sinclair's Review
I went to the Hop Scotch Club on a Saturday night at 20:00. There was no cover charge because no dancers had yet arrived. I think there is usually a $3 cover on Wednesdays and Thursdays and a $5 cover charge on Fridays and Saturdays. Sincweisers were a reasonable $4 per bottle. There were some beers that were on special for $2, including Miller High Life and Blue Moon, which I am guessing had to do with stock rotation. The only food served is bar pizzas. Pepperoni or four meat pizzas are $11. Supreme pizzas are $13. The bar is to your right as you enter. The stage is a long island in the back with two poles. All music is played off of a TouchTunes jukebox. The right wall has four restaurant booths. A door through the right wall leads to a cozy, roofed smoking patio that has a fireplace.
Like many South Dakota strip clubs, dancers sign on to work by the week. Dancers are expected to work Wednesday through Saturday. The summer week I visited, there was only one dancer working. At least the staff was honest with me when I asked how many dancers were working that night. She showed up late around 22:00, and her name was Pixie. She was Caucasian and petite. She had brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. I would say she was a 6.5 or 7. A strip club in a fur trading post should be required to have more beaver. The staff told me that the following week they had six dancers on the schedule. Most dancers working here are not from the immediate area or are full-time traveling dancers.
Topless private dances are $25 per song. Nude private dances are $50 per song. Customers must pre-purchase “coins” for the lap dances at the bar. The club takes a $7.50 cut from topless dances and a $15 cut of nude dances from the dancers, but I don’t think dancers have to pay any house fees to work at the Hop Scotch Club. Private dances take place in a curtained off couch area at the back of the building, past the restrooms. Two way contact is permitted. I would say the topless dances are a fair value, but paying double the price for nude dances is not a good value. The ATM has a $200 maximum withdrawal and a $5 transaction fee.
I ended up playing a few of the seven video slot machines, most of which were on the front wall by the window. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t lose and ended up walking out of the Hop Scotch $500 richer. Too bad there weren’t more dancers to spend money on and few customers to buy drinks for. One of the bartenders was an attractive rock/goth chick with blue hair.
Two of the last three times I was in the area, the Hop Scotch Club was closed down. This summer was the first time I caught the club when it was actually open. The Deadwood Street bar scene was the deadest I have seen in all of my visits to Fort Pierre over the past few years. Chateau Lounge was closed, and The Chuckwagon was unusually empty. Back in the early 1900's, the building that the Hop Scotch Club now occupies was a brothel. The side of the strip club is painted with a ninety-foot long mural that says “Welcome to Fort Pierre” with Indians, the fort, paddle boats, and ranchers depicted. I will return the next time I am in town.
