Casino Chip of the Day

Quote: Doc

Well, rdw, you definitely need to schedule another tour of NW Nevada. Right now, I am at Casino West in Yerington. The tables are closed, but I bought a $1 token from the cashier and played $1 through a nickel VP machine; i.e., the current I-really-played-there technique.

The news that justifies your tour and return here is that Casino West has been bought out by Pioneer Crossing, opening under that name as of Oct. 1. All old chips are to be redeemed by Sep. 30. The cashier thinks that Pioneer Crossing will be operating the BJ and poker tables with their own new chips. Afraid I won't be back this way any time soon, but here's another opportunity for you!

At least there's two casinos up that way to collect, then. And maybe the new owners of the former Terrible's property in Dayton will put the tables back in there eventually, too. How does Mrs. Doc feel about Yerington?

State: Oklahoma
City: Devol
Casino: Comanche Red River

Today's chip of the day comes from the Comanche Red River casino in Devol and/or Randlett, OK. The casino is approximately halfway between the two towns, on US70 just off of I-44 north of Wichita Falls, TX. The chip doesn't list a location, and Casino City and the MOGH disagree about the city in the address. The casino's website lists Devol, so I went with that. The casino has a 52,500 sqft gaming floor with 1,100 machines and 8 tables.

I had a difficult time figuring out the Red River ante situation. I'd just come from Lawton, where they'd offered to waive the ante on their games. The folks at Red River looked at me like I was from Mars when I asked if they could do that. Their rules were great, including top pay tables on UTH and 3CP. But both games were unplayable (and largely unplayed) because of the ante. With Lawton just up the road and a couple other casinos so close, it seemed odd that they wouldn't/couldn't eliminate the ante to be more competitive. As it was, I played very briefly and left.

Red River is a pretty casino. This is another situation where the actual pictures aren't very good. But here's an artists rendition that is pretty good:



My chip from Comanche Red River is another chip fro RT Plastics. It seems like the various manufacturers have pockets of strength throughout the country, and southern OK is RT Plastics' area of strength. This chip features an image of a spade, which contains the same image of a horserider that the Comanche Lawton chip from yesterday showed.



I noticed something kind of embarrassing today. After my travel-related absence, I never finished Michigan's chips. After Doc admirably filled in, I moved on to new states even though there were two more chips from MI to share. So, after OK, the new plan is to return to MI for 2 days before moving on to a new state.

Quote: rdw4potus

How does Mrs. Doc feel about Yerington?

She offered no complaints, though she wouldn't want to live there -- too far away from most everything. For my part, about the only time I had ever heard of Yerington was that minor mention in the lovely song "Darcy Farrow."

Quote: rdw4potus

I noticed something kind of embarrassing today. After my travel-related absence, I never finished Michigan's chips. After Doc admirably filled in, I moved on to new states even though there were two more chips from MI to share. So, after OK, the new plan is to return to MI for 2 days before moving on to a new state.

And you thought it was easy to keep things organized in the lead roll for this thread! ;-)

When I get home, I'll post images of my new $1 chips/tokens from NV casinos that you covered during one of my temporary absences from the lead roll. It would be nice if you could append a link in your old posts to point to the corresponding images.

deleted

State: Oklahoma
City: Quapaw
Casino: Downstream

Today's chip of the day comes from the Downstream casino in Quapaw, OK. Downstream is one of the more uniquely located casinos I've ever visited. The exit off of the highway is in Missouri, the road to the casino and much of the parking lot is in Kansas, and the casino and hotel are in Oklahoma. So, it's a situation where approaching the casino means driving through 3 states in the course of 1,000 feet. The casino has 70,000 sqft on its gaming floor, with 2,000 slots and 50 tables. The casino is only a handful of miles from Joplin, MO, which is where much of its draw likely comes from.

Downstream is a big and imposing place. It was the first OK casino that I visited as I drove down from KC, and it was not at all what I was expecting. It sure was easy to find from the highway! There's nothing around it, so it really stands out. Here's a picture:



I played BJ to get my chip from Downstream. They're a place where having a players club card means not paying an ante. They did a great job of advertising and advising about that point, so I got a card first and then approached the table. The system was a little odd - I had to set my card in front of me on the table as a marker to avoid the ante. This is the first time I've ever been allowed, let alone required, to set anything on the table in front of me during game play. I think whatever the primary system is for this was not functioning during my visit.

My chip from Downstream is a Chipco product. There's a good bit of wear, and the printing on both faces is a bit fuzzy as well. There's a textured pattern on each face, but especially in the first image you can see the presence of wear and lack of crispness in the inlay area. For a casino that is so high quality, this chip feels out-of-place.

State: Oklahoma
City: Newkirk
Casino: First Council

Today's chip of the day comes from the First Council casino in Newkirk, OK. According to Casinocity, the casino has 1,400 slots and 8 tables. Newkirk is a small town just east of I-35, just south of Wichita, KS. When I visited, it was clear that Kansas Star had taken a bite out of First Council's market share.

First Council is small enough that its tables are not open 24/7. That bit me on my trip to OK, as I arrived after the tables had closed for the night. That caused me to return to town the next day to collect my chip. I was frustrated about that at the time, but having that delay caused me to spend more time at each casino on that second day and that was fun. The delay caused me to spend time walking around First Council, which really is a beautiful little casino. I found a good picture for this one, which shows a shot of both the inside and outside in one edited image. I really like the woodwork inside.



I played BJ at First Council to collect my chip. I bought in for $60 and cashed out after about 30 minutes with $110. There was no ante of any kind required. Later, when I got to Kansas Star, I got into it with a floorperson who was openly lying about the ante situation at First Council. Let me take a sentence here to say kudos to First Council for not charging an ante and shame on Kansas Star for resorting to lying about First Council in an effort to scare players into avoiding that casino.

My chip from First Council is a Chipco product. This chip does have a bit of an intentional white line around the edge, and it doesn't have much visible wear at all. There's an odd fuzzy white are in the middle of the spade image, which appears on the MOGH's image as well.

State: Oklahoma
City: Lawton
Casino: Fort Sill Apache

Today's chip of the day comes from the Fort Sill Apache casino in Lawton, OK. The MOGH shows that the casino has changed its name to simply Apache Casino, though no new chips are displayed. Regardless of the name, the casino is very close to Fort Sill and there were plenty of military folks at the casino when I stopped in. Casino City says that the casino has 23,500 sqft of gaming space with 800 slots and 9 tables. Like Comanche's casino in Lawton, it is small but not cramped.

I played BJ at Fort Sill Apache. I don't have any notes about an ante, but I know I played for about 90 minutes and I don't think I'd have done that if there was a per-hand fee. My notes show that I had a whopping $30 win over my 90 minute session.

Fort Sill Apache is a simple but well-kept property. Here's a picture of the outside:



My chip from Fort Sill Apache is a Chipco product. It has an intentional white line around the edge, and a bit of edge wear as well. The MOGH shows that this series was issued in 2008 and, for the most part, this chip is in pretty good shape.

State: Oklahoma
City: Grove
Casino: Grand Lake

Today's chip of the day comes from the Grand Lake casino in Grove, OK. Grove is located on the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees in northeastern Oklahoma, and the casino is named for the lake. Ironically, the casino is operated by the Seneca-Cayuga tribe of Iroquois Indians. According to Casinocity, Grand Lake has 45,000 sqft of gaming space with 841 machines and 8 tables. Grand Lake o' the Cherokees is a vacation area, and Grove - and this casino - benefit from that draw.

Grove was an interesting place. The lake is not at all regularly shaped, and much of Grove is along the shore. The result is that many roads are not straight, and/or do not go through. It's a nice little town, and the casino was not overwhelming to the rest of the townscape. The casino does sort of sprawl, but it does not have much height. Here's a picture of the casino property:



I played BJ at Grand Lake to collect my chip. I don't have any notes about the ante situation, but I didn't play long and my notes say I lost $24. Maybe I had a BJ or tipped a white for a drink or something, but that number suggests that an ante may also have been charged. Really, given the vacation resort nature of the property and of the area, it probably makes sense that there would be sub-prime rules.

My chip from Grand Lake is a Chipco product. There's some edge wear, but it's in relatively good shape. I'm not sure what the image in the center of the chip is supposed to be, but it's repeated across the property. The Script-style name from the chip is also repeated on-property. I think this is another good blend of style and legibility.

Quote: rdw4potus

State: Oklahoma
City: Grove
Casino: Grand Lake

...I'm not sure what the image in the center of the chip is supposed to be, but it's repeated across the property.

It looks like a sunny side up fried egg.

State: Oklahoma
City: Wyandotte
Casino: Indigo Sky

Today's chip of the day comes from the Indigo Sky casino in Wyandotte, OK. The Indigo Sky opened when Bordertown closed in mid-2012. I visited Indigo Sky in December of 2012, and most of the signage in town still pointed to the (closed) Bordertown location and not to the Indigo Sky location up the road. Wyandotte is north of Grove, in far northeastern OK. It's definitely on the Neosho River. I'm not sure if it's technically on the northern shore of Grand Lake o' the Cherokees , or if the river is not dually named at this point. At any rate, it's a tiny and vacation oriented town. Indigo Sky has 1,270 slots and 22 tables on a 45,000 sqft gaming floor.

It took me a while to find Indigo Sky. The casino is much closer to Seneca, MO than it is to Wyandotte, OK. Signs in Seneca were crap, and Garmin didn't have the address in their system. Google Maps on my phone worked for showing the location, but service was so spotty that navigation didn't work. I finally gave up on the tech and used logic to find the address. In the end, it was much easier than I was making it - the casino was just a little farther out of town than I'd expected. It certainly helped that it was night and this was a giant and bright building. Here's a picture of the casino's entrance from the highway:



I thought Indigo Sky was a very pretty casino. It was so new when I visited that everything was quite pristine. I don't know how it'll age, but when I visited it reminded me a lot of the M and Cosmopolitan in Vegas. Everything is very sleek and modern, with very interesting lighting and seating choices throughout. Interior pictures of casinos are always sketchy, but here's a decent one of the cafe/lobby area of Indigo Sky:



My chip from Indigo Sky is a Paulson RHC. It features a portrait of a native american individual, and features the name Bluejacket. The casino is owned by the Shawnee tribe, and there was a Bluejacket who rather violently attempted to protect and preserve the Tribe's land in Ohio. I'm not sure if this refers to the war chief, or if there's a different and likely more modern Bluejacket.

State: Oklahoma
City: Devol
Casino: Kiowa

Today's chip of the day comes from the Kiowa casino in Devol, OK. Kiowa is basically right next to Comanche Red River, right off of I-44 just north of Wichita Falls, TX. The casino has a 64,000 sqft gaming floor with 973 machines and 10 tables.

Kiowa isn't pretty at all, but the inside more than makes up for the plain exterior. Here's a picture:



I've been to Kiowa a handful of times, visiting about a year ago to collect my chip and then returning several times on work trips to Dallas. Kiowa is a fantastically good casino. In terms of table games quality, it might be the best casino I've ever been to. Their 3 card game has a 5/4/1 ante pay table with a full-pay 6/4/1 pair plus paytable. UTH is 9/7/4 on the trips bet. There are no antes. But what really sets the casino apart are the people. Everybody was actually friendly, and everybody was competent. Those things, combined with fair game rules, really make for a special place.

My chip from Kiowa is a Chipco product. There's some typical wear around the edge, and a very vibrant starburst pattern in the center of the chip. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but the starburst contains both solid and whitened elements which have the effect of helping to mask the small amount of surface wear that is present.

State: Oklahoma
City: Newkirk
Casino: Native Lights

Today's chip of the day comes from the Native Lights casino in Newkirk, OK. Native Lights is about a mile south of the First Council casino on US77. The casinos are "in" Newkirk, OK but they're closer to Arkansas City, KS. Native Lights has 22,500 sqft of gaming space and 563 slots. Apparently, the tables have been taken out since I visited. That may be a reaction to the presence of Kansas Star choking off former traffic from the Wichita metro area.

Native Lights opened in 2006. When I visited last year, it was in good shape. But, the casino is not at all fancy. It's kind of like what a new and craps-less (apparently, now table-less) Jokers Wild must have been like. Here's a picture of the outside of the casino:



I visited Native Lights a day after I'd hoped to, and I didn't stay long when I did visit. I was more interested in trying to make up for lost time. I guess it doesn't really matter now that the tables are gone, but I played BJ and there was no ante.

My chip from Native Lights is a Paulson RHC. Of all the chips I cleaned earlier this year, this is the one I'm happiest about. The striped edge inserts, especially on the second image, really cleaned up well. There used to be very significant dirt and gunk, which was removed without color transfer as a result of the cleaning. Unfortunately, this was also the chip I was cleaning at the point that I realized that the nail polish remover had made me so woozy that I couldn't even stand up to get to a window or door. That was pretty scary, but I did manage to crawl out the door and out onto the deck. Then I opened my windows when I resumed work.

I have never been to Oklahoma, so I have had nothing useful to post about the recent chips/casinos that rdw4potus has covered. Besides, I was in travel status and could only post awkwardly anyway. I never did figure out why I could not edit the post #1 index with my tablet. It just crashed the browser every time I tried. I finally brought the index back up to date when I got home.

I picked up a dozen new souvenir chips and tokens during my travels this time, all of them from Nevada. Ten of them are from casinos for which rdw has already posted the corresponding $5 chips, so I thought I would just post those in a flurry here. I'll post the other two either after rdw4potus posts his chips or some day when I again have the opportunity to fill in for the lead role of the thread.

Alamo Travel Center, Sparks:
This RHC Paulson chip is very similar to the one I posted from the Alamo in Las Vegas, so similar that both have photos of the Sparks casino. ;-)


Bonanza, Reno:
I made the mistake of picking up a limited-edition, commemorative chip from the Bonanza, and they really aren't very common on $1 chips. The casino opened in 1973 according to this chip, so I don't know what kind of 40th anniversary was being commemorated in 2012. An interesting side note is that the MOGH catalog claims that the casino opened in 1979, even though they show chips that they say were issued in 1973. I think this chip is from Bud Jones.


Boomtown, Verdi:
To some (most?), the Boomtown Casino is in Reno, but the chip says Verdi, NV, so that's what I'm going with. The chip is medium blue with six edge inserts or three double inserts, depending on your preference. They are white and dark blue. The center inlay is black and yellow, with white lettering and a silhouetted stagecoach. The mold design is the Paulson SCV hat and cane (on both sides). The MOGH catalog says this was issued in 1997 and that there were two very similar versions, differing slightly in the position of the $ with respect to the 1. An earlier version had the Boomtown name molded in place of the hats and canes. UV light reveals the hidden hat and cane logo.


Casino West, Yerington:
This 1981 token is in fairly good shape, but I do not see any mint mark. As I noted in a previous post, while I was at Casino West, I learned that the place had been bought out and would be opening under a new name as of yesterday. I don't know whether I will ever get back there to check for new chips. I'm not even certain that the table games will remain, though the cashier said she thought they would.


Diamond's, Reno:
This July 1995 token is in fair condition, at least good enough to be able to see the stage coach with four horses and two men on topside. The other side includes a "G" mint mark at the bottom, which I think refers to Global Minting.


Fallon Nugget, Fallon:
As rdw4potus pointed out when he posted the $5 version of this chip, this is a very unusual design. The MOGH catalog has a chip that is at least very similar to this one; they say it was issued in 1997 and that theirs is a SCV Paulson hat and cane design. I think mine is the LCV, but it is a little difficult to tell because the center inlay completely covers the hats and canes, obscuring the view. UV light reveals the hidden hat and cane logo and the fact that the green edge inserts fluoresce while the purple ones do not.


Rail City, Sparks:
This is an almost-white RHC Paulson chip, with a gold hot-stamped center. One of the junkiest looking Paulson designs I know of, but at least the hot-stamp writing has not worn off this one.


Stockman's, Fallon:
This 1984 token is in amazingly good condition. I cannot see any mint mark to indicate the manufacturer.


Topaz Lodge: Gardnerville/Topaz Lake:
Yes, this 1979 token is worn almost to the point of being totally illegible. One side includes an image of a fish, reminding me of the token from the Searchlight Nugget. At the bottom of that side of the token is a small scribble that could be a mint mark, but I don't recognize it. The other side has a faint image of the lodge itself.


Western Village, Sparks:
The MOGH catalog says this chip was issued in 2011 but does not give a manufacturer. The "G" logo at the 4:00 position should be a good hint, but I'm not sure what it means. The web site renocasinochips.com says it is from Gemaco, which seems reasonable, but this chip design does not look like anything I can find in the Gemaco catalog, so I'm open to other suggestions. There's not really a hidden image on this chip, but I like the way the center inlay fluoresces.

I rearranged the chips on display on my home office desktop this afternoon, adding my new acquisitions, and I decided it was a reasonable time to post an image of the whole collection together once again. There are now 386 casinos represented, so 386 chips in the image; that's almost 80 more casinos than the last time I posted such a photo here. I have also posted in this thread two tokens (not shown here) from casinos for which I also have clay chips and two chips that I received as gifts that are also not on display as part of my collection.



That image should be about as big as will fit in this forum display, but if you want to see the full-size image, just click on the one shown. Don't do that unless you mean to -- the .jpg file is a little over 7Mb. If you do click, that should give a new window/tab filled with the larger image. Depending upon your browser, you may be able to click on that image to see it full size, where you can scroll around.

Even at that size it doesn't offer the resolution to allow individual chips to be examined closely -- you have to use the other posts in this thread for that! You can probably identify most of the chips shown here, though. They are arranged alphabetically by states/categories from left to right and alphabetically within state/category, column by column.

And yes, I really needed one more chip to complete the geometric array I chose. It's just one more of my nerdy quirks to try to plan a good pattern for my display, but not every number works out perfectly -- 387 would, but 386 not quite so well.

Paraphrasing: "We're going to need a bigger desk."

Quote: Doc

I rearranged the chips on display on my home office desktop this afternoon, adding my new acquisitions, and I decided it was a reasonable time to post an image of the whole collection together once again. There are now 386 casinos represented, so 386 chips in the image; that's almost 80 more casinos than the last time I posted such a photo here. I have also posted in this thread two tokens (not shown here) from casinos for which I also have clay chips and two chips that I received as gifts that are also not on display as part of my collection.

386 chips on the desktop

That image should be about as big as will fit in this forum display, but if you want to see the full-size image, just click on the one shown. Don't do that unless you mean to -- the .jpg file is a little over 7Mb. If you do click, that should give a new window/tab filled with the larger image. Depending upon your browser, you may be able to click on that image to see it full size, where you can scroll around.

Even at that size it doesn't offer the resolution to allow individual chips to be examined closely -- you have to use the other posts in this thread for that! You can probably identify most of the chips shown here, though. They are arranged alphabetically by states/categories from left to right and alphabetically within state/category, column by column.

And yes, I really needed one more chip to complete the geometric array I chose. It's just one more of my nerdy quirks to try to plan a good pattern for my display, but not every number works out perfectly -- 387 would, but 386 not quite so well.

That is a thing of true beauty! But I agree with Kathy - you're only a couple trips away from having an issue on your hands!

Quote: Doc

It's just one more of my nerdy quirks to try to plan a good pattern....

Quote: Nareed

Paraphrasing: "We're going to need a bigger desk."

Quote: rdw4potus

That is a thing of true beauty! But I agree with Kathy - you're only a couple trips away from having an issue on your hands!

Another of my nerdy quirks was to figure out just how many chips would fit on the desktop. If it isn't clear in the photo, the perimeter of the desktop is wood, with a black inlayed section onto which I arrange the chips.

I have determined that a maximum of 624 chips can be arranged on that black section, which means there is still room for 238 more casinos to be represented; i.e., a 61.6+% increase in the size of my collection. Since I have already collected the "low hanging fruit," I really doubt that I will ever fill that entire section of the desktop.

Quote: Doc

Another of my nerdy quirks was to figure out just how many chips would fit on the desktop. If it isn't clear in the photo, the perimeter of the desktop is wood, with a black inlayed section onto which I arrange the chips.

I have determined that a maximum of 624 chips can be arranged on that black section, which means there is still room for 238 more casinos to be represented; i.e., a 61.6+% increase in the size of my collection. Since I have already collected the "low hanging fruit," I really doubt that I will ever fill that entire section of the desktop.

Already collected the low-hanging fruit? No, sir! 3 days in Oklahoma and KS could get you 30 or 40 chips. 29 chips in 1 or 2 days for hanging out in historically significant Deadwood, South Dakota. A couple dozen chips for visiting San Francisco and the surrounding area. 3 days in Michigan, IL, and IN could get 30 chips or so. Washington exists...

State: Oklahoma
City: Bartlesville
Casino: Osage

Today's chip of the day comes from the Osage casino in Bartlesville, OK. Bartlesville is a small city (pop: 35,000) near the OK/KS border north of Tulsa on US 75. Osage has a 45,000 sqft gaming floor with 450 machines and 12 tables. It's not a huge casino, but it felt very spacious. I guess with a game count that small on a floor that large, it just really was that spacious.

This casino is also known as the Osage Million Dollar Elm. The Million Dollar Elm name was not on the casino at the time that I visited, and it is also not on the chip. I'm not quite sure if that name has been dropped, or if it's just that the Osage Nation name is posted despite the casino's alternative name/nickname. At any rate, the casino was a pleasant surprise. It was consistently above average, and the exterior landscaping touches were especially memorable. Here's a picture:



The casino has BJ and UTH. I played UTH to collect my chip. The casino collected some of my money. There was no ante, but it felt like there was. I had one of those sessions where I'd bet 2x, hit trips, win the bonus and lose the hand. There's nothing quite like winning the bonus and still losing money, and that happened more than once. At the end of the session, I'd lost about $60.


My chip from the Osage casino is a Gemaco product. This is design 139.25.15.32, according to the Gemaco catalog. The MOGH doesn't show any chips for the post-Million Dollar Elm version of this casino, and the only chips they show are Chipcos. Maybe the name and chip change were quite recent when I visited last year?

Quote: rdw4potus

That is a thing of true beauty!

Yes indeed.

Quote:

But I agree with Kathy - you're only a couple trips away from having an issue on your hands!

I meant it as a humorous compliment.

BTW, Doc, I put your shot from the Eiffel tower replica on my Win8.1 Preview desktop background. When I showed the system at the office, 3 different people were just mesmerized by it. Nice job!

Thanks. I still haven't had a print made of that shot. I have my LV-Strip-as-seen-from-the-top-of-the-Rio panorama hanging over the double door going out to my patio. I had in mind to put the panorama shot from the Paris tower over the double door heading into my office, but first I wanted to try to get a better shot that included the full Bellagio fountains. When we were in town for WoVCon]I[, I just couldn't find an appropriate evening to get back up the tower. Maybe next trip.

Quote: 1BB (back on 8/27/13 shortly after the CCotD thread reached the #1 spot in the top threads list)

How many views do you think the Spanish word of the day thread has even though it's last post was Nov. 5th? Take a guess and have some fun before looking it up.

Quote: Doc

... looked it up and was surprised. I wonder how much of that was from when the thread was active and how much is from newcomers who start their WoV experience by clicking on the "top" thread.

Looks to me like that "top thread" notoriety does indeed lead to a lot more views, perhaps from newcomers. I made a note of the number of views this thread had then, and it has increased from 136,552 to 203,967 (a 49% increase) in just over five weeks in the #1 spot. And this is a thread that has been plodding along at a fairly steady pace of posts for more than a year and a half. In the same period, the Spanish Word of the Day thread views increased from 624,190 to 628,257 for a 0.65% growth at the #2 spot.

I also noted that this thread now holds a 120 post lead on the Spanish Word thread (#2) and a 1,020 post lead on the Drama thread (#3). Less than 2% of the threads on this forum get a total of 120 posts.

Doc, you only need about 8,000 posts to top EB and then you'll hold all the meaningful records. But better get' em fast because it's certain the EB-bot will crank on all cylinders to retain such an illustrious distinction... ;-)

While it may not be obvious, I for one really do have a life outside of this forum. I may make the occasional pointless post, but unlike some I try not to go to extremes on it. This is just a place where I enjoy (some of) the info that I can gather and where I can post about a few of my hobbies: recreational travel, small-time gaming, chip collecting, and photography.

I even try to make most of my posts either informative or entertaining, while generally avoiding drama and conflict. I am not prolific enough with verbosity to approach the lead in the "top" contributors list.

j/k
and it's obvious you have other interests, with others not so much...

State: Oklahoma
City: Red Rock
Casino: Paradise

Today's chip of the day comes from the Paradise casino in Red Rock, OK. Red Rock is North of OKC, West of Tulsa, just a little north of Stillwater. The casino has a 30,000 sqft gaming floor with 502 slots and 6 table games.

Paradise has a very kitschy island theme. Here's a picture of the outside:



When I was at Paradise, I couldn't help but notice the clientele. It was an almost even split between 20 somethings, presumably from OSU, and 80 somethings. The casino is small, but it was very busy. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that before. If Jokers Wild and O'Shea's were melded into one small casino with their respective customer bases thrown in together, this is what you'd get.

I played BJ at Paradise. There weren't many other options. I think there was a 3 card table. My notes show that there was an ante unless a player's bet per spot was at least $20. I thought that was a good way to handle the situation, but I didn't bet that much with any frequency, either. Coming in with a $60 buyin, the choice between an ante and a mandatory $20 bet is pretty brutal. Variance was kind to me in this session and I turned my $60 into $100 (with this chip, $105) despite the antes paid.

My chip from the Paradise casino is a Chipco product. It has a little edge wear, but not too terribly much. The surface also doesn't have too much wear, but it's also not completely in focus. I think the face was almost certainly never totally focused. I'm not sure if it's intentionally softened or if that's an effect of wear.

Quote: rdw4potus

Already collected the low-hanging fruit? No, sir! 3 days in Oklahoma and KS could get you 30 or 40 chips. 29 chips in 1 or 2 days for hanging out in historically significant Deadwood, South Dakota. A couple dozen chips for visiting San Francisco and the surrounding area. 3 days in Michigan, IL, and IN could get 30 chips or so. Washington exists...

I'm a little slow to respond to these comments, and all I have to say is that I prefer to stay married to my present wife. Didn't you report your fiancee having said that there would be easier ways to break up with her than making such a trip? Breaking up a 45-year marriage could be more painful than destroying an engagement.

Congratulations Doc. I'll make 45 years on December 21st this year. Seems just like yesterday, I honked my car horn and this cute 18 year old waiting for the bus.

I was 28 at the time, hustling pool, collecting, playing softball. Less than a year later I switched over to the dark side. Got a job with a paycheck even. Joined the evil empire known as AT&T.

Still got that Saratoga chip if you want it.

Quote: Doc

I'm a little slow to respond to these comments, and all I have to say is that I prefer to stay married to my present wife. Didn't you report your fiancee having said that there would be easier ways to break up with her than making such a trip? Breaking up a 45-year marriage could be more painful than destroying an engagement.

LOL! Yeah, the fiancee does not share my love of road-trips, smoke-filled rooms, and flashing lights. I suppose I'll have to adapt at some point - taking vacations by myself will eventually be problematic.

Quote: Buzzard

Congratulations Doc. I'll make 45 years on December 21st this year. Seems just like yesterday, I honked my car horn and this cute 18 year old waiting for the bus.

I was 28 at the time, hustling pool, collecting, playing softball. Less than a year later I switched over to the dark side. Got a job with a paycheck even. Joined the evil empire known as AT&T.

Still got that Saratoga chip if you want it.

Amazing in todays world that there are 3 of us at 45 years (January for me) hanging around on degenerate board like this. Congrats to both of you.

Quote: Buzzard

Still got that Saratoga chip if you want it.

I'd love to have it and didn't mean to sound ungrateful when you offered it before. I just meant to explain that while I appreciate such generous gifts, I do not consider the chips to be part of my collection, since I didn't pick them up in the casino myself. As a result, that Saratoga chip could not join the others in that photo of my desktop that I posted two pages back. I would still appreciate the gift/chip, but I didn't want to mislead you about my "rules" for "my" collection. That one would join a few others that I keep separate and show to folks as "gift chips" I have received. If you're still in that generous mood, I'll send a PM with a mailing address, since it might be a very long time before I get back to Colorado.

(By the way, if you send it, I will post an image in this thread with acknowledgement.)

State: Oklahoma
City: Miami
Casino: Quapaw

Today's chip of the day comes from the Quapaw casino in Miami, OK. This is the casino that I'd just left when I struggled so badly to get to Buffalo Run. They're pretty close to each other, and the GPS wanted me to go through a series of increasingly sketchy farm roads to get from one to the other. The better path is to just double back through town. Casinocity says that Quapaw has 525 machines and 7 tables on a 27,000 sqft gaming floor.

Quapaw is a pretty basic place. There's the little gaming floor and one cafe-style restaurant. It was a little grating to go from Downstream and Indigo Sky to the Miami casinos. Quapaw was about the level of quality that I'd expected in rural OK, but then those others were so much more upscale than I'd expected and I'd hoped that trend might continue. It didn't. I can't find a decent image to post for this casino. Even 500nations.com has a picture of Downstream on this casino's entry.

My visit to Quapaw was pretty short. It was the 2nd of 3 casinos that visited in Miami, and I was mostly interested in just getting a chip and getting out of town. Quapaw has a relatively generous ante rule - there's no ante as long as the player bets $5 or more. I did make those $5 bets on a bj table, and I won $40 while I cycled through chips deciding which one to keep.

My chip from Quapaw is a Chipco product. Many of the chips in the tray had significant face wear. I was happy to find this one, which only had moderate edge wear.

State: Oklahoma
City: Newkirk
Casino: South Wind

Today's chip of the day comes from the South Wind casino in Newkirk, OK. The casino has 660 slots and 4 tables on a 55,000 sqft gaming floor. Of the three (South Wind, First Council, Native Lights) casinos "in Newkirk," this is the only one that is actually IN Newkirk. Also, while the others are right on US 77, this one is on a side road on the edge of town. That made it a little more difficult to find and get to.

South Wind is pretty much a big rectangular grey building. They've decorated the inside well enough. There's not a theme, really, but it's not boring either. The outside, well...it kind of looks like a strip mall anchor.



I played BJ to collect my chip. I think there was also a 3cp table in the pit, but only BJ was open when I visited. There was no ante, and I lost $60 on my visit. That's my loss-limit, and this was the first time in a couple days that I'd hit it. At this point in the trip, I was up on a net basis, but with a $60 loss limit and a $40 win limit it's not like those winnings were all that much - which, I guess, is why they also didn't last through the day.

According to the MOGH, my chip from South Wind is a Chipco product. I don't have any real reason to doubt that, except that there are no signs of wear anywhere. They list the series as originating in 2009, and I'm left wondering if the tables at this tiny casino in a tiny town are such an afterthought that this chip could still have been nearly perfect some 3 years later when I collected it.

Two comments on this chip and this casino, though I have never been to the place. First, you refer several times to the "Southwind" casino while the chip appears to say "South Wind" casino. Some other references I have found on line also use the two-word version. The casino's own web site appears to present it as one word but with the W in upper case: "SouthWind", though maybe there's just a narrow space between. For now, I have listed it as two words, "South Wind", in the post #1 directory, so please let me know if you have a definitive answer.

Second, this chip looks a lot like a few of the Colorado chips, such as the ones from Billy's, Century Cripple Creek, and yours from Gold Rush and Lady Luck. We weren't certain of the source for some of those, but we thought they were from Ikon. This Southwind/South Wind/SouthWind chip doesn't really look much like a Chipco product to me. (Note: I have lost faith in the accuracy of the MOGH catalog when it comes to identifying chip manufacturers.)

Quote: Doc

Two comments on this chip and this casino, though I have never been to the place. First, you refer several times to the "Southwind" casino while the chip appears to say "South Wind" casino. Some other references I have found on line also use the two-word version. The casino's own web site appears to present it as one word but with the W in upper case: "SouthWind", though maybe there's just a narrow space between. For now, I have listed it as two words, "South Wind", in the post #1 directory, so please let me know if you have a definitive answer.

Second, this chip looks a lot like a few of the Colorado chips, such as the ones from Billy's, Century Cripple Creek, and yours from Gold Rush and Lady Luck. We weren't certain of the source for some of those, but we thought they were from Ikon. This Southwind/South Wind/SouthWind chip doesn't really look much like a Chipco product to me. (Note: I have lost faith in the accuracy of the MOGH catalog when it comes to identifying chip manufacturers.)

I think two words works best for the name. I'll change that throughout the post. The W is always capitalized on their materials, and it does seem likely that there's supposed to be a space in there.

I don't know what to think about the chip. It does have the linen textured faces like some Chipcos do. But it lacks the line where their edge wrap meets the face. It does look like some of the Icons from Colorado, but I'd feel better there if this matched one of the images on their site. There's a second series of chips that are molded plastic and the MOGH says those are RTPs, but this is quite dissimilar from those chips.

State: Oklahoma
City: Miami
Casino: Stables

Todays - well, yesterday's - chip of the day comes from the Stables casino in Miami, OK. The casino has 570 slots and 4 tables on a cozy 25,000 sqft gaming space.

While Buffalo Run and Quapaw are on the outskirts of Miami, Stables is just off 3rd avenue in the middle of town. Here is a picture of the main entrance of the casino:



I've complained a bit about how my GPS routed me through Miami. It put me first to Stables, then to Quapaw, then to Buffalo Run. It wanted me to drive through a series of dirt roads (note, not a synonym for gravel) to get from Quapaw to Buffalo Run. In retrospect, I should have gone to Quapaw, then to Stables, then to Buffalo Run.

At Stables I played BJ. With a 4 table pit, there weren't a lot of other options. There were a LOT of $0.50 pieces in the tray. But I wasn't charged an ante. I'm not sure if they just like the coin or if I maybe played during an ante-free period or something. At any rate, I played for 30 minutes or so, left dead even, and headed out.

My chip from the Stables is an RTP product. Something about the ring of horseback riders makes my eyes see palm trees. I can't think that's intentional on their part, but that's what my eyes want that to be.

State: Oklahoma
City: Tonkawa
Casino: Tonkawa

Today's chip of the day comes from the Tonkawa casino in Tonkawa, OK. The casino has a 14,437 sqft gaming floor with 390 machines. Earlier this year, tables were removed from the casino. The city of Tonkawa is at/near the intersection of US 60 and I-35. That makes it pretty accessible from all sides, but I guess in OK that doesn't matter much when market saturation means that anyone visiting would need to drive past another casino to get to this one.

There are almost no images of the casino online, which might be part of how/why it's struggling a bit. 500 Nations has no image for the casino, and this is the MOGH's official photo:



I played BJ at Tonkawa to collect my chip. That was the only game they offered. There was an ante. And nobody seemed very happy about anything. I lost $20 collecting my chip, mostly to the antes.

My chip from Tonkawa is a Paulson RHC. I thought it looked pretty close to brand new when I collected it in the Fall of 2012. The MOGH doesn't list any issue date, but I doubt the chips saw much play before the tables were removed.

State: Oklahoma
City: Davis
Casino: Treasure Valley

Today's chip of the day comes from the Treasure Valley casino in Davis, OK. Davis is about half way between OKC and the Texas border, and the casino is just off of I-35 at OK-7. Treasure Valley is operated by the Chickasaws, as is Chisholm Trail. Treasure Valley has 396 machines and 4 tables on a 9,440 sqft gaming floor. It's a tiny place, and that's a lot of stuff to put in a little room. Luckily, for the players anyway, it was only lightly attended so crowding wasn't as bad as it might have been.

Here's a picture of Treasure Valley's entrance:



I played BJ at Treasure Valley. There was no ante, but I lost $60 anyway. I played for about 30 minutes, and I was never alone at the table. But none of the other players stayed very long at all. $60 was my buyin, and it took me 30 minutes to lose it, but others were literally buying into this $5 table with $5 and $10 and just playing until they lost it. One guy in particular seemed almost confused when he lost his "whole $5" on the first hand. The dealer just said "yep, that was one bet. You made it and unfortunately you lost. Want to buy in again?"

My chip from Treasure Valley is a Chipco product. It has a very similar style and layout to the Chisholm Trail chip. The Tribe operates a couple other casinos that I have not yet visited. It looks like those chips also feature this bison image.

State: Oklahoma
City: Thackerville
Casino: Winstar World

Today's chip of the day comes from the Winstar casino in Thackerville, OK. Thackerville is a tiny town in Southern Oklahoma. It's just across the Red River from Texas, and it's directly on I-35. The interstate provides excellent access to the casino. I think this is the closest casino to the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. Durant might be as close to Dallas as Thackerville is to Fort Worth, but the drive time on the interstate probably gives Winstar the edge. Winstar is enormous. It's really something to see. It's not tall like Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, but the casino is bigger than both. In fact, with 442,000 sqft of gaming space, Winstar is the largest casino in North America and the second largest casino in the world (after Venetian Macau). There are 7,368 machines and 115 tables on that gigantic casino floor.

I first visited Winstar on a trip to Dallas in the summer of 2011. I'd gone for an interview that wound up being canceled, so I was unexpectedly on my own for the late afternoon and evening. So, I made the most of the situation and headed to Oklahoma to gamble! I later revisited Winstar on a loop of southern OK casinos that included casinos in Durant and Devol. Winstar has what is basically a dedicated exit off the interstate. There's a gas station and restaurant at the exit, and a couple hotels between there and the casino, but the exit exists because the casino exists. I know I listed Winstar's size above, but it really is remarkably large. I think the lack of height makes the width even more impressive. Here's a picture that captures the size fairly well. The right side of the image is NOT the end, and the casino turns about 30 degrees and continues past big ben on the far left as well:



The theming at Winstar is interesting. Externally, they really play up the World part of the name, with different sections and entrances being themed. But inside, it's much more open. I'd expected there to be separate themed rooms to match, but it's pretty wide open.

I've played lots of table games at Winstar. I collected my chip playing BJ. The cheapest table I could find was $15, and it was crowded. Also, I don't think I saw any closed tables. So, lots of DFW folks apparently make the trip up to the casino, even during the week. I had to buy in for more than my usual $60 in order to play at this $15 tabe, so I started with $200. I don't think I've ever played a BJ session that was so flat. I might have been down to $150 at one point, and I almost left with $250 before losing, tipping, and leaving with $220 instead. I probably could have just started with my $60 (4 bet) buyin!

My chip from Winstar is a Paulson RHC. It has four narrow blue edge inserts, which may be the most boring design I've seen on a casino chip. The Chickasaws own and operate Winstar, and a prior version of this casino's chip was a chipco-issued product that features the same bison that we saw yesterday on the Treasure Valley chip.

Quote: rdw4potus

I probably could have just started with my $60 (4 bet) buyin!

If you had done that, you might have looked a lot like that confused guy you told us about at Treasure Valley!

State: Oklahoma
City: Wyandotte
Casino: Wyandotte

Today's chip comes from the Wyandotte casino in Wyandotte, OK. Unline Indigo Sky which is "in" Wyandotte but actually several miles out of town on the MO border, Wyandotte is just north of town on US60. The casino has 500 slots and 5 tables on a 20,000 sqft gaming floor.

I rather exasperatedly commented about Wyandotte's signage in my blog post about my trip to Northeast Oklahoma. There is a giant Wyandotte sign right by Downstream. I don't remember what the sign says exactly, but it's basically "Wyandotte is great!" I think that sign would be better if it said "Wyandotte is great, and it's over here!!" Otherwise, travelers have no choice but to go to Downstream since they know damn well where that casino is - they're staring right at it... As it was, my GPS eventually showed me where Wyandotte was. The street address is 100 Jackpot Drive, which Garmin doesn't like. So I wound up finding the address on my phone, noting that it's between roads 640 and 645 on US 60, and then just setting the GPS to the intersection of 640 & US60 & driving down the highway until I saw a casino on the side of the road. Really, for all of the address-related issues that the Oklahoma casinos have, they are almost all easily seen from a highway - it's just a matter of knowing/finding which one.

Wyandotte is a pretty straightforward middle-of-the-road casino. It's in a vacation/recreation area, just north of Grand Lake O' the Cherokees. There's a slight lodge theme, but mostly it's just unapologetically a slot barn. Here's a picture:



I played BJ to collect my chip. It was a pretty perfect session. On the last hand of the shoe, I crossed my win goal by $10. So I was able to pocket this chip, tip $5, and leave with an even value right at the shuffle. The BJ game was fast, fair, and fun. There was no ante. In a lot of ways, this reminded me of some of the Upper Michigan and Northern Wisconsin games - there's no way a set of dealers this good should be working in a shop this small and remote. It's great that they do, but it's a little weird too.

My chip from Wyandotte is a bit of a mystery to me. The MOGH lists this mold as Sunfly. I can see why that is. But I don't know who makes it. I feel like we've seen this before, and I feel like they didn't list the other chip(s) this way. I'm away from my physical chips this weekend, and I can't remember what chip it was that had this same design.



Wyandotte is the last chip in the alphabetical sequence of OK chips. So tomorrow will start a new state. I'm going to move to California next, and I think that will change the format somewhat. I'm running out of ways to express differentiation between casinos, and that's not going to be easier to do when discussing cardclubs. There just isn't that much to say about some of those places - they're 2 poker tables in a bar - so some of the posts there may be somewhat shorter.

Quote: rdw4potus

The MOGH lists this mold as Sunfly. I can see why that is. But I don't know who makes it. I feel like we've seen this before, and I feel like they didn't list the other chip(s) this way. I'm away from my physical chips this weekend, and I can't remember what chip it was that had this same design.

I think that chip mold has previously been called just the Sun Mold from the Blue Chip Manufacturing Co. We have seen it before on the chips from at least three casinos: CasaBlanca, the D, and Virgin River.

Quote: rdw4potus

I'm running out of ways to express differentiation between casinos, and that's not going to be easier to do when discussing cardclubs. There just isn't that much to say about some of those places - they're 2 poker tables in a bar - so some of the posts there may be somewhat shorter.

And I think that is similar to the reason I haven't included any chips from the card clubs in my collection. I played in a couple of clubs in the vicinity of Oceanside, CA back in 2003 when I was working on a project in the area, but I wasn't collecting chips then. After I got interested in collecting, I couldn't develop interest in going to the clubs, so my limited set of California chips only covers a few of the tribal casinos.

Quote: Doc

And I think that is similar to the reason I haven't included any chips from the card clubs in my collection. I played in a couple of clubs in the vicinity of Oceanside, CA back in 2003 when I was working on a project in the area, but I wasn't collecting chips then. After I got interested in collecting, I couldn't develop interest in going to the clubs, so my limited set of California chips only covers a few of the tribal casinos.

I think I'm settling into a rule that card clubs are ok as long as I can play something other than a poker ring game to collect the chip. That cuts back some of the tiny bar-style rooms (although, a couple of the better collecting stories did come from those places). That rule, or rule change, does leave me with a few chips that I otherwise wouldn't have collected. But it also should save much time in filling out CA and Washington later. And I'm still not quite sure what to do with North Dakota. Part of me wants to say that I collect casino chips and chips from bar blackjack don't/shouldn't count. If I could get myself to accept that, I can avoid what might be the most boring roadtrip of all time - me, alone, driving through wheat, beet, and oil fields for days on end.

State: California
City: Petaluma
Casino: 101 Casino

Today's chip of the day comes from the 101 Casino in Petaluma, CA. The casino is right along US 101 in Petaluma, which is north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge and up into wine country. The casino features an 8,500 gaming space and about 15 tables. There's also a really cute, funky little bar that is in the same building but has a separate outside entrance.

Here's a picture of the property:



I think this is the first California card club that we've covered. There are some interesting rules at play for these properties, and I'll cover them briefly here. The largest differences between these properties and their casino cousins relate to the banking practices involved. In short, the house cannot bank any game. So, there is a "corporate player" who essentially owns the house's hand in BJ, UTH, Pai Gow Poker, etc. Generally, the corporation involved is another casino or card club. The corporate player will provide chips to the house to pay players with. There is usually an ante involved (that's the only way the house is compensated for spreading the game), but in a majority of clubs the ante for all positions is paid by the corporate player.

The corporation must clearly state the maximum aggregate bet that can be covered, and they must have chips at the table to cover that amount. Usually, in front of the corporate player there is a button (like the big/small blind markers in poker) that says "$xx,xxx limit". They'll have racks and racks of small chips in front of them, and usually a small number of high value chips to ensure that they have the required funds. In my experience, the interaction between the house and corporation runs ridiculously smoothly. I'd expected this arrangement to cause delays, but it really doesn't. The speed with which these folks do arithmetic is really something to see. At the 101 casino, the corporate player usually had the net payment for the table cut out and available before I'd realized whether or not I'd won my BJ hand.

My chip from the 101 casino is a Chipco product. The chip is yellow, and I think that helps mask some of the edge wear that is present. The chips from card clubs in CA rarely follow color conventions, and we'll see many colors of $5 chips in the coming weeks.

Confirmed: first chip from one of the card clubs. And just the second chip from an establishment with its name beginning with a numeral -- I had to check that I was "alphabetizing" it properly in the index.

Have you often seen the corporate banker permit other players to bank a hand? I have seen that, but I don't know whether it is required.

Quote: Doc

Confirmed: first chip from one of the card clubs. And just the second chip from an establishment with its name beginning with a numeral -- I had to check that I was "alphabetizing" it properly in the index.

Have you often seen the corporate banker permit other players to bank a hand? I have seen that, but I don't know whether it is required.

Player banking at games other than BJ is VERY common. It must be allowed in BJ as well, but I don't think I've ever seen that. The corporate player has no more right to bank than any other player, but has the responsibility to bank when the other players do not opt to do so.

It took me longer than I care to admit to determine whether or not today's chip should come before tomorrow's chip. I'm still not sure this is the "right" way to "alphabetize" these two numbers. It also didn't help my brain that the MOGH and Windows did it differently.

Quote: rdw4potus

... whether or not today's chip should come before tomorrow's ....

Yeah, just leave us in suspense.

;-)

With that, I think I'll go to bed.

State: California
City: Antioch
Casino: 19th Hole


Today's chip of the day comes from the 19th Hole card club in Antioch, CA. The 19th hole has 2 BJ tables in addition to their poker room. Antioch is half way between Oakland and Stockton, just south of the point where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers run together. It's an interesting area. The feel is very rural, but there's not a whole lot of green space either.

Here's a picture of the 19th Hole.



I played BJ to collect my chip. The variation of the game in play is 21st century no bust blackjack. If I'm remembering this variant correctly, it's just like regular blackjack, except that blackjack pays even money, all hands push on a dealer 22, and busts win if the dealer also busts and is farther from 21. I didn't play long, but I managed to win $45 mostly due to some very good luck on busted hands.

My chip from 19th Hole is a yellow Paulson LCV. It's been pretty well used, but is surprisingly gunk-free. Even before I cleaned it, there was very little grime present. The chip also has a very significantly and consistently rounded edge. The chip colors and denominations at 19th Hole are interesting. Chips are $0.10 (white), $0.25 (red), $0.50 (tan), $1 (blue), and $5 (yellow). Yep, $5 is the max denom.

[linkg=http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee403/rdweber/New%20Chips/CA%20New/19thHole1-CA_zpsce23b17b.jpg]

I'm still not entirely sure that I've "alphabetized" this number correctly. The MOGH's list shows 101 before 19, but my laptop's chip directory lists 19 first. I figure that if these were letters, the word with the lower second character would come first regardless of word length. Still, I'm not sure that's how this is supposed to work when ordering numbers.

Quote: rdw4potus

Yep, $5 is the max denom.
...
I'm still not entirely sure that I've "alphabetized" this number correctly.

Doesn't sound much like a place for high rollers. What's the max wager for blackjack? Seems as if "black chip" players might be shoving a lot of chips around.

As for sorting the numeral names, I checked to see how Excel handles that. I created a list of alphabetical entries plus the numbers 101, 19, 430, and 10103. When I did a sort, the words were listed first, then the numbers in numerical order. Then I restarted with the original list but converted the numbers to text. When I resorted, they were listed in the sequence 101, 10103, 19, 430, then the words in alphabetical order.

I guess I agree with your sequence, since we have the casinos "named" not "numbered".