Casino Chip of the Day

Here's my Longhorn chip. Good blackjack rules, less sketchy than Bighorn. Not much more to say about the casino.

The chip is a bit frustrating to me. Apparently, there are no "standard" Longhorn chips in circulation. So this "collectible" chip is the one that's in my collection. I wish that weren't the case, but no other option is available.

Quote: Doc

On the other hand, does anyone have anything to say about the Longhorn casino? It isn't necessary that my distractions completely derail the intent of the thread.

One of the few casinos that has bottles of Modelo Especial and Negra Modelo for players. My favorite Mexican cervezas:

Quote: teddys

One of the few casinos that has bottles of Modelo Especial and Negra Modelo for players. My favorite Mexican cervezas:

Wait...I could've been drinking Negra Modelo while I was searching for "normal" chips? Damnation!!

State: Nevada
City: North Las Vegas
Casino: Lucky Club

According to the MOGH catalog, the Lucky Club casino opened June 1, 2008, while the chip shown below, like all of the other Lucky Club chips in their catalog, was not issued until September 2008. What do you figure they played with for the first three months?

A little investigation indicates that the place has an earlier history. Prior to 1999, it was known as the Cheyenne Hotel and Casino, presumably because it is located just off East Cheyenne Avenue in North Las Vegas. It was sold to MTR Gaming, which called it the Ramada Inn and Speedway Casino. (Hey, the place is only seven or eight miles from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.)

In January 2008, MTR sold the place to Seth Schorr, Mike Mixer, and Alexander Rodrigo, who had big plans for renovation and growth. The linked article quotes Rodrigo as saying they "are in the industry for the long term." They entered this venture as partners in a company known as Ganaste, which I hear is Spanish for "You Won."

Apparently they didn't win. At the time of the purchase in January, they didn't have a license to operate a casino. MTR continued operations while Ganaste was to make up that deficiency. By June 1, the license was issued to Lucky Lucy D, LLC, owned 100% by Bruce Wayne Deifik, who changed the name of the casino to the Lucky Club. I suppose that Deifik's new Lucky Club could have used some leftover Speedway chips for a few months while he got new ones approved and manufactured. I haven't been able to dig up anything about what happened to Ganaste in those few months from January to the first of June. So much for "the long term." There just has to be more to this story.

The chip shown below is (surprise, surprise) a blue Paulson RHC hat and cane design with two, wide, orange edge inserts. I picked this souvenir up on a visit to Las Vegas in October 2008, just a month after it was issued, which explains its almost pristine condition.

Please post your Lucky Club chips, as well as any you have from the Cheyenne or Speedway casinos at the same location. Note that the Fort Cheyenne casino, which opened about the same time that the Cheyenne Hotel and Casino was sold, is a different place, just a short block down the street but with no table games. I don't know whether there is a connection.

I think I've told this story before - I visited Lucky club at about 2am mid-week in mid-October. The place was decked out for Halloween and mostly deserted. Worse yet, the people who were there could easily have passed for the undead (they were NOT in costume). It's one of the scariest places I've ever been - not in a safety way, but in in a creepy way.

I'm told that under normal conditions, Lucky Club is the nicest of the Southern North Las Vegas casinos. I will have to go back to test that statement out.

Well, I found a little bit more of that "rest of the story." Deifik was listed in that linked article as an "equity partner", along with Wynn Las Vegas President Andrew Pascal. I suppose they may have had some clout in getting a license. And here is an article on "managing partner" Seth Schorr, whose father is COO at Wynn. I guess that connections might help in getting started in the business. That second article claims that Ganaste is still the owner of the business, in spite of the license being in the name of Lucky Lucy D. I'm not sure what that implies.

According to their website, the same ownership group owns Lucky Club, Silver Nugget and Opera House. Of those, Lucky Club is the nicest (and also the only one with a hotel).

They also own the Little Macau minicasino on Spring Mountain.

I've been neglecting my chip photographing duties. I hope Doc doesn't ming if I just dump my A through L in one post. I'll get to it later.

Quote: s2dbaker

I've been neglecting my chip photographing duties. I hope Doc doesn't ming if I just dump my A through L in one post. I'll get to it later.

Too busy playing with your other collection?

Quote: teddys

According to their website, the same ownership group owns Lucky Club, Silver Nugget and Opera House.

Interesting. I had missed that.

The directory on the WoV site does not include the Lucky Club but says that Opera House and Silver Nugget are owned by Silver Nugget Gaming. If I go to either of the web sites provided in that directory, operahousecasino.com or silvernuggetcasino.net, a page loads briefly then redirects to luckysilvergaming.com, which advertises all three places.

I don't see anything on that web site that mentions either Ganaste or Lucky Lucy D. Why is it that so many casinos seem to want to hide who it is that is behind them? It seems almost as bad as when the people behind the curtain were in organized crime.

Quote: rdw4potus

I think I've told this story before - I visited Lucky club at about 2am mid-week in mid-October. The place was decked out for Halloween and mostly deserted. Worse yet, the people who were there could easily have passed for the undead (they were NOT in costume). It's one of the scariest places I've ever been - not in a safety way, but in in a creepy way.

I'm told that under normal conditions, Lucky Club is the nicest of the Southern North Las Vegas casinos. I will have to go back to test that statement out.

I was there at about noon on Sunday of WoVCon. It still is one of the scariest casinos I've ever been to. The player's club/cashier/gift shop/hotel registration (I think) with the glass window and banker-style microphone was an experience by itself. I played at the one open BJ table, with a guy who had a bottle of Patron at the table that you could smell 4 seats down. He was playing table max ($200) every hand, and when another kid sat down who just turned 21 and made a bonehead move, he threatened to leave the table. I'm sure the pit was not happy about that.

Quote: teddys

According to their website, the same ownership group owns Lucky Club, Silver Nugget and Opera House. Of those, Lucky Club is the nicest (and also the only one with a hotel).

It's true all three are owned by the same group, but LC has a different player's club from the other two. I didn't realize MTR owned those casinos... I don't blame them for getting out of those markets.

I went back and checked the NGCB list of non-restricted casino license holders as updated less than two weeks ago.

The Opera House Casino and the Silver Nugget Casino are licensed to Silver Nugget Gaming, LLC, which is 100% managed by Silver Nugget Holdings, LLC.

Ownership of that holding company is in both preferred units and common units. The preferred units belong to Jonathan Michael Fine, Kathryn Amanda Fine, a trust for Jeffrey Aron Fine, a trust for Alyson Fine Marmur, and to Bruce Wayne Deifik (39.07%). All of the common units are held by the trust for Jeffrey Aron Fine.

I know nothing about trusts, but it appears from the document that Jeffrey Aron Fine's interests were recorded in 2007, and that he is the listed manager. All of the other parties had their shares recorded in 2008. Completely without additional basis, I speculate that Jeffrey Aron Fine distributed his ownership to family members (his kids?) plus to Mr. Deifik.

The Lucky Club, on the other hand, is still licensed to Lucky Lucy D, LLC, owned 100% by Bruce Wayne Deifik.

I'm not really sure of the meaning of the "owner" of a Nevada casino vs. the "license holder" of a Nevada casino, but it sure looks to me as if there is a significant difference between the licensing of the Lucky Club and licensing of the other two establishments.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Luxor

In contrast to yesterday's uncertainties on casino ownership vs. who holds the license, today's Casino Chip of the Day is from a casino with a well-known history.

The Luxor hotel and casino opened near the south end of the strip in 1993 as a property of Circus Circus Enterprises. Supposedly, the construction was financed strictly out of cash flow from their other properties, without any outside debt or equity investors. Seems like quite a contrast to the way casinos are built/bought this millennium, fully-leveraged and encumbered to the hilt and beyond. Ownership, of course, wended its way through Mandalay Resort Group and MGM Mirage to today's MGM Resorts International.

My wife and I have only stayed at the Luxor hotel one time, but we visit there each time we are in Las Vegas. We usually just get a meal at one of the casual restaurants, but we have seen some delightful shows in their theater, including "Three Redneck Tenors" and "Menopause the Musical".

We like the décor based on a theme of ancient Egypt, perhaps because we were able to visit Egypt together thirty years ago and see some of the original stuff. One problem with the theme is that the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are the dominant items in the external design, while the real versions of both of those are located in Giza, not Luxor. I suppose there are just a few factual discrepancies in the New York - New York design, too. Ah, why be nitpicky. The Luxor does have an exhibit based on Tut's tomb and statues of Ramses II seated, and those certainly relate to real items on the west side of the Nile, across from Luxor, Egypt.

Unless you are a fan of The Fifth Element or Stargate, I'm not sure what that forty-some billion candlepower light beam shooting out of the top of the pyramid is supposed to be all about, and both of those films post-date the Luxor's construction.

The Luxor chip shown below is white with two wide edge inserts in red and purple. The outer ring of the chip has the casino name and city molded in, using a customized font. There are also two ankhs, the Egyptian symbol for life.

This chip and the vast majority of the chips I will be posting in the next couple of weeks have hidden images that are revealed by UV light. Most of those hidden images will be simple Paulson hat and cane logos, but the Luxor chip has a bit more. In fact, as has been discussed earlier in this thread, the Luxor casino has quite a history of hidden images on their chips. Perhaps someone will post one of the Luxor's 1993 chips from Chipco as illuminated with UV light.

In case no one does, you can check out the variety of hidden images as posted in the MOGH catalog. The catalog indicates that just one of those numerous Chipco varieties was issued in 2002. Surprisingly, that catalog does not show a UV image for the chip that I am posting, which they indicate was issued in 2004. Even a bit more surprising, I cannot detect any hidden images by using the little UV flashlight that I bought back in April. With that light, I can only see that the red edge insert fluoresces pink or orange.

However, when I use the fluorescent UV tube that I bought last month, I can see what is revealed in the second photo below. There is enough clutter in the basic image on the center inlay to make it difficult to examine the hidden images. There is at least the repeated "Luxor" all over the inlay, and yes, once again one of them is misspelled. Can you find it amongst the clutter? Also hidden behind the "O" in the large Luxor, you may be able to see the Paulson hat and cane logo, identifying the manufacturer of this chip.

Please do post your Luxor chips, with or without the UV lighting.

I've only been to the Luxor twice that I recall. The first visit was during the year it opened and I recall going on their motion simulation ride "In Search of the Obelisk"...can anyone tell me if they still operate that ride, perhaps with a revamped theme? It was a GREAT ride! The second visit was maybe ten years ago to see a movie at the IMAX theater, about pilots based at Nellis AFB outside town.

Thanks for the image, Johnzimbo. That is one of the 1993 Chipco chips that I mentioned. MOGH shows sixteen variants of that chip and indicates that there are eight others that they don't have images of. One of the differences is the surface texture (linen vs. satin), and I can't tell which yours is from a photo. All of the other differences are in the various hidden UV images. (Actually, two of the chips they show look identical to me and are described the same way, so I dunno.) Other than to entertain someone, I have no idea why they would have so many different hidden images issued at the same time.

Have you ever examined your chip under black light?

Here's mine:

Quote: Doc

Have you ever examined your chip under black light?

No, unfortunately I had a cheap black light flashlight a couple years ago for work (to look for rat droppings...don't ask hehe) and I lost it :(

Quote: Johnzimbo

The first visit was during the year it opened and I recall going on their motion simulation ride "In Search of the Obelisk"...can anyone tell me if they still operate that ride, perhaps with a revamped theme? It was a GREAT ride!

I completely agree that Search of the Obelisk was a great attraction.... sadly it closed, along with a lot of the fun attractions there. The IMAX theater still operates though, and I believe Titanic is currently there as well.

For those of you who never did the Search, it was a highly themed attraction, with many steps and ride attendants acting as part of the experience, very similar to the Star Trek attractions. I could be mistaken, but the main ride was shipped off to Circus Circus for their Adventuredome attraction that now features Spongebob Squarepants.

zippyboy:

That's a nice set of chips. I don't know what that first set of three is; are they metal tokens? I don't have any tokens with colors.

I think it is interesting how Luxor changed back and forth on the supplier of their chips. The first $1 and $5 chips you show are the 1993 chips from Chipco. The first, second, and tenth anniversary chips and the Year of the Rat chip are from Paulson. The fifth anniversary chip is from Chipco and looks quite a bit like the original $500 chip, except for the "Fifth Anniversary" banner. The third anniversary chip is from Bud Jones

I also think it is amusing that the 1st anniversary chip is marked 1994 and the 2nd anniversary chip is marked 1995, but the 3rd anniversary chip says 1993, the year they opened. Of course, in those first three years they had chips from three different manufacturers, so it's not surprising that there could be a loss of continuity.

Quote: Doc

zippyboy:

That's a nice set of chips. I don't know what that first set of three is; are they metal tokens? I don't have any tokens with colors.

I was there shortly after Luxor opened, and I seem to remember the tokens were in use at all the table games except for craps, which had the Chipco. Many casinos did that, "no heavy metal tokens on the crap table" rule. And I'm not sure the $8 chip was ever in play; I had to buy that one and all the anniversary chips at the cage when they were first released.

I like that rule about tokens. I don't understand why they are ever used on a crap table.

I suspect that $8 chips are always for Chinese New Year and never used in a game, unless it is for one of the Asian games and specifically introduced for one group of players.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: M

The M Resort, Spa, and Casino is located way, waaaay south on Las Vegas Boulevard. It is more than eight miles south of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Nevertheless, the chip claims that the place is in Las Vegas, just as all of the Paradise, NV casinos on the strip do, and I think the folks at M wish it to be considered the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip. In reality, not only is it not in Las Vegas, it isn't even in Paradise like the others. I think it is inside the city limits of Henderson, but referring to a casino as being in Henderson leaves the impression that it is miles and miles from this one's actual location.

The casino was conceived by Anthony Marnell III, son of the owner of a contracting services company that built quite a few Las Vegas Casinos. The younger Marnell was mentioned earlier in this thread as the primary owner of the Edgewater in Laughlin. MGM Mirage invested substantially in the project in 2006, and the resort-spa-casino opened in 2009.

The M is an extremely nice facility, but it is so remote from the rest of the Las Vegas action that it still has not really caught on. The developers/investors anticipated that the whole geographic area would be heavily developed – see the comments in this thread's post for the Casino Fandango regarding Garry Vincent Goett and his Southern Highlands Casino Resort planned for across the street from the M.

Without surrounding development and with the downward blip in the economy, the M like so many other casinos felt a financial crunch. In 2010, Penn National purchased the debt and in 2011 acquired the property in exchange for cancelling the debt. Marnell remains as president without ownership. After all that, the casino issued a 3rd anniversary chip this year with Marnell's photo on it. Tiltpoul keeps telling us how Penn National is going to convert the place to a Hollywood Casino and destroy its quality. I guess that could be.

The chip shown below is white with black and purple edge inserts. According to MOGH, it is one of the original chips issued in 2009. The full name of the place, including "Resort • Spa • Casino", is not just printed on the center inlay but also molded into the outer ring. The center inlay is quite small and includes the stylized M logo. This chip's UV-revealed image is the Paulson hat and cane logo, letting us know the chip manufacturer.

M isn't in Las Vegas? Neither are the Giants in New York. It's perfectly acceptable to point it out in the context of this thread, but it deserves little more than a shoulder shrug.

Quite frankly, I'd like it if some of these casinos would identify themselves as being from Clark County, but I guess that's a pipe dream.


Although I only started paying attention after noticing it on the LVH chip, this center inlay is cut off-center.

Quote: Doc

Without surrounding development and with the downward blip in the economy, the M like so many other casinos felt a financial crunch. In 2010, Penn National purchased the debt and in 2011 acquired the property in exchange for cancelling the debt. Marnell remains as president without ownership. After all that, the casino issued a 3rd anniversary chip this year with Marnell's photo on it. Tiltpoul keeps telling us how Penn National is going to convert the place to a Hollywood Casino and destroy its quality. I guess that could be.

HA! When I saw this chip, I was thinking that, so thanks for the shout out!

To be fair, I don't see Penn touching this property for a couple of years. For one thing, they already have too many irons in the fire with the Ohio properties opening up this year, not to mention Kansas City. Furthermore, it has somewhat of a following as people like the open windows and setting of the casino. I could see them giving it a year or two to try to build the business, but M just doesn't have a theme, or anything for that matter.

It might actually be a tougher conversion to a Hollywood than you might expect. While opulent, Hollywood's are more about the grandeur which might seem a bit out of place for its location. Given it's location off the interstate and proximity to California in that regard, I still believe it will get a conversion sooner than later.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

M isn't in Las Vegas? Neither are the Giants in New York.

Don't they still play at the Polo Grounds? You were talking baseball, weren't you? And I think the Dodgers play at Ebbets Field.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

M isn't in Las Vegas? Neither are the Giants in New York.

Neither are the Jets.

But does the stadium bill itself as being in New York?

Getting a little off topic here, but...

Quote: Doc

Don't they still play at the Polo Grounds? You were talking baseball, weren't you? And I think the Dodgers play at Ebbets Field.

Well, the Dodgers billed themselves as the Brooklyn Dodgers, which IS part of NY. Ditto for the Bronx, allowing for the Yankees nickname of the Bronx Bombers. But...

Quote: Nareed

...does the stadium bill itself as being in New York?

No. It's in the Meadowlands, which is part of Secaucus NJ.

On a related note, Newark Airport is in NJ, but is often called a NYC airport. But it, and the other NY airports, as well as bridges and tunnels that cross the Hudson River, are managed by the Port Authority of NY & NJ, so I kinda let that one go.

My best story about the M is that I stopped to play a few hands of BJ on the drive in from SoCal. I got paid for a BJ with a half dollar and took a look at it, WOAH! It was a silver half dollar! That is worth considerably more than 50 cents! Talk about an advantage play!

Quote: bigfoot66

My best story about the M is ....

I don't know that this is my best story, but my wife and I were in Las Vegas the 4th week of September 2009. That's about as close to summer as we like to be there, and the weather was still unreasonably hot to us. We rode down to the M one morning for a late breakfast in the little cafe in the back of the casino. At that time, it was called the Red Cup Cafe. Now it is the Hash House a Go Go.

We were seated at a table right next to a window overlooking the pool area. It looked like a really nice place to relax, if you could stand the heat. We commented to the waitress on something about the pool, and she said they were closing it for the season that weekend. My wife and I couldn't figure out why they would close the pool for the season when the daily highs were still running about 130°. The waitress admitted that they really wanted to use the area as a concert venue, because it would generate more revenue. I have no idea how much of the year that pool is operated as a pool now.

Here are my Luxor and M chips. I've only been to Luxor once. I remember thinking that it was unique, with the pyramid shape existing inside as well as out. I've been to the M a couple times. Very impressive quality for a non-strip property. It's maybe the nicest off-strip Las Vegas property (depending on your views on the Palms and Red Rock)

And who can forget that "Top Chef: Las Vegas" was filmed at the M back in 2010 or so, the season Michael Voltaggio won it? Beautiful casino and lobby architecture.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Main Street Station

Thanks for showing your Luxor and M chips, rdw4potus. Each of them appears to be from the same series as the $1 chips that I posted. I wonder, does that $5 Luxor chip has the same kind of hidden images? Anyway, from a south-strip casino and a way-way-south-strip casino, we return to downtown Las Vegas for today's Casino Chip of the Day.

Main Street Station is (I think) the only Las Vegas casino-hotel with "Station" in its name that is not part of Station Casinos (though too many people think it is). So how did the place wind up with a "Station" name?

On the far side of the country in Florida, a developer converted the old Orlando train depot on West Church Street as an entertainment complex under the name Church Street Station. It was quite a successful development in the 1970s and 80s. In 1987, the developer, Bob Snow, signed with the city of Las Vegas to perform a similar re-purposing of a Las Vegas train station using urban redevelopment funds. The intended name was either Church Street Station or Winchester Station, depending on which resource you wish to believe.

Apparently there was some difficulty in gaining control of the relevant properties, and I haven't searched for the details. Instead, they converted the Main Street Park Hotel downtown, adding abundant antiques and opulent decorations, and called the result Main Street Station. A month after opening in 1991, they were reporting food and beverage sales of $100,000 per day and looking to expand the operations. Apparently Snow did a very good job with the dining and entertainment aspects but, bringing no casino background from his Orlando development, significantly missed the mark with the Main Street Station casino. The bank foreclosed, and the business was bankrupt by 1992.

Boyd Gaming, which already owned the California hotel-casino across the street, bought the shuttered Main Street Station property in December 1993. Three years later they had performed sufficient modifications to open it as a successful establishment, keeping the original name, including "Station". There is now a pedestrian bridge across Main Street, connecting the two properties.

At WoVCon][, the first group gambling session was a Friday night game of craps at Main Street Session. It provided a lot of fun and was not all that costly for most of us, though the dice had been even kinder to me there a few nights earlier.

The chip shown below is a white Paulson RHC hat and cane chip with three edge inserts in pink, maroon, and green. The MOGH catalog indicates that this is one of the chips issued when the casino re-opened in 1996. In fact, it is the only Main Street Station $1 chip shown in that catalog, though they show some higher-denomination chips from the 1991 edition of the casino.

The image under UV light reveals that the pink insert fluoresces, as does a hidden hat and cane logo. Perhaps this is an appropriate place to mention that it is pretty much a random event as to whether my UV photo shows the same or opposite side of the chip as the visible light photo, and in each case I have the chip oriented with the center inlay roughly horizontal. So, yes, that is the pink insert in the UV photo that appears roughly in the same location that the green insert appears in the visible light photo.

As you post your Main Street Station chips, please note any that you are confident you acquired while the place was open in 1991-92.

Here is my Main Street Station contribution:


I remember the MSS before it was absorbed by the California. I recall that it really suffered from a poor location. I personally consider it the furthest north of the "Downtown" casinos, and although it is in reality, less than a 10 minute walk from the Fremont Experience, it's fairly desolate, and out of sight is out of mind. If Boyd didn't build an "interior" bridge to the California Hotel, I don't know how they would get along.

They do have my favorite "value" buffet.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I remember the MSS before it was absorbed by the California. I recall that it really suffered from a poor location. I personally consider it the furthest north of the "Downtown" casinos, and although it is in reality, less than a 10 minute walk from the Fremont Experience, it's fairly desolate, and out of sight is out of mind. If Boyd didn't build an "interior" bridge to the California Hotel, I don't know how they would get along.

My sentiments exactly.

Some eyars ago I was robbed at gunpoint (I think with an unlaoded gun, but I'm not sure), one street from the bank. it was a desolate street, empty of pedestrians. Since then I'm loath to walk on empty streets, no matter how good the neighborhood. In Vegas pedestrians are few outside of Downtown and the Strip. I did walk from the Plaza to MSS once, but that was in the company of Tiltpoul, Doc and Doc's wife.

BTW, when walking to the cal, I go through Binion's rather than through the (Las) Vegas Club.

Other than that, I do like both the Cal and the MSS. Both have good VP, and craps at MSS is very good. And of course that was where I first met Doc and his charming wife, rigth outside the Triple 7 Brew Pub. Add that the first WoVCon was held there, and we can name the MSS an official WoV Landmark :)

Quote:

They do have my favorite "value" buffet.

I tried it once, for lunch. It was ok, but no more than that. For the price, though, I have no complaints.

Thanks for that chip, Ayecarumba. With all the $5 chips that get posted in this thread, it's nice to have a little evidence that my $1 chips aren't the lowest ones around.

When you say you remember MSS before it was absorbed by the California, are you referring to the 1991-92 period when it was operated by the original owner? The chip you posted isn't from that era, is it?

The MOGH catalog shows two very similar 25¢ chips, one like yours and one with the line through the cent symbol vertical rather than slanted, and says both were issued in 1996 when the place reopened. I suppose one could really be a hold-over from the previous owner. The only ones the catalog identifies as pre-Boyd are $5 - $500, plus a roulette chip.

And I agree on the buffet -- it's the only one in Las Vegas that my wife and I go to any more.

Here's my MSS chip. I've only been there a couple times, and I've never tried the buffet. I thought I might at WOVcon][ (Help, what's the symbol we used for the friday before the actual event?), but I couldn't change my flight into Vegas and I arrived too late for dinner. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that I've ever eaten at any Vegas buffet.

We shot some craps at MSS the friday before WOVcon][. It was fun, and I think that the players betting the inside of the felt were doing OK. Lots of numbers hit, just never the point. I pretty quickly lost my $100 buyin betting the pass + 2x odds, while others stayed even or were up. The crew was fantastic that night, and I don't think I've ever had a bad service experience at MSS.

I visited this place shortly after it opened in 1991 and at that time it was called "Rosie O'Grady's Main Street Station". Alas, I don't recall playing any table games and didn't snag a chip. My one strong memory of the place was that they tried to make a go of an Australian game called "Two-up". They had a large section of the casino floor set aside for this, maybe about the size of a boxing ring but circular if I recall correctly. I think the game consisted of a paddle and two coins and one of the players would flip the paddle up, tossing both coins into the air, and players could bet (I think) on two heads, two tails or one of each. The had at least two dealers for the game and the dealers were barking loudly as if they were at a carnival game, which I guess is a good description of the game.

Anyway, I watched maybe 2-3 flips and on the last one the player flipped the paddle so hard one of the coins landed up on the second floor balcony LOL...I think they had to do a re-flip. The whole game seemed kinda lame and took up too much floor space, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't last.

Quote: rdw4potus

(Help, what's the symbol we used for the friday before the actual event?),

That was WoVCon ].5

BTW, the next one wtll be WoVCon ]I[, and then we're done using old, old, old, old Apple-style numbers. Any WoV-related get together between now and then, though, is free to use WoVCon ][+

Quote:

We shot some craps at MSS the friday before WOVcon][. It was fun, and I think that the players betting the inside of the felt were doing OK. Lots of numbers hit, just never the point. I pretty quickly lost my $100 buyin betting the pass + 2x odds, while others stayed even or were up.

I was more concerned that day about keeping the odds bets straight. But I think that I played only pass line with 2X-3X odds and I wound up ahead when I quit playing. Not much ahead. I'm quite positive of that, but of course it was late, I was tired, and half expecting Tiltpoul to collapse on the stool :)

Quote: Doc

And I agree on the buffet -- it's the only one in Las Vegas that my wife and I go to any more.

Seconded! (But it doesn't hurt to have a 2:1 coupon, lol)

Quote: Nareed

I was more concerned that day about keeping the odds bets straight. But I think that I played only pass line with 2X-3X odds and I wound up ahead when I quit playing. Not much ahead. I'm quite positive of that, but of course it was late, I was tired, and half expecting Tiltpoul to collapse on the stool :)

...which by the way, I wasn't drunk, but rather dead-ass tired. I hadn't slept but 2 hours for something like 48 hours, and the stool was a lot of fun, since it swiveled. When I get that tired, I say and do really stupid things.

Quote: Tiltpoul

...which by the way, I wasn't drunk, but rather dead-ass tired. I hadn't slept but 2 hours for something like 48 hours, and the stool was a lot of fun, since it swiveled. When I get that tired, I say and do really stupid things.

My apologies. I did not mean to imply otherwise.

What I didn't think at the time was we shouldn't have let you drive yourself back to the Rio...

As to the stool, you were leaning on it, so you'd have collapsed, of exhaustion, on it as well.

Quote: Doc

When you say you remember MSS before it was absorbed by the California, are you referring to the 1991-92 period when it was operated by the original owner? The chip you posted isn't from that era, is it?

No, it is post Boyd Group assimilation. My plan is to acquire 25-cent chips in lots of two hundred from different joints to use in my home game. A quarter each is much cheaper than the thirty-five cents a piece you would have to pay at retail for similar quality.

At last count, it was four down, and 196 to go....

Quote: Ayecarumba

No, it is post Boyd Group assimilation. My plan is to acquire 25-cent chips in lots of two hundred from different joints to use in my home game. A quarter each is much cheaper than the thirty-five cents a piece you would have to pay at retail for similar quality.

At last count, it was four down, and 196 to go....

Do you want/need to get them yourself? I could grab some from Mystic Lake here in MN and ship them to you...

Quote: Tiltpoul

When I get that tired, I...do really stupid things.

Like playing craps with us:-) Given how tired you were, I'd say you held it together pretty well. Hopefully, you navigated the crowds at Rio successfully when you got back there.

Quote: rdw4potus

Do you want/need to get them yourself? I could grab some from Mystic Lake here in MN and ship them to you...

Thanks for the generous offer, but paying the shipping cuts deep into the savings. Also, I only rathole the "fresh" ones, which takes a while. I wouldn't want to put you through the trouble.

Quote: Doc

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Luxor

I've stayed at the Luxor a handful of times, as for the past 2 years, it has been the hotel to give a "special" rate for players in the Ultimate tournament I usually attend in Vegas in the Spring (note: the special rate is usually garbage).

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the diagonally-traveling elevators. If you stay in the main pyramid, the rooms are located along the outside of the pyramid, so from outside your door you can see down into the atrium. It's kind of a cool effect. The elevators in this section all require room keys so random people aren't just going up the diagonal elevators. It's definitely a strange feeling.

Quote: AcesAndEights

Quote: Doc

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Luxor

I've stayed at the Luxor a handful of times, as for the past 2 years, it has been the hotel to give a "special" rate for players in the Ultimate tournament I usually attend in Vegas in the Spring (note: the special rate is usually garbage).

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the diagonally-traveling elevators. If you stay in the main pyramid, the rooms are located along the outside of the pyramid, so from outside your door you can see down into the atrium. It's kind of a cool effect. The elevators in this section all require room keys so random people aren't just going up the diagonal elevators. It's definitely a strange feeling.

Since we are back tracking, the "inclinator" (rather than "elevator") made me ill. The slanted wall in each of the pyramid rooms was also a pain, since you had to watch your head all the time. When I first stayed there, the entire atrium was wide open to anyone who wanted to drop stuff on the folks below from the interior walkway balconies. Later, a cover was put up to protect the folks below from wayward bottles and saliva coming over the rails.

I recall that there was a structural defect discovered below the nightclub. A structural engineer even said the entire floor could collapse. How did they fix it?

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Mandalay Bay

The Mandalay Bay hotel-casino is generally considered the southern end of the Las Vegas strip, replacing in that distinction the Hacienda, which was demolished to make way for the new hotel. The facility opened in 1999. It was developed as part of Circus Circus Enterprises, which soon afterward became Mandalay Resort Group and was bought by MGM-Mirage, leaving it now as part of MGM Resorts International. It has the original tower with several floors designated as a Four Seasons Hotel and a newer, all-suites tower called THEhotel. I'm not sure whether that name is intended to be confusing or is just over-the-top pretentious.

My wife and I have never stayed in either of the towers at Mandalay Bay and don't even get down there very often. While we were in town for WoVCon I in 2011, we attended The Lion King there and were quite pleased with the performance. I don't think we have been to any other shows at Mandalay Bay or patronized any of the restaurants for anything more than a snack. It is a little surprising how much more often we drop by Luxor than either of the surrounding sister properties, Mandalay Bay and Excalibur. I guess we just like the environment a lot more.

The chip shown below is a blue Paulson chip with six edge inserts in two triplets. The name of the casino is molded twice into the outer ring. According to the MOGH catalog, this chip was issued when the casino opened in 1999. A similar chip issued in 2010 had a smaller center inlay with same design, plus a small hat and cane. The second image shows that a hidden hat and cane logo is revealed by UV light and that the center (pink) insert of each triplet fluoresces.

Here's mine:



I went to the Black Eyed Peas at Mandalay Bay December 2009; nice auditorium. I don't go to MB much because it's so far off the beaten path, and their poker room has some player-unfriendly rules. Place has a rather elite aire about it that puts me off, without the eye candy of similar places, so I don't go there much.

Here's my Mandalay Bay chip. It's also a Paulson chip with 6 edge inserts, but they're evenly spaced. I think I like the triplets better.

I've only been to Mandalay Bay once, when I collected the chip. I was impressed, and keep meaning to go back. But it's pretty far south on the strip, and I really don't want to re-visit anything else on that block. I suppose I'll drive and park at Mandalay Bay on some future trip, so that I can see it again. Maybe when the Fiancee is with me, since she missed the south strip properties when we were in Vegas before.