My comment turned into an answer, as it is slightly different from LogicianWithAHat's: >! Everybody secretly throws X things into a bag, where X represents their accruate monthly payment and 'things' is something small like a matchstick or the like. Then you just count when all are done. Why is it different/superior ? >! - Does not require that anybody gets to know the payment of anybody else<br> >! - Does not require any sequence