Casino Chip of the Day

Quote: rdw4potus

sooooo...confession time - every time I've said "Bonanza" in this conversation, I've meant Boomtown.

Well, Boomtown certainly wouldn't qualify as "unique to one readily identifiable establishment in all gaming jurisdictions", so they must have tried to use the other "out". To claim that having the location on the chip is "not necessary or beneficial for any regulatory purpose relating to the applicant" would seem to suggest that Boomtown could never have another casino in Nevada. Sounds to me as if the owners applying for that exemption would be placing unreasonable constraints on themselves. I dunno.

I'm surprised that a downtown casino would have the "nicer" chips with the casino name molded into the rim. I guess I just think of everything downtown as low-rent.

Quote: AcesAndEights

I just think of everything downtown as low-rent.

The downtown casino hotels tend to be smaller, older, and less gaudy than most of the ones on the strip. Some of them seem fairly nice, though I have never stayed in any of them. I think "low-rent" may be reasonably appropriate wording for the room rents at most of the places, and they might be noisy because of the downtown location and the Fremont Street Experience activities. However, there are only a couple that I think of as dumps, and I could be wrong about them.

I certainly think of the Four Queens chip that I posted as nicer than the Flamingo chip I showed yesterday.

Quote: AcesAndEights

I'm surprised that a downtown casino would have the "nicer" chips with the casino name molded into the rim. I guess I just think of everything downtown as low-rent.

It's not as bad as you think (ala, the "Western"). Unfortunately, it's not as good as you imagine either. The "Golden Nugget" is appointed as good or better than several Strip hotel/casinos.

Doc, your chip collection hits home, especially the way you track 'em. I have a similar methodology for my collection...I only keep chips from casinos that I have visited. I also enjoy the way that you document stories from each locale. I do the same. Here is my tale from the Circus Circus:

~ The Circus Circus Chip ~
Twenty years ago, my father gave me a handful of chips from casinos in Las Vegas, Wendover, Elko and a few others cities in Nevada. Dad said the chips were for my daughter to collect, but I had other plans. From that point, I expanded the collection by obtaining a $1 ceramic or coin chip from every casino that I had frequented. I added chips to the collection from every casino in Atlantic City and the Mississippi gulf coast, plus Tunica, Shreveport, Council Bluffs, Reno and many others including, of course almost every available Las Vegas gaming locale. I also collected a 2£ chip from England, a $1 chip that required a 45-minute boat ride into international waters off Tampa, Florida, and a few 50¢ chips, mainly from Indian reservation casinos in Oklahoma.
My collection method was unique, because I had won every chip added. I never paid for a souvenir token. For instance, when I had visited Las Vegas for an entire week in 2004, I systematically visited every casino on the strip starting with Mandalay Bay and walking north. At each casino, I started with a $5 or $10 unit bet. If I had won on the first hand, or accumulated winnings shortly thereafter, I’d request payout in $1 chips or coins and move on to the next casino. Sometimes, I was in the building less than a few minutes. If I had started on a losing streak, I would count cards and continue until I was on the plus side.
The system had worked great for over eight hours, until I visited the Circus Circus casino. I lost quickly there, and could never get back into the positives. Even with extensive fluctuations due to positive true card counts, I couldn’t leave the building a winner. Eventually, I lost all the money in my wallet, over $800. I returned to my hotel with $30-$40 in chips from other casinos, and a single, faded, white-and-pink, $1 chip from the Circus Circus—it was an expensive souvenir. I eventually ended the one-week trip to Vegas a winner. However, I can no longer say with a clear conscience that every chip in my collection had been won. To this day, I have yet to return to the big top.

They're doing some remodeling/expanding at the Golden Nugget but I enjoyed my 1 night stay in March very much. The rooms feel very much old Vegas since they're so tiny with the tiled bathroom with a high bathtub but the room is well-appointed with fairly new furniture. Only minus was the soft bed. For $30/weeknight I would not hesitate to stay there again.

Thanks for the story, glenwiggy. Please get some photos of your chips and post them as the thread gets to those casinos. You probably have quite a few that are different from mine.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Fremont

For the third time in four days, the Casino Chip of the Day is from a downtown Las Vegas casino. In fact, all three are on the same double block of the Fremont Street pedestrian plaza: Fitzgertalds is almost adjacent to Four Queens, separated by only a street performance venue where 3rd street no longer passes through, while right across from the Four Queens is the Freemont.

Yes, Ibeatyouraces, I knew/know where the Four Queens is located. I just thought it was strange/amusing that they don't have their address anywhere on their entire web site, even on the "About Us" page.

The Fremont Casino opened in 1956 as Nevada's tallest building – the Stratosphere of its day. It was named, presumably, for Fremont Street, which in previous turn was named in honor of John C. Fremont, an explorer and military officer who, after many notable contributions, bungled an assignment, was fired, court-martialed, and then pardoned. He was briefly a U.S. Senator for California and an unsuccessful candidate for president.

Avoiding the tedious description of changes in casino ownership like I stumbled through for the Four Queens yesterday, I'll just say that ownership of the Freemont changed a couple of times, with Sam Boyd acquiring it in 1983. It continues to be one of the Boyd Gaming casinos.

The Fremont casino chip shown below is, not so unexpectedly, a Paulson RHC hat and cane design. It is white with three edge inserts that really do look that color, whatever you want to call it. The MOGH catalog calls it "fuschia," which is apparently their preferred misspelling of "fuchsia." I can't fault them too much; the folks at NGCB who put out their chip and token report make the same error. Here and here are posts in this very forum where that report has been excerpted with the word spelled incorrectly. My dictionary says the color and its source flower are spelled "fuchsia," named for 16th century German botanist Leonhard Fuchs. I personally have trouble even pronouncing the word, much less spelling it correctly.

Side note: In the very first post of this thread, I said that my plan for each day was to provide a photo of a chip "along with some comment about the chip and/or the casino and/or some extraneous issue that the chip brings to my mind." Rambling on about colors and spelling is fair game. Fonts would be too, but I think I'll leave those to teddys, who seems to have more interest in them than I do. ☺

Anyway, MOGH says that this chip was issued in 2003. There is another $1 chip design issued in 2007 that is identical except that the edge inserts are pink. I had to hold my chip right up to my computer screen and ask my wife's opinion in order to determine which color in the catalog matched my chip. Interestingly, the Fremont went back and forth between Paulson and Bud Jones as their chip supplier before those two companies became affiliated. There were two nice Bud Jones chips issued in 1989 and 1999 with a coin center insert. I can't tell those apart either. Does anyone have one of those to post here?

I will fly out to Las Vegas tomorrow for WoVCon][, and this is the last Casino Chip of the Day that I will post until my return. I will be getting home very late on Tuesday night next week, so I may sleep through Wednesday. Otherwise, my chip postings will resume that day.

I like the Fremont a lot. It's one of my favorite downtown spots. I like the music there.

That said, if you play there between 4-9 P.M., the announcements for Tony Roma's will drive you crazy.

"While sipping, okay guzzling, my Absolut, I realized that I was sick and tired of the stupid Tony Roma 'table number 69 is ready' announcements and I want to kick Tony Roma in his greasy meatballs.

I also reflected that the guy making the Tony Roma announcements sounds exactly like Mr. Bean playing Enrico Pollini (Now, I know what you are thinking...) in Rat Race."-Royal Flusher Vegas

Here's my Fremont chip. It's also a Paulson, but the design is quite different from Doc's. When I went through my collection trying to locate any "collector's edition" chips (which I generally do not collect), I spent quite a bit of time trying to determine if this chip was standard or not. For lack of evidence to the contrary, I tentatively determined that it was a "normal" chip. Was I right?

Quote: rdw4potus

Here's my Fremont chip. It's also a Paulson, but the design is quite different from Doc's. When I went through my collection trying to locate any "collector's edition" chips (which I generally do not collect), I spent quite a bit of time trying to determine if this chip was standard or not. For lack of evidence to the contrary, I tentatively determined that it was a "normal" chip. Was I right?

My Fremont chip

I would say that it's unusual, but not designed to be a specific collector's chip.

Collector's chips generally indicate some event being commemorated. This commemorates nothing, although it is unusual in that the 'Welcome' sign is bigger than the casino's name.

In other words, I'd say it's unusual enough to collect, but wasn't intended to be a collector's chip.

Quote: rdw4potus

Here's my Fremont chip. ... I tentatively determined that it was a "normal" chip. Was I right?

Does the other side of your chip look a little different, with the "Welcome" sign to the left and the "$5" at the top? If so, the MOGH catalog says that was a "limited edition" chip issued in 2002. They don't say what quantity of chips were manufactured in that edition.

Quote: Doc

Does the other side of your chip look a little different, with the "Welcome" sign to the left and the "$5" at the top? If so, the MOGH catalog says that was a "limited edition" chip issued in 2002. They don't say what quantity of chips were manufactured in that edition.

It does! The chip also doesn't say what the limit was on that run. I'll have to try to find a "normal" Fremont chip this weekend.

Quote: rdw4potus

It does! The chip also doesn't say what the limit was on that run. I'll have to try to find a "normal" Fremont chip this weekend.

The MOGH catalog doesn't show many recent $5 chips from the Fremont. I think those Bud Jones chips I mentioned with the coin insert look the best, so hope they have some of them in play for you.

If you are going to be replacing some of the chips in your collection, may I suggest/request that you make photos of the replacements and edit them back in as (dated) additions to the posts where you have shown the old ones? Then when you do that, add a new post to the thread to let us know to look back and compare the two chips.

Quote: Doc

I think the Four Queens Hotel and Casino is located at 202 Fremont Street. I say "I think", because I cannot find their address anywhere on their web site. Strange. Like if you don't already know where it is, they don't want you to stay or gamble there, and they sure won't bother giving directions.

About us -> Contact Us

Quote: miplet

About us -> Contact Us

Dang it, you're right! I just didn't dig deep enough. I had stopped at the first screen under "About Us" and hadn't noticed there was another button available to click. Guess I'm just familiar with most hotels having their address right up front and obvious, usually on the home page of their web site.

Miplet rules again!

Quote: Doc

If you are going to be replacing some of the chips in your collection, may I suggest/request that you make photos of the replacements and edit them back in as (dated) additions to the posts where you have shown the old ones? Then when you do that, add a new post to the thread to let us know to look back and compare the two chips.

I will certainly do that. I think that Edgewater and now Fremont are the only casinos that we've covered so far where this will apply. And the Edgewater is just vanity. My expectation there is to find a less beat up chip from the same series.

I have what looks like the same chip as Doc, as well as three older chips (including one of my few $5 chips) I picked up years ago. I have spent many hours gambling at the Fremont but have never stayed there, and can't think of any cool stories to share about the place.

Thanks for the chip images once again, Johnzimbo. According to the MOGH catalog, your chips in order are:

1. the same as mine

2. Paulson LCV, issued 1970 (and a dirty one it is!). The SCV that otherwise looks the same was issued in the '80s.

3. Bud Jones coin insert, issued in 1989. One of the ones I asked about. I finally figured out how to tell it from the 1999 version, which has a smaller "$1" and a BJ logo between that and the "Las".

4. Paulson LCV, issued in 1975.

Yep, you've got some of the older ones.

Out-of-sequence question related to this thread ....

I started another thread today to get help clarifying a confusing headline about a "PA" casino that actually turned out to be in Missouri. The discussion touched on the fact that Harrah's Chester is right on the verge of changing name to Harrah's Philadelphia. Naturally, when they start using chips with the new name, I will want to get one.

From my earlier comments in this thread, you are probably aware that I keep checking the NGCB Chip and Token Report monthly updates available on line, looking to see whether new chips have been approved for The D (former Fitzgeralds). Does anyone know whether there is a similar resource for Pennsylvania chips, so that I can check about Harrah's Philadelphia? How about similar resources for any other states?

Thanks.

are you familiar with chiptalk.net
someone there may have some answers.
though i think they may deal primarily in poker chips

well wongbo i just heard about ciptalk.net thats this is the place for poker chip advice and gambling tips.

Quote: andrea

well wongbo i just heard about ciptalk.net thats this is the place for poker chip advice and gambling tips.

Clarification please -- did you hear that chiptalk.com is the place for gambling tips or that Wizard of Vegas is the place for chip advice? Either one sounds a little surprising.

After wongbo mentioned that other site, I tried to check it out. I tried to do a search, but they had one of those type-these-characters security things, and it said I was incorrect on every try. I gave up on it. Now I'm in Vegas trying to make this post with my phone and finding it very challenging. :-(

Because of a reference in the Roulette should be a game of chance... thread, I was checking out RouletteResearch.com.

While there, I stumbled upon a PDF of casino chip history and manufacturing process. Interesting stuff, well worth linking in this thread.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Because of a reference in the Roulette should be a game of chance... thread, I was checking out RouletteResearch.com.

While there, I stumbled upon a PDF of casino chip history and manufacturing process. Interesting stuff, well worth linking in this thread.

Very interesting DJ. Thanks for that.

Does the, "New Frontier" come after the, "Frontier", and after the, "Last Frontier" on the CoTD list?

Quote: Doc

I think the Four Queens Hotel and Casino is located at 202 Fremont Street. I say "I think", because I cannot find their address anywhere on their web site. Strange.

That is the address, as attested to in various documents found in my room.

BTW, about that ElCo chip I kept, you were , hmmm, 1/2 right. I have started a chip collection, but I'm doing it in my own, laid-back, lazy way: I'm collecting blue $1 chips from casinos were I've played. The rules are simple. If the casino I'm playing at has blue $1 chips, I'll keep one. But I won't go hunting for casinos with such chips.

As of now, I have two: ElCo and Binion's. I may bot even add more this trip. We'll see. In any case the collection will take up very little space.

BTW, the 4 Queens is a very nice place to stay. It does have an in-room safe big enough for a laptop, at least in the South Tower, housekeeping is excellent, there's a coffee maker, 8/6 JoB and 10/7 DB, $5 craps (sometimes $3!) with 5X odds (I did bet 5X on 6 and 8 when betting $3 line bets), and Magnolia's is both cheap and good.

So there you are: a reply concerning chips, gambling and Vegas :)

Well, folks, I finally woke up, and it's only mid afternoon here in the east. I may or may not get around to posting a chip for today, but there are a couple of comments I can make now.

Thanks very much to DJTeddyBear for that link to the article on chip history and manufacturing. I tried to read it on my phone while in Vegas for WoVCon][, and it appears that some of my speculation presented earlier in this thread was not quite correct. I need to read the article again now that I am back to my computer.

Ayecarumba, my only "Frontier" chip says "The New Frontier", so I'll be posting that image when the thread gets to "N". If you have chips with any of the older names, please post them at that time.

During one of the WoVCon][ activities, I was talking with some of the other attendees about the appropriate posting order for chips in this thread. I suppose right here is a reasonable place to mention some of the things we discussed then: I have decided to change one aspect of my collection organization from the way I presented it in the first post of this thread -- I have decided to abolish the category of tribal casinos and just present those chips along with others from the geographic region (state or Canada) that surrounds the tribal land. The only difference that makes in what has been presented thus far (and this may have been discussed before) is that I should have posted the chip from Avi casino very early in the thread.

There is also the fact that while posting chips, I might acquire a new chip from earlier in the alphabet. Examples of that are my having acquired a chip saying "Arizona Charlie's Boulder" on my recent trip and the possibility of acquiring a "D" chip whenever those show up. My plan is to post the Avi chip and any newly-acquired-out-of-order Nevada chips after the last alphabetical chip from Nevada, which presently is the Wynn. It wouldn't really be necessary for me to post the Arizona Charlie's Boulder chip, since it is just like the one that teddys posted when I posted the Arizona Charlie's East chip (same physical casino). Based on advice offered by others, I will post that one anyway so that there is an entry for that chip/casino in the index at the beginning of the thread. I will try to remember to note then that teddys had made an earlier post.

With regard to that index, it was suggested that the index should be in alphabetical order, even in cases where the chips were not posted in that sequence. That does make sense, so I will try to do it that way, even though it makes the editing of the table a bit more complex.

Finally, when I have finished posting the last chip in the last category of my collection (projected for early 2013), I will go back and post any new chips I have acquired in categories previously covered. Then, I will try to coordinate with the other collectors here to have them present their chips in a similar organized manner. I think rdw4potus alone has chips from hundreds of casinos that are not in my collection, so this thread could continue for quite a while.

I am still open to suggestions on how to improve this thread, and I continue to be appreciative that this thread has not found a way to degenerate into bickering as have so many other threads. Other attendees at WoVCon][ advised me that such an outcome is inevitable, since this is the internet, but maybe we can at least try to stifle such behavior.

I reccomend we push up the timetable a bit, so that we can see your whole collection prior to the Earth collapsing in December per the Mayan calendar.

Quote: bigfoot66

I reccomend we push up the timetable a bit, so that we can see your whole collection prior to the Earth collapsing in December per the Mayan calendar.

OK, so just in case that calendar prediction is true, I'll take one step to make you happier -- I'll post a Casino Chip of the Day for today. Give me a few minutes to organize a post.

With regard to my collection's part of this thread lasting until 2013, that's partially due to the days I don't post because I'm traveling or expect to be traveling, as with this past week. I don't want to post more than one chip per day, because I want there to be adequate opportunity to discuss each one in turn.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Gold Coast

Just as roulette players can see patterns where they don't exist, I can see some patterns in this thread. I have just taken a week's hiatus from posting a Casino Chip of the Day while attending WoVCon][. Both the casino represented by the last chip posted before that trip and the casino represent by today's chip belong to Boyd Gaming. Now that can't be a coincidence, can it? And the Gold Coast is right across the street from the Rio where my wife and I stayed and where Tiltpoul stayed and maybe where others from here stayed. I'm telling you that you just have to open your eyes to see the patterns!

The Gold Coast was opened in 1986 and, according to Wikipedia, was the first casino to have a movie theater. It now has a bowling alley. The Gold Coast was built by Michael Gaughan, who already owned the Barbary Coast, and it constituted the next step in development of what was known as Coast Casinos. That company was sold to Boyd Gaming in 2004, with Gaughan later taking his equity in the form of the newest facility, South Coast, which he renamed South Point.

When staying at the Rio, I sometimes find that they crank the table minimums above my comfort level, so I go across the street to Gold Coast for my gaming. It's low cost but meets most of my standards. My wife and I used to enjoy dining at their café, which was converted a few years ago to a TGIFridays. I think the gambler's special dinner we used to enjoy has disappeared, or at least been hidden. I did not make it across the street to Gold Coast at all during my WoVCon][ visit to Vegas.

Prior to renovations in 2002, the Gold Coast had a country-western décor theme, which likely explains the smiling bronco rider logo on the center inlay of the chip shown below. The MOGH catalog says that this chip was issued in 1997, though chips that were issued a decade later contain the same logo. Perhaps I should note that the color of this chip matches that of the Barbary Coast chip posted earlier.

Very early in this thread, I noted that I consider it a favorable "high class" sign when a casino uses chips that have the casino name molded into the chip, as this one does. In this case, that is essential, since the center inlay has only the logo and "$1", without any further identifying info. The MOGH catalog gives no hint of which company manufactured this chip, but my handy-dandy UV flashlight revealed a hidden top hat and cane on the horse's hip, letting us know that this is another Paulson-produced chip.



Edit 5/27/12: Check this post later in this thread about UV images visible on this and other chips.

Here's my Gold Coast chip. It's very similar to Doc's, right down to the guy on the horse. The inlay on my chip is a sickly pale blue color, which I thought was strange for a mostly-red chip design.

I had an odd experience in the parking lot when I collected this chip. The expansion joints in the ramp at the Gold Coast make a very loud bang when they're driven over, especially so when they're driven over at speed. The sound is very similar to (but not as loud as) the sound of a gunshot. After I left my car, an SUV hit the joint driving quite quickly. The resulting sound (like two rounds being fired in succession) caused a very well built man to squeal "Oh sweet Jeeeeesus!!" and dive for cover.

I like the Gold Coast. They allow the player to accumulate commission debts and settle later in Pai Gow Poker, which helps speed up the game and keep people from needing to handle so many $1 chips and/or quarters.

Quote: Doc

I am still open to suggestions on how to improve this thread, and I continue to be appreciative that this thread has not found a way to degenerate into bickering as have so many other threads. Other attendees at WoVCon][ advised me that such an outcome is inevitable, since this is the internet, but maybe we can at least try to stifle such behavior.

Don't worry about side conversations. Those type of tangents tend to die out wherever they occur. And winch this thread will bring us back on topic daily, it's not really something worth worrying about.


Regarding improvements, I don't think there's much that can be done. It's fairly good as it is.


OK. One thing.

Anytime anyone adds an interesting link, such as your MOGH link, or my link to the history document, add those links to the first post.

Quote: Doc

Just as roulette players can see patterns where they don't exist, I can see some patterns in this thread.

Have you been reading my Poker For Roulette descriptions? Woo hoo!

Quote: Doc

Very early in this thread, I noted that I consider it a favorable "high class" sign when a casino uses chips that have the casino name molded into the chip, as this one does. In this case, that is essential, since the center inlay has only the logo and "$1", without any further identifying info.

I too think that means class. Then again, if they were really that classy, the Gold Coast would have made the lettering a tiny bit smaller, so they wouldn't need to abbreviate Nev. Or use a brain and use the correct NV abbreviation.

Quote: rdw4potus

The inlay on my chip is a sickly pale blue color, which I thought was strange for a mostly-red chip design.

Hard to tell from our photos, but the blue background on your chip's insert may be the same color as mine, with just the denomination changed.

Quote: rdw4potus

... The expansion joints in the ramp at the Gold Coast make a very loud bang ....

I had to laugh when I read that. During this visit, I parked at the Bellagio self-park deck, which has metal covers over the seams, giving a similar loud bang when they are driven over. As my wife and I walked toward the door into the casino, my wife stepped onto one of those covers. At the very same instant, a car on the deck above drove over the seam with a BANG! Both of us had an initial reaction that the noise came from my wife's footstep, and we both jumped. Funny experience.

Quote: Doc

Prior to renovations in 2002, the Gold Coast had a country-western décor theme, which likely explains the smiling bronco rider logo on the center inlay of the chip shown below. The MOGH catalog says that this chip was issued in 1997, though chips that were issued a decade later contain the same logo. Perhaps I should note that the color of this chip matches that of the Barbary Coast chip posted earlier.

Now it's probably the least country-western casino in Vegas, unless by country-west you mean China. I like the Gold Coast a lot. Like the late mkl (and unlike JerryLogan), it is a personal favorite. I like playing UTH there because the Asians will often let you bet on their hand. If you know the strategy, this can be a nice advantage play. KILLER Chinese restaurants Noodle Exchange and Ping Pang Pong. Ask for a comp there. TGI Friday's and the buffet are not worth going to; unfortunately I can't remember when the cafe was not Friday's. I'll be there this trip.

I can't believe I don't have a GC chip in my collection, as I have stayed there probably 10 times. My old bowling league in So. Cal used to bowl sweepers at the GC twice a year for several years. If you are in the casino and under the second floor bowling alley, you can actually hear the bowling balls as they hit the lanes above.

Here's my best GC story...one time my ex and I were staying there, her folks were in an adjoining room and her cousin and her husband were in the room next to them, enjoying a few days in Vegas as part of their honeymoon. They were a young couple and this was their first or second time ever in Vegas. My ex-FIL was an early riser and he would go gamble for a bit, buy a newspaper and then go back to his room to read it. He would buy a keno ticket for his wife for ten games so she would have something to watch on tv as he read his paper. Well, this time he decided to get three keno tickets, each one a quick pick 6-spot for ten games, and he slid one under our door and one under the cousin's door. I saw ours and watched some of the draws on the tv, with the usual no luck. Later we are all at breakfast and the wife's cousin and her husband are with us and we ask if they had checked their ticket. They said not yet and actually thought it was a gift from the casino to the newlyweds LOL...they didn't know it had come from their uncle. After breakfast they go to the keno lounge to check the ticket and they had hit all six numbers for $2,000. Nice wedding gift eh?

That's a great story Johnzimbo. The one memory I have of the Gold Coast is the their, "Showroom". I didn't think I would care for it, since the outside is set up very much like the showroom's at the Strip hotels: A ticket counter, door person, ushers... It looks like you would have to tip everyone. There was even an upsell to get seats in the "inner circle". I turned all of them down since I had a discount ticket, and am basically really cheap.

Once I stepped behind the curtain, and actually saw the room, I was glad that I didn't pay extra for anything. The room is very small. Every seat is good. It really has an "old Vegas" feel.

State: Nevada
City: Carson City
Casino: Gold Dust West

Well, I posted yesterday's Gold Coast chip quite late in the day after sleeping in, so please continue discussing that chip/casino if you like. I'm still not back mentally to eastern time, so I'll just try to gradually work my way back toward morning posts. One more step that direction today ....


The Gold Dust West casino/hotel/RV park complex is located just inside the Hwy. 395 bypass around Carson City. It doesn't seem to generate a lot of coverage on the web. The entire Wikipedia write-up is presented below:

Quote: Wikipedia

Gold Dust West Hotel and Casino is a casino located in Carson City, Nevada. It contains 18,100 square feet (1,680 m²) of gaming space.

That's it; two sentences that provide only the city and one data point from an NGCB report on casino square footage. The establishment's own web site doesn't provide much info either, not even any info I could find as to who owns the place.

This again seems to be a case of ownership obscured from the casually interested. The best I can find through my search is that there was a casino known as the Piñon Plaza that was established in 1995. In 2006, it was sold to a national casino operator. The individual establishment in Carson City is really named Jacobs Piñon Plaza Entertainment, Inc. dba Gold Dust West. It belongs 100% to Jacobs Entertainment, Inc., which in turn belongs 100% to Jacobs Investments, Inc., which belong (minority) to Jeffrey Paul Jacobs and (majority) to a Jacobs Family Economic Trust. Jacobs Entertainment operates about 30 casinos, many of them truck stop slot parlors I think, in Nevada, Colorado, and Louisiana, including two other Nevada establishment known as Gold Dust West in Reno and Elko.

I visited the Gold Dust West in Carson City only once, in the late afternoon, shortly before I visited the Carson Nugget, the no-table-games-anymore Carson Station, and the Fandango, all previously mentioned. They had a $2 crap table, but it was not open for business, so I played blackjack and collected a $1 souvenir chip that cost me $40. The place struck me as if there was less going on in the casino than in a banquet room down the hall.

According to the MOGH catalog, the chip shown below was issued in 2006, when the casino changed hands and name. It is a solid pale blue chip with the RHC version of the Paulson hat and cane mold. It either has a smaller-than-usual inlay (probable) or the inlay has an outer band that matches the clay of the trip (don't think so). The MOGH catalog also shows red and green chips from this casino but nothing above $25. I don't remember whether there were blacks or higher on the tables. Such chips are never involved in my play and only rarely when coloring up.

If anyone has chips from the predecessor Piñon Plaza Casino, this would be a fine place to post those images, since I have nothing further to offer on that casino.

Here's my chip from the Gold Dust in Carson City. I did have one embarrassing moment when I collected the chip. The gold (leaf? dust?) that starts between the words "gold" and "dust" is the same color as the edge inserts on the $5 chip. In my bleary-eyes, sleep-deprived state, I thought it was a smudge and spent about 2 minutes trying to remove it before the dealer laughed at me and said "He's cut off! No more for him!" (I don't drink...)

One thing that does seem odd to me: Gold Dust in Elko is nice(ish), Gold Dust in Carson at least has tables, and Gold Dust in Reno is a slot parlor. That order seems backwards to me...

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Gold Spike

Well, there didn't seem to be much discussion of the Gold Dust West yesterday. Perhaps I should have asked whether anyone other than rdw4potus and I had ever played there. The same question might apply to the place represented by today's Casino Chip of the Day ....

The Rendezvous casino opened in 1976 on E. Ogden Ave. in downtown Las Vegas, closed half a dozen years later, and was purchased and re-opened in 1983 by Jackie Gaughan as the Gold Spike. In 2002, he sold it to Barrick Gaming and the Tamares Group, a joint venture that closed down the table games.

It was during that period that I made my first abbreviated foray into the Gold Spike one evening in search of a souvenir chip. My wife and I took one step inside the door and were rebuffed by the thick cloud of cigarette smoke and a generally unappealing atmosphere. I took a brief look around the place without venturing further in and told her, "I don't think they have table games here any more," and we quickly got out of there. I had already felt uneasy parking the rental car in the lot, so I was glad to find it still waiting there two minutes later to aid in our escape.

The property was re-sold in 2007 and again in 2008, that time to the Siegel Group. That organization had made a successful business of acquiring and renovating downtrodden hotels and apartment complexes and offering some extra benefits like free meals to the renters. They did a complete gutting and renovation of the Gold Spike, turning it from a complete dump into a low-end place I would not choose to visit very many times. With the renovation, they re-established the table games area, and I did make it back there in 2009, without my wife, to play blackjack for a few minutes and to collect my souvenir chip.

The year before purchasing the Gold Spike, the Siegel Group had acquired the long closed and abandoned Travel Inn Motel, which was next door to the Gold Spike but facing Las Vegas Boulevard. They renovated that property, too, and renamed it the Oasis, finally getting it open in 2010 and combining operations with the casino next door. I don't know the political background on this, but according to Wikipedia, in 2010 the City of Las Vegas changed the address of the Gold Spike Casino to match that of the hotel, making it the only downtown casino to have a Las Vegas Boulevard address.

According to the MOGH catalog, my Paulson top hat and cane chip was issued in 2009, perhaps right after the casino renovations. While I was looking at that catalog, I noticed something unusual about the chip(s) they showed and checked out my souvenir chip in more detail.

A short while back, I asked rdw4potus to check out his Flamingo chip to see whether the mold was the same on both sides, since the MOGH catalog showed one issue that seemed to be different on opposing sides. His chip had matching sides, but the catalog shows that same anomaly on the Gold Spike chip, and – low and behold – my chip does indeed have different top hat and cane designs on the two sides.

I had made photographs of my collection back in March, but I scrambled to get a photo of the "other" side of the chip so that I could post both of them today. I didn't match the lighting, but I think you can detect the differences between the two sides. Look closely at the larger version of the two images (click on the small ones below), focusing on how close the cane comes to touching the brim of the hat. The first image is the Long Cane Version (LCV) of the mold, while the second image shows the Short Cane Version (SCV). I promise you that these different designs are opposite sides of the very same chip. Now I guess I need to inspect all of my Paulson chips more closely to see whether there are more of these oddities in my collection.

Just for completeness here, the third version (that I know about) of the hat and cane design is the Reversed Hat and Cane (RHC) version, in which the hat and cane are right against the chip edge, without the outer ring, and two of the eight icons have the canes cross the hat in the opposite direction.

What kinds of Gold Spike chips do the rest of you have to post? (You have all played there, haven't you?) Of course, if anyone has chips from the Gold Spike's predecessor casino, the Rendezvous, please post photos of them here. That was way before my first visit to Las Vegas.

I see what you're saying with the top hats. Either they are not the same size in the two photos, or the rings are not the same size.

In either case, the top hats appear larger, moch closer to touching the rings in the photo on the left.

On that note, I noticed, but didn't mention, that the Gold Dust chip appears to be slightly off-center. The top hats on the lower left half are closer to the edge, enabling more corrosion of the square chip edge than on the other side.

Here's face #1 of my Gold Spike chip. I'll pull it out of the stack and check the reverse side when I get home this evening. I was quite impressed by the smoke in the Gold Spike when I collected my chip. For a place with 10 patrons present, the room was quite disgustingly full of smoke. I don't think I made it through more than a handful of hands of BJ before coughing and wheezing my way to the cage and, immediately thereafter, street.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I see what you're saying with the top hats. Either they are not the same size in the two photos, or the rings are not the same size.

In either case, the top hats appear larger, moch closer to touching the rings in the photo on the left.

On that note, I noticed, but didn't mention, that the Gold Dust chip appears to be slightly off-center. The top hats on the lower left half are closer to the edge, enabling more corrosion of the square chip edge than on the other side.

Yes, there are some minor differences in how the top hats are positioned with respect to the rings, or with respect to the edge of the chip in the RHC version, though that is not the key issue in LCV vs SCV.

Look at the SCV side of the Gold Spike chip, the one with for which my photo has much brighter lighting. Look at the top hat that is almost directly on the right hand side (slightly lower) compared with the adjacent one at the upper right. The one almost directly to the right is very slightly closer to the inner ring and very slightly farther away from the outer ring, and that is on the very same design and chip. I think these trivial (?) differences are just a matter of how precisely this product is manufactured. I think the same is true about the top hat crumbling off the left and bottom edges of the Gold Dust West chip -- they just missed a little.

On the other hand, the hat and cane icons of the LCV vs SCV versions are similar but definitely different designs. The hats may be slightly different distances from the rings, but that would be difficult to identify if you just looked at one design. The difference is more clearly seen in how close the cane comes to touching the hat brim on the left hand side of the hat. In the icon to the upper right on that (brighter) SCV, the cane hardly misses the hat brim by a pixel, and it's not much more than that on any of the others on that side of the chip.

Now look at the (dimmer) LCV on the other side of the chip. There is a much bigger gap between the cane and the brim on those icons. The cane itself is slightly longer in the LCV than in the SCV, but that too is harder to detect when just looking at a single icon.

I think I have the same one as Doc's. I walked there at night around 10 PM from the Golden Nugget after the street show. There wasn't much people and I did not smell much smoke either... Maybe they recently renovated it?

Quote: Doc

Well, there didn't seem to be much discussion of the Gold Dust West yesterday. Perhaps I should have asked whether anyone other than rdw4potus and I had ever played there.

Sorry, I was sleeping...
I have a brand new GDW chip as well as a Pinon Plaza chip (gotta dig em out).
I stayed there quite frequently (read: every other weekend) for probably two years...when it was Pinon Plaza, and when it switched over to GDW...I always enjoyed their bowling alley (they USED to give bowlers a $10 free slot play every saturday).
Their rooms are typical Best Western Style (it actually IS a Best Western attached to it)

Quote: TIMSPEED

I have a brand new GDW chip as well as a Pinon Plaza chip (gotta dig em out).

Thanks for the input -- one of the objectives of this thread is to encourage people to post their experiences/impressions for the casinos as we post the chips.

Please do dig out your chips and post photos for us. I have seen the Pinon Plaza chips in the MOGH catalog, but it would be nice to have a photo here of one that a WoV member owns.

I spent about 45 seconds inside the Gold Strike the one time I visited, around 1993. It was so stinky I walked through and decided not to play or stay and grab a chip. I do recall seeing one wall of video poker machines that were packed and I saw that everyone playing had a good bank of credits...anywhere from 400- 900 credits. I thought "Man, no wonder these machines are full...they are all hot!"...then realized they were penny machines. First time I had ever seen penny video poker hehe

Regarding Gold Spike, it is amazing how reluctant I am to walk even a block off the Fremont Experience canopy. I've never been there. Now, if they had a nine foot spike made of gold, or even gold colored, (or one of THE two actual gold spikes from the Transcontinental Railroad ceremony), I would definitely take the walk to get a picture with it.

Here's some trivia questions (in ascending difficulty):

#1 The Gold Spike commemorates the connection of what two railroads?


#2 What was the name of the state where the last connection was made?


#3 What was the date when the connecting rail was laid?


#4 There were two spikes made of real gold created to commemorate the occasion. Where are they now?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Regarding Gold Spike, it is amazing how reluctant I am to walk even a block off the Fremont Experience canopy. I've never been there. Now, if they had a nine foot spike made of gold, or even gold colored, (or one of THE two actual gold spikes from the Transcontinental Railroad ceremony), I would definitely take the walk to get a picture with it.]

Don't get married in Vegas then as everyone that gets married must go off of Fremont St. to city hall to get their marriage license.

Quote: Johnzimbo

I spent about 45 seconds inside the Gold Strike the one time I visited ....

Careful that you don't get lost here -- the posted chip is from the Gold Spike! The Gold Strike is a different casino, not even in Las Vegas, with its chip to be posted very soon. :-)