Casino Chip of the Day

Quote: PokerGrinder

Is that a bad thing?

No it seems like it was just announced. Figured it would take longer than that.

Quote: GWAE

I also get confused when I see a $ sign. So pesos use $ sign?

Think of it as a money sign instead of a dollar sign.

My Seattle trip is back on. I will be there on oct 22nd and then in Vegas for a conference on 24th. Tell me that it's a bad idea to drive 17 hours to Vegas instead of flying.

Quote: GWAE

My Seattle trip is back on. I will be there on oct 22nd and then in Vegas for a conference on 24th. Tell me that it's a bad idea to drive 17 hours to Vegas instead of flying.

Unless you are collecting chips, or racing in Le Mans it's a bad idea to drive 17 hours anywhere.

Quote: GWAE

My Seattle trip is back on. I will be there on oct 22nd and then in Vegas for a conference on 24th. Tell me that it's a bad idea to drive 17 hours to Vegas instead of flying.

Spend the $68 and fly. Be sure to collect lots of chips. Not sure if the card rooms will have new ones (if they are even going to get them) or old ones then.

Quote: miplet

Spend the $68 and fly. Be sure to collect lots of chips. Not sure if the card rooms will have new ones (if they are even going to get them) or old ones then.

But I cant collect chips in the air

Quote: GWAE

My Seattle trip is back on. I will be there on oct 22nd and then in Vegas for a conference on 24th. Tell me that it's a bad idea to drive 17 hours to Vegas instead of flying.

Driving is an amazing idea! You can collect like 30-40 chips in Washington, then 10 or so in Oregon and then about 30-40 in California all on your way to Vegas!

I've been away from the forum for a couple of weeks -- got back in the country Monday morning and made it home Tuesday night -- and I'm still trying to get my head cleared up a bit. Added 11 new chips to my collection but only three new ones for this thread. Maybe I'll get around to posting them on a Poker-Grider schedule.

Where did you two go cruising?

Port Everglades -- Grand Cayman -- Aruba -- Curaçao -- Bonaire -- Haiti (replacing the scheduled stop in Key West, which was cancelled due to high winds) -- Port Everglades.

New chips for this thread include the one from the ship and two from Aruba. I picked up six others from Aruba that have already been presented in the thread as well as two I picked up from already-covered South Florida Seminole casinos on my drive home. Had one more Aruba casino on my list but didn't get to it because we were running too tight on the ship's departure time. There were also a few in Curaçau that I didn't bother with because it seemed like a hassle to get to them; same story for one casino in Bonaire.

I did go to the Pelikaan casino in Curaçao to see whether they had ever gotten chips with the real name of the casino on them, but they are still using chips that say Casino Kura Hulanda, just as they had when I visited in 2013. When I posted that chip, I commented, "I have no idea what 'Kura Hulanda' means. Google Translate indicates that it 'detects' the Swahili language, but it only offers a translation of 'lots Hulanda', so I'm not convinced."

As of tonight, Google Translate says that it detects the Maylay language and that the words mean "Hulk school". Wrong again, it seems. According to the floor supervisor at the Pelikaan, the name is in the local language -- Papiamento -- but that language is not available on the version of Google Translate that I have. I thought she said it meant something like "Our Curaçao", but other web sites suggest it means "Dutch courtyard" or "Holland Court" in reference to a historic ship wharf on the island.

Still working on getting my head clear from travel. Haven't taken photos of my new chips yet, so I have nothing to post. I do have a couple of comments on things that I learned.

Back in April, PG posted a chip from the Hyatt Regency in Aruba, and I picked up an identical chip from there on my recent visit. On several web sites, I have seen references to this casino being named the Copacabana, but the chip does not mention that name nor does the Hyatt web site mention that name when describing the casino as one of their attractions. The MoGH Chip guide has a page listed as "Hyatt Regency, Copa Cabana" (yes, with that name split as two words. Just one of the chips shown there has this name on it, and it is split as two words on that chip, too. Does anyone know whether this name -- spelled either way -- is brand new, obsolete, or something else? I did not notice anything with that name at the casino itself.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Cool Casino is one of the casinos in the Riu hotel in Aruba.

Quote: PokerGrinder

There aren’t multiple cool casinos, the Riu hotel has multiple casinos one of which is named the Cool Casino.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Orchid Casino is the other casino owned by the Riu hotel.

While in Aruba, I got some clarification on these two casinos owned by the Riu hotel. It seems that there are really two Riu hotels -- located side by side -- in the Palm Beach area. I don't think I have ever seen quite such a setup before. Each hotel has its own casino, using different names: Cool and Orchid.

Quote: GWAE

I also get confused when I see a $ sign. So pesos use $ sign?

The $ sign was used for pesos and Spanish dollars before it was used for American currency.

Quote: Doc

While in Aruba, I got some clarification on these two casinos owned by the Riu hotel.

Just came across some of my notes about the Riu hotels. Cool Casino is at the Riu Palace, 79 J. E. Irausquin Blvd., and Orchid Casino is at Riu Antillas, 77 J. E. Irausquin Blvd, right next door.

Took photos of my new chips today, so maybe I will get around to CCotD posts in the not-too-distant future.

Category: Cruise Ships
Cruise Line: Celebrity
Ship: Equinox

The Celebrity Equinox was launched in June 2009 and first entered commercial service in July of that year. It was the second (of five) ships in Celebrity’s Solstice class, joining the Celebrity Solstice and followed by the Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Silhouette, and the Celebrity Reflection. The Equinox was in drydock in Cadiz, Spain for 29 days this past May for a “refurbishment” and upgrade that is being provided to a number of the line’s ships to match features of their newest vessels.

My wife and I sailed on the Equinox for a ten-night cruise earlier this month on an itinerary I reported on the previous page of this thread: Port Everglades, FL – George Town, Grand Cayman – Oranjestad, Aruba – Willemstad, Curaçao – Kralendijk, Bonaire – Labadee, Haiti (replacing the scheduled stop in Key West, which was cancelled due to high winds) – and returning to Port Everglades, FL.

I did not take my usual travel photos on this trip, and I got none at all of the ship. For those interested in what the ship looks like, I won’t leave you completely disappointed: In 2015, we had sailed a trans-Atlantic route on a sister ship from the same class, the Celebrity Silhouette, and I presented my souvenir chip from that ship’s casino here. In that CCotD post, I included photos of the casino on board, the exterior of the ship, and even a video of riding a glass elevator through the Grand Foyer from deck #3 to deck #15. Check those out (ignoring anything with the word Silhouette) and you will have a pretty good idea of what the Equinox looks like. ;-)

Never one to pass an opportunity to steal a bit of humor from someone else, I will note that one of the entertainers on board made a quip about the ship’s name. He said, “Equinox is a Latin expression meaning ‘There is a horse at the door.’ ”

We had visited Aruba and Curaçao twice each and Bonaire once on previous cruises. We had also once been aboard a cruise ship that stopped in Grand Cayman, but sanitation practices on that ship were so poor that we both became ill and were quarantined, with the result that we were not able to visit that port. We have vowed never again to sail with that cruise line.

This cruise was our first visit ever to the nation of Haiti, and that was not on the schedule as we left home. Labadee is a port and private resort on the north shore of Haiti, leased at least until 2050 by Royal Caribbean Cruises for the exclusive use of passengers on that corporation’s three cruise lines. It is often described as a “private island”, but it is really a peninsula, fenced off from the rest of the country. Passengers are not allow to leave the property; all food available to tourists is brought from the ships, and almost all outsiders are kept out of the resort, though (per the ever-reliable Wikipedia) there are 300 local employees and another 200 allowed to enter and sell their wares (handicrafts) for a fee.

That Wiki page provided some trivia that I had not seen before. The location is named after the Marquis de La Badie, and the peninsula and village were named Labadie. The cruise company spells the name “Labadee” to make it easier for English-speakers to know how to pronounce that final syllable.

I seem to be so out of practice at identifying chip manufacturers that I can’t even take a good shot at this one. I looked back at my post of the very similar chip from the Silhouette, and I had passed on that one too. It seems to be a plastic injection molded chip with a pattern that I think I have seen on some chips manufactured by ICON and perhaps sold by some of their resellers. Not at all sure though.

In any case, the chip has multiple tones of blue, a dark “solar flare” kind of logo in the center, and six pairs of imitation edge inserts in white. The denomination is in white with a black outline. Nothing on the chip fluoresces under UV light, and the only difference between the two sides is that one has the name of the specific ship, while the other has the name of the cruise line.

A few days back I commented that I have added 11 new chips to my collection but only three that need to be added to this thread. Seems that I may or may not have over-counted -- one of the new ones has already appeared in the thread, but there is not a listing for it in the index. Guess I need to get some input from PokerGrinder on how we should handle this best.

As you may recall, PG made a trip much earlier this year that I think started in January and extended into March. He visited multiple countries in South America plus the island of Aruba. Before he started making his posts of new casinos for the thread, he posted a few new chips from casinos that had already been covered. One of those was the Crystal Casino in downtown Oranjestad, Aruba. I had posted a $1 token from that casino way back in April 2013 and had edited that post in November of that year to include an image of a $5 chip I picked up from the same casino on a visit that fall. (I had turned my interest away from tokens and was trying to replace the ones in my collection with chips whenever possible.)

Well, the chip that PG picked up at the Crystal Casino said "Wind Creek Casinos – Aruba", and he reported that this reflected a new owner of the casino. I added a further note to my 2013 post to tell folks where they could see PG's chip image.

I had forgotten all about that when I visited Aruba on my recent cruise, and when I saw both a Google Maps entry and a sign on the building declaring that the Crystal Casino is now Wind Creek Casino, I went in and picked up my own souvenir. A pit supervisor told me that the same owner has acquired the Seaport Casino (practically right across the street) and that they would begin using the same chips later this fall.

As I think this through now, I think this might meet my usual requirements of identifying the Wind Creek Casino(s) as a brand new establishment warranting coverage in this thread: It has a new owner and chips with a new name, and I usually take that to mean it is a "new" casino. Since I had forgotten all about PG's chip posting back in March, I was counting this as a new casino that I would cover now.

On the other hand, since PG got there first and posted the chip first, perhaps he should have the honor of making the official CCotD post for this "new" establishment. I could easily delete my comment from the old Crystal Casino post, and (perhaps with a little help from a friendly admin) we could delete PG's image from that post of "extra" chips from casinos already covered.

Whadayathink, PG? Could/would you give us a write-up on the Wind Creek Casino? Yes, it still looks like the same place I visited in 2009 and 2013, but the sign on the outside of the building says both "Wind Creek Casino" and "Crystal Casino". I didn't take a picture, and my memory is fuzzy, as usual. It may have said "Wind Creek Crystal Casino."

I have mentioned going to Seattle a few times. I am officially going. Even if the meeting gets cancelled I am going because I have a conference in Vegas the next day so either way I need to get there and all flights are booked.

I havent mapped all of the casinos as it will take a bunch of time and I need to book a hotel. I am flying in at 4pm to seatac. My meeting is in Tacoma. My flight comes in at 4pm and I plan on getting as many chips that I can until maybe midnight then head to the hotel. What are should I book my hotel? Should I get one near Tacoma and hit the ones that are in that area or should I stay by the airport and get the ones near there and maybe north? Or maybe another suggestion? I thought about not getting a hotel and just driving around all night but I need to be rested for my meeting so I want to get at least 4 hours of sleep.

Doc I’m good with you posting that chip as a new casino if you want. I’ve been debating how to list it on my list, I think I settled on Wind Creek Crystal Casino as the sign said outside the casino.

GWAE I would just use the index from this thread to map out your route. I collected everything from that area a couple years ago.

Quote: PokerGrinder

GWAE I would just use the index from this thread to map out your route. I collected everything from that area a couple years ago.

That's what I will do but was just curious as to if anyone knew the area well enough to give advice which way is best. Wont have time to map it until later in the week but want to book hotel

I stayed in Seattle at a hostel so I doubt you go that route lol.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I stayed in Seattle at a hostel so I doubt you go that route lol.

I know you like to collect chips on your own, however, I picked you up a couple chips from Washington. One was from Tulalip Casino and the other one was from the Dragon Poker Room.
The dragon poker place was actually giving out $400 every half an hour for a high hand. I didn't stay and play since I was in and out for a bathroom stop, so I'm not sure what the rake is. It looked like there were only three or four tables going at the time. There were some really big stacks at the 1/3 no limit.

Is the dragon poker room Red Dragon? I visited red dragon and tulalip two years ago. Thanks for thinking of me though.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Is the dragon poker room Red Dragon? I visited red dragon and tulalip two years ago. Thanks for thinking of me though.

Yes, Red Dragon. Did you visit Slow Pitch in Bellingham? That was one of the 4 places I didn't get a chip from. I assumed I Would go back there but I didn't.

I did, I think I hit every casino or card room between Vancouver (Canada) and Lakewood.

Category: Caribbean Islands
City: Oranjestad, Aruba
Casino: Wind Creek Casinos

As discussed on the previous page, last April PokerGrinder shared with us an image of a chip that he had collected in Aruba (second image in that post). He presented the chip as a not-previously-posted chip from the Crystal Casino, which had already been covered in my 2013 CCotD post. This new chip no longer describes the establishment as "Crystal Casino" but rather as "Wind Creek Casinos • Aruba".

It was not until after my recent visit to Aruba, where I picked up an identical chip (while having completely forgotten about PG's post) that I recognized that things had likely changed enough to warrant the establishment being recognized in this thread as a "new" casino, which is the purpose of this post.

While I had heard of Wind Creek, primarily in relation to the former Sands Bethlehem, I knew almost nothing about the corporation and had to do just a little digging. I found a short article from March of 2018 discussing the sale of that establishment by Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Here is what that article had to say:

Quote: cited article

Last week Las Vegas Sands Corp. reached a $1.3 billion agreement to sell its Bethlehem casino to Wind Creek Hospitality, a privately held affiliate of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama.
Wind Creek is a relative unknown in the casino industry. It runs three casinos in Alabama that are smaller than the Sands, and it has recently taken over a couple in the Caribbean.
It also runs a greyhound- and horse-racing track in Mobile, Ala., and track and poker rooms in Pensacola and Gretna, Fla. It also manages the Wa She Shu Casino in Gardnerville, Nev., for the Washoe Tribe.

A little further digging led me to the home page for Wind Creek Hospitality, which includes a list of their current properties (owned and/or managed) as follows:
Wind Creek, Atmore, AL
Wind Creek, Bethlehem, PA
Wind Creek, Montgomery, AL
Wind Creek, Wetumpka, AL
Renaissance Aruba, Oranjestad, Aruba
Renaissance Curaçao, Willemstad, Curaçao
Wa She Shu, Gardnerville, NV
Creek Entertainment, Gretna, FL
Pensacola Greyhound, Pensacola, FL
Mobile Greyhound Park, Theodore, AL

The Alabama facilities do not include table games and presumably do not offer chips of interest in this thread. I think the same is true of the two Florida facilities except for their poker rooms, one of which has been covered here by wezvidz, although photobucket seems to be doing their best to destroy his photography.

Now, I was a little surprised to see Renaissance Curaçao on that list, as I had just walked past the place when I visited that island less than two weeks ago. That resort includes the Carnaval Casino that I covered in a CCotD post here. The Wind Creek Hospitality web site acknowledges the casino is known as "Carnaval", but I am not 100% certain that they have not started using new chips with the Wind Creek name. At least for now, the MoGH Chip Guide does not show any such chip.

The Renaissance Aruba resort in Oranjestad was the home of the Crystal Casino when I first visited there in 2009, but as I reported with my CCotD post, it seems that the establishment was previously known as the Sonesta Hotel. Practically across the street from the Renaissance is the Seaport Village commercial development, including the Seaport Casino, which I covered in a post here.

When I recently picked up my Wind Creek souvenir in their Crystal Casino, the pit supervisor told me that the same owner now owns the Seaport Casino and that sometime this fall they will start using the same Wind Creek Casinos chips as the Crystal. Thus, it is my intent that this post represent Wind Creek Casinos • Aruba in the locations on both sides of the street. Perhaps I should note that the Wind Creek Hospitality web site listing of their properties gives more detail on Renaissance Aruba, citing both Wind Creek Crystal Casino and Wind Creek Seaport Casino.

The chip is another plastic injection molded chip that I think is from ICON. It is a two-color chip with a dark blue perimeter around a white center section, with six pairs of imitation edge inserts in white and with blue inscriptions in the center area including a Wind Creek logo, the denomination, and the wrap-around name "Wind Creek Casinos • Aruba". There is a small superscript dot just to the right of the word "Creek", but even with a magnifying glass I cannot make out whether it is a plain dot or perhaps the ® symbol for their trademark.

I think the dot by the K is the "circle R" registered trademark symbol. Similar appears on their website.

Here's something of interest I came across from the Nevada Gaming Control regulations:

Quote: NGC Regulation 12.040: Chips and Tokens-Specifications for Chips

1. Unless the chairman approves otherwise, chips must be disk-shaped, must be .130 inch thick, and
must have a diameter of:
(a) 1.55 inches, for chips used at games other than baccarat;
(b) 1.55 inches or 1.6875 inches, for chips used at baccarat; and
(c) 1.6875 inches, for chips used exclusively at race books and sports pools or other counter games.
2. Each side of each chip issued for use exclusively at a race book, sports pool, or particular game
must bear an inscription clearly indicating that use of the chip is so restricted.

I can understand the odd sizes to prevent counterfeiting, but is there a requirement to present all measurements in "Freedom Units"?

.130 inch = ~3.30 mm
1.55 inches = ~39.37 mm
1. 6875 inches = 42.8625 mm

Are manufacturers actually held to a standard that calls for 1/10,000th of an inch precision? Maybe this is a ploy to keep outsiders from competing against established companies who have invested in high quality manufacturing equipment.

Quote: Doc

Ah, the annoying thoughts that a nerd has to deal with when writing/editing.

Up with which you should not put.
I vote for " is ". 'Configuration' not 'spaces' controls. This configuration is for one empty space. This configuration is for nine empty spaces. You are referring to 'configuration" each time.

Thanks for the input, FleaStiff. I think it is difficult for that argument to be convincing, though, since "configuration" is not really the subject for the "is/are" verb in question; "configuration" is the subject for the verb "has". I think the subject for the "is/are" verb is either "total" or "spots" or maybe an entire phrase.

What do I know; the last English class I took that discussed grammar was in the spring semester of 1965, more than 54 years ago.

Category: Caribbean Islands
City: Eagle Beach, Aruba
Casino: Eagle Aruba

After PokerGrinder’s visit to Aruba last winter, he posted chips from eight new casinos to this thread. On my Celebrity Equinox cruise that stopped in Aruba two weeks ago today, I had in mind to drop in at those same casinos to pick up my own souvenirs, even though I would not be posting them to the thread. Unfortunately, I was unable to get two of those chips.

One of those casinos I could not collect a chip from was the Trop Club in Eagle Beach, which PG discussed here. In March of this year, between the time that PG collected his chip in late February and the time he got around to posting his chip to the thread in early April, the casino changed names and introduced new chips! It is now known as the Eagle Aruba Casino. (Time to head back to Aruba, PG!)

I doubt that there have been many noticeable changes to the place since PG was there (other than the sign on the building and the chips in use), so you might as well re-read his description. While he claims to have won $15 playing $5 BJ, my notes say that I managed to lose $10 playing $3 BJ. I was in a bit of a hurry at the time, and I might even have bought in for just $10 in white chips, pocketed a $1 souvenir, and lost three $3 hands in a row. I don’t really remember.

I was in that bit of a hurry because we were running waaaaaay too close to our ship’s departure time, and we didn’t want to get left at the pier watching the vessel heading on to Curaçao. And that fact explains why I didn’t get the other souvenir chip I had been looking to acquire.

PG also reported on the Glitz Casino (exactly one post later in the thread than his Trop Club post linked above). The Glitz is located roughly 200 feet (as the sea gull flies) from the Eagle Aruba (or about that far from the Trop Club, if you were there last Winter), and (according to Google Maps) it’s about a five-minute stroll if you stick to the sidewalks. (Perhaps this relates to the "short cut" adventure that PG reported in the first paragraph of his Trop Club post.)

I wasn’t willing to risk the consequences of the journey to the Glitz taking five minutes or even longer (or perhaps leading to injury from a short-cut incident, so we taxied directly from the Eagle Aruba to the port. I’ll have to look forward to my next visit to Aruba for getting my Glitz chip – or a chip from whatever that casino is named when I make it back there!

Ordinarily, I would describe this Eagle Aruba chip is a plastic injection molded model from Gemaco, since I recognize the style of the six pairs of gray imitation edge inserts. (I have often described this shape as looking like the tip of a set of slip-joint pliers.) However, Gemaco has been incorporated into Gaming Partners International, which itself is now part of the Angel Group (as of May 2019). I don’t really know whether it is appropriate to refer to a new chip issued this year as being from Gemaco. The corporate web site isn’t all that clear on such things.

Anyway, I am confident that it is a white, plastic-injection-molded chip with six pairs of gray imitation edge inserts, and a pale blue-white center inlay with blue lettering for the full name Eagle Aruba Resort & Casino, and the denomination in gray.

There is a tiny, red plus sign or 4-point star logo or something under the “a” of “Eagle” that I don’t really understand, and directly to the right of that there is a very faint yellow double underline extending from under the “l” of “Eagle” to the end of “Aruba.” I am not sure that you will be able to see that double line even after clicking on the image below to see the larger version. I have examined the chip under a magnifying glass, and I have looked at the “full-size” 2781x2781 pixel version of the image I have saved on my computer, and I’m still not sure what I am looking at. For a while, I thought the yellow lines were some kind of micro-printing, but I suspect I am just getting paranoid. Both sides of the chip are the same (unless the micro-printing differs) and nothing fluoresces under UV light.

I know it has only been about seven weeks since I last posted a photo of my entire chip collection (right here), but (since I just finished rearranging the set on my office desktop) I thought that I would bring the record up to date. In that 7-week-old linked post, I included links to a bunch of older full-set image posts, so if you are nerdy enough to be interested in the history of such stuff, you can check back there.

Unlike the past few such posts, this time I am including not just the current 542 chips that I consider to be "my collection", but (to the left) the gift chips that I have received from some members here and (to the right) the "duplicates" that I have. Those duplicates are mostly tokens that I have since replaced with chips from the same casinos. In the bottom right corner is a "duplicate" $1 chip that I thought was so bland that I kept a $5 chip from the same casino just to have a little bit of color.



As with (almost) all of my chip image posts, you can click on the image above to see the full-size image and perhaps (depending on your browser) click on that image to see it displayed truly full-sized with the ability for you to scroll around and examine the chips. Yes, resolution does suffer a bit, which is part of the reason why I started this thread to post images of individual chips.

With the current array, I am sticking with the 30° diagonals that I have decided work much better for fitting more chips on the desktop. This array has space for 554 chips within the black inlay rectangle of the desktop, meaning that at present there are 12 empty spots, three in each corner. I am nerdy enough that I generally rearrange the entire set as I add more chips, but that's such a hassle that if I were to pick up just two or three new chips now, I might just slip them into one of those gaps in a corner. The set is arranged alphabetically (top-to-bottom) within categories, with the categories arranged alphabetically left to right, starting with the states and followed by Canada, Caribbean Islands, Central America (just 1 chip, for now), Cruise Ships, Europe, and South America. In order to add more categories, I guess I need to expand my travels.

Thanks for the image Doc. Just one small thing hehe.... next time you re-arrange them, can you rotate the chips so the names can be read from a single direction?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Thanks for the image Doc. Just one small thing hehe.... next time you re-arrange them, can you rotate the chips so the names can be read from a single direction?

Small thing huh? 😆

Nope. That has been suggested before, by people who are standing here looking directly at the chips on the desktop.

First, I generally tell them that if I wanted to do that, I would need to decide just which direction I would want the chips to be viewed from, and I can't even decide the right answer to that.

Second, even though my spreadsheet calculates gaps, borders, chip positions, and such to 0.001 inches, I have resigned my efforts to trying to locate the chips to within 1/16" of where the spreadsheet says they are supposed to go, using a yardstick marked in 1/8" intervals. And I seem to have great difficulty doing even that. If I were simultaneously trying to set the rotation of each chip precisely, I rather expect I would go completely nuts. (Alright -- no comments now about my current status in that regard!)

Consider this: during the whole period that I am rearranging the chips (which requires that the glass cover be off), I have the office door closed. I am paranoid that the cat will come in, jump up, and skid across the desktop, scattering my efforts all over the floor. Right now, I am waiting for my wife to get home to help me put the glass back in position so that my paranoia might ease.

I was talking to a friend of mine who collects and it got us talking collecting numbers. Since I joined this thread I collected an average of 119 chips per year for the 4 years. This year however I only collected 68 new chips and I doubt I’ll collect anymore this calendar year. I’m slacking I guess.

As the collection size increases, the degree of difficulty in collecting more new ones also must increase. The difficulty is also exacerbated by having a regular job -- one that doesn't take you to (or into the vicinity of) casinos all over the country or the world. Having a spouse who is always your travel companion but who does not share your interest in the collection can also add to the difficulty (one way or another).

My records indicate that I have collected only 36 chips this calendar year, mostly because I have rarely been around casinos. My only casino visits thus far in 2019 have been Spring Fling in May (five casinos but no new chips), a Florida trip in June (one casino boat ride, but no new chips), a day trip to Cherokee, NC in July (no new chips), a "chip-chasing" trip (reported in this thread) that took me to casinos in seven states and one Canadian province in August for 25 new chips, and my September cruise and drive through Florida that lead to 11 new chips. I know of no other likely chips for me to collect this year.

On the other hand, if I were a single guy with the opportunity/means to run off to casinos in Asia, South America, and the Caribbean all in the same year, then I might have added a few more to the set.
;-)

Lol I’m thinking of going to Africa in January but I don’t think I would be adding a huge amount of chips. There is definitely less gambling than in Asia.

Came down to play poker tonight. New chip in circulation. Bad picture while sitting at table.

Is that all you had left after donking it off?

Quote: PokerGrinder

Is that all you had left after donking it off?

Nope still dunking it now. 300 to 700 to 200 to 500 now about 250. Its 2nd best night

Quote: PokerGrinder

Lol I’m thinking of going to Africa in January but I don’t think I would be adding a huge amount of chips. There is definitely less gambling than in Asia.

I played in several casinos in Egypt close to 40 years ago. That was long before I became a chip collector. (Back then I only owned one chip, which I had kept from the casino on a cruise ship as a souvenir of the cruise.) Other than that, my only experience in Africa involved a couple of cruise ship stops in Morocco in 2008, at Casablanca and Agadir. Yes, they have casinos there, but they didn't even approach getting onto my schedule.


Edit: After I posted the above, I got curious about how things might have changed in Egypt since I spent time there. I found it surprising that casinocity.com still lists a fair number of casinos in Cairo and elsewhere in the country, but the Museum of Gaming History Chip Guide does not display any chips at all from the country. (Yep, I should have kept souvenirs when I had the chance.)

Quote: PokerGrinder (from back in May 2017)

I just read an article that the company that bought SLS is having internal discussions about renaming the property Sahara. That would be cool.

When PG made that post two years and five months ago, I immediately responded with an inquiry as to the significance to chip collectors. I have a souvenir chip from the old Sahara that I posted in this thread, plus one from the place after it was renamed SLS, which I also posted to the thread. So I was curious about what I should do should the place change names again but back to Sahara.

Fast forward two years and one month, and AxelWolf posted last June (in a very old, dormant thread about the change from Sahara to SLS) a link to an article about the change back maybe really taking place.

I happened to remember this today and did a little search, since I am probably well out of date on this stuff. I found that the Sahara Las Vegas page in the ever-reliable Wikipedia says that the renaming happened on August 29th of this year. Perhaps this has been discussed more recently than my comment to PG’s post, but has anybody seen evidence of this change? Do they have Sahara chips back in play? The MoGH Chip Guide currently lists the Sahara as “closed.”

Quote: Ayecarumba

Are manufacturers actually held to a standard that calls for 1/10,000th of an inch precision? Maybe this is a ploy to keep outsiders from competing against established companies who have invested in high quality manufacturing equipment.

They probably wrote that regulation back in the '60's and saw no reason to update it to metric.

I believe the inside and outside is back to Sahara but they haven’t changed the chips yet.

Quote: Doc

When PG made that post two years and five months ago, I immediately responded with an inquiry as to the significance to chip collectors. I have a souvenir chip from the old Sahara that I posted in this thread, plus one from the place after it was renamed SLS, which I also posted to the thread. So I was curious about what I should do should the place change names again but back to Sahara.

Fast forward two years and one month, and AxelWolf posted last June (in a very old, dormant thread about the change from Sahara to SLS) a link to an article about the change back maybe really taking place.

I happened to remember this today and did a little search, since I am probably well out of date on this stuff. I found that the Sahara Las Vegas page in the ever-reliable Wikipedia says that the renaming happened on August 29th of this year. Perhaps this has been discussed more recently than my comment to PG’s post, but has anybody seen evidence of this change? Do they have Sahara chips back in play? The MoGH Chip Guide currently lists the Sahara as “closed.”

Evidence? Other than the big ass sign out front that says Sahara? Nope

Quote: GWAE

My Seattle trip is back on. I will be there on oct 22nd and then in Vegas for a conference on 24th. Tell me that it's a bad idea to drive 17 hours to Vegas instead of flying.

Why would you do that when Spirit airlines has flights for $52?

Quote: GWAE

Evidence? Other than the big ass sign out front that says Sahara? Nope

Well, that would be useful evidence. From here in NC, my usual best view of that area is via Google StreetView, and that view is currently showing me a big sign with a logo including a couple of monkeys and the name SLS. That's why I was asking for input from folks who might have been on the scene in person.

Guess I need to look up that gaming commission web page that indicates what new chips have been approved and when.

Quote: Doc

Well, that would be useful evidence. From here in NC, my usual best view of that area is via Google StreetView, and that view is currently showing me a big sign with a logo including a couple of monkeys and the name SLS. That's why I was asking for input from folks who might have been on the scene in person.

Guess I need to look up that gaming commission web page that indicates what new chips have been approved and when.

Sorry just giving you a hard time. I actually think the Sahara sign just went up today. I saw it on Facebook elv group.

Quote: DRich

Why would you do that when Spirit airlines has flights for $52?

That's what I am doing. But it's hard to collect any chips while on the air.

Quote: GWAE

That's what I am doing. But it's hard to collect any chips while on the air.

BOO!!!

I thought you were going to drive