If on any given weekend night you’ve gone to the Downtown establishment Tom & Marty’s, you’ve heard Larry Shea’s booming voice yell, “It’s shot wheel time!” over the speaker system. But last Tuesday, something aside from the deep bass shook State Street to its core.

On May 5, Shea, the owner of Tom & Marty’s, tweeted “Tonight is the last night of the Shot Wheel. Giving it away after trivia tomorrow.”

If you are a Tom & Marty’s regular, you probably experienced a sense of shock and confusion. Why is the shot wheel gone? Where is it going? Will we ever have $3 shots again? As some students struggled to work through the repercussions of the news, others had their eye on one goal: winning the prize.

Forget having a 4.0 GPA or winning a scholarship. The most rewarding thing you can have in Binghamton is the chance to walk around and parade the shot wheel for all to see while “Eye of the Tiger” plays in the background. Last Wednesday night, the team of trivia regulars Alcoholics Anonymous took home the prize to end all prizes.

After the normal trivia run, a sheet was handed out containing eight very specific questions about the bar. It was a test of knowledge and skill, but also a test of faith. To win, you would’ve had to know things about the business and its employees. Which shot on the wheel was the least popular? Which mixed drinks were the most popular? Which bartender owns a bulldog?

Annie Dailey, a senior majoring in art and design, was on the lucky winning team.

“We won the shot wheel and it was amazing,” Dailey said. “Larry was like crying a little bit because he didn’t want to give it away, but we’re just screaming with happiness. It was a very glorious day and then we got to carry it home and that was cool too, carrying it like a shield.”

In the heated battle for the shot wheel, any advantage was needed. They said that they knew a lot, and that knowing a Tom & Marty’s bartender helped them answer some of the trickier questions.

So why get rid of the shot wheel we all know and love?

“We wanted to put new shots on the wheel that people would like more,” said Addie Dean, a bartender at Tom & Marty’s and a sophomore majoring in human development.

The new wheel was probably long overdue anyway, as the old one had a decade’s worth of wear and tear to show.

“They don’t spin it [the old shot wheel] anymore … they turn it themselves a couple of dials to like land on a shot because it’s so broken,” Dailey said. “When we were carrying it home it was kind of like dragging on the floor and stuff.”

With the shot wheel safe in someone’s Downtown house, something felt different on Thursday. What used to hold the beautiful promise of cheap alcohol turned into an empty spot in the bar corner.

Patrons headed into Tom & Marty’s on Thursday to begin the healing process. Little did they know what was in store for the evening.

“This next song goes out to the shot wheel,” said Shea as Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” played throughout the bar. Solemn faces lined the dance floor during the tribute while people sang along with heavy hearts. Yet despite the fears of its patrons, it seemed as if the tradition would continue.

Just after midnight, there was a quick change in the music that made the crowded bar roar.

“Oh my god, is that shot wheel music?” Shea said proudly over the microphone, as Europe’s “The Final Countdown” created an aura of excitement and mystery.

Suddenly, in the most wonderful fashion, a familiar round shape rose from the ground in the hands of a Tom & Marty’s bouncer. A new shot wheel had emerged like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Boasting six new shots — Birthday Cake, Jim Beam, Blue Hawaiian, Fireball, Pancake Breakfast Shot and Gusher — Tom & Marty’s “Shot Wheel 2.0” is destined to make the bar the envy of all other State Street establishments.

Though Shea’s initial announcement sent fear into the hearts of Binghamton University students, the new shot wheel was a glimmer of hope in an otherwise stressful time in the semester. Propped in its predecessor’s old stomping grounds, the short-lived void was filled and a collective clattering of shot wheel chips filled the air.