Casino Chip of the Day

Since Bighorn and Longhorn are owned by the same company, I'm guessing that the Wiz meant to just look at the table for other rules showing that the rules allow for doubling on any 3 cars as well as the unlimited re-split option.

Since we're on the topic of the ACG Matchplay coupons, I convinced my friends to each purchase a book for our most recent trip and we rented a car and took a trip around North Las Vegas, went to the East of Strip Casinos, saw some on Boulder Highway, hit the Hoover Dam, went to Henderson, and ended at the Orleans. It was a great day of seeing new casinos and having the edge gambling wise as we bounced from place to place, but when we arrived at Terrible's, my friends decided to take their matchplay to the roulette wheel while I stayed with blackjack. I won on my first matchplay and was paid $10 for my $5 wager, but when I asked the dealer if he needed to take the coupon, he said "Nope, you get to play it until you lose!" Seeing this as an unbelievable AP opportunity, I graciously agreed and proceeded to win 6 straight hands for $80 (included a double down where he allowed me to put $10 more on the table and a blackjack which he paid me $15 for) until the pit boss came over and informed me that I could only use the coupon once per day. When I accepted these terms and asked if he needed the coupon, he said no, you can keep it and come back tomorrow. I was stunned, but happy.

For less than 10 minutes of play, I managed to win $75 and have more than enough for my first ever trip to In-N-Out Burger :-)

Sorry for the derail, but the ACG discussion reminded me of this, and if I were to wait for the T's, I certainly would have forgotten this.

Quote: Wizard

I keep confusing the Bighorn and Longhorn, but both of them have two unusual blackjack rules I have to footnote in my blackjack survey. One is doubling on any number of cards. The other is unlimited re-splitting, except aces.

Don't want to derail, but...Longhorn also pays 2:1 on suited BJs in diamonds. I assume that Bighorn does as well...

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Quote: zippyboy

and some dice:

ROUND edge dice? Do these have serial numbers? Very odd....

Those look like the dice from that stupid game with the quarters...;-)

they look like dice from the gift shop, these could never have been used in live play

Quote: rdw4potus

Don't want to derail, but...Longhorn also pays 2:1 on suited BJs in diamonds. I assume that Bighorn does as well...

I checked the Current Blackjack Newsletter and it say they pay a $5 bonus on a suited BJ in diamonds. How sure are you it is 2-1 (for all bets)?

Quote: rdw4potus

Quote: DJTeddyBear

ROUND edge dice? Do these have serial numbers? Very odd....

Those look like the dice from that stupid game with the quarters...;-)

Ahh! You have been paying attention.

Yeah, my wife calls Pai Gow Poker "That stupid game with the quarters." And I have repeated it here more than once.

However, the times I've seen dice used in the game, it has always been traditional Chinese dice. I.E. White with blue pips for 2, 3, 5, 6 and red 1, 4 with an enlarged 1.


I concur with others. Those are gift shop dice.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Bill's Gamblin' Hall

When we discussed Barbary Coast casino last week, I mentioned that after Boyd Gaming acquired the property, they traded it to Harrah's for additional land for their Echelon Place project. Harrah's renamed the casino Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon, and my understanding is that "Bill" refers to the company's founder Bill Harrah, though I could have that wrong.

Bill's has convenient access by overhead walkways to both corporate siblings Bally's (across Flamingo Rd.) and Caesars Palace (across Las Vegas Blvd.), though neither of the walkways is really connected to Bill's. Both of them just feed to the sidewalk between the street and the casino, but they point pedestrian traffic right toward the casino entrance positioned at the very corner of this prime intersection. Referring to the other Caesars properties as siblings may be a bit of an exaggeration – I understand that Bill's does not participate in the Total Rewards program. Maybe Bill's is a step-sibling.

Most of the discussions of Bill's on this forum seem to focus on the fact that the only known installation of Shufflemasters' Rapid Craps is in Bill's. I really need to give that game a try when I am in town for WoVCon][.

My wife and I have tried their breakfast special at the Victorian Café (called the Victorian "Room" by Wikipedia) on the ground floor; the meal was fine, but we had the feeling that there was a shortage of wait staff, with all of them working their buns off. Our visit may not constitute a representative sampling. Once when I was famished, I grabbed a hot dog at the bar area between the Victorian Café and the crap tables, and I can't complain about that either. I've never tried their steakhouse. No, I'm not really big on giving restaurant reviews.

There have been numerous comments suggesting that continued operation of Bill's is not in Caesars Entertainment's long range plan and that the Bill's site, along with the former site of the Bourbon Street casino, will be used for something new, though perhaps not until they are ready for a major re-do of the Flamingo property. I heard one suggestion that there might be a southern entrance developed for Flamingo, Project Linq, Imperial Palace, etc. in the vicinity of the monorail line. Of course, that little we've-got-a-gazillion-years-left-on-our-lease spot in that area will likely try to extort whatever they can from such a plan. I'm not privy to the inside-info, but my guess is that such a redevelopment won't get underway until they complete whatever they are going to do on Project Linq, on the other side of the Flamingo

The Bill's Gamblin' Hall chip image below again exhibits the color shift I have been griping about. My chip really is a bright white rather than the dingy beige tint shown in my photo. This chip is a nice Paulson top hat and cane design that we have seen before. Of course, I have said it's even higher class to have your casino's name molded into the chip, so this chip from Bill's is perhaps a step down from the ones that were used by the establishment's previous incarnation as Barbary Coast.





Edit 3/28/12: I have just received from rdw4potus the links to some images of his chips from casinos that I have already passed in this thread. Thanks, rdw! I am editing my posts to include his images, such as this one:

Quote: Wizard

I checked the Current Blackjack Newsletter and it say they pay a $5 bonus on a suited BJ in diamonds. How sure are you it is 2-1 (for all bets)?

I was pretty bleary-eyed when I played there on Wednesday night, and I never actually saw a suited BJ in diamonds during my 90ish minute session. I would say I'm 70% sure that the sign on the table said 2:1 and not $5 bonus.

Quote: rdw4potus

I was pretty bleary-eyed when I played there on Wednesday night, and I never actually saw a suited BJ in diamonds during my 90ish minute session. I would say I'm 70% sure that the sign on the table said 2:1 and not $5 bonus.

Thanks. What we need here is a third opinion.

Speaking of making mistakes, I see that in my hotel list I call the casino of the day "Bill's Gambling hall and saloon." I didn't know Bill dropped the second G. Personally, I think it is a little dishonest when a big corporation (Harrah's in this case) tries to fool us into thinking it is a mom & pop joint. I wonder if the Bill is an homage to William Harrah.

Quote: Doc

Harrah's renamed the casino Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon, and my understanding is that "Bill" refers to the company's founder Bill Harrah, though I could have that wrong.

That's my understanding as well. If not, it's one hell of a coincidence. :)

Quote:

Referring to the other Caesars properties as siblings may be a bit of an exaggeration – I understand that Bill's does not participate in the Total Rewards program. Maybe Bill's is a step-sibling.

Bill's has its own card and loyalty program, but from my last visit in 2010 it seems you can spend Caesars comps/credits/points at Bill's. I do second your altter guess that Bill's will be demolished or incorporated into some other project. More so now that the company has ditched its founder's name entirely.

Quote:

Most of the discussions of Bill's on this forum seem to focus on the fact that the only known installation of Shufflemasters' Rapid Craps is in Bill's. I really need to give that game a try when I am in town for WoVCon][.

Just say the time and place any day between May 7th and 17th and I'm there, too. Well, I already know the place...

Quote: Wizard

Speaking of making mistakes, I see that in my hotel list I call the casino of the day "Bill's Gambling hall and saloon." I didn't know Bill dropped the second G.

Doh! I did it too! Even though I posted the chip that clearly says "Gamblin' Hall", I then said "Gambling" in my post. I've gone back and fixed that now. I checked their web site and verified they use the apostrophe instead of the "g" there too.

Quote: rdw4potus

I was pretty bleary-eyed when I played there on Wednesday night, and I never actually saw a suited BJ in diamonds during my 90ish minute session. I would say I'm 70% sure that the sign on the table said 2:1 and not $5 bonus.

I am 80% sure that it is only a $5 bonus. You have to be betting at least $5, so the optimal play is to flat bet $5. I played there two trips ago, and I think hit it twice (!). They also have the weird rules like double on three cards and LS. I remember I forgot to surrender 16 vs. 10 and got really angry. This was at Longhorn (the one across from The Eastside Cannery).

To keep on the current topic: Bill's does have its own players card. You CAN get upgraded to the Bill's Diamond Card for free if you have the Harrah's Diamond Card. (I'm not sure about vice versa. Does anyone play enough at Bill's exclusively to get Diamond status there?) You can also use Bill's credits and Total Rewards credits interchangeably. Sometimes you need to go to the players' club desk and get them to change them for you. Be sure to check first. You are also entitled to two comped tickets to some Caesars shows per month with BOTH the Bill's Diamond card and the Total Rewards Diamond card.

I didn't have much informative to say about Bill's dining or entertainment options in my original post, mostly because of limited experience. I did overhear Big Elvis performing once in the lounge while I was at the crap table, and my wife watched the show from the rear. That's about my only exposure, so I wanted to ask for input from others: Has anybody tried either the steakhouse or the "after-hours" nightclub at Bill's? From the little bit I have seen of the place (the exterior, the gaming floor, and the café), it just doesn't strike me as a place that would have a high-end steakhouse or nightclub, but I say that completely without any info on either the restaurant or the club. Does anyone know anything about those places?

There is a chance D chips will be in today, last night they closed almost all the tables around 3am and took everything off the roulette tables.

Well, if there's a chance they will be in today, then it seems very likely they will be in stock in time for WoVCon][, and I will pick one up then. This thread will have passed "D" in the alphabet by then, but I'm thinking that when I get to the end of the Nevada chips, I may go back to any that I have added to my collection before starting with the next state's chips.

Thanks for the info.

Quote: Doc

I didn't have much informative to say about Bill's dining or entertainment options in my original post, mostly because of limited experience. I did overhear Big Elvis performing once in the lounge while I was at the crap table, and my wife watched the show from the rear. That's about my only exposure, so I wanted to ask for input from others: Has anybody tried either the steakhouse or the "after-hours" nightclub at Bill's? From the little bit I have seen of the place (the exterior, the gaming floor, and the café), it just doesn't strike me as a place that would have a high-end steakhouse or nightclub, but I say that completely without any info on either the restaurant or the club. Does anyone know anything about those places?

It was probably 10 years ago but I did eat at the steakhouse once. Can't remember much of the meal but I know my wife and I decided that it was not worth the price.

Quote: NicksGamingStuff

There is a chance D chips will be in today...

WOW! That was fast.

Or was the name, logo, etc, in the works for a LONG TIME prior to the announcement?.....

Quote: Doc

... my understanding is that "Bill" refers to the company's founder Bill Harrah, though I could have that wrong.

Quote: Wizard

I wonder if the Bill is an homage to William Harrah.

That was what I was trying to say. Perhaps my verbosity got in the way again.

But the Wizard's link did provide some info that I hadn't heard before:

Quote: the Wiki page on William Harrah

The highest Total Rewards Card Tier "Seven Stars" was named after his seven wives.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Binion's

Finally, the 13th chip presented in this thread is for a casino in Downtown Las Vegas. It felt as if we might never get to the site of the early core of this industry in Nevada. I believe that I have chips from all of the currently-operating casinos in the downtown area, though not one from the Lady Luck, which I missed. Looking ahead, I think there is a slim chance that this thread will progress to the Four Queens before we convene there for WoVCon][, depending on how many days I miss posting because of a trip I have scheduled in mid-April.

Binion's is, of course, the current incarnation of (Binion's) Horseshoe, founded by Benny, "managed" into the ground by his descendants (or so I understand), raided by the feds in 2004, shuttered for months, and bought by Harrah's who flipped it, taking the Horseshoe name and the WSOP with them. The then owner was the same company that owns the Mountaineer Casino in West Virginia, but they sold it too. Unless I am out of date, the current owners are the same folks who own the Four Queens, diagonally across the intersection.

The chip shown below is yet again a Paulson top hat and cane design from Gaming Partners International. That makes 6 out of the first 13 chips in this thread, if you're trying to keep count. And there are quite a few left in my collection. Did I say something a few days ago about one manufacturer being the gorilla in the room?

It's a bit surprising that, in the short time between the casino reopening as Binion's and the visit when I collected this souvenir, it could get so absolutely filthy that I can't get it clean. (I'm not willing to use a cleaning technique that might damage the insert.)

I am sure I got this chip from a crap table at Binion's – I think that's the only game I have ever played in that casino or its predecessor. At one time, before my time, the earlier edition of this casino apparently was quite the place to go to play craps, but that guy over at NextShooter.com has a whole page bemoaning how craps has declined in the new place.

Binion's may not have the WSOP any more, but this is the casino that drew the honor of being the site for the poker game of WoVCon I, with Croupier and his wife going home the big winners. Whatever happened to Croupier, anyway? He hasn't posted here in months.

Oh, and one more thing – back on Saturday, Tiltpoul brought up the idea of trying to guess what the next Casino Chip of the Day would be. Unfortunately, at that point he hadn't understood that I am currently posting in the "Nevada Casinos" category and guessed wrong. Anyone want to take a guess about tomorrow's chip?





Edit 3/28/12: I have just received from rdw4potus the links to some images of his chips from casinos that I have already passed in this thread. Thanks, rdw! I am editing my posts to include his images, such as this one:





Edit 6/7/12: DJTeddyBear posted his Binion's chip in this post. Here they are:

Admin note: removed link to www.djteddybear.com/images/chips_large/binions_1.JPGAdmin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/chips_thumb/binions_1.JPG Admin note: removed link to www.djteddybear.com/images/chips_large/binions_2.JPGAdmin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/chips_thumb/binions_2.JPG

Quote: Doc

Anyone want to take a guess about tomorrow's chip?

Boardwalk.

Quote: Doc

Oh, and one more thing – back on Saturday, Tiltpoul brought up the idea of trying to guess what the next Casino Chip of the Day would be. Unfortunately, at that point he hadn't understood that I am currently posting in the "Nevada Casinos" category and guessed wrong. Anyone want to take a guess about tomorrow's chip?

Boulder Station?

Quote: Doc

Anyone want to take a guess about tomorrow's chip?

Well...
BI, BJ, BK, BL, BM, BN, BO...ahhh...Boardwalk would be proper if you have one from there...or BoomTown more than likely...

I have a chip from when it was the Horseshoe and pic is below. I think I picked it up in the early 80's, likely at a craps table. As Doc alluded to, this used to be the funnest place for craps...there were 8-10 tables and often you couldn't find a spot at any of them.

Doc,

I've really been enjoying the thread so far. Last week I went through my meager collection of 1$ chips and happened to see that I had two of these "Benny Binion's Horseshoe Club" chips. They have the Paulson Tophat imprint and are Beige/Khaki in color with the Black tick's

I'm sure these came from a visit to Las Vegas for a Continuing Education Meeting in the early 90's. My friend and I were new to craps and went Downtown one night to play at The Horseshoe. All I can remember was that they had 3 or 4 tables open on a weekday night and they were all packed. I also have some other chips from different casinos from around that time.



I REALLY apologize for the poor picture quality from my iPhone and upload size from photo bucket. I'll try to work on that in the future. Johnzimbo's is of much better quality!

Thanks for the posts, Johnzimbo and ten2win, but my plan is to post the Horseshoe casino chip(s) when we get to "H". Your chip is definitely different from the one I have in my collection, but could you post it when we get to that point? You can either leave that image here, too, or delete it until then, whichever you feel is best.

I know I'm being a bit obsessive, but I think this thread will be more interesting (and more useful as a future resource) if we keep the various chips from the same casino grouped together. Each time a casino changes names, I try to treat it as being a different casino. That's how we have already had both Barbary Coast and Bill's, and there will be a number of others that show up in different incarnations. I may be inconsistent, though.

Of course, I have to admit that I didn't know that the casino whose chip I have as "Binion's Horseshoe" was previously known as "Horseshoe Club". I have no idea how old your chip is. Perhaps when we get to "H" and you post this again, you can tell us more of the history.

Quote: Doc

Of course, I have to admit that I didn't know that the casino whose chip I have as "Binion's Horseshoe" was previously known as "Horseshoe Club". I have no idea how old your chip is. Perhaps when we get to "H" and you post this again, you can tell us more of the history.

Maybe you could prospectively tell us if you have other chips from the same property under a different name? It would seem that if you didn't also have a Horseshoe chip, today may have been the proper place for Johnzimbo and ten2win to show theirs since Binion's is the same property. Of course, now knowing that there will also be a Horseshoe entry in a few weeks it's clear that those chips should be shown at a later time.

Good point, rdw4potus. I will try to make it clear in the future if there will be another chip related to the one I am posting.

If it is not obvious, there are some minor challenges to figuring out just how to organize a chip collection and how to present all of the chips in a thread like this. I have received multiple PMs from people asking why I skipped over Avi or have I not been there. I explained to each person that I have my Avi chip in the group with other tribal casinos, since I try to keep all of those together. In some cases, like Avi, a tribal casino is located in a state that also has corporate casinos.

Sometimes such things get complicated, though. For example, I have a chip from Casino Rama, a First Nations casino located in Ontario. I currently have that chip in with my other tribal casino chips, but I notice from their web site that "the operations at Casino Rama are conducted and managed under the auspices of OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming)." Perhaps I should defer to some of our Canadian members on this: Should I consider Casino Rama the same way I consider tribal casinos in the U.S., or should I group it with other Canadian non-tribal casinos? I probably should have that issue resolved before I post my chip image in either category, and I don't really know for sure which is better.

Maybe I should just give up on keeping tribal casinos separate and just group them with the state or province where they are located. Let me know what you folks think about that. If that's the direction I should go, I will go back and fill in Avi when I come to the end of my Nevada casino chips. I suspect I will have others that I will need to do that with before I start on the next state.

Another minor complexity comes in alphabetizing and choosing just what name to apply to a casino. There are several chips in my collection from places named Casino Such-and-Such. In many cases, the word "casino" seems to hang out there in front without being completely necessary. I suspect most folks would look for Casino Monte Lago under ""M" rather than "C", and I treat it as just Monte Lago. (Am I wrong there? If so, let me know before I get to "C".) However, Casino Royale doesn't sound right being called just "Royale" so I already have it under "C". Another example of my inconsistency.

Quote: Doc

Thanks for the posts, Johnzimbo and ten2win, but my plan is to post the Horseshoe casino chip(s) when we get to "H". Your chip is definitely different from the one I have in my collection, but could you post it when we get to that point? You can either leave that image here, too, or delete it until then, whichever you feel is best.

I know I'm being a bit obsessive, but I think this thread will be more interesting (and more useful as a future resource) if we keep the various chips from the same casino grouped together. Each time a casino changes names, I try to treat it as being a different casino. That's how we have already had both Barbary Coast and Bill's, and there will be a number of others that show up in different incarnations. I may be inconsistent, though.

Of course, I have to admit that I didn't know that the casino whose chip I have as "Binion's Horseshoe" was previously known as "Horseshoe Club". I have no idea how old your chip is. Perhaps when we get to "H" and you post this again, you can tell us more of the history.

On that note don't forget the Joe Brown Horseshoe.

Quote: Doc

Maybe I should just give up on keeping tribal casinos separate and just group them with the state or province where they are located. Let me know what you folks think about that. If that's the direction I should go, I will go back and fill in Avi when I come to the end of my Nevada casino chips. I suspect I will have others that I will need to do that with before I start on the next state.

What do you do with corporately operated tribal casinos? Harrah's Rincon (or Ak-Chin, or Cherokee), Hollywood in Lawrenceburg IN, etc.? FWIW, I have my tribal casino chips intermixed with the others in my collection, so that they're near the chips that were collected at approximately the same time.

Quote: Doc

Another minor complexity comes in alphabetizing and choosing just what name to apply to a casino. There are several chips in my collection from places named Casino Such-and-Such. In many cases, the word "casino" seems to hang out there in front without being completely necessary. I suspect most folks would look for Casino Monte Lago under ""M" rather than "C", and I treat it as just Monte Lago. (Am I wrong there? If so, let me know before I get to "C".) However, Casino Royale doesn't sound right being called just "Royale" so I already have it under "C". Another example of my inconsistency.

There are lots of "Casino ____" and lots of "Las Vegas _____." I generally have taken things on a case-by-case basis, as you have. Casino Rama is in the "R"s, while Casino del Sol is in the "C"s. Similarly Las Vegas Club is in the "L"s, while Las Vegas Hilton is in the "H"s.

Quote: rdw4potus

... Similarly Las Vegas Club is in the "L"s, while Las Vegas Hilton is in the "H"s.

Yeah, that's an example of where it becomes difficult. I have Las Vegas Hilton right after Las Vegas Club. And I have Casino Fandango under "F". It's difficult to give a rational explanation for inconsistency.

As for corporate operation of tribal casinos, I consider that just hired help and have Rincon and Cherokee with the tribal casinos. Hollywood in Lawrenceburg is particularly a problem. I didn't even know it was a tribal casino. The chip I have doesn't even have the name of the casino on it -- it just says, "Indiana Gaming Company, L.P." I don't think I have ever encountered that sort of thing at another casino.

Quote: Doc

Yeah, that's an example of where it becomes difficult. I have Las Vegas Hilton right after Las Vegas Club. And I have Casino Fandango under "F". It's difficult to give a rational explanation for inconsistency.

You're not alone with that problem.

When I sort my albums, or enter it into my database, I sort artist by last name, along with bands, and I drop the "The" for bands whose name starts with "The".

So where/how do I file "John Cougar", "Jethro Tull", or "The The"?

No D chips yet, they just had all the chips off the tables to redo some electrical work underneath them.

Quote: NicksGamingStuff

No D chips yet, they just had all the chips off the tables to redo some electrical work underneath them.

Ahh! The dice controllers must have been acting up. You have seen Ocean's 13, haven't you?

Quote: Wavy70

On that note don't forget the Joe Brown Horseshoe.

Somehow, I overlooked this post earlier today. I don't even know whether Joe Brown tacked his name onto the casino while Binion was in prison and Brown was the owner. If anyone has any Horseshoe chips from the casino in Las Vegas, regardless of any additional name on them, please post a photo when I post my Binion's Horseshoe chip. I suspect that won't happen until early June.

Quote: Doc

.....when I post my Binion's Horseshoe chip. I suspect that won't happen until early June.

There's an odd thought. We'll "only" be in the "h" section of the nevada portion of this thread 10 weeks from now...

Part of the time required to reach that point in the thread is delay because of travel I have planned. When I travel, I no longer take a computer with me, and my cell phone is my only means of internet access. That tiny screen makes it difficult to even navigate this site, and I really don't think I could manage to organize a worthwhile post in this thread.

I have one trip planned in April and expect it to interfere with my making posts for ten days. Then in May, I will be going to WoVCon][, and I expect to miss seven days of posting time. As of tonight, my Horseshoe chip is still #51 in the posting queue. :-)

This morning I received from rdw4potus the links to some images of his chips from casinos that I have already passed in this thread. Thanks, rdw! I have edited my posts for the following casinos to include his images:

Aliante Station
Aquarius
Aria
Arizona Charlie's Decatur
Arizona Charlie's East
Atlantis
Bally's
Bellagio
Bighorn
Bill's Gamblin' Hall
Binion's

If you would like to see these new images, the easiest way is to click the " << First " link at the top or bottom of this page and then click on the appropriate casino's name at the bottom of my very first post. I suspect that from here on out rdw4potus will be posting images on a regular basis.

Quote: Doc

This morning I received from rdw4potus the links to some images of his chips from casinos that I have already passed in this thread. Thanks, rdw! I have edited my posts for the following casinos to include his images:

Nice! Those $5 chips are indeed classy.

Quote: teddys

Nice! Those $5 chips are indeed classy.

Yes, indeed. My wife once looked at a nice green $25 chip I was holding and commented how much prettier it was than the ones I had been collecting. I agreed, but I had to point out both how cheap I am and how much more money I would have tied up in the (now 285) chips in my collection if I focused on the "pretty" ones.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Boardwalk

Well, it seems that teddys was the first poster yesterday to correctly guess which chip I would be posting today, and Nareed was the first to be tricked by the fact that I am posting a chip from a casino that no longer exists. TIMSPEED got the right answer but 14 minutes too late; then he proposed an alternate answer of Boomtown. I could be a real stinker and ask what chip you guess for tomorrow (with everyone now probably guessing Boomtown), but on my only visit ever to Reno last fall, I missed that casino, one of several I seem to have overlooked. I just didn't get that far out on the west side of town.

As for the establishment represented by today's Casino Chip of the Day, my understanding is that the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino started out as a Holiday Inn, but that was before my time on the scene. There is a Wikipedia page giving some of the history, but that page seems to be self-contradictory; example: one place the page says that Boardwalk opened in 1968 while in another it talks about a man who opened a gift shop in 1972 on the site where he founded the Boardwalk in 1977. All of that was prior to my first visit to Las Vegas, so this old guy will have to leave it to Las Vegas old timers to say what the real starting point was. The 1968 date is supported by the LV Revealed casino time line. Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that Boardwalk consisted of three separate but connected structures built at different times (?) to different heights.

The front of the facility was designed to look like a small copy of Coney Island, with a wooden, imitation roller coaster. Later, the NYNY casino hotel was built just a block down the street with a real roller coaster ride, so the Boardwalk façade looked a little silly in comparison.

I only recall being in the Boardwalk one time, in December 2004. My wife and I were in town for a basketball game at the Thomas and Mack center and stayed at the Tropicana. My brother and his girlfriend, who were also going to the game, were staying at the Boardwalk. They had recently returned from a visit to Europe, and they said they were caught by surprise that this made two hotel rooms in a row where they could look out of their room window and see the Eiffel tower.

My wife and I walked over to Boardwalk to meet them, and while waiting I played craps at a small, one-dealer tub. I had a very good session and I placed quite a few toke bets. Apparently the dealer didn't like the long-shot wagers I was making for him, and he kept moving them to better spots on the table. I think that's the only time I have ever seen a dealer do that. I didn't mind, because he always moved them to places where I had another of my bets and said he wanted to play beside me. We both kept winning, and I wound up with my $100 buy-in converted to something over $600. (Unless I have kept a written record of it, I only remember the good sessions.) I think I recently mentioned somewhere around here that when I turned in my chips at the cage, the cashier had to phone someone to get approval. I told her that she made it sound as if I were a high roller. She just smiled and said, "Small casino."

The Boardwalk Holiday Inn was acquired by Mirage Resorts, which, by the time I saw the place, had became part of MGM. The small Boardwalk Hotel and Casino, with its fake roller coaster, eventually fell victim to its outstanding location on the Las Vegas strip, between Monte Carlo and Bellagio – in 2006 it was closed and imploded for construction of the City Center complex.

The Boardwalk chip shown below has the same smooth-all-over design as the Arizona Charlie's East and Bally's chips I showed earlier. I did a little more lazy-man research and learned that this type of chip is referred to as a "ceramic" chip as opposed to the "clay" chip category that includes most of my other souvenirs.

I am not yet convinced that the sources I have found give accurate distinctions between the composition of the clay chips and the ceramic chips. Both apparently provide the desired weight from their mixed ingredients, while cheaper "plastic" chips add weight by being molded around a metal slug.

I am also not completely clear on the difference between the compression molding process and the injection molding process used for these chips. From my manufacturing background, I am familiar with compression molding being a process where the molds/dies are moved together onto a malleable material, comparable to a forging process, while injection molding involves fixed molds with a fluid material pumped in and is used for such things as automobile tires. The manufacturing processes for casino chips seems to be held as trade secrets, and I'm not at all sure that they match those descriptions offered from my own background or that the descriptions I found on the web are reliable.

One manufacturer of ceramic chips is Chipco. Their web site includes an image of the Bally's chip that I posted a week ago, as well as some other chips in my collection. At last I have identified the source of those chips, but I'm not certain of the manufacturer of today's Casino Chip of the Day.

Like the earlier ceramic chips, this Boardwalk chip has printing on the very edge, something that Chipco says only a very few companies can do. The edge of this chip just says Boardwalk Hotel and Casino. Early next week I will post another ceramic chip that has a different manufacturer's logo on it that I can identify. Unfortunately, I cannot recognize one on this chip.

Here's something for you to try with this chip image: can you figure out what those background letters in blue are all about? Looks a bit like P – F – T – L – U – …. It took me a little while to figure it out.


Edit 4/4/12: Chip manufacturer identified as Chipco.

Quote: Doc

Here's something for you to try with this chip image: can you figure out what those background letters in blue are all about? Looks a bit like P – F – T – L – U – …. It took me a little while to figure it out.

It has the same slogan "FUN PLACE TO BE" reading from top to bottom right to left...weird

Bingo!

Quote: Doc

(Is it proper to call a group of sheep a "herd" if no one is herding them? Flock doesn't sound right either.)

Sorry for the late reply. There's a good chance I'm the only board member to have owned sheep. "Flock" is definitely correct. I think technically "herd" can work as a broader term for most groups of mammals, but I've never heard a sheep owner use anything other than "flock."

Thanks for the educational post, sunrise. I take it that "flock" is still appropriate for longhorn sheep in the wild?



(I am trying unsuccessfully to suppress the comment that, in a dangerous situation in the wild, the dominant ram is the one that decides when to get the flock out of there.)

My chip is different as you can see. I don't have any info on it other than it was from that same lot of chips my wife bought me about 4-5 years ago

I'm guessing tomorrows chip will be from Buffalo Bills in Primm...

Quote: Doc

Well, it seems that teddys was the first poster yesterday to correctly guess which chip I would be posting today, and Nareed was the first to be tricked by the fact that I am posting a chip from a casino that no longer exists.

I forgot my own Law: Everything in Vegas is ultimately ephemeral. If a developer could demolish the Sun and replace it with a more upscale star, he would ;)

Quote: TIMSPEED

I'm guessing tomorrows chip will be from Buffalo Bills in Primm...

How much would you like to wager, and would you allow the Wizard to hold the funds in escrow?

That is an impossible venture, as I have no idea of the odds of you going out to Primm Valley...
And come to think of it, BoUlder Station comes first, duh..brainfart

Quote: TIMSPEED

I have no idea of the odds of you going out to Primm Valley...
And come to think of it, BoUlder Station comes first, duh..brainfart

Now you've got the idea. (Couldn't scam you now, could I?) And you are correct about the next two chips I will post in the thread.

But first, is there not anyone who can tell us more about the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino? Is there anyone else on the forum who has played there? Anyone other than my brother and his girlfriend who actually stayed in the hotel?