Casino Chip of the Day

State: California
City: Coachella
Casino: Augustine

We can continue with the discussion of the various forms of California Card Craps, but on to another Casino Chip of the Day ….

The Augustine Casino is owned and operated by the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians – different band of the same Native American group discussed with yesterday's Casino Chip of the Day. According to the casino's web site, the reservation had long ceased to be occupied by members of the Augustine band, when a MaryAnn Martin decided to explore her family background, including that of her mother Roberta Augustine. In 1988, the 24-year-old MaryAnn had sufficiently discovered her history to be elected Tribal Chairperson, a position she has held ever since. Next, there was re-establishment of tribal government in 1994 and resettling of the reservation in 1996.

Then they opened the casino in 2002. Now I don't really know any further details, but this sounds a bit like that story that someone (FleaStiff?) was telling on this forum about the creation of tribes and the tribal casinos in Massachusetts. It is probably politically incorrect to even think about such things. The Augustine Casino web site does say, "We expect this casino to become the economic engine that will allow the Augustine Band to achieve its goal of cultural self-sufficiency."

I am rather confident that the chip shown below is the very first chip that I have posted that gives no indication whatsoever about where the casino is located. No city, no state, nada. It's almost as if they didn't want players to find them.

Of course, their web site is, uh, helpful. It says, "Augustine Casino is nestled in the shadow of the beautiful San Jacinto Mountains between Palm Springs and Indio." However, according to my map, Indio is located four miles almost due north of the casino, while Palm Springs is located another 20 miles west-northwest of Indio. I think it takes some really creative geography/cartography/geometry to believe that the casino is somehow "between" those two cities. Maybe they really don't want players to find them. How would that help achieve cultural self-sufficiency?

Nevertheless, with some effort I was able to find the place during a whirlwind six days in April 2009 in which my wife and I made our way to nine southern California tribal casinos, Sea World, the Palm Springs Villagefest, some sightseeing, the Old Town Bazaar in San Diego, lunch at the Hotel Del Coronado, and a few other spots just to keep ourselves busy. As I often say, unemployment can be nice, so long as you can afford it. At least it gives us the time to travel as often as we like.

The chip shown below is a white Bud Jones chip with eight blue edge "inserts." There is no BJ logo either visible or revealed by UV light, but the entire central area of the chip does fluoresce. I do not know the significance of the symbol shown on the chip, but it does appear on all of their chips and other items shown on the MOGH site. On the band's web site, the four dangling red items are replaced by three feathers, for what that's worth.

It would be a nice design, if it had more vibrancy.

Quote: Doc

Well, Tim, that sounds like both the version that I described and that bigfoot66 says is at Sycuan and the version bigfoot66 described as being at Harrah's. How are these different, at least in terms of being "just like regular dice"?

And BTW, how do the various card craps games compare in terms of buy bet vig, field payout on the 12, and free odds limits? I can't remember that stuff at all.

The Sycuan way uses a single set of 6 cards that are shuffled only every 7 out, possibly also when a point is made, I am not sure. With the sycuan method both dice are mapped to the same set of cards. This is only important insofar as that the dice must show doubles in order for the cards to be doubles. The Harrah's method (yes, Rincon. This is their only store in CA.) has 2 seperate sets of 6 cards, so the outcome on the cards could be doubles regardless of the outcome on the dice. This means the dice play even less of a role in determing the roll. The negative of the Harrah's method is that they have to shuffle both sets of cards every time, this can slow down an otherwise fast game as the box man has to do a lot of labor.

The old method (Morongo, Pechanga) that seems to be dying was to have two baccarat shoes full of aces-sixes and just pull one from each shoe. There was some paranoia about card counters there but the penetration was so lousy that I don't think you could make any real money here. Also the shoes were shuffled by hand so the game would break up whenever that cut card came out as players moved on.

There are a lot of nice casinos in the Palm Springs area. This one is not among them. But they have (or at least had) the only S17 game I am aware of in SoCal.

Quote: bigfoot66

The old method (Morongo, Pechanga) that seems to be dying was to have two baccarat shoes full of aces-sixes and just pull one from each shoe. There was some paranoia about card counters there but the penetration was so lousy that I don't think you could make any real money here. Also the shoes were shuffled by hand so the game would break up whenever that cut card came out as players moved on.

I can't speak for Pechanga since it has been a few years since I've been there but Morongo now has two continuous shufflers on the table and the box man draws one card from each to make the roll. Each shuffler has either blue or red cards. I have no idea how many "decks" are in them. San Manuel is similar but they only use one CSM and the box man draws two cards for each roll.

CA is ridiculous. It is the most liberal state in the union but God forbid we allow roulette wheels and dice in our tribal casinos.

Quote: bigfoot66

There are a lot of nice casinos in the Palm Springs area. This one is not among them.

Just to avoid confusion (since we've been discussing various casinos with card craps for two days), is "not among them" a comment on Augustine? I assume so.

Quote: Doc

Just to avoid confusion (since we've been discussing various casinos with card craps for two days), is "not among them" a comment on Augustine? I assume so.

That is correct.

Quote: Elrohir44

I can't speak for Pechanga since it has been a few years since I've been there but Morongo now has two continuous shufflers on the table and the box man draws one card from each to make the roll. Each shuffler has either blue or red cards. I have no idea how many "decks" are in them. San Manuel is similar but they only use one CSM and the box man draws two cards for each roll.

CA is ridiculous. It is the most liberal state in the union but God forbid we allow roulette wheels and dice in our tribal casinos.

Yes. The government of California is very stupid.

State: California
City: Lakeside
Casino: Barona

The Barona Resort and Casino, formerly known as Barona Valley Ranch & Casino, is owned and operated by the Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians. I'm not sure, but I suspect that very few Native American tribes have sold their reservation and bought a new one.

In 1875, the U.S. federal government established the Capitan Grande Reservation for the native people living in what is now the northern part of San Diego county. As is the case for many reservations, the land was substantially uninhabitable, and it was quite mountainous.

In 1932, the growing city of San Diego needed a reservoir, and the limited habitable portions of the tribal reservation were in the perfect spot. The tribe sold the bulk of the reservation to the city and subsequently bought the Barona ranch as a new reservation. I assume that the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved both of those transactions, but I have to wonder just what the financial details might have been, both declared and hidden, particularly in the midst of the depression. The Wiki page for the tribe claims that the original reservation was "forcibly purchased" by the city.

Regardless of the history, the new reservation now includes a museum, school, fire station, gas station, church, ball park, and community center tied together architecturally in a theme of a 1930s ranch. Of course, there is also a casino there, even if commercial gambling wasn't a traditional part of ranch life.

The MOGH catalog claims the casino opened in 1984, while Wikipedia claims it was 1994. I suspect one or the other was a typo. Just to complicate matters, MOGH shows a Barona commemorative chip with a 1993 date and the inscription "World's Largest Casino Under Canvas." Yep, they started out in a tent, but the casino's web site doesn't say specifically when they started. The tribal web site does mention the casino's charitable contributions "since 1994." Anyone here know for sure when the place opened?

The Wikipedia page for Barona says their game offerings include, "California-style craps (using playing cards rather than dice, as dice games are not allowed in California casinos)." I have to question that "cards rather than dice" phrase, since we have descriptions of a variety of California craps games that use dice and TIMSPEED recently proclaimed Barona as having the best. We still need a full description of that game and how it is "best."

Barona was another of the nine tribal casinos that I visited on that April 2009 swing through southern California that I mentioned yesterday. I would report my gambling results at each casino, but I didn't start keeping a session log until a couple of months after that trip.

The chip shown below is a white Bourgogne-et-Grasset chip, with the BG logo toward the right. It has eight split (or sixteen) brown (imitation) edge inserts. Once again, the chip gives no indication of the location of the casino. Although these last two days present an abrupt change in the characteristics of chips in this thread, I think this is a fairly common feature for tribal casino chips. Perhaps it is an issue of autonomy – not wanting to declare that a facility on their tribal land is in some California, USA city. I'm not at all sure of the reasoning, and it certainly isn't a universal characteristic of tribal casino chips.

The Barona casino does a lot of things right. They are not my home casino but every gambler in the SoCal area thinks highly of them. They have an ATM machine that does not charge any fees. They once ran a promotion for new members that was kind of like a loss rebate, only it was called $200 double/cover promotion. They would rebate your loss or double your win on slots up to $200. I have never seen it myself, but just about everyone has a story about how they were there and a guy was betting the side bet on BJ every hand, forgot to do it one hand and got a winner so they went ahead and paid him anyway. If you tell a slot attendant that you lost a $20 TITO ticket they will just give you the money no questions asked.

On the other hand, they do not serve alcohol.

I haven't been to Barona in 4 years.

State: California
City: Indio
Casino: Fantasy Springs

Today we have the third consecutive Casino Chip of the Day that does not tell the casino's location, with a fourth to come tomorrow. Perhaps that doesn't seem so odd to others as it does to me.

The Fantasy Springs Resort Casino opened in 1995 and is located on the eastern edge of Indio, adjacent to I-10, though some of their chips have indicated the more general location of "Coachella Valley." Their web site says they are "located in the beautiful Palm Springs area." From Palm Springs, a reasonably direct route to the casino (avoiding the interstate) would take you 25 miles through Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and out to the far side of Indio. Guess it depends a bit on how broadly you use the word "area."

The casino is owned by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. According to their web site, the members are all descendants of Chief Cabazon, leader of the Desert Cahuilla Indians from the 1830s to the 1870s. They even have a photo of him on the web site. I guess you could view this as a family business.

I only visited Fantasy Springs one time, in 2007, and I remember it as being a pretty nice establishment. In addition to the casino and hotel, they have a golf course, a lounge that seems to focus on country music, a Rock Yard with free music by tribute bands on the weekends, and an events center with upcoming shows by George Thorogood, Rodney Carrington, John Legend, Alice Cooper, and Journey. Doesn't sound like too shabby a venue.

The chip shown below is white with 12 black edge inserts. It appears to be a plastic injection molded chip, though I am not completely certain as to the manufacturer. The MOGH catalog lists the mold as "RFID", a term which I only know as referring to Radio Frequency IDentification tags. I highly doubt that any casino is placing such tags in $1 chips; I read that the manufacturing cost of RFID tagged chips is around $2.50 each, though I'm not sure of the accuracy of that figure.

Another resource lists the chip as coming from Bally. Seeing that, I realized that this is the same mold that was used for the chip I posted from Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno. The Grand Sierra chip was listed in the MOGH catalog as an "RTP" mold, and I still have no idea what that means. That Grand Sierra chip did have a Bally Technologies logo on it, but the Fantasy Springs chip does not. Back when I posted the Grand Sierra chip, I made a follow-up comment:

Quote: Doc

Bally Manufacturing and associated companies produced a lot of products for gaming over the years, from slot machines to pinball machines to video games, and they are now offering a casino chip tracking system. My guess is that some business under their control and using their logo was manufacturing casino chips in 2007 (and may still be), but I just haven't found good info on that.

I still haven't found good info on that, though I suspect it would apply to this Fantasy Springs chip as well.

Fantasy Springs is indeed a very nice place. The Eagle Falls golf course at Fantasy Springs is the home of the annual Playboy Golf Scramble. I've never gone to that event, but there are many (location-appropriate) pictures in the hall leading from the parking garage to the casino.

Quote: Doc

Today we have the third consecutive Casino Chip of the Day that does not tell the casino's location, with a fourth to come tomorrow. Perhaps that doesn't seem so odd to others as it does to me.

Maybe the oddity is not these casinos, but the California regulations themselves.

Perhaps California is the only jurisdiction where the location is not required on the chips.

I've never been to Fantasy Springs, but Cabazon Band is famous for other reasons.

California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987) was the Supreme Court case that basically opened the floodgates for full-scale Indian gaming in the U.S. IGRA followed two years later. In fact, the case is so well-known that Indian gaming lawyers will often just say "Cabazon," assuming you know to what they are referring. Like most legal landmarks, its not as spectacular as its wider significance would suggest. (For example, I've been to the school in Topeka where Brown v. Board of Education originated. Just an old -- albeit historic -- neighborhood elementary school.)

Quote: teddys

... Like most legal landmarks, its not as spectacular as its wider significance would suggest.

I know what you mean. When I visited St. Louis this summer, I took some photos of the Gateway to the West arch from the west side. I then turned around to take a couple of photos of a statue and plaque in front of the old courthouse that was being repaired/renovated. The statue and plaque were to commemorate Dred and Harriet Scott who had filed for their freedom at that courthouse in 1846, later appealing unsuccessfully to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1857 that the Scotts and all African Americans were not citizens of the United States. It's just a small statue ....

I hate fantasy springs. The place looks nice in some ways but the rooms are far worse than those at Agua Caliente, Pala, Harrah's, etc. They have LOUSY video poker and send lousy offers. Oh and try to redeem an offer they send you without showing 4 forms of ID and jumping through 1000 hoops. They send me a $25 free ace coupon. It can only be used on the shoe games AND only as the first hand after the shuffle. I get the concern with card counters but they have only 2 or 3 shoe tables open most of the time so using the coupon is a hassle.

I will give them a pass on calling it the Palm Springs area. Most of us in SoCal consider Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert to be more Palm Springs than Palm Springs proper as these cities are where the resorts and golf courses are. This is kind of like the South Point or the M saying they are in the Las Vegas area despite their distance from the actual city. It is close enough for most tourists.

Also the Fantasy Springs was featured in the Holy Rollers movie about card counting Christians so many of us watched recently.

State: California
City: Campo
Casino: Golden Acorn

The Golden Acorn Casino and Travel Center is located adjacent to I-8, about mid-way between San Diego and El Centro and just 7 miles from the Mexican border. A dozen miles farther east toward El Centro, I-8 passes less than a mile and a half from the border, and even closer to Yuma it passes within half a mile of the border. There are no legal crossing points, to my knowledge, along this section of proximity of the major highway and the border. The terrain along the interstate includes some amazing examples of boulders piled high, presumably by forces of an ice-age glacier, though I am no geologist.

This location for the casino means that it is in one of those remote, inhospitable areas where we tended to create reservations for Native American tribes. The official address is Campo, California, though the "non-crossing" border town of Campo is some 13 miles southwest of the casino via a winding road. I suppose that fact in itself may be sufficient justification not to include a city name on the chip.

The casino is owned by the Campo Band of Diegueno Mission Indians, also known as the Campo Kumeyaay Nation, and it is located on the larger of the two segments of the Campo Indian Reservation. One page of the casino's web site gives "a look into the past" description of the tribe's history with Spanish explorers/conquerers, the Mexican government, the United States, and the State of California. That description certainly presents a case of ill will and treachery – I rather suspect that accounts presented by the opposing sides might describe things a bit differently, but perhaps not.

In the 1980s, the tribe first began to investigate development of a casino, but (as described on that web page), "The State threats and attacks on gaming made it impossible for Campo to pursue." The casino eventually was constructed and opened in 2001. The adjoining travel center is described as the only truck stop casino in San Diego County. They also offer a deli and the Golden Grill Restaurant, where my wife and I had a fine though simple lunch during our visit a few weeks ago. Half a dozen years back, there were plans for a hotel addition to the facility, to support something more than day visitors, but I saw no evidence of that during our visit, and nothing of it is mentioned on their web site.

The casino is primarily a slots establishment with a bingo hall, but CasinoCity.com claims Golden Acorn has eight tables, including 13 tables of blackjack, plus 3-card poker, Let-it-Ride, and Pai Gow Poker. Yeah, I don't get the arithmetic either; I don't know why I keep using that resource. The casino's own web site says they have 10 blackjack tables plus 3-card poker, with no mention of Let-it-Ride or Pai Gow Poker. I played blackjack (broke even) and didn't bother to check how many tables of what were available.

The chip shown below is a white Bud Jones chip (no BJ logo evident) with three wide edge spots and six dots in a light purple. On the edge of the chip, there are dots aligned with those on the faces. We will see this chip mold design again very soon. The MOGH catalog image of what appears to be this same chip shows a much brighter blue color for the spots, but my souvenir chip has colors that are well represented by the image below.

One feature that does not show up adequately in the photo is the acorn used in place of the "o" in the casino name. In reality, it is a very bright, highly-reflective, metallic spot that indeed appears to be golden.

Here's my Golden Acorn chip. I've been to the casino twice. Both trips were quite memorable. On the first visit, I arrived at 9am. GA was to be my first stop of the day, and I wanted to collect my chip & head out. The table games pit opens at 12 (their website said 8am at the time...). So I had breakfast - it was quite good - and played slots and waited. Then I played 3 hands of BJ and left. This one bit me on the back end as well, since I missed a couple stops at the end of the day's itinerary when I arrived after their tables had closed for the night. d'oh! On the second visit, I hadn't been intending to stop at all. But, a giant freaking snowstorm in late march caused I-8 to be pretty much impassable in my RWD rental car so I spent a few hours at the casino. I left Minnesota and went to San Diego County in March. It was 80 and sunny in Minneapolis and 40 and snowing in southern california. Yay vacation!!

Quote: Doc

One feature that does not show up adequately in the photo is the acorn used in place of the "o" in the casino name. In reality, it is a very bright, highly-reflective, metallic spot that indeed appears to be golden.

Gold foil stamping isn't too expensive. That could very well be gold foil. With the very small size and very thin stamp, you'd probably need to remove the gold from every chip in the casino before you had enough gold to be any real value.

I wonder about the light blue circle in the middle. Is that printed on the inlay? Or is there a metal slug within the chip, showing thru the inlay? I suppose it's possible that these inlays are thinner than most....

Gold foil is certainly a possibility, and one that wouldn't tarnish with age. There is one black line across the metallic area, marking the acorn cap.

I have no answer about the dark circle in the middle. It does not appear to be a surface image. The chip is not the least bit translucent, but I suppose the inlay could be thin enough for a weighted core to show through.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I wonder about the light blue circle in the middle. Is that printed on the inlay? Or is there a metal slug within the chip, showing thru the inlay? I suppose it's possible that these inlays are thinner than most....

Could it be an optical illusion, like this shade illusion video on YouTube?

State: California
City: San Diego
Casino: Harrah's Rincon

Finally, we get back to a chip design that identifies the casino's location, so long as you interpret "San Diego, CA" as the county and not the city proper. The drive is 50 miles from the casino to Petco Park, the Padre's home field in downtown San Diego. Harrah's Rincon Hotel and Casino is really in Valley Center, CA, a predominantly agricultural (orchards) area. By straight-line measurements (not the roads) it is very nearly equidistant from San Diego and Palm Springs. For purposes of the title of this post, I'll go along with the chip and say the casino is in San Diego.

The casino belongs to the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, a sub-group of the Mission Indians. It is, of course, managed by Caesars Entertainment under the Harrah's banner. In their own language, the people call themselves Payomkowishum, meaning "People of the West." The Spanish applied the name Luiseño to the tribe because of their proximity to the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, or perhaps because the Spanish had as much difficulty pronouncing Payomkowishum as you or I might. The Pala, Pauma, Pechanga, and Soboba Bands are also tribes of the Luiseño Indians, each with their own casino.

The casino opened in August 2002 and thus has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Upcoming entertainment includes Weezer and Lynyrd Skynyrd – I'm a clueless old fogey, but didn't that band disappear after a bunch of them were killed in a plane crash years and years ago? I guess there are all kinds of rebirths, particularly when there's money to be made.

My wife and I stayed and played at Harrah's Rincon just once, in 2009 before I kept a session log. This is the casino that bigfoot66 declared as having the best version of California Card Craps, so I suspect that is what I played, though I don't specifically remember it.

The Bud Jones chip shown below is essentially a duplicate of yesterday's Casino Chip of the Day from Golden Acorn, except for colors and the center inlay. The Harrah's hotel-casino itself has two or three times as many slots as Golden Acorn, roughly five times as many table games, and 662 hotel rooms vs. zero. The chips may be very similar, but the facilities are not.

Here's my Harrah's Rincon chip. I've played and stayed at the casino a couple times. The hotel rooms are very nice, and often free to TR members. The food options are a bit weird - if there's a quick bite/cafe restaurant somewhere on the property, i've never been able to find it. The burger place is good, but it's sure not fast.

Quote: Doc

State: California
City: San Diego
Casino: Harrah's Rincon

The Bud Jones chip shown below is essentially a duplicate of yesterday's Casino Chip of the Day from Golden Acorn, except for colors and the center inlay. The Harrah's hotel-casino itself has two or three times as many slots as Golden Acorn, roughly five times as many table games, and 662 hotel rooms vs. zero. The chips may be very similar, but the facilities are not.

If you look closely at the 11:00 area of the insert, it appears that the image does not cover the entire center, allowing the material from the edges of the rim to show. Is there a "moat" between the insert and the rim? Since these chips are injection molded, it is possible to make them with these types of features, but I imagine it would be a challenge to add the graphic in the right position each time.

Those are nice chips. Very detailed inlay. Quite different from what I see at other Harrah's/Caesars properties.

Regarding Lynyrd Skynyrd: It's not at all uncommon for surviving band members to continue on using the original name. Hell, sometimes after a break-up, the individuals each create bands using the original band name, sometimes including "starring ____". On the other hand, if the breakup includes any ill-feelings, you get unusual results. For example, without John Fogerty, CCR is Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

Regarding the 'moat': That's not a function of design as much as a by-product of manufacturing limitations.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Regarding the 'moat': That's not a function of design as much as a by-product of manufacturing limitations.

It could also be that the graphic is laid onto the center, then the excess is trimmed off, taking some of the base material with it.

State: California
City: Havasu Lake
Casino: Havasu Landing

While it is certainly possible to drive to the Havasu Landing Resort and Casino, I have never approached it by land. The resort is on the west shore of Lake Havasu, and each time that I have visited I have stayed in Lake Havasu City, AZ, on the east shore of the lake.

The Arizona city is the new home of the London Bridge (as of four decades ago), and I have found it quite enjoyable to visit that town and its lakeside entertainment area. The bridge now connects the main part of the town to an island in Lake Havasu. The island was originally a peninsula, until the bridge was re-erected and excavated under. I find it such a pleasant oddity to see the London Bridge in Arizona that I will post a couple of photos that I took.

My wife and I last visited there on Saturday night of Labor Day Weekend earlier this month, and the party atmosphere was in full swing on the waterfront in Lake Havasu City, on all the boats on the lake, and at the Havasu Landing Resort. We had trouble finding parking space at our motel's large parking lot, because of all of the boats and boat trailers that had been towed in for the weekend.

In addition to the casino, the California resort offers a marina, multiple boat ramps, a restaurant and lounge with live music, a campground, a market, a year-round mobile home park, an air strip with a mile long runway (no landing fees), a free airport shuttle service, and multi-bedroom vacation accommodations that seem to tend toward double-wide manufactured homes.

According to CasinoCity.com, Havasu Landing also has a hotel with 179 rooms, but that is not mentioned anywhere on the Havasu Landing web site. Of course, CasinoCity.com also says the casino has a total of four table games including one for 3-card poker and four for blackjack. (Isn't the internet a great source of information?)

The resort is a quick (15 or 20 minutes) and pleasant ferry ride from Lake Havasu City across the lake and across the state line (round trip for $3, or sometimes $4), and the ferry drops you right at the casino dock. Making the trip by car is another matter -- it's a 70-mile drive through Needles, CA to the north, requiring an hour and a half, or a100-mile drive through Parker, AZ to the south, requiring more than two and a quarter hours. As I said in the beginning, I have never approached the casino by land.

Here is what the casino looks like when approached by ferry. It's a pretty simple place on the lake, where gambling is just one more way to have fun.

The casino has one room with (according to their web site) "243 state-of-the-art slots" and a nearby card room offering blackjack and three-card poker, adjacent to their lounge. I think there are a total of five tables, in spite of CasinoCity.com's arithmetic challenge.

When I visited in January 2010, I came out $15 ahead at blackjack. This year, the party was going so strong/loud in the Trails End Lounge that I don't think I would have been able to play. Besides, the four tables they had operating were jam packed, and the customers I heard talking couldn't figure out why they had one table closed. My wife and I just had dinner at the restaurant looking out on the lake and caught the ferry ride back to Arizona.

The resort and casino are owned by the Chemehuevi Indian tribe, the southern-most branch of Paiutes. Havasu Lake (as opposed to Lake Havasu) is an unincorporated community on the Chemehuevi Reservation.

According to the Wiki page on the tribe, the name Chemehuevi has multiple interpretations. It may be a Mojave term meaning "those who play with fish" or a Quechan word meaning "nose in the air like a roadrunner." Neither of those sounds to me like a very complimentary name. The Chemehuevi refer to themselves as Nuwuwu, "the People" or Tantawats, "southern men."

I have been unable to find when the casino opened. There is no mention of the start-up on the casino web site or the tribal site. The MOGH catalog of chips says that the casino opened "2-Apr", but doesn't bother to mention a year.

This Havasu Landing chip (both sides shown below) is a white Bud Jones chip with purple markings. The mostly-white center inlays have different labels on each side, using blue text, green figures (Is that a turtle?), and a black denomination mark. Except for the color of the markings and the contents of the inlay, this chip is identical in design to the Tuscany chip posted a month ago. Unlike the Tuscany chip, today's chip does not show a BJ logo on either side.

Quote: Doc

The island was originally a peninsula, until the bridge was re-erected and excavated under.

I never knew that. Of course, I've never been there nor had reason to look it up, but that's both fascinating and incredible at the same time.

Quote: Doc

Except for the color of the markings and the contents of the inlay, this chip is identical in design to the Tuscany chip posted a month ago.

Bud Jones probably only has a handful of standard design molds, so repetition should be expected.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Bud Jones probably only has a handful of standard design molds, so repetition should be expected.

I think they really have a rather large number of designs. They offer a variety of marking patterns that can be combined, and the combinations are the way that there can be such a large number of different designs. They even offer completely customized designs. Yes, it is possible for two casinos to have identical-except-for-color chip designs, but I think that is uncommon enough that it is amusing to point it out when it pops up in a collection as limited as mine.

There is a chip discussion forum called ChipTalk.net. I have never joined it, and I have read very few of the threads there -- compared to me, some of those folks are absolutely obsessive-compulsive about chips.

Anyway, here is a five-year-old thread at that forum where the variety of Bud Jones chip designs is discussed. It's quite informative, and it shows a large number of images, including several where the curious collector has cut the chips apart to see what they are like inside -- does that sound like a familiar topic? Check it out!

Yeah, I guess I was talking a little too fast there.

I stand corrected. (Actually, this fat ass is sitting down, but that's another story...)

Quote: Doc

State: California
City: Havasu Lake
Casino: Havasu Landing

I have been unable to find when the casino opened. There is no mention of the start-up on the casino web site or the tribal site. The MOGH catalog of chips says that the casino opened "2-Apr", but doesn't bother to mention a year.

While I can't say with certainty, I suspect the casino opened in the year 2000. The State Compact finally authorizing the casino was recorded in the Federal Register in September of 1999. An April opening seems about right.

Note that this is one of the tribes that has plans to open another casino near the outlet mall in Barstow, more than 100 miles from their reservation. It is precedent setting because they would be the first tribe in California, who already has space on the Reservation for a casino, to set up an operation that is located beyond "commuting" distance from the Reservation.

In license plates ,I believe the Holy Grail is a Vatican plate. And in chips , it is ????

Quote: buzzpaff

In license plates ,I believe the Holy Grail is a Vatican plate. And in chips , it is ????

Perhaps something from the original 1946 Flamingo opening?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Perhaps something from the original 1946 Flamingo opening?

Don't ask me The only chip's I collect are Utz's .

Quote: buzzpaff

Don't ask me The only chip's I collect are Utz's .

Hehe... When Nevada casinos got permission from the government to mint their own tokens due to the silver dollar hording in the mid 60's, the very first dollar token was minted using platinum and presented to casino owner Bill Harrah. It is one of a kind. I will certainly make space next to the, "participant" bowling trophy on my mantle, if I happen to get it as change at the 7-11.

Approaching the casino by boat is about 100 times easier than approaching by car. Not only is it shorter and more fun, but it's also a hell of a lot less confusing. Approaching by car entails entering a campground, passing a guard station, and having the courage to just keep driving until the tiny rundown shack of a casino appears in front of you. The casino is actually pretty nice inside, and has the feel of a somewhat quirky lakeside lodge (especially in the cardroom area), but it's pretty unappealing from the landward side - I think that's actually the back of the building.

State: California
City: Cabazon
Casino: Morongo

The Morongo Casino, Resort, and Spa is owned and operated by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians on their 32,000-acre reservation. The tribe began their gaming operations in 1983 with the opening of a bingo hall.

The current, rather-large and apparently successful casino was opened in 2004. It is located in Cabazon, CA, adjacent to I-10 and a little closer to Palm Springs than to San Bernardino. The casino's address is on Seminole Drive, which caught me by surprise, but I have not bothered to check whether there is any connection between the Mission Indians of the west and the Seminole tribe in Florida. I don't think so, but I have no idea where the street name originated.

I think it is interesting to note that the casino's "About Us" page emphasizes the success of both the tribe's gaming and non-gaming businesses, their 3,000 employees and the economic impact on the region, and their good relations with the surrounding communities, in contrast to similar pages associated with some other casinos that talk about their abysmal history, with conflict, mistreatment, and oppression by non-tribal neighbors.

The web site states that the casino has more than 2,000 slots (naturally, the newest and loosest), 80 table games, and a poker room, along with their bingo hall. The hotel has 310 rooms in a 330-ft 27-story tower, and the spa offers a customary range of services. The resort sports a four-diamond rating by AAA, which Wikipedia says makes it one of only three such casino resorts in California.

I have driven past the resort on I-10 quite a few times and played and dined there just once, in 2007, but I have never stayed in the hotel. It seems to be a place I'm going past on my way to or from Palm Springs.

The Morongo chip shown below is another from Bud Jones, a source that seems to be popular with these California tribal casinos. This one is dark blue, with brownish-orange edge spots and a mostly-white center inlay. Once again, it does not display a BJ logo under either visible or UV light.

The chip does identify Cabazon as the casino's location, but I am so botanically challenged that I have no idea what kind of grass or leaf the tri-colored graphic is supposed to represent, assuming it is even a plant. I suppose that the red-green-yellow leaf colors, and the blue, red, and black text on a white background suggest a reasonably sophisticated printing process, though not quite so complex as the artwork or photography on some chps.

I get that it's the tribe name and everything, but any time your casino's name has the words "moron" and "go" included in succession...well, you're doing it wrong.

Quote: Doc

State: California
City: Cabazon
Casino: Morongo

I always think about the Blackjack promotion gone wrong whenever I hear about the Morongo.

Quote: Doc

State: California
City: Cabazon
Casino: Morongo

Here is my $2 Morongo chip from their poker room:


When I was last there, it was interesting because they don't use shuffling machines on the poker tables. The dealer's hand shuffle every round, with a scramble tossed in here and there.

The casino enjoys the enviable position of being located just off the highway. At night, the hotel tower is lit up with advertising on its sides. It is the only structure more than two stories tall for 30 miles in any direction, so it is very obvious from far away. If you enjoy the unspoiled desert sky at night, with a majestic view of the Milky Way... you don't want to be in Cabazon.

The graphic didn't strike me as a representation of something botanic. To me, it looks more like fireworks, but my first impression was that it was a Jester's cap. After all, the name of the place is Moron...Go.

They are also very close to a large outlet mall, but I don't know if the mall is operated by the tribe too.

It's odd that the use black for their $2 chip.

Doing a hand shuffle makes sense because it is generally preferred by players, and Morongo is one of the bigger advertisers in the poker magazines.

It's actually a dark brown. The color is not very exciting.

I'm suspicious of hand shuffles. It's an opportunity for card mechanics to introduce less than random manipulations, so you have to pay closer attention. It slows the game down, but maybe that is a good thing.

FWIW,
I remember going through I-10 before 04', and it SEEMS Like the casinos were a TRUMP and a HARRAH'S (Ceazers specifically)...but I could be wrong?
EDIT: Nevermind, the "Trump" is now Spotlight-29...I have no idea what the Ceasers property turned into...

"Never mind that sh*t, here comes Morongo!" -Olson Johnson

Quote: Ayecarumba

When I was last there, it was interesting because they don't use shuffling machines on the poker tables. The dealer's hand shuffle every round, with a scramble tossed in here and there.

I don't know how long ago you were there but they have been using shuffling machines in their poker tables for at least two years. I live only 15 minutes away and just played there yesterday.

As for the design on the chip, if you look at the structure over the valet. This can be seen very clearly when you visit their website: www.morongo.com
I never thought of it signifying anything but now that I look at it it reminds me of a palm tree. This makes sense given its proximity to palm springs.

Another useless fun fact- the hotel tower is the tallest building in the Inland Empire of California.

Quote: Elrohir44

I don't know how long ago you were there but they have been using shuffling machines in their poker tables for at least two years. I live only 15 minutes away and just played there yesterday.

As for the design on the chip, if you look at the structure over the valet. This can be seen very clearly when you visit their website: www.morongo.com
I never thought of it signifying anything but now that I look at it it reminds me of a palm tree. This makes sense given its proximity to palm springs.

Another useless fun fact- the hotel tower is the tallest building in the Inland Empire of California.

in fact, my last visit was a little more than two years ago. I'll have to go back and check it out. It was quite crowded with lots of younger folks on a Saturday night.

I think the sculpture at the valet circle was put in several years after the initial casino build, so I suspect it was modeled after the logo on the chip, and not the other way around. Just my guess though.

One other thing I recall about my visit, is that the burger place in the food court had horrible service.

Quote: bigfoot66

"Never mind that sh*t, here comes Morongo!" -Olson Johnson

No one here is a Mel Books fan....

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