Organizers of the HP3000 Reunion have offered a sweet deal to encourage payments for Party tickets. A random drawing will select one winner of a free hotel night at the Cupertino Inn, or a free pass to the Sept. 24 party.

You must pay by Friday evening at midnight to qualify for your free ticket or hotel night. Alan Yeo of ScreenJet said, "As a little incentive to purchase your ticket by Friday, we are going to do a random draw of all those who have paid by close of business Friday. The winner will get one night's hotel room rental for the Cupertino Inn on the Saturday night if they've already decided to stay there -- or alternatively, a refund of their Reunion Party ticket charge."

Emails have gone out to those who have pre-registered, or registered but haven't paid for a ticket.  "We need to give the caterers fairly accurate numbers by close of business this Friday," Yeo explained. "So we need some feedback from our registrants."

Attendees are bringing family members, too. The entire Hoffmeister family -- Donna of 3000-L fame, James of HP's networking support team, and their son Tyler -- will be at the Computer History Museum next Saturday night.

Ticket payments are being processed through PayPal and the 3000 NewsWire's Reunion accounts. Get paid and get a chance for a free ticket today. Tickets go up to $60 on Sept. 17.