waiver.\n"It protects you from paying a replacement fee should something happen to the video," says Video World manager Andrew Pittman. And while most people comply with the waiver, Pittman has heard several strange stories regarding the demise of returned tapes. They vary from accidentally becoming dog toys to getting run over by cars after a forgotten stay on the roof.\n"As long as you have the carcass of the video and you've paid the quarter waiver, I'm usually willing to give the benefit of the doubt," Pittman says.\nVideo World's selection ranges from Hitchcock to anime and championship wrestling videos to the movie "Strangeland," starring Dee Snider from Twisted Sister.\n"We pretty well cover the spectrum of known categories," Pittman says.\nPlan 9 Video\nLocated in a basement at the corner of Kirkwood and Walnut, Plan 9 Video can go unnoticed by unsuspecting passersby. But its selection cannot be.\n"We probably have the biggest selection of DVDs in town," says owner Kerry Scott. "Some of the stuff we have I've never seen on video."\nIn addition to carrying a wide range of movies, Plan 9 also has DVDs of TV shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and sci-fi classics such as "Star Trek," "Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits." \n"We have the weirdest selection of movies in town," Scott says. "We have everything from Humphrey Bogart to blaxploitation." \n"Everything" encompasses new releases, classics, horror, science fiction, anime, foreign films and cult films such as the store's namesake, "Plan 9 From Outer Space."\nDVDs at Plan 9 are $3 for two nights and carry a $1.50 late charge. New release videos are $2.50 for two nights, and other videos go for $2 for two nights. All videos carry a $1 late fee.\nPlan 9 is open until 11 p.m. on Sundays, and "until midnight or one" the rest of the week. \nTJ's Video\nLike the Batcave, which was just outside of Gotham City limits, TJ's Video is located just outside of Bloomington proper on Centennial Drive. But for the bargain hunter, traveling to TJ's is a worthwhile trip.\nNew releases can be rented for $3.15, and are due at 8 p.m. the next day. But all other selections can be rented for $1 a night. TJ's also offers two deals, one where you can get three movies for three nights at a $3 rate, the other where five movies for five nights is $5.\nRenters can also strike the jackpot with TJ's weekly drawing, in which three lucky winners are awarded a free rental.\nTJ's carries about 150 DVDs, many of which are in the older movie section -- and thus can be rented for a paltry $1 a night.\nTJ's has an adult selection of about 500 titles in its backroom.\n"We have been popular with students in the past," says manager Tom Saunders, a senior. "But construction (on State Rt. 46) has slowed down student traffic."\nTJ's keeps its doors open until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 p.m. Sunday.\nThose who head to TJ's in a car with manual transmission beware -- failure to use the parking brake might cause the hilly parking lot to send your own Batmobile into the woods.\nAmerican Rental\nAmerican Rental, with locations on both Walnut and Third Street, specializes in renting appliances and furniture. But they also feature a formidable movie rental section.\nAmerican Rentals prices speak for themselves -- new releases on VHS and DVD are $1.49 per night. Older videos and DVDs go for 99 cents per night. Late fees match the price of rental for each day the movie is late.\nAmerican also carries an adult section and an assortment of obscure titles.\n"We have a lot of movies you won't find at Blockbuster," says manager Joy Miller.\nAmerican rental stays open until 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 7 p.m. on Sundays.\nVillage Video\nVillage Video is located about 1.5 miles outside of Ellettsville in the Jackson Creek strip mall off State Rt. 46.\n"We carry a lot of older movies that students want for classes," says the store's manager, Jan Colbert.\nVillage Video also carries a number of deals. New releases are rented for $3.15 a day, and a limited number of newer releases are available for three nights. And while bad long-distance phone ads ask what you can get for less than a dollar, you can add the older movies at Village, which can be had for 89 cents a night. (Or, $2 for two nights). Also, on Monday-Thursday, a second new release can be added for 99 cents.\nVillage Video is open until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Sunday hours are noon to 7 p.m. \nIU Library\nFor many students, surviving in college means living a hand-to-mouth existence. And for those looking for videos that are cheaper to get than a share of Enron stock, there is no better place to go than the Kent Cooper room in the basement of the main library, where the movies are free. (IU Library also boasts video rental services at its dormitory locations).\nThe video collection boasts of about 7,000 videos, though not all have been catalogued yet. The rental collection is open to the general public.\nTwo movies can be rented for two nights, with an overdue fee of $3 per day. The Kent Cooper Room is open until midnight Sunday-Thursday and until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.\n"The collection was donated from Classical Film and Music last spring," says media coordinator Colleen Talty. \nAt this juncture, the library has 300-400 DVDs in their collection, but none have been made available for their rental program yet. Talty says that there might be DVD rentals included in the collection in the future.\nAnd while some might expect the library's collection to consist of nothing more than documentaries, the collection has a diverse selection of feature films ranging from the Marx Brothers' classic "Animal Crackers" to the Academy Award winning "Patton" to the critically unacclaimed "The Brother from Another Planet"