keeping score via dropped clips not incrementing properly

[paul.s]

Hi, having trouble keeping score of dropped movielips on a target.

below code is not working and it's driving me nuts.

How / where can I store this variable so that it can be incremented and accessed correctly.

Any help / solution would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Paul

//
var _foodPanel:foodPanel = new foodPanel();
addChild(_foodPanel);
_foodPanel.x=360;
_foodPanel.y=275;
_foodPanel.visible=true;

//trace(_foodPanel.foods1.numChildren);
var startX:Number;
var startY:Number;
var dropCount:int;

for (var i=0; i<_foodPanel.foods1.numChildren; i++) {
    var object:Object=_foodPanel.foods1.getChildAt(i);
    //trace(object);
    object.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDown);
    object.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, mouseReleased);
    object.buttonMode=true;
}

function mouseDown(event:MouseEvent):void {
    event.target.startDrag();
    startX=event.target.x;
    startY=event.target.y;
}

function mouseReleased(event:MouseEvent):void {

    event.target.stopDrag();
    checkHit(event.currentTarget as MovieClip);
}

function checkHit(obj:MovieClip):void {

    if (hit.hitTestObject(obj)) {
        obj.visible=false;
        trace(obj.name);
        checkGame(obj);
    
        dropCount++;
        trace(dropCount);

        if (dropCount>=5&&dropCount<8) {
            trace("YOU CAN STOP NOW");
            
        
        } else if (dropCount ==8) {
            trace("MAXIMUM");
    
        } else {
            trace("MORE");
        }

    } else {
        obj.x=startX;
        obj.y=startY;
    }

}


function checkGame(obj:MovieClip):void {
    trace(obj.name);
    var badChips:int =1;
    
        if(obj.name=="badChips8" ||  "badChips7" ||  "badChips6"||  "badChips5"||  "badChips4"||  "badChips3"||  "badChips2"||  "badChips1") {
            
            badChips+=1;
            trace("SCORE IS:"+badChips);
        }      
}