June Update

Just one new chip added to the collection in June.  The house chip from the Oxford Casino in Oxford, Maine.  Made a quick stop while I was in Portland for work.  The casino was a year old and pretty busy for a random Tuesday afternoon at 2 in the afternoon.  The casino floor wasn't the biggest, but it was a pretty good size considering there can't be more than 150 people in Maine these days.  I didn't get a chance to play since the $10 blackjack tables were all full and I didn't feel like waiting around for an undetermined amount of time.  So after two laps I took my chip and left.  Good times.

By my count, Maine becomes the 18th different state I've collected a chip from.  I also have chips from 3 Canadian provinces and four other countries.

May Update

Four new chips added to the collection that I bought online.

1.  Aladdin - Lionel Richie.  Hello?  Is this the chip you're looking for?  From New Year's Eve 2004, this chip was limited to 5,000.  The opposite side is a "Coming in 2006 Planet Hollywood" design.  I'm kind of surprised it took me this long to get the Lionel chip though.  Always a strong jukebox play at the Pub.

2.  Aladdin - Grand Opening.  This is the 2000 second opening of the Aladdin.  It originally opened in 1966 and was imploded in 1998.  It reopened two years later and then in 2007 finally changed to Planet Hollywood.

3.  MGM Grand - Ty Murray.  This is another of the red/white edge chips that looks just like their Grand Opening, Julio Cesar Chavez and Betty Boop chips.  He's a 9-time World Champion rodeo cowboy and he's married to Jewel.  Not sure which accomplishment the chip is commemortating.

4.  Pioneer Club - Vegas Vic/Hoover Dam.  The Pioneer Club has a series of chips with the same Vegas Vic back and a historic Vegas fact/photo on the other side.  This one is for the completion of the Hoover Dam in 1936.  But I really like the Vic side of it, so I chose to go with that one.  The Pioneer Club was a downtown casino that closed 20 years ago.

Monte Carlo BrewPub

When the Monte Carlo fist opened on the Las Vegas Strip, they had a Brew Pub/Restaurant in the back near the tram stop.  I don't remember much about the place, but they did put out a commemorative chip for each of the six beers they brewed on site.  Each one was limited to 1200 chips and for the longest time I only had the Brewmaster Special.  But thanks to eBay, I was able to get the other five giving me the complete set.  They new five are:

1.  High Roller Red
2.  Silver State Stout
3.  Jackpot Pale
4.  Las Vegas Lites
5.  Winner's Wheat

Being I am mostly (but not always) a Miller Lite drinker, I would have probably been a fan of the Las Vegas Lite.  The area where the BrewPub was has been a couple different things in the last ten years but is now a sports bar called "The Pub."  Which is probably pretty much what they wanted the Brew Pub to be originally.  The new place has 300 beers on menu.  Seriously, look:

http://www.montecarlo.com/files/restaurants/the-pub-beer-menu.pdf

That's a lot of beers.  But none of their original microbrews.

Hollywood, FL

My second chip from the Sunshine State is in the books.  While on Spring Break in southern Florida, @LangeM77 and @taralayne0412 got me the house chip from the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL.  Looks just like the Tampa one except for the location print.  Doesn't have the grim history of the Tampa location, which is where Anna Nicole Smith died, but I'm sure impromptu dance contests pop up at any moment.  Maybe if Anna Nichole Smith had been in Hollywood and not Tampa, David Caruso would have found the killer.  Anyways, glad to have this chip in my collection and glad those two are still going on Spring Break - even though they've been out of high school for nearly 20 years.  Woo!  Spring Break!

Casino Chip Show - Cleveland

This past weekend I was able to attend my second casino chip show, this one just outside of Cleveland.  I was expecting it to be bigger and grander than the one I attended in Battle Creek, but it was probably a little smaller.  And there seemed to be more non-chips on display, things like; ash trays, key cards, dice, signage and other stuff of that nature.  Nonetheless, I was able to come home with 8 new chips.

1.  Casino M8trix, San Jose, California.  Kind of cool looking chip from the new M8trix Casino.  The 8 in the name is in red so at first glance, I read the chip as "Casino Trix."

2.  Rivers Casino, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  My first chip from the Keystone State.  Pretty basic looking.

3.  Rio - Danny Gans.  Danny was called the "Man of Many Voices" and for a while advertisements for his show could be found on virtually every cab and bus in Vegas.  He performed at the Strat, the Mirage and the Rio before dying in 2009 at age 52.  I had no idea he was a pro baseball player and only stopped playing due to an injury to his Achilles tendon.  The theater at the Mirage is named after him.

4.  Holiday Inn Casino Boardwalk - Grand Opening.  The Boardwalk opened in 1995 - it seemed way older than that.  Had a great Strip location between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo.  Also had a fake roller coaster on top of their main entrance, long before casinos started putting actual roller coasters inside.  It was imploded in 2006 and the City Center now sits where I used to play $3 blackjack.

5.  Blue Man Group - Monte Carlo.  The Blue Man Group moved to the Monte Carlo after fairly lengthy runs at the Luxor and the Venetian.

6.  Stardust - Legendary Old-Timer Bill Boyd.  This chip was put out in 1998 and limited to 2,000 chips.  Bill Boyd is a four-time winner of the 5 Card Stud event at the World Series of Poker. 

7.  Tropicana - Folies Bergere 35th Anniversary.  Maybe that's why the Trop smells like old people - they have the same acts for 35 years.

8.  Flamingo, New Orleans.  I really like the look of this chip, with the small font and dark colors.  Good job Flamingo, NO.

Return to Iowa, Again

Another work trip to Iowa (I go there alot) has yielded two new house chips.

1.  Isle of Capri - Bettendorf.
2.  Rhythm City - Davenport.

Overall impressions of both - faux riverboats that were extremely smokey.  Also, there didn't appear to be a single patron with any rhythm at either establishment.

Birthday Update

My latest birthday has brought me the single largest haul of my chip collecting career.  Not counting a couple of doubles, I picked up 44 new chips in all including all 30 of the Tropicana's baseball stadium chip set.  That set comes courtesy of Julie who also had the best looking cake of all-time made for birthday dinner (picture below).  Besides the baseball set, I got 13 Las Vegas chips from my brother and his wife and a chip from the resort Geoff and Tasha stayed at on their honeymoon.  The blog thanks all that contribute for their dedication to the cause.

Only 500 of each Tropicana baseball chip were made so I think a complete set is pretty scarce.  My brother has one too... so I can practically guarantee we're the only pair of brothers with our own sets.  And, I have a second Tropicana Field chip so for the time being, there are only 499 possible sets out there.

I'll separate the new 44 chips into different posts.  Starting with Punta Cana, then Las Vegas and finally the baseball chips.  I'll also use the baseball chips to offer my predictions on how the coming season will play out.  But before all that... the casino chip birthday cake!

Birthday 2 - Punta Cana

I now have one chip from the Dominican Republic!

1.  Paradisus Casino -  Thanks to Geoff & Tasha Kimmerly for bringing me back this chip from their Honeymoon in Punta Cana.  It's from the Paradisus Casino where Geoff tells me he lost nearly every hand and spin of roulette.  Which sounds like fun!  The Paradisus is an all-inclusive resort with their own on-site casino which actually sounds like fun.  Kudos to Geoff and Tasha for not losing everything and having at least $5 to get a chip for me.

Birthday 3 - Las Vegas

These were all Las Vegas chips my brother (@ATRoss14) and his wife got me for my birthday.  In no particular order:

1.  Caesars Palace Davis Cup, USA vs. Sweden September 22-24, 1995.  I think we all remember where we were and what happened in that titanic tennis tournament.  I know I'll never forget it.

2.  Tropicana 9th Annual CC&GTCC International Convention May 31- June 2 2001.  That stands for Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club.

3.  Castaways New Years Eve 2001.  This Castaways was open from 2000-2004, and this chip clearly states that it is 1 of 1000.  Not 2, not 5, not 17.  1.  The other Castaways was once purchased by Howard Hughes and then Steve Wynn and was where the Mirage and TI sit now.

4.  Tuscany - The casino opened in 2003.  Haven't been yet.

5.  Fremont Celebrating 40 Years 1956-1996.  The Fremont opened in 1956 and at the time was the tallest building in Las Vegas.  It's downtown and a part of the Fremont Street Experience.

6.  Showboat - Was a hotel/casino/bowling center.  But is no more.  It eventually became the Castaways.  The one that closed in 2004.

7.  Four Queens Fremont Street Experience - The Four Queens is one of the 4 main downtown casinos (along with the Fremont, the Golden Nugget and Binion's).  They all sit on the same corner and anchor the Fremont Street Experience, which is an epilepsy-inducing laser light show.  Helps the city disguise who is having a seizure from the lights and who is having one from a heroin overdose.

8.  Arizona Charlie's - love the look of this chip.  I assume that's Charlie himself.  A mostly locals casino, there is also one in Boulder.

9.  Palms Preserving Gaming History.  Another of the annual CC&GTCC chips.

10.  South Coast - Another of the casino/hotel/bowling centers.

11.  Orleans 4th Annual Poker Tournament July 8-23, 2000.  Pretty self-explanatory.

12.  Hard Rock Black Crowes.  Pretty cool design for this concert chip.

13.  Flamingo - a house chip that has flamingos on it.  They had another flamingo inspired chip and I like both of them.

Birthday 4 - NL East

For the stadium chips, I'll break them up by division and as an added bonus, I'll list them in the order I think they'll finish in the 2013 season.  Starting with the NL East -

1.  Turner Field - Braves
2.  Olympic Stadium - Expos/Nationals*
3.  Veterans Stadium - Phillies
4.  Shea Stadium - Mets
5.  Pro Player Stadium - Marlins

Birthday 5 - NL Central

The five NL Central stadiums.

1.  Cinergy Field - Reds
2.  Busch Stadium - Cardinals*
3.  Miller Park - Brewers
4.  PNC Park - Pirates
5.  Wrigley Field - Cubs

 

Birthday 6 - NL West

The five from the NL West.

1.  Dodgers Stadium - Dodgers
2.  Pacific Bell Park - Giants
3.  Qualcomm Stadium - Padres
4.  Bank One Ballpark - Diamondbacks
5.  Coors Field - Rockies