Casino Chip of the Day

Lol I didn't even realize I put an "a" instead of an "I".

Quote: Doc

I'm at the airport for my trip, so this is likely my last post until after Christmas.

Well, it's not after Christmas yet, but I'm back in the States at my layover airport and decided to post. Picked up a total of three chips on the trip and will post them after I catch up a bit on sleep and get the photos prepared -- maybe in a week or four.

State: Oklahoma
City: Lawton
Casino: Apache

Merry Chipmas everyone! Happy you have new chips to post Doc. Let me know what day you plan to start posting again if you don't mind so that I don't post that day. Also a friend of mine brought me back a chip from Europe, as you know I don't include it in my collection but I will post it as a new chip of the day. I leave for Asia on January 9th and I will have all my Oklahoma chips posted before I leave.

Today's chip of the day is from Apache Casino in Lawton, Oklahoma. Apache Casino is the former Fort Sill Apache Casino. Apache Casino has 775 slots and 9 table games. It took quite a lot of images off google to remind me of this place but I think I recall correctly what casino this is. That or I am about to tell you a story of the wrong casino, who knows :)

I visited this casino mid way through one of my collecting days. I parked at the wrong entrance and walked to a locked door and after driving around a large parking lot I finally found the casino door. Security laughed at me, sadly not the first time. I went in and signed up for a club card, lost the $10 FP without a single paying line and also lost my $10 match play with a 20 into a dealer 6. After losing a few more hands I left the casino down about $40 vowing to never return again... mostly cause I don`t ever plan on being in the middle of Oklahoma again. Despite the bad luck I did buy a chocolate chip, chocolate muffin on my way out which was nauseatingly yummy.

The chip is made by Chipco. The chip is white with 3 blue edge inserts. The centre inlay is a multi coloured mountain range background with the casino name in black with the casino logo above it. The denomination is in white, the location isn`t noted.

So, PG, were you waiting for me to get back stateside before you posted any more chips? I was gone for more than two weeks, and no chips were posted in this thread at all. Doesn't take me long to update the index in that situation.

Added the Apache chip to the index a few minutes ago, and I'm ready to add to the list whichever other chips you can show us before you head out on your adventure. If you are prepared to post regularly, just keep going, and I will post my three chips after you run out -- that's either "run out of chips" or "run out of the country." I haven't gotten organized enough since getting home to set up to take photos anyway.

It looks that way but in reality my parents own a couple of popcorn stores in shopping malls and I always help them out during Christmas if I am in the country. I was just crazy busy the last couple of weeks. I will make sure I post daily for the rest of my chips. I have 6 more from my trip and then the gift chip that I received last week.

Glad to hear that you are back and I am interested to find out which 3 (really 2 since one is from the cruise I assume) chips you collected on this trip.

I guess I can fill in with some comments about chips that I did not get on my trip.

One of the cruise ship ports was Lima, Peru (really the port town of Callao, since Lima is not quite on the coast.) I knew that there were quite a few casinos in the Lima area, but I didn’t expect to be able to visit any of them, since (1) none of them were close to the pier, (2) none of the shore excursions were casino-hopping trips, and (3) I am not quite adventurous enough to try to take a taxi to an unknown location in a city where I don’t speak the language. Besides, back at home I had been warned by a neighbor who is a Peruvian native that I should not wander out into Callao, since it really isn’t a safe environment at all.

The day before the ship arrived in Peru, we were briefed that shuttle buses would be provided from the pier to the Plaza San Miguel shopping mall in Lima, really on the outskirts of that city closest to Callao. In that safer environment, passengers who had not booked tours through the ship could wander the mall, walk to nearby establishments, book independent tours, or catch transportation to other locations of interest.

I checked with the Guest Relations desk to see whether there were any casinos in the area of that plaza that I might be able to walk to while my wife tried to buy everything in the mall. The nice young lady did a Google Maps search and found two casinos within 3 minutes walking distance. Hah! Found my activity for the day.

Rode the shuttle to Plaza San Miguel, shopped with my wife for a while, then started out for my local adventure, only to find disappointment. The first establishment was the Magic City Casino, which turned out to have only machines, including a couple of electronic roulette tables. No dealers or chips to be found.

Second was the Casino Miami, which does indeed have table games. Unfortunately, they don’t open the tables for play until 6:00p.m., too late for my brief stop in town. In such situations, I have frequently been able to purchase a souvenir chip at the cashier’s cage. In this case, my stupid-American lack of multi-language skills got in the way. The cashier did not speak English, and the most English-proficient employee they could come up with only knew half a dozen phrases, so far as I could tell. He seemed to feel that the situation was resolved by telling me to come back at 6:00, not understanding my explanation that by then I would be on a ship sailing to Chile. No souvenir chip from there either.

More discussion of similar experiences when I present one of the chips that I did eventually get.

That's a really funny story Doc. Did you have internet on your phone? I would have gone to google translate and translated "I would like to buy a chip as a souvenir" then had them read it in their language. Oh well, can't collect them all I guess.

Quote: RS

Quote: Ayecarumba

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Oklahoma
City: Concho
Casino: Lucky Star

...The back of the chip has the same picture that everyone has speculated on what the Native American is doing with the city name underneath it.

Actually... The image is from a painting by one of the founders of the Taos Society of Artists Eanger Irving Couse. The 1929 painting actually depicts a model wearing Plains tribe leggings (which would be right for the Arapaho - Cheyenne tribes that own the Lucky Star Casinos), but he is holding a Hopi Kachina doll. Hopi are local to the Southwest, in the area around the Grand Canyon, which makes sense for an artist in Taos, New Mexico.

His depiction of an indian squatting while performing a task lit by firelight is his well known signature.

Here's a cleaner version of the image taken from a calendar distributed by the Santa Fe Railroad in the early 1960's:

Pretty sure he's dropping a deuce while reading the instructions & ingredients on a shampoo bottle.

Think he is showing where he was touched on the doll.

State: Oklahoma
City: Shawnee
Casino: Fire Lake

Today's chip of the day is from Fire Lake Casino in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The casino has 745 slot machines and 6 table games. I couldn't remember this casino even with google images but I read my TR and it jogged my memory. I got "lost" sort of, I had visited Grand Casino and then gone to Kickapoo casino and collected my chips. After Kickapoo I used my GPS to go to Fire Lake. Problem is for some reason my GPS has the same address for both Grand Casino and Fire Lake (They are owned by the same tribe). With a little help from the internet I was able to find the real Fire Lake Casino... I wish I hadn't. I lost $80 very quickly while collecting my chip, the staff was friendly but I couldn't win a hand to save my life. The casino was dark and had mirrors on the ceilings and walls and overall just felt like a dump. Wouldn't be a casino that I would visit if I lived in the area especially with many other options available.

The chip is a white Chipco with 19 black "edge inserts". The chip has a royal flush in spades and a fire on a lake. The casino name and the denomination are both in yellow. My chip is pretty worn as were the all the chips in play. The centre of my chip almost looks like it has grey/red stain probably from the $5 chips.

State: Oklahoma
City: Ada
Casino: Ada Gaming

Today's chip of the day is from the Ada Gaming Centre in yes you guessed it Ada, Oklahoma. Ada Gaming has 325 slot machines and 5 table games. The casino is owned by the Chickasaw tribe of Oklahoma. My visit to Ada Gaming was extremely short. I didn't sign up for a club card because there were no benifits. I played about 5 hands of BJ and broke even after taking my souvenir chips.

The chip is made by Chipco. The chip is white with what looks like 11 purple hats around the centre inlay. At the top of the chip the tribes name is in yellow. The casino name and location are in black in the middle and the denomination is in white at the bottom of the chip.

Three days in a row with a new chip! I have four more plus a gift chip.

State: Oklahoma
City: Ponca City
Casino: Osage

Today's chip of the day is from Osage Casino in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Osage casinos have previously been covered on here from Tulsa, Skiatook and Bartlesville. These along with the other Osage casinos that only have slots are all owned by the Osage Nation. I was nearing the end of a very long day so this was a very quick visit. I was there on a Saturday night so it was very busy. I sat down in the last spot of a full BJ table and played until I was down $25. I didn't check out the rest of the casino as it was almost midnight and I still had 80 minutes of driving and 2 casinos to stop at before finding my hotel.

The chip is the exact same as the other Osage casinos with the only difference being that it says Ponca City on it. I think this is a Bud Jones chip. I know we have seen these many times before cause I always think the edge inserts look like split hooves and if I remember correctly Doc calls them needle nose plier inserts. The chip is very simple, the centre inlay has the casino name and the location in a redish orange and the denomination in black. The backside of the chip is an arrowhead with I think a native headdress and something long that I can't identify. The background is lime green.

Quote: PokerGrinder

The backside of the chip is an arrowhead with I think a native headdress and something long that I can't identify.

Arrowhead, prayer fan, and pipe

Quote: PokerGrinder

I think this is a Bud Jones chip. I know we have seen these many times before cause I always think the edge inserts look like split hooves and if I remember correctly Doc calls them needle nose plier inserts.

I refer to them as looking like the tips of slip-joint pliers, with some chips showing longer tips than others.

I used to say the chips were made by Gemaco, but a year ago in response to one of your chip posts, I cited my new uncertainty here, along with a link to further info I had posted earlier. If I were confident that this chip was manufactured pre-2014, then I would still say it was from Gemaco, but the new owner might be producing them now under a different manufacturer's name.

State: Oklahoma
City: Pocola
Casino: Choctaw

Today's chip of the day is from the Choctaw Casino in Pocola, Oklahoma. I am not 100% sure but I believe this is the casino that I had to leave quickly because the whole thing smelt like an ashtray, it was so disgusting. I also had a headache and the ringing of those terrible class II machines were driving me nuts. I think I spent less than 10 minutes in here before leaving with my chips.

The chip is made by Chipco. It is a little worn out from use but still a nice chip. It is white with 4 green edge inserts. The centre inlay is half dark blue and half light blue. The casino name/logo is on the top half with the denomination in yellow and the location in white at the bottom of the chip.

I have three more days of chips and then hopefully Doc will be ready in the new year to post his new chips.

Thanks for the posts PG! I am curious why the air in the casino in Pocola is so bad compared to the others. Is it a lack of ventilation, or are there just more smokers?

Quote: PokerGrinder

I have three more days of chips and then hopefully Doc will be ready in the new year to post his new chips.

Well, this thread has still not reached 1,000 chips/casinos after more than 57 months of "daily" chip posts. I still think it is a very interesting thread and thank PG and other contributors for all that they have provided. Right now, the index includes 971 chips, with the possibility (and expectation) of one more from PG tomorrow to close out 2016.

Yes, I am ready to post my three newest chips when PokerGrinder completes his current series -- got my photos ready this morning. Before I jump the gun, are there any more members who have chips to contribute to this thread and who would like to do so now? (I'm not really in a rush to post my three if we can get some from others.)

As per still not reaching 1000 chips if I did my numbers correctly, after my Asia trip I will have enough chips to leave us at 999 chips (including your 3) lol. Do you have any plans to add anymore any time soon cause I have no plans for after Asia.

I maintain a list of "Chips I might get", but at the moment I do not have any specific travel plans. I think I'll have to wait to see whether table minimums drop before I venture toward MGM National Harbor. Nothing else on my list seems to warrant a trip in the next six months, other than some in Nevada. I think it's still a bit early to be planning a Spring Fling, especially with some folks planning a WoVCon East III in PA in April, which might compete for attendees.

Quote: Doc

I maintain a list of "Chips I might get", but at the moment I do not have any specific travel plans. I think I'll have to wait to see whether table minimums drop before I venture toward MGM National Harbor. Nothing else on my list seems to warrant a trip in the next six months, other than some in Nevada. I think it's still a bit early to be planning a Spring Fling, especially with some folks planning a WoVCon East III in PA in April, which might compete for attendees.

I forgot about Spring Fling. That might be our 1000 chip if nothing shows up before then. Lucky Dragon is on my list as well I will probably do the Reno drive again as there are about 6 new chips to collect on that route since I did it last Spring Fling.

Been out all day, heading out for New Years. I might get a chip posted tonight when I get home but it's possible it won't be until tomorrow.

Edit:Turns out the chip of the day will be tomorrow as I am currently having a really bad allergic reaction to cats

State: Oklahoma
City: Roland
Casino: Cherokee

Happy new chip year everyone! Today's chip of the day is Cherokee Casino in Roland, Oklahoma. Cherokee Casino has 850 slot machines and 14 table games. I can't seem to remember the casino so I did my normal, I googled pictures of the casino and if that doesn't work I look back at my trip report. Well the trip report had this to say "I broke even at Roland and right now I can't even remember the casino, that's how memorable it was one day later.", if I couldn't remember the casino one day later then I sure as hell am not going to remember it four months later. I know one of the casinos that I visited that day had a car show and I believe this was the casino that it was at. I tried to find it online but there is no record of a car show at the time I was there. Hmm a mystery that will never be solved.

My chip from Roland is in excellent condition. This chip isn't on MoGH but the most recent one is from 2015 and is the same except for the inserts. I assume this chip is from 2016 as it is basically brand new. The mark on the back of the chip is so hard to see even when zooming in. It looks like a G and a O so maybe Gemco? The chip is white with 4 black edge inserts and "$1" between each edge insert. The centre inlay has a yellow ring with a grey background. The Cherokee logo takes up most of the "centre inlay" and actually hangs partly outside of it. The denomination is grey and sort of fades into the background. The location is in black. The back of the chip has a picture of the casino with the casino name and location in white.

P.S Doc this is the first of 2 Cherokee Casino chips so when you add this one into the index put it as Cherokee Roland.

Quote: PokerGrinder

The mark on the back of the chip is so hard to see even when zooming in. It looks like a G and a O so maybe Gemco?

Nope, but nice try. Back in 2014 I posted the following, which I think identifies this chip.

Quote: Doc

Chipco has gone out of business, with some of the (former) employees opening up the Game On Chip Company, which makes ceramic chips very much like those that were from Chipco. Their web site even has a page that shows an Isle Pompono Beach chip that is identical to the Chipco one that wezvidz posted except that it has a "GO" logo instead of a "CI" logo. Without the logo visible, I have no idea how to tell which company made these chips.

The linked web site for the company shows their "GO" logo, the stylized "G" character of which looks (to me) a bit like half of a spade pip. Anyway, I think that's what you can see on the back of your Cherokee chip.

I can always count on you to figure it out. That makes total sense, especially since the chip is so new. Doc I have two more chips so you can get ready to post yours on the fourth.

State: Oklahoma
City: West Siloam Springs
Casino: Cherokee

Well I am just going to hope that Doc didn't notice that I flaked and forgot to post the chip of the day last night. I didn't sleep at home and didn't feel like posting the chip from my iPhone. So...

Today's chip of the day is from Cherokee Casino in West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma. Finally I have one that the opening date is available. The casino opened on November 10, 2008. The casino has 1500 slot machines and 26 table games. After looking at pictures (no I don't recognize the casino at all) I think my story about the car show at the other Cherokee Casino is actually for this one, whoops.

The chip is very similar to the one from the Cherokee in Roland except that it has no colour, or very little I should say. The chip is white with 4 triple edge inserts of grey/white/grey. The centre inlay has alternating black/white squares with the black ones having white triangles inside of them. The standard Cherokee logo is in the middle but without colour like I mentioned earlier. The location and the denomination are both in white.

That is finally the end of my postings from my trip that I took at the beginning of September, it only took me 3.5 months so get off my back Doc :P

One more chip tomorrow from Europe that a friend brought back for me (actually a friend of a friend) and then Doc can start posting his new chips.

What??? Me notice a delay in posting? Me get on your back about not fulfilling promises? Why would you think I would do something like that?

Now, if I were really petty, I might go back to where you said that you would finish up today and that I should start posting on 1/4, and maybe do that just to see your reaction. But I won't.     ;-)

I have no idea why I would think you would do that, my ideas are totally unfounded. :P
As far as you starting to post on 1/4 that is entirely still possible I would just have to post my last chip tonight and then we would have two chip of the days today :)

Quote: Ayecarumba

Thanks for the posts PG! I am curious why the air in the casino in Pocola is so bad compared to the others. Is it a lack of ventilation, or are there just more smokers?

I just realized that I never responded to this Aye. There seemed to more smokers in the casino and the casino was really full which is probably why it was so bad.

Quote: Doc

I maintain a list of "Chips I might get", but at the moment I do not have any specific travel plans. I think I'll have to wait to see whether table minimums drop before I venture toward MGM National Harbor. Nothing else on my list seems to warrant a trip in the next six months, other than some in Nevada. I think it's still a bit early to be planning a Spring Fling, especially with some folks planning a WoVCon East III in PA in April, which might compete for attendees.

I jumped ahead of you and visited MGM on 1/2, I will post my short report on this chip when PG and you are done posting.

By the way, I did a road trip 1/2-3 driving 540 miles in 2 days and collected Harrington, Dover Downs, Harrah's Chester, Valley Forge, SugarHouse, Parx, stayed the night at Caesars AC, and the next day was Delaware Park, Hollywood Perryville (I saw the sign on the freeway, did not even know it was there), Horseshoe Baltimore, and Maryland Live for a total of 11 additions to my collection.

Also, I am visiting Nicaragua and Costa Rica later this month, and hope to add some more to the thread!

Category: Europe
City: Sofia, Bulgaria
Casino: Princess

Today`s chip of the day is from Princess Casino in Sofia, Bulgaria. I have never personally been there or for that matter been to Europe. This was a gift from a friend who had a friend that just visited the casino there. The casino has 146 slot machines and 25 table games. Seems like the ratio is a little off here, maybe that is what they do in Eastern Europe.

The chip is turquoise with 3 sets of dark blue inserts. The centre inlay feels like an insert that was added after the chip was made as if it were a coin insert. It feels like plastic and it is shiny. The casino name and location are in black while the denomination is in red. Lv. stands for Bulgarian Lev which is the local currency. 1 Lev is worth about $.54 USD.

That is all I have to post until I return from Asia so it is up to Doc and Konbu to keep the posts coming.

Identifying the manufacturer of this Princess Casino chip brings back all of the uncertainties I discussed on the previous page of this thread. Those edge inserts look just a bit like short versions of the "slip-joint pliers tips" that I formerly would associate with Gemaco. However, they are a bit less rounded, so I think they match better with the chips from Matsui.

Try going to this page from Matsui's "Design Your Chip" site, selecting (on the left) pattern CC.610-C (first column, second row), next selecting Base Color #2, and finally selecting 2nd Color #4. Doesn't that give you a sample chip design that looks quite a bit like this 1 Lv. Princess Casino chip?

Life might be simpler around this thread if every manufacturer would include a very clear logo on each of their chips. ;-)

And thanks, PG for your many new chip posts. I will begin posting my few new ones tomorrow and then turn things over to Konbu once more.

The chip from the Matsui page is exactly the same as the chip that I have from Princess casino in my opinion. I totally agree that each chip should have a manufacturer logo on their chips. Sadly I don't think they care what we think.

I'm always glad when I can contribute to this amazing thread!

Category: Cruise Ships
Cruise Line: Celebrity
Ship: Celebrity Infinity

My wife and I have recently completed a cruise on the Celebrity Infinity on an itinerary that I described in this post just over a month ago as "so long that it will take us four seasons to get back home." Check out that post if you don’t recall how our 15-night cruise could be so long. Repeating myself a bit here, we sailed from Ft. Lauderdale with ports of call in Cartagena, Columbia; Colon, Panama (followed by a canal transit the following day); Manta, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; and Arica, Chile; with debarkation in Valparaiso, Chile.

This was our eighteenth cruise overall and our fifth cruise on a Celebrity ship. The Celebrity Infinity is one of four ships that Celebrity lists in their Millennium class, which includes the Celebrity Summit and the Celebrity Millennium, both of which we have sailed on previously, plus the Celebrity Constellation. The Celebrity Infinity was launched in 2001 as the Infinity, with the name being revised in 2007 during a period in which Celebrity was modifying the name of each of their ships to include the name of the line, to match their newest ships. Since my established format for the index of this thread calls for me to list both the name of the cruise line and the name of the ship, I’m not going to double up there.

We booked this cruise about five months in advance on June 30, 2016. After finalizing the booking, I searched Google for additional information about the ship and discovered that there had been a significant incident earlier that month in Ketchikan, Alaska. There are some interesting video clips available on line, and you might take a look at this one (sorry to have to include the introductory ad). I particularly like the filmer/narrator's comment, "Why are all of those people running?" But nope, even that wasn’t enough to get me to cancel our plans.

Among the ship’s amenities, of course, is a casino, and my shipboard history maintained its course with losses at the craps table (with a few positive nights, of course). The craps game was a $10 minimum, with field paying 2x on both 2 and 12, vig collected on the buy, 3x4x5x odds, and hop bets paying 15 or 30 to 1. All of these match what I found on the Celebrity Silhouette in 2015, though both the minimum and the allowed odds were higher than I have seen on other ships.

There was a family of what had to have been at least ten members sailing on the ship. I don’t know how many suites they occupied. Several of them played craps most nights, and I asked where they were from. Saudi Arabia was the answer, though it seems they may currently reside in the U.S., since several of them mentioned attending college in San Diego. One of them had been born in North Carolina where the father had attended UNC.

I didn’t ask any more family details, but I did watch the way that the father and three sons threw away money at craps. They would cover the table with place/buy bets then press on every hit. I don’t think they took anything down until they had hit the same number about five times. If you are on an extremely hot run, I suppose you can make some real money that way, but unless you are outside maybe five sigma in the positive direction, I think you can be certain of losing your buy-in, which they all did on a regular basis. They seemed to be having a lot of fun (which is the objective, isn’t it?), and there seemed to be plenty of resources in Daddy’s wallet for additional buy-ins. Really was something to watch.

The casino also has two roulette tables ($1/$5 minimums on both, depending on the wager – didn’t note the max) and one table of 3-card poker ($10 - $500). There were five blackjack tables, with four of them offering similar rules at different minimums. Those four paid 3/2 for blackjack and had 8-deck shoes. Two had limits of $10 - $300, one was $25 - $300, and the fourth was $100 - $2,000. I didn’t hang around the blackjack tables, but I don’t think I saw anyone playing on the $100 table. The fifth blackjack table was single-deck, $10 minimum, but only paid 6/5 for blackjack. I don’t think I ever saw anyone play on that table either.

There was one baccarat table, with limits of $300 - $1,000. It was right next to the craps table, and I am certain that I never saw anyone play baccarat the entire cruise.

When I previously posted chips from cruise ships, I have tried to post photos of the ship, too. In case that video linked above was not enough for you, here is my still photo.



My souvenir from the Celebrity Infinity casino is a light blue ceramic chip. What with Gemaco being absorbed into Gaming Partners International and with Chipco going out of business and some of the employees starting Game On to produce almost identical chips, I have almost given up on identifying the manufacturer of ceramic chips that don’t have a logo visible on them. The edge inserts on this Celebrity Infinity chip certainly look like the ones we have seen on chips from ICON, but I cannot find an ICON logo, so I no longer have the confidence to be certain. Nothing on the chip fluoresces under UV light.



Just as I did during my cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette, I took the opportunity while on board to get photos of the full set of the commonly-used Celebrity Infinity chips. The only higher-denomination chips I saw were $500 ones, and I never saw one of those being played in a game and never had one in my own hand.



Each of these chips shows an Egyptian motif, I believe, with some more obvious than others.

Great post Doc although I was starting to wonder if you were going to post at all today since you finally got the chip of the day up so late in the day. I mean its almost noon somewhere :P

It's already tomorrow in Guam -- should I post another chip now?

I think not.

Thanks for the great post Doc. I would enjoy seeing your other photos during the trip.

It may just be my monitor, but the light blue on the chip appears really washed out, almost a light grey/white. I didn't notice it until I compared it to the "group" chip photo you also posted. In the group picture, the blue color is very clear.

Do cruise ships always close their casinos when they are not in international waters (like the day boats out of U.S. ports), or are they allowed to keep them open depending on the particular rules for each international port?

I think they always close the ship's casino when they leave international waters. They generally stay well off shore except when coming into port. I know I have heard announcements that the casino would close earlier some nights because they were approaching to be prepared to dock early in the morning.

I will probably post just a few travel photos along with my chips these next couple of days.

Quote: Doc

It's already tomorrow in Guam -- should I post another chip now?

I think not.

Maybe lol. Just bugging you bud. I couldn't resist.

Quote: Ayecarumba

It may just be my monitor, but the light blue on the chip appears really washed out, almost a light grey/white. I didn't notice it until I compared it to the "group" chip photo you also posted. In the group picture, the blue color is very clear.

Sorry to miss this point before. Yes, the chip looks a little washed out. When I posted my chip from the Celebrity Silhouette, I noted that it was really light blue and not light gray as it appeared in the photo. The current chip shows up too light, but not so bad as that one from 2015. One more example of my limited photographic skills. And no, I did not use a flash.

The photos of the two sides of the set were taken in our stateroom, with the chips just lying on the bed sheet. Not much of a studio, and the $100 chip is very poorly illuminated.

Does the "Egyptian" theme run through the ship, or just the casino?

I only noticed it on the chip, not elsewhere in the casino or on the ship.

Thanks Doc! Looking forward to your trip pics.

While following the link to your post from the other cruise, I noticed that the images in my quotes were displaying broken links. I think this is from PG's migration of his images some time ago. I wonder if there is a way to have these all update at once, or if I will have to edit each one individually?

Quote: Ayecarumba

I noticed that the images in my quotes were displaying broken links. I think this is from PG's migration of his images some time ago. I wonder if there is a way to have these all update at once, or if I will have to edit each one individually?

That is my fault when I first started on this thread I posted 10-20 chips and then deleted the images off imgur not knowing they had to stay there. Doc told me about the problem so I put the pictures back up but any of your quotes with the original pictures will be broken links.

Category: Central America
City: Colón, Panama
Casino: Crown

Today’s chip begins a brand new category for the index of this thread: Central America. I intend for that category to cover casinos in any of the seven countries between Mexico and Colombia.

Before I created the category of “Oceania”, we had a bit of discussion about what the proper continent designations are. As just one more stupid American, I seem to have a limited understanding of world geography. I don’t consider Central America to be a continent like North America or South America, but I do need a way to refer to that region and not have to create a category for each of those countries, as I have for Canada and Mexico. I think this designation should work just fine, and Konbu has recently indicated that he expects to be visiting casinos in Nicaragua and Costa Rica later this month.

The second port stop on our recent cruise on the Celebrity Infinity was in Colón, Panama. (I am far too inconsistent to always include that accent mark in the city’s name, and I’m not even certain that it will show up properly for everyone as part of a web post.) During our visit, my wife and I took a shore excursion that included a small-boat tour of a portion of Gatún Lake (another accent mark that I don’t usually include or even know whether it is really correct in English), which serves as a very major portion of the Panama Canal. We also paid a visit to the Gatun Locks (See!) of the canal for an up-close-and-personal viewing of their operation. It is sometimes a bit difficult to see just what is going on with the perspective from aboard a ship passing through, as ours did the following day.

As examples for comparison, below are two views of a cruise ship descending one stage on its way from Gatun Lake to the Atlantic.





As we returned to the ship from our little excursion, I noticed that there were two casinos in a little strip mall right there beside the ship! I had previously posted in this thread that I had limited hopes of being able to get to any shore-side casinos during this cruise, at least while the games were operating, and in my pre-cruise research, I hadn’t even discovered either of these easily-accessible casinos. I blame that in part on my erroneous guess as to just where our ship would be docking in the port of Colón.

As my wife set out to buy souvenirs around the little mall, I set out in hopes of finding my own kind of souvenirs. The first of the establishments that I checked, the Fantastic Casino, turned out to be a slots-only place. Bummer. The second establishment, the Crown Casino, apparently is a part of a Radisson hotel, although I did not realize that at the time. It seems that the little strip mall runs across the back side of the hotel complex, facing the cruise ship dock.

That casino did indeed have table games, and a single blackjack table was operating at about 2:30 in the afternoon, with a $5 minimum. The table was crowded with a totally-Spanish conversation going on. I bought in for an unusual $6, lost my single $5 wager, and left with a souvenir – mission accomplished, in some ways of thinking. I did not hang around to check out the casino further – I had to hurry back to my wife to assure that her souvenirs didn’t require a second mortgage.

I understand that Crown operates a number of casinos in Panama. The MoGH chip guide includes this very chip for a casino in Panama City (on the opposite end of the canal from Colón) and does not mention the existence of the casino that I visited.

This souvenir is an injection molded plastic chip from Bud Jones, part of Gaming Partners International. This time we even have the BJ logo clearly displayed. The mold design is described as “4PIPO”, referring to the four suit pips. I still am not certain exactly what PIPO stands for, though Ayecarumba once informed us he recalls that the “O” stands for “open.” The split diamond pip is the type referred to as ROT, for “right on top”, or sometimes Right-Over-Left as opposed to the sometimes-seen, mirror-image pip called LOT, etc.

The base plastic is white with orange inserts. The denomination and “Republica de Panama” are in black on the center inlay, with the casino name and logo and the BJ logo in gold. There is no mention of the city, as this chip seems to be in use around the country. Nothing on this chip really fluoresces substantially under UV light, but there is a significant difference between the ways that the white and orange plastics appear under this illumination, so I thought I should include that image.

Reminds me of the one I posted from Bogota Colombia. Went to double check and they have the same logo and font.

https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/general/8928-casino-chip-of-the-day/464/#post399839

That's a nice little bit of luck to find that casino. It's sort of like how I ended up at Sugar Creek casino in Oklahoma by accident and got lucky to get a chip. Do they play normal BJ at the casino there?

Quote: PokerGrinder

Do they play normal BJ at the casino there?

Well, excluding the souvenir, they took my entire buy-in, so I guess that's about normal. ;-)

I'm fairly sure BJ paid 3/2 (think I would have remembered if not), and they dealt from a shoe, but I was there such a short time that I didn't check into number of decks, split/double rules, hit/stand on soft 17, and such. The dealer did take a hole card. Don't remember much more. I think there was some kind of gimmick side bet available.

Entire buy in huh? Rough times lol. Might need to buy in slightly larger next time to avoid that happening.

Category: South America
City: Arica, Chile
Casino: Casino Arica

The city of Arica (that’s A-ree-ka) is located in the northern extreme of what is described as the longest country in the world. This region of Chile was part of Bolivia until it was captured in the late 19th century, making Bolivia a land-locked country. Arica is closer to cities in Peru than it is to any other metropolitan area in Chile.

This region was home to the Chinchorro, a pre-Incan civilization, from which there are numerous artifacts. That civilization was skilled in the craft of mummification, and there are tomb recoveries much more ancient that those found in the pyramids of Egypt.

My wife and I took a shore excursion from our cruise on the Celebrity Infinity and visited the town of Arica and several rural areas, including a museum devoted to the Chinchorro people. During this excursion, we saw a number of examples of geoglyphs, hill-side artwork created by the ancient peoples by a combination of scratching a pattern into the soil to the near-surface bedrock and piling stones on top to protect the design from wind erosion.

An example of this ancient artwork is provided in the photo behind the spoiler button below. Our tour guide told us that the images are always on the seaward side of the hills and are believed to be (at least in part) guideposts so that travellers from the mountain areas can easily find their way to the ocean.



These geoglyphs can survive for so many centuries because of the extremely low precipitation rates. Our guide said that it has not rained in the coastal city of Arica for more than 40 years and that she once took her children to another part of the country so that they could experience what rainfall is like. In spite of this, the people of this region have developed a significant agricultural sector. This was made possible in recent years by learning arid-environment technologies from the Israelis, including drip irrigation and acclimating plant species to grow in low-water conditions. This has enabled them to grow and export fruits, vegetables, and carnations. The treetops visible in the foreground of the photo are part of an extensive orchard of palms, guavas, mangoes, olives, and other plants that I could not identify. Another principal industry of the area is the harvesting of anchovies from the sea and processing the fish into fertilizer.

The photograph hidden by the next spoiler button below shows the central district of Arica in the foreground, with the suburbs in the distance. Our cruise ship was docked to the left of the area shown, beyond the smaller boats, and two days ago I posted a photo of it in that location along with the chip from the casino on board. Just below center of the photo, you may be able to see where a spur from the main road cuts off into the port compound.



If you look closely, just to the right of the center of this photo, it is possible that you might also be able to make out a building partially wrapped in blue plastic sheets. Just in front of that is a white building: Casino Arica, a very reasonable walking distance from the gate of the port. Prior to the cruise, I posted that this was the one shore-side casino that I had identified as a possible source of a souvenir chip, except that the tables were not likely to be open before time for our ship to sail on to Valparaiso. That building wrapped in plastic sheets turns out to be another casino currently under construction.

In the event that the Casino Arica tables were closed at the time of my visit, I hoped to be able to purchase a chip from the cashier. A bit over a week ago, I posted about my unsuccessful attempt to purchase a souvenir chip at a casino in Lima, Peru, in part perhaps because of language barriers.

Following our tour of the Arica area, I walked from the gate of the port the few blocks to Casino Arica. The gaming tables there were indeed not yet open for play when I got there about 3:00 p.m. local time (two hours ahead of EST.) Tables would not open until 6:00. As I had experienced in Lima, no one in the cashiers’ office spoke English. They found the most English-fluent member of the staff, but I never heard him speak a complete sentence, and I don’t think he understood much of what I was saying.

I had my mobile phone with me, with stored images of my individual chips plus the display of the entire collection on my desktop. I used that in an attempt to explain that I was a collector, and I attempted to use gestures to explain that I could not stay until 6:00 and would like to purchase one of their chips as a souvenir. After a 40-minute effort, mostly waiting, I thought I had convinced them. Unfortunately, it turned out that I had only convinced them to let me take a photo of one of their chips. When I realized that misunderstanding, I took the image of the desktop display, enlarged it, and pointed to an empty space in the corner. They then seemed to understand that I wanted to keep a chip to fill that spot.

After significantly more discussion, they conceded to allow me to purchase a chip if I really, really wanted one. They presented a $1000 chip for my consideration. Oh, what the hey – I really wanted a souvenir chip from South America, so I bought it.

My souvenir is the plastic injection molded $1000 chip shown below, and it is described in the MoGH chip guide as a 3DIAMOND mold. The base plastic is blue/aqua, with navy inserts. The center inlay is white with the denomination mark matching the base plastic and logo waves and the word “Casino” in navy, with the name “Arica” in a faint gold. The “I” in Arica serves as the trunk of a palm tree, with green foliage. I do not know the identity of the chip manufacturer. Nothing on the chip fluoresces under UV light.




O.K., so some of you might be skeptical that a cheapskate like me was willing to spend a thousand dollars on a souvenir chip. I won’t take offence, but I really did purchase the chip at face value, and it really is a $1000 chip.

For those who are still skeptical, I will point out that the “$” symbol is used for both U.S. dollars and Chilean pesos, valued at ~660 per dollar. The chip is worth roughly $1.50 U.S.; I paid with two $1 bills and received peso coins in change. Nevertheless, the denomination mark does provide a fun subject for discussion.

This is the last of my three newly-acquired chips, and I now pass the baton to Konbu to continue posting a casino chip of the day.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Oklahoma
City: Roland
Casino: Cherokee

Happy new chip year everyone! Today's chip of the day is Cherokee Casino in Roland, Oklahoma. Cherokee Casino has 850 slot machines and 14 table games. I can't seem to remember the casino so I did my normal, I googled pictures of the casino and if that doesn't work I look back at my trip report. Well the trip report had this to say "I broke even at Roland and right now I can't even remember the casino, that's how memorable it was one day later.", if I couldn't remember the casino one day later then I sure as hell am not going to remember it four months later. I know one of the casinos that I visited that day had a car show and I believe this was the casino that it was at. I tried to find it online but there is no record of a car show at the time I was there. Hmm a mystery that will never be solved.

I would say there is a good chance it was Roland, they apparently do car shows there:

http://speedcultureapp.com/event/roland-cherokee-casino-car-show-sale/

That link is something on one from May of last year, but you said it was four months ago...

Thanks for the post Doc. I found it very interesting. If it hasn't rained in 40 years, where does the water to grow and drink come from? Are there rivers or aqueducts? I know the Israelis have extensive desalinization plants to make seawater potable, but it is really expensive.

Despite its location near the port, are the target patrons for the casino locals? It seems curious that the staff wouldn't be prepared for English speakers.

The image of the chip appears light gray around an orange center insert. Perhaps a filter is on or off on your camera?