Custom profile field conditionals for check boxes

[WorldCraft]

Yes, but the obstacle I'm at is getting conditionals that check if a certain checkbox or checkboxes are selected.

For a quick concept test I put the following in my headinclude template:

<vb:if condition="$bbuserinfo[field16] & 1">
<script> alert("You chose checkbox 1!") </script>
</vb:if>


<vb:if condition="$bbuserinfo[field16] & 2">
<script> alert("You chose checkbox 2!") </script>
</vb:if>


<vb:if condition="$bbuserinfo[field16] & 3">
<script> alert("You chose checkbox 3!") </script>
</vb:if>


<vb:if condition="$bbuserinfo[field16] & 4">
<script> alert("You chose checkbox 4!") </script>
</vb:if>


<vb:if condition="$bbuserinfo[field16] & 5">
<script> alert("You chose checkbox 5!") </script>
</vb:if>

It doesn't seem to work properly. For example, if I choose checkbox 1, it will display alerts 1, 3, and 5. If I choose checkbox 2, it will display alerts 2, and 3. Checkbox 3 will display alerts 4 and 5. Checkboxes 4 and 5 will not run any script. I'm pretty new at coding so I'm not finding any obvious pattern and they seem to be executing at random.