Casino Chip of the Day

Quote: Doc

I must have gotten my souvenir chip from the Hollywood - Tunica when I visited the area in 2006, because I can find no record of having been or played there since. I have played in at least five other Hollywood casinos in the interim, and they all seem to blur into one in my memory. I think TIMSPEED has grand things to say in endorsing Penn National and the Hollywood chain. ☺

I already emailed Doc about this, and I know I'm a few days late to this (read my blog for all my adventures), but I am the one who has nothing but terrible things to say about Penn National.

That being said, I do have a fondness for Hollywood Tunica, as I won a car there one time. Then again, Penn properties used to be a lot better than they currently are. It's really too bad, because the service at Hollywood Tunica used to be very good, the music was AWESOME, and the comps were wonderful. They had a really nice hotel, although the hot water in the shower was BOILING hot; I've NEVER had a shower that got as hot as that.

Thanks for the clarification/confirmation on this, Tiltpoul. As I noted earlier, I suspect that the combination of (1) my reaching the age of senility and (2) the fact that I first met you and TIMSPEED the very same night, led to my confusion as to which one of you had offered such "glowing" reports about Penn and Hollywood.

Quote: Doc

Thanks for the clarification/confirmation on this, Tiltpoul. As I noted earlier, I suspect that the combination of (1) my reaching the age of senility and (2) the fact that I first met you and TIMSPEED the very same night, led to my confusion as to which one of you had offered such "glowing" reports about Penn and Hollywood.

LOL, and we both look 16.

Quote: TIMSPEED

LOL, and we both look 16.

True.

State: Mississippi
City: Natchez
Casino: Isle of Capri

Today's Casino Chip of the Day is from the tiny riverboat casino docked in the Mississippi River beneath the bluffs at Natchez.

In April 2006, my wife and I spent a few days in Natchez enjoying their "Pilgrimage, " a semi-annual celebration of the antebellum structures and culture. Many of the old houses are open for tours, including quite a few that are private residences not normally open to the public. We stayed one night at the Linden B&B, an estate that was started about 1800 and has been in the same family for more than 150 years, though I can't remember whether they were the original owners. The next two nights we stayed at the Isle of Capri hotel, which is a small place on the hill, above and well separated from the riverboat.

My wife recalls the gaming area on the riverboat as being dark, with very-low ceilings – not a particularly inviting place. I made no lasting record of my gaming results, but I do remember a bit of the experience because of the reaction one of my friends back at home had when I told him about it.

I related that I had plans to visit a number of casinos on that trip, and in order to make my bankroll survive for the full trip, I planned to buy in for $100 in each place and only play so long as that lasted, hoping to increase my count of chips, if possible. The Isle of Capri-Natchez was our first casino on that trip, and I told him, "I bought in for my $100 at the craps table. Unfortunately, I lost it all before the dice ever got to me the first time. So, I bought in for another $100 and gave it another chance."

He just cackled at my lack of resolve, so I still remember the game. During that dry spell, I was talking to the two young ladies (a couple, I think) next to me, and we were commiserating with each other on our losses. When the dice finally got to me, I had a pretty good roll and won my money back. Before I finished shooting, my wife (who was not enjoying the crowded space) came up to check whether I was ready to leave. The two ladies told her to get the heck away from me before she ruined my luck – they needed for me to make some more winning rolls! I think my wife remembers those two better than any of the antebellum houses we visited in the town.

When I posted my Harrah's chip from Tunica recently, I noted that the MOGH catalog has a page that suggests that this Natchez riverboat started off as a Harrah's before becoming the Lady Luck and finally the Isle of Capri. That info is on their page with their chips from this casino when it was the Lady Luck. I have still not found any other references to it ever having been a Harrah's. Isle of Capri did purchase the Lady Luck chain in 2000, and the casino has had its current name since then. The MOGH page for this Isle of Capri-Natchez doesn't even mention its former identity, so there is some inconsistency on what they bother to include.

The chip shown below is a white RHC Paulson with two triangular edge inserts in orange and lavender. Only the orange edge insert fluoresces under UV light. Since I made note yesterday about bird colorings on the logo, I'll comment that the bird on the center inlay of this chip looks very much like the one on the Isle of Capri-Biloxi chip, though the two chips differ significantly as to the remainder of their inlays and their molds.

Here are my chips from the Isle of Capris in Natchez and Lula. The more I think about it, the less I understand the Isle brand. They have tiny, rundown boats like these and a couple others, and they also have larger more upscale properties under the exact same brand in Lake Charles, Biloxi and Kansas City. They own the Lady Luck brand...why not use it as a quality/size differentiator?

I'm still not quite sure what I'll do in Doc's absence next week. I'm leaning towards running through the remainder of AZ, since I think that will close-out the state completely (until next summer, when a new property in Flagstaff opens).

Quote: rdw4potus

They own the Lady Luck brand...why not use it as a quality/size differentiator?

My understanding is that what you describe is exactly their plan -- they will use "Lady Luck" for their less-than-full-service properties. It may take a while before they have everything aligned that way. I have no idea what the distinction is between "Isle" and "Isle of Capri" properties.

The chip I will post on Saturday before I head out on my trip is from a casino that they later purchased and recently renamed Lady Luck. I will visit there on Monday to get a Lady Luck chip and check it out under the new name, but I'm not sure just now why it doesn't rate one of the "full-service" brand names.

Quote: rdw4potus

The more I think about it, the less I understand the Isle brand. They have tiny, rundown boats like these and a couple others, and they also have larger more upscale properties under the exact same brand in Lake Charles, Biloxi and Kansas City. They own the Lady Luck brand...why not use it as a quality/size differentiator?.

Did they buy the name from the former "Lady Luck" hotel/casino in Las Vegas? Or, was Isle the owner that sold the property to the private party that is "re-developing" the Las Vegas property as the "Downtown Grand" (which is supposed to open sometime in 2013)?

Here's the story as told by Wikipedia:

Quote: Wiki

In 2000, Isle of Capri spent $400 million in a multi-part deal to acquire the Lady Luck chain of casinos. Lady Luck Gaming, which owned two adjacent Lady Luck casinos in Lula, Mississippi, one in Natchez, Mississippi, the Miss Marquette casino in Marquette, Iowa, and a half interest in the Lady Luck casino in Bettendorf, Iowa, was bought for $59 million in cash, $177 million in assumed debt, and $22 million to redeem preferred stock. On the same day, Isle of Capri bought the other half of the Bettendorf property from [company founder] Goldstein's family for $62 million and the rights to the Lady Luck trademark from Lady Luck's founder, Andrew Tompkins, for $31 million. Six months later, it completed the purchase of the Lady Luck Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas from Tompkins for $14.5 million. The Las Vegas property was sold two years later to a group of real estate investors. The other Lady Luck properties were all rebranded under the Isle of Capri name.

Quote: Doc

Here's the story as told by Wikipedia:

Quote: Wiki

In 2000, Isle of Capri spent $400 million in a multi-part deal to acquire the Lady Luck chain of casinos. Lady Luck Gaming, which owned two adjacent Lady Luck casinos in Lula, Mississippi, one in Natchez, Mississippi, the Miss Marquette casino in Marquette, Iowa, and a half interest in the Lady Luck casino in Bettendorf, Iowa, was bought for $59 million in cash, $177 million in assumed debt, and $22 million to redeem preferred stock. On the same day, Isle of Capri bought the other half of the Bettendorf property from [company founder] Goldstein's family for $62 million and the rights to the Lady Luck trademark from Lady Luck's founder, Andrew Tompkins, for $31 million. Six months later, it completed the purchase of the Lady Luck Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas from Tompkins for $14.5 million. The Las Vegas property was sold two years later to a group of real estate investors. The other Lady Luck properties were all rebranded under the Isle of Capri name.

Interesting. I wonder why they would exit the Las Vegas market. Gaming licenses are not easy to come by. Of course the Las Vegas Lady Luck was a dump...

State: Mississippi
City: Biloxi
Casino: Palace

The Palace opened as a riverboat casino at the extreme east end of Biloxi, at the mouth of the Back Bay, with an adjacent, land-based hotel. The Palace was shut down by Hurricane Katrina, which completely destroyed the casino boat and damaged the hotel. It reopened four months later on December 30, 2005, with the casino repositioned within the hotel structure. The Palace is located roughly 3/8 of a mile due north of the Isle, or Isle of Capri, Casino and a similar distance due south of the new Margaritaville Casino.

I have very little solid information about this casino – not even much shaky info, since Wikipedia doesn't have a page devoted to it. I only recall being inside the place one time myself, in March 2010.

The MOGH catalog's list of chips from this casino says that the place originally opened on April 11, 1994, while the casino-hotel's own web site claims that it first opened in January 1997. I have no convincing explanation for this discrepancy of almost three years. Just to confuse the issue a little more, the MOGH catalog shows a non-denominational (souvenir?) token from this casino that is marked "Grand Opening March 1997."

It appears that the place is owned by a single-casino company. Their web site says the owner is Palace Casino Resort LLC, though a couple of other resources refer to "New Palace Casino Resort, LLC," suggesting there was some kind of change along the way. That token that MOGH shows is also marked "The New Palace Casino." According to one source, the "new" corporation was created in 1997, while another says 1996.

Those dates are compatible with the January 1997 opening claimed on their web site and the March 1997 opening date stated on the token. Perhaps there was an "old" Palace Casino Resort and an "old" LLC that operated for the three years from the date listed in the MOGH catalog. I was unable to ferret out any more of the story, so I just don't know.

Is there anyone on the forum who knows more about the history of the Palace?

Digging through the resort's web site, I learned that they undertook a major expansion and renovation starting shortly after my 2010 visit. They re-did the buffet first, then expanded the casino and made major changes to the restaurants and the lounge. They shut down the whole place for a couple of weeks in June 2011 to complete the final stages then reopened with the only smoke-free casino on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Perhaps I'll check it out when I get down there.

I played craps at the Palace Casino on that visit in March 2010 for just a quick, half-hour session in which I lost $70. I've done that far too frequently in the course of gathering these souvenirs. As I often say, some of my $1 chips were very expensive while others they paid me to take.

The chip shown below is a white RHC Paulson with two fairly wide edge inserts in orange and pink, though the orange one certainly appears (inaccurately) in this photo to be red. The dark blue center inlay looks as if it is equipped with venetian blinds. The script "P" logo is in gold with three starburst sparkles, presumably to show that the gold is highly polished. Why else? UV light reveals the hidden Paulson logo, with nothing else fluorescing.

Here is my Palace chip. It's a Paulson RHC. I visited this casino only once, in early october of 2011. I don't have any notes regarding my visit, but I either visited late in the evening on 10/1 or in the morning on 10/2. I have no memory of my visit. I'll assume that means I didn't win or lose too much while collecting my chip.

Quote: rdw4potus

I have no memory of my visit.

I've had a number of such experiences. It's quite possible that chip collecting distracts from some of the pleasures that can be found in a casino because it encourages quick drop-in visits at a lot of places rather than staying to enjoy thoroughly just one or two of them.

Everyone take a close look at rdw4potus's chip image -- doesn't it look as if the text characters (casino and city names) are hovering above the surface? Compare the "Biloxi, MS" with its shadow.

Quote: Doc

I've had a number of such experiences. It's quite possible that chip collecting distracts from some of the pleasures that can be found in a casino because it encourages quick drop-in visits at a lot of places rather than staying to enjoy thoroughly just one or two of them.

Everyone take a close look at rdw4potus's chip image -- doesn't it look as if the text characters (casino and city names) are hovering above the surface? Compare the "Biloxi, MS" with its shadow.

That's a really cool effect! I'll have to look at the physical chip when i get home to see if it's as well-done as it appears in the image.

I think I'm in the middle of a trip I'm going to forget the details of right now. I don't do well at altitude at all, and I've been in CO for a few days now. So far, I'm down to Cripple Creek: Pretty! Blackhawk: Ameristar=scary!

Did you go up the hill to Central City ? The folks up there put up a moratorium on building in the 1990's. Wanted to keep all the revenues for the locals. DUMB !

Quote: Buzzard

Did you go up the hill to Central City ? The folks up there put up a moratorium on building in the 1990's. Wanted to keep all the revenues for the locals. DUMB !

That is today's plan, once I finish up the work that I couldn't avoid;-)

I don't think I mind the new building, but Ameristar is pretty out of place in Blackhawk. I'll take pictures in the light of day this afternoon, and blog what I can remember from the trip either tomorrow night or sunday. Cripple Creek was absolutely adorable, and I'm hoping Central City will be like that.

I haven't made it to the Colorado casinos yet. In fact, the only time I have ever been in the state was to change planes at the Denver airport. My wife and I have had it on our list for several years. For most of that time we had been considering a trip that would include the casino towns, a ride through Rocky Mountain National Park, and driving down to the Albuquerque, Sante Fe, Taos area on the same trip.

We've pretty much decided that the combination would be a longer trip than we would like, and it would involve more driving in a rental car than I would prefer. We are now pondering whether a NM trip or a CO trip should come first. Weather is a serious factor for us -- I don't mind at all seeing snow on the mountain tops, but I don't want to drive through it. That means we have to pick out an appropriate month.

We have been marking up our calendar for the first half of 2013, trying to pick out what trips to take. We now have the last couple of weeks of April marked for a possible trip to either CO or Albuquerque. Should I expect the roads to be staying clear by then, or does this need to be a summer trip?

Quote: Doc

Everyone take a close look at rdw4potus's chip image -- doesn't it look as if the text characters (casino and city names) are hovering above the surface? Compare the "Biloxi, MS" with its shadow.

I believe it is a function of shadowing added to the font. Curious that the font on your $1 chip doesn't share the same effect. Perhaps it was left off because of the darker background. I'm sure DJTeddyBear can share about how it is accomplished.

Quote: Doc

We have been marking up our calendar for the first half of 2013, trying to pick out what trips to take. We now have the last couple of weeks of April marked for a possible trip to either CO or Albuquerque. Should I expect the roads to be staying clear by then, or does this need to be a summer trip?

How clear do you need the roads to be? ABQ will be clear in late April, so will Santa Fe. maybe not Taos or the Farmington-area casinos (note: that's a big area...), but the passes to Taos and Farmington are at high altitude for relatively short periods of time, so exposure to snow would be minimal. Daytime temperatures should be in the 50s by April in this whole area, so accumulation should not be an issue.

FWIW, my current trip saw me fly from ABQ to DEN, then drive from Denver to Santa Fe, Santa Fe to Durango, and Durango to Blackhawk. I actually didn't gamble in ABQ at all (family obligations), so I still need to do the ABQ, southern NM, and I-40 corridor casinos to close out NM. Roads have been great all week. Barely any wet pavement at any altitude, except on a north-facing decline leaving Cripple Creek, where the run-off had frozen onto the road surface.

In retrospect, I would do this as two trips: ABQ, Santa Fe, Taos, Farmington, and Durango in one ABQ-based trip (there are a couple casinos south of ABQ, it's a bit of a drive - either take a day to do it, or fly to Las Cruces or El Paso later and drive up...); and Cripple Creek and Black Hawk/Central City in another Denver-based trip.

Quote: rdw4potus

How clear do you need the roads to be? ... In retrospect, I would do this as two trips: ABQ, Santa Fe, Taos, Farmington, and Durango in one ABQ-based trip (there are a couple casinos south of ABQ, it's a bit of a drive - either take a day to do it, or fly to Las Cruces or El Paso later and drive up...); and Cripple Creek and Blackhawk/Central City in another Denver-based trip.

As for clear roads, I'm a southern boy -- I don't like cold, I don't like ice on my roads, and I don't like snow that impedes my progress by blocking either highways or my vision. I have driven in snow, but I certainly don't have any interest in getting into a situation where anyone would be considering chains on the tires. I prefer snow as something to be viewed from afar.

Are there chips to be collected in Farmington? The only establishment I can identify is SunRay Park and Casino, and it doesn't seem to have table games, according to CasinoCity.com. I doubt that I would bother to wander out there or to Durango anyway. I used to live in Las Cruces, but I never made it to the Ruidoso area, and I was not aware of the tribal casino that is now in that area. Doubt I will ever get there either. When I lived in Las Cruces, I never used the airport there -- perhaps it is new or changed. We only used the one in El Paso.

If weather were not an issue, I would make the Colorado trip in March, so that I could post my chip images to this thread before my backlog of other chips to post is fully depleted. A March trip just sounds risky to me.

Quote: Doc

As for clear roads, I'm a southern boy -- I don't like cold, I don't like ice on my roads, and I don't like snow that impedes my progress by blocking either highways or my vision. I have driven in snow, but I certainly don't have any interest in getting into a situation where anyone would be considering chains on the tires. I prefer snow as something to be viewed from afar.

Are there chips to be collected in Farmington? The only establishment I can identify is SunRay Park and Casino, and it doesn't seem to have table games, according to CasinoCity.com. I doubt that I would bother to wander out there or to Durango anyway. I used to live in Las Cruces, but I never made it to the Ruidoso area, and I was not aware of the tribal casino that is now in that area. Doubt I will ever get there either. When I lived in Las Cruces, I never used the airport there -- perhaps it is new or changed. We only used the one in El Paso.

If weather were not an issue, I would make the Colorado trip in March, so that I could post my chip images to this thread before my backlog of other chips to post is fully depleted. A March trip just sounds risky to me.

I would consider the Northern Edge Casino (upper fruitland) and Wildhorse casino (dulce) to be in the farmington area - I said it was a big area...:-) The two Durango-area casinos (Sky Ute, Ute Mountain) in CO are also easily reachable from Farmington.

It's a real pain, but I think that MOGH is actually a better resource for casino discovery than Casino City is. I've started looking at what MOGH says is open, and checking the casino websites to discover if there are still table games at the property. I'd have missed Wildhorse in both cases (MOGH doesn't list it, Casino city says it's slots-only), but I stumbled upon the casino's website which listed BJ from 6pm to close.

Depending on how you do the colorado trip, snow might not be much of an issue. Blackhawk and Central City are on the Denver side (the east side) of the Rockies, which is the less snowy side by far - and the drive from Denver is I-70 to the Central City Parkway (a 4 lane, full-shouldered 8 mile brand new road from the interstate to town.) I can't imagine there's much trouble on this route at any time of the year. Cripple Creek is much higher - and still East of most of the Rockies - but also farther south. There were no chain restrictions on my route this week, but there was also no new-fallen snow.

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Quote: Ibeatyouraces

I traveled through Durango along highway 160 in the dead of winter coming up from Fagstaff. Fun scenic drive.

An unfortunate typo, or a snarky comment on Flagstaff??

State: Mississippi
City: Vicksburg
Casino: Rainbow

This is my last chip posting prior to heading out on the road to have some fun and to collect a few more souvenir chips. My wife and I will leave home early tomorrow morning with stops in Tunica (one night), Greenville, Vicksburg, Biloxi (3 nights), Baton Rouge (day trip out of Biloxi), Madeira Beach (FL, for 3 nights), and possibly one more night in the Port Canaveral area. I really appreciate rdw4potus's willingness to keep this thread going in my absence. As for sharing images of chips I already have…


I-20 crosses the Mississippi River about three miles south of downtown Vicksburg, and most of the local casino boats lie within that zone. Only two Vicksburg casinos are farther south, and the Rainbow Casino covered that southern extension region on its own from July 1994 until 2008. Then, a neighboring establishment opened just to its north – close enough that their parking lots connect. The Rainbow is a riverboat/barge floating in its own lagoon, while its post-Katrina neighbor, to be discussed after I return from my trip, was built on solid land.

The casino was started by Rainbow Casino Corporation, which was just a couple of investors who appear not to have been able to pull it all off in the end. It seems like a reasonable plan – they had the site and the idea, and they had a hotel system providing financing and a franchise for a Days Inn. And they had Six Flags on board to provide a small theme park.

They even had United Gaming contracted to manage the casino, and United invested in a 45% ownership from the beginning. The casino opened in July 1994, and the hotel and theme park opened in 1995.

But it didn't work out as planned. United had changed its company name to Alliance Gaming in December 1994 and some years later became Bally Technologies (Yes, this is the Bally that manufactures the machines, not the one that owned casinos and eventually became part of Caesars Entertainment.) When Rainbow Casino Corporation failed to provide funding that they were responsible for in 1995, Alliance took controlling interest. The theme park closed in 1998, and its site was converted into a concert venue. The casino was placed on the market soon afterward, but a suitable buyer was not found at that time.

My wife and I visited the Rainbow Casino in a quick spin through Vicksburg during our trip to Mississippi in 2006. I have no record of my gaming then, other than a souvenir chip, and I have not returned. That is about to change, because of a change at the casino. In 2010, Bally sold the Rainbow to Isle of Capri Casinos, and last November it was re-named the Lady Luck Casino, a brand that Isle of Capri had discontinued but recently revived. I plan to drop by there oh-so-briefly just two days from now and pick up a Lady Luck-Vicksburg chip. ☺

I had one of those Doh! moments when trying to identify the manufacturer of the Rainbow Casino chip shown below. I knew that those dozen edge tick marks looked like the ones on the Bud Jones chips I posted from Crystal Bay casino at Lake Tahoe and the Eldorado casinos in Reno and Shreveport, but each of those chips also had two dozen radial lines molded into the outer portion of the faces.

Then I looked a little closer at today's chip and noticed the "BG" hidden near the 9:00 position on the center inlay, clearly identifying this chip as coming from Bourgogne et Grasset (B&G), which is affiliated with Bud Jones as two of the three parts of Gaming Partners International. Both B&G and Bud Jones produce plastic injection molded chips.

The center inlay on the chip is a photograph of the casino from the hillside above, showing the Mississippi River in the background. The entire white outer ring of this chip fluoresces under UV light, but there are no hidden images.

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Quote: rdw4potus

I think that MOGH is actually a better resource for casino discovery than Casino City is.

What a terrific and very timely suggestion!

I just gave it a try and discovered a brand new Mississippi casino that I had never heard of before. The Magnolia Bluffs Casino opened on December 18, 2012 in Natchez, and I'm already working on revising my travel plans to drop by there two days from now to pick up another souvenir. It will make for an even longer driving day on Monday (Tunica to Greenville to Vicksburg to Natchez to Biloxi) but that seems like less of a hassle than making another trip later back to Mississippi.

Glad I discovered this casino today instead of two weeks from now!

Quote: Doc

What a terrific and very timely suggestion!

I just gave it a try and discovered a brand new Mississippi casino that I had never heard of before. The Magnolia Bluffs Casino opened on December 18, 2012 in Natchez, and I'm already working on revising my travel plans to drop by there two days from now to pick up another souvenir. It will make for an even longer driving day on Monday (Tunica to Greenville to Vicksburg to Natchez to Biloxi) but that seems like less of a hassle than making another trip later back to Mississippi.

Glad I discovered this casino today instead of two weeks from now!

If only there were a forum member who was working on an online resource that could make this easier for us...;-)

Quote: rdw4potus

If only there were a forum member who was working on an online resource that could make this easier for us...;-)

Naw, sounds like too much trouble for anyone around here.

So where's your Rainbow chip?

Quote: Doc

So where's your Rainbow chip?

Here's my Rainbow chip. Vicksburg is a fun town, and Rainbow was a fun casino. The pit was very lively, and was filled with a mix of retirees, students, locals, and miscellaneous others. Unlike in some other venues, the groups blended pretty well at Rainbow and at the other Vicksburg casinos.

Tomorrow is the start of my chip re-photographing project, methinks. I do not yet have a UV light, but I am running into a slug of terrible photos. I've also absolutely had it with Photobucket. Their new site is asinine. I guess it would be easy and handy for small collections of photos, but it's almost impossible to scroll through my 500 photo collection of chips. So I'm going to take new pics and move things to my google drive account. That'll blow up the links in all of my posts in this thread, and it might take a day or two before I have all of my past posts re-linked.

Doc; No published review has ever tempted me to go out of the way to Natchez to visit the Pile of Debris there. Hopefully the new casino will raise the bar for the area. By the way I will be in Biloxi next week, how long are you staying? I'll be at the HR

Made it to Tunica today. Had dinner with long-term friends and picked up a Fitz chip tonight. Struggling to post these simple comments with my Nexus 7 tablet. Maybe I'll get better with practice.

DeMango, I will just be in Biloxi for three nights, Mon (tomorrow) through Wed, staying at the Grand (?) Biloxi. Heading on to Florida on Thursday.

State: Arizona
City: San Carlos
Casino: Apache Gold

For the next week or so, I'll be taking the lead on this thread while Doc is off collecting new chips to share. Rather than go forward with MS, I'm going to share chips from AZ. Arizona presents a challenge that I don't think we've really encountered yet in this thread - many casinos share common ownership and use common chips. But, today's chip is not affected by that situation.

Today's chip comes for the Apache Gold casino, which is in San Carlos near Globe Arizona. The Apache Gold casino was opened in 1994, and is home to 650 slots and 4 blackjack tables. When I visited 18 months ago, 2 of the blackjack tables were open - one 2 deck pitch game and one 6 deck hand-shuffled shoe game. I played through 3 shuffles on the pitch game and came out +$20. I thought Apache Gold was a fun casino, staffed by very kind and friendly people. Globe is also a very cute and historic town. I'd like to go back and sight-see some time, maybe in the late fall or early spring when my grandparents will be in Mesa, which is about 60 miles west of Globe.

My timeline on this trip was a little tight. I'd spent more time than I planned to at Hon-Dah (we'll see that chip in a few days), and all of the drives on this part of the trip were much longer than advertised due to the terrain. In Arizona, the speed limit is XX whether or not it's actually possible to drive that fast. On most of US 60 East of Mesa, driving XX would result in a test of the quality of the guardrail system on the road and probably a plunge to a rather unpleasant demise. I trusted Google Maps and my Garmin GPS to give accurate time estimates and they were both wildly inaccurate because they assume that I'd be able to drive the speed limit for the duration of my trip. I had to go much slower. It's a truly beautiful drive from Pinetop (where Hon-Dah is) to Mesa through Globe, but it also takes almost 6 hours to drive those 200 miles.

My chip from Apache Gold is a Bud Jones design. The MOGH doesn't list an issue date for the chip, but there's only the one style listed so I assume that it's been in play since 1994 when the casino opened. The logo of the casino features an arrow that crosses the As and H and creates the center strike in the E in APACHE. The arrow doesn't modify the P or C in any way, which makes it confusing because the font used makes the E and C look very similar.

Apparently, "Apache" refers to many different groups today. Are they affiliated? Right or wrong, I associate scalpings and conflict with the name.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Apparently, "Apache" refers to many different groups today. Are they affiliated? Right or wrong, I associate scalpings and conflict with the name.

I don't think they're affiliated, but I think they have a common heritage and ancestry. A recent trip to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque has taught me that there are more than 500 Native tribes in North America, but far fewer macro classifications. For example, there are several dozen tribes of Sioux/Dakota/Lakota people.

I also associate conflict with the Apache name. I don't know how to feel with that. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Apache people who started the fight(s), but...what's the expression...the victors write the history books?

State: Arizona
City: Prescott
Casino: Bucky's

Today's chip of the day comes from Bucky's casino in Prescott, AZ. Bucky's is a venture of the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe. The tribe also runs the Yavapai Casino, which is very close to Bucky's and shares a circulator shuttle with it's sister property. Once upon a time, before RDW went to Arizona, Yavapai also had table games. But now all of the games are located at Bucky's. According to CasinoCity, Bucky's has 300 slot machines and 17 table games. That sounds like a very high count relative to the casino's size and my recollection of the pit - I bet some of those 17 tables are in the poker room. Bucky's is one of the casinos in AZ that has Texas Shootout, and that is what I played during my visit. I really do like that game, though I lost badly during my visit to collect this chip.

Yavapai is located directly on hwy 69 in Prescott, while Bucky's is on a hill across the street from Yavapai. The hill isn't huge, especially not relative to the other terrain around the Prescott Valley area. But, the parking lot at Bucky's has a pretty impressive view. The day i visited was an especially clear day, and I stood there for a while and just took it all in. I wish I were better about photography during my trips. I suppose my new camera is good for more than chip photography - I'll have to start taking it with me.

My chip is a Bud Jones, like the Apache Gold chip from yesterday was. I don't see a BJ logo anywhere on either chip. I suppose with all gaming in AZ being tribal, maybe the manufacturer's imprint isn't a requirement in AZ. Come to think of it, neither chip has much of a location listed either.

Quote: rdw4potus

...I've also absolutely had it with Photobucket. Their new site is asinine. ... So I'm going to take new pics and move things to my google drive account. That'll blow up the links in all of my posts in this thread, and it might take a day or two before I have all of my past posts re-linked.

Why don't you just leave the Photobucket account as is? COPY stuff for your own purposes, but leaving the account alone means you don't have to update the links.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Why don't you just leave the Photobucket account as is? COPY stuff for your own purposes, but leaving the account alone means you don't have to update the links.

I can do that, and I probably will. BUT, that means that the old posts will still have the (crappy) old pictures and not the new higher-quality ones. If I want to replace the old pics with the newer better ones, of the chips post-cleaning, then I have to undergo the long tedious process of redoing the links. I may see if I can replace the Photobucket images with files with the exact same names to see if that will keep the links intact, but I don't think that works.

Quote: rdw4potus

State: Arizona
City: Prescott
Casino: Bucky's

Is there actually a Native American named "Bucky"? What is "Bucky" a nickname for anyway, "Buckminster", or perhaps a horse that likes to throw it's rider?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Quote: rdw4potus

State: Arizona
City: Prescott
Casino: Bucky's

Is there actually a Native American named "Bucky"? What is "Bucky" a nickname for anyway, "Buckminster", or perhaps a horse that likes to throw it's rider?

I've only known a couple "Buck"s in my life. Both were Richards. I looked and looked for info about the casino name. There's no Wiki entry, no About page on the Bucky's website, and no obvious google search hits. It's strange that one casino has the tribe's name, while the other is Bucky's with no further explanation.

Is a tribal casino named "Bucky's" anything like a tribal casino (Louisiana) named "Shorty's"?

Man, I really need to get to Arizona -- those are some nice-looking chips.

My trip through Mississippi is continuing, and yesterday was a bear, as expected. I drove from Tunica down to Greenville and picked up my Trop chip, then on down to Vicksburg for a Lady Luck chip. Next came Natchez and the brand new Magnolis Bluffs casino -- much nicer than the nearby Isle of Capri boat. Finally, I drove on to Biloxi and played a little more at the Grand Biloxi. No new chip to get there, so I just spent my time losing money.

Today, I checked out the Isle/Isle of Capri. They never introduced chips without the "Capri", even though the word, the bird logo, and the tropical theme have been gone from everything else for a couple of years. I spoke with a floor supervisor who said they are hard at work on the conversion to Golden Nugget and described some of the planned renovations. She said they should have new chips in probably by the end of the summer, or certainly by the end of the year. She said that the new owner has a "Vegas mentality" and expects to make all of his modifications right now, but the Mississippi Gaming Commission keeps slowing him down.

Also, and separately, they are working on the foundation for a new hotel tower at the Hard Rock.

Edit 3/14/13: I finally visited the Apache Gold casino on 3/5/13 and Bucky's on 3/12/13. Here are the $1 chips from those casinos:

Just got a call from the camera repair service. My lens is back from Nikon, so it seems I will be able to pick it up when I get home and get photos of the new chips right away.

In the words of Hannibal Smith, "I love it when a plan comes together."

Quote: Doc

Man, I really need to get to Arizona -- those are some nice-looking chips.

And apparently I'll have a lot to do when I return to MS/LA next year! You really should head to AZ. The drives were so beautiful - nothing like 6 hours of driving through cotton fields or anything...

This afternoon I dropped by Margaritaville and the IP to pick up chips. Played craps at both places, breaking even at the first and coming out enough ahead at the IP to pay for dinner for two, wine for my wife, and the tip at their Italian restaurant. That makes six chips added to the collection so far this trip, with one more planned for tomorrow before heading over/down to Florida.

And yes, RDW, yesterday's drive included a lot of pretty but pretty-boring scenery. To make things even worse, I started sneezing a bit on Saturday, and by Sunday night I had worked it up to a full-blown cold. I've got congestion, runny nose, and plenty of body aches. We stopped by a pharmacy during the ride yesterday to stock up on Puffs plus and a decongestant. I suspect I'll be dragging for this entire trip.

State: Arizona
City: Scottsdale
Casino: Casino Arizona and Talking Stick Resort & Casino

Today's chip comes from Casino Arizona, located at 101 & Mckellips in Scottsdale. I mentioned a couple days ago that Arizona presents a unique challenge in that several chips are shared across casinos. This is the first such example, where I later found the identical chip to be in use at the Talking Stick Resort & Casino, 8 miles farther north on 101. I've been inconsistent in my handling of this situation when it's come up. I have two Wynncore chips, but only one example of each affected chip in most other cases.

Casino Arizona has 930 slots and 48 table games, while Talking Stick has 730 slots and 100 tables. CasinoCity is more clear in this case than it was with Bucky's yesterday - those numbers DO include the poker rooms. I'm not sure why AZ would be the only state where casino city includes poker tables in the count, but that seems to be the case.

I visited both of these casinos as I worked my way north out of town on my way to Prescott. At Casino Arizona, I played BJ for about 45 minutes. The dealer was blindingly beautiful, which made for an error-filled but enjoyable session in which I posted a modest loss. I left when she was tapped off the table. The casino also has 3CP, LIR, PGP, and Casino War in the pit. Only BJ and 3CP were open when I visited at about 10am on a Friday.

I stayed at Talking Stick only long enough to verify that the same chips were in play as were at Casino Arizona, and then I moved on. I didn't note the games in Talking Stick's pit, but I assume it's similar to the offering at their sister property. Talking Stick is a very upscale property, though limits were reasonable (at 11am on a Friday). I hear the spa and hotel there are incredible, and the golf course is world-class.

Both of these casinos are owned and operated by the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. Casino Arizona opened in 1998, while Talking Stick Resort added their casino in 2010. I think they must've moved some games from Casino Arizona to Talking Stick when that property opened. CA has a 120,000sqft floor, TS's floor is >200,000sqft. Both had a very low density/utilization-rate - they felt half full and it was sort of surreal being in a casino with few enough machines that I could actually walk around.

My chip looks a lot like a Chipco printing, and Casino Arizona does have a number of Chipco chips listed. However, the mold listed for this series is Icon. I'm not sure if we've seen an Icon chip yet in this thread. The chip also has spotted edge inserts, which the interweb tells me are a security feature.

Another great-looking chip. I am not familiar with Icon chips, and right now I'm not in a position to search for info. Does anyone know about that manufacturer?

This seems like a good situation for Casino Arizona and Talking Stick to use the same chips but with opposite sides of the chip having info/name of different casinos. But they would have to buy new chips. Do these chips look 15 years old, or have they been buying more Casino Arizona chips to use at Talking Stick?

Edit 3/14/13: I finally visited the Talking Stick Casino on 3/3/13. Here is the $1 Casino Arizona chip they were using there.

State: Arizona
City: Tucson
Casino: Casino del Sol

Today's chip of the day comes from the Casino del Sol in Tucson, AZ. The casino is owned and operated by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and opened in 2001. It's 240,000 sqft floor is home to 966 slots and 22 table games. The casino has LIR and PGP, in addition to the standard 3cp and BJ offerings. I'm not sure why the urban AZ casinos are like this, but I can hardly stress enough what a joy it is to sit on a casino floor this spacious. Nobody bumped my seat during my entire playing time in Tucson or Phoenix. On my visit, I played PGP to collect my chip. Five aces went out on this table while I was playing. The envy bonus from that hand made my session come out about even.

I've posted both sides of this Paulson RHC chip. The reverse side, the "Casino of the Sun" side, reflects both the translation of this casino's name and also the name of the sister casino to this property. The second casino (truly named the Casino of the Sun) is currently slots-only. I had a bit of a Laurel & Hardy moment when my GPS failed me and I had to ask for directions. In retrospect, it was pretty embarrassing and almost completely my fault. It went like this (paraphrasing, this all happens 1/2 mile from both casinos):
me: Hey, can you tell me how to get to the Casino del Sol?
gas station guy: (in spanish, pointing) yes, it's over there
me: so the casino of the sun is right over there?
gas station guy: (in english, exasperated) no, the casino of the sun is that way
me: ok....so how do I get to the Casino del Sol?
gas station guy: (in english, a little angry) are you saying that in spanish because I'm hispanic, or do you actually want to go to the Casino del Sol? The Casino of the Sun and the Casino del Sol are two different places, dude...
me: Wait, seriously? Isn't that confusing as hell?
gas station guy: ummm...yes! So, where are you going?

Hi frire

Quote: rdw4potus

I've posted both sides of this Paulson RHC chip. The reverse side, the "Casino of the Sun" side, reflects both the translation of this casino's name and also the name of the sister casino to this property.

I thought that I was going to comment that it's interesting to have a bilingual chip.

But the story about getting directions is hilarious!

Quote: rdw4potus

State: Arizona
City: Scottsdale
Casino: Casino Arizona and Talking Stick Resort & Casino

Wow, that is an awesome looking chip. The basket weave pattern, that even extends to the edge inserts, is very detailed.

Quote: rdw4potus

State: Arizona
City: Tucson
Casino: Casino del Sol

That is a hilarious story. I wonder why the tribe's name is only printed on one side of the chip, when each side represents a different casino?