We have some patches. I am supposed to send one out to new Gold members but I just get behind. Email me (jerry@azbilliards.com) if you are a gold member and I will send you one out.
I have been a gold member, off and on, multiple times. I bought a 1 year membership and multiple 3 month memberships, as finances allowed.
I never got a patch and I am not complaining. However, if buying gold membership again would guarantee me a patch, that would be a huge incentive. (You could even set it as an incentive for new members when you don't have a drawing for that month.) From a business standpoint, I would suggest setting at least a 3 month or possibly a 6 month membership to get a patch. Heck, if patches are rare and you think the break point for new memberships vs. patch desire could justify it, you could even set it at the 1 year point. If you don't want to deal with keeping track of things, you could even set it at the max 2 year amount and make them prestige items.

Honestly, I think you would get more bang for your buck for a (I'm guessing) $1 item to grab as many 3 month/6 month memberships as you can.
Along this line, I would think AZB t-shirts and hats would also sell. If you introduce the idea as a trial and let people know that there may be a wait, you could wait to place orders until you have the money in hand. That way there would be absolutely no risk on your part. I would pay for a hat and a t-shirt and wait months for the rest of the orders to flow in until you could place your order with your supplier.
I am sure you have already thought of all of these ideas and probably don't want to deal with the extra time to keep track of these orders. It is clear you have a potential market for additional income; it is up to you to determine what the worth is for time invested, of course.
