Another April Update

Busy month here at blog headquarters (live from DeWitt!) as I added another 4 chips to the collection.  My parents drove out to Tucson for a couple of weeks in March (joke's on them - there's still snow in the UP now that they've returned) to visit my Aunt and Uncle, past contributors to the blog.  The chips:

1.  Hard Rock - Tulsa.  My mom and dad got this one on their drive back, stopping here to hit the Toby Keith restaurant.  I've been past it a handful of times, but never during a time when I had an opportunity to run and grab a chip.  So I'll probably have hours of time to kill the next time I'm in Tulsa and no chip to collect.  Also, you've probably been in Tulsa and felt the locals there feel all high and mighty because they have a Toby Keith restaurant and the un-cultured town you live in does not.  Well Tulsans, cross Lansing off your list of places you are better than.  The Lansing Mall is getting a Toby Keith eatery as well.  Boom.

2.  Desert Diamond Casino - Tucson.  One of two Desert Diamond locations in Arizona, with the other being in Sahuarita.

3.  Casino of the Sun - Tucson.  Pretty cool looking chip, as the reverse side says "Casino Del Sol."  Which, if my variety packs of Mexican beer from Sam's Club has taught me anything, means Casino of the Sun.

4.  Gila River Casinos.   There are three properties under the Gila River name; Lone Butte, Vee Quiva and Wild Horse Pass.  There are no Mexican beers that I know of that contain Vee or Quiva in their names, so I have no idea what that stands for.

Opening Day 2014

Hitting Greektown on Opening Day is turning into sort of a semi-tradition.  There was the 2009 visit.  The 2010 visit.  Nothing in '11, '12 or '13.  And then a return visit this year.

First things first, the Tigers won.  As they usually do.  I think everyone envisioned new shortstop Alex Gonzalez coming up with the big hits down the stretch.  No surprises there.

Afterwards, while we "waited for traffic to clear" we dined at Fishbone's.  Rob had some alligator.  For real.  And then we hit the casino.  It took a good 15 minutes and a stop for new beers to find the ATM.  I'm no casino designer, but you'd think they'd make those damn things a little easier to find.

Once Rob and I loaded up on cash, it was off to the craps tables.  We played for maybe an hour and did pretty well.  Big Mike, the stickman, was really good at keeping the bets straight, which wasn't easy on an extremely packed and drunk table.  The same could not be said for his counterpart who continually "forgot" to pay winning bets.  Had to keep an eye on that one.

No singing and dancing at the table ala Nitro... but still, a great time on Opening Day.  And while playing craps, I came across 7 special chips Greektown has that were new to me.  They are:

1.  Memorial Day 2003

2.  Memorial Day 2004

3.  Labor Day 2001

4.  Labor Day 2002

5.  Labor Day 2003

6.  Columbus Day

7.  President's Day

April Update - Vegas

It's been a while since I have been to Las Vegas myself, but the blog is always very appreciative of others who go and bring back a chip or four.  Aunt Winnie recently completed a stay out there and brought me back these four wonderful chips:

1.  Max Casino
2.  Max Casino Grand Opening

The Max Casino is the new name of the Westin Causarina, a slightly off-strip casino that was once named the Maxim Hotel and Casino.  Tupac was shot in front of the Maxim in 1996.

3.  Downtown Grand

The Downtown Grand opened in October of 2013 and is the former Lady Luck Casino.

4.  Planet Hollywood - Britney Spears

Brit Brit is performing a show at the PH called "Piece of Me."  She's got about 1.5 years left on her two year deal, so there's still time to get your tickets.

February Update

Work trips have netted me 5 new chips for my collection.  First, I traveled to some small town in Kentucky just south of Evansville, IN.  Instead of stopping at the Tropicana Evansville that we passed, I figured I would just buy the chip online.  I'm lucky I didn't stop because from looking online, I don't think they have live table games.  But they did, back when the riverboat casino was named "Casino Aztar."  So this is a chip from there.  Finding all of that information out led me to one of the best yelp reviews I've ever read:

"If you ever wondered where all the people that still rock mullets and acid washed jeans hang out, wonder no more. It's the Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana. Well, it's actually a tie between the 80's trailer park look and the girls in stilettos and mini skirts pretending they're in a Vegas casino. It all makes for pretty stellar people watching."

Wonder no more, residents of Evansville!

Julie's work trip took her to a much larger casino - the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.  While there, she was able to round up 4 chips for me.  They are:

1.  House Chip - the one with the eagle on it.  

2.  Grand Opening - From 2002, this one has a photo of the complex on one side and just a large $5 on the other.

3.  Millenium.  The wolf chip.  I think the design came straight from this t-shirt.  It's my favorite of the four.

4.  Grand Opening Casino of the Sky.  I guess they have 3 different themes for the casino, or three different areas.  Casino of the Sky, Casino of the Earth and Casino of the Wind.  I have no idea what the differences would be.  I'd ask Julie but she spent her time at the Margaritaville restaurant, not at the tables.  I hope she at least went with "Jimmy's Jammin' Jambalya."

Casino Chip Show - Battle Creek (part 4 of 4)

The final installment of my four part series on my brother's and my trip to the Great Lakes Casino Chip Show in Battle Creek is just one final chip.  It's a chip I won via the 11:30am raffle.  And it's the one I've had the most trouble tracking down information on.

1.  Atlantic Maritime.  The AM was a management company that ran casinos on cruise ships off of Florida.  More or less.  There's more information on it here.  Thanks to collectors Albert Scalzo and Ricky Pushkin for pointing me in the right direction on this chip's background.  It joins a growing section of cruise chips I have.

Casino Chip Show - Battle Creek (part 3 of 4)

On to the chips I actually purchased from actual dealers at the actual show!

1.  Mandalay Bay - Rahman/Lewis November 17, 2001.  Limited to 2,500.  You might remember the $25 version of this chip from this post.  I had no idea there was a $5 version until I saw it in a display case.  It took me roughly .2 seconds to decide to buy it.  This was the rematch which Lewis won, meaning we had a new heavyweight champion who was NOT from the United States.  Fans of Jim Lampley will know what I am talking about.

2.  Luxor - Anubis.  The Luxor had three chips out at once that had a mythological theme.  I had Egyptian Queen one already, 19th one down here.  This one is Anubis, which is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with the afterlife in Egyptian religion.  That makes one want to gamble, no?

3.  Luxor - Sphinx.  The final of the three, this one is designed to look like the entrance of the Luxor.

4.  Binion's Horseshoe Club - Stu "The Kid" Unger.  I think they spelled his name wrong, as everyone else goes with "Ungar."  A three time winner of the World Series of Poker's Main Event, Ungar had a book written about his life by Nolan Dalla that I thought was really good.

5.  Planet Hollywood - Grand Opening November 16 & 17, 2007.  Limited to 3,000.  A two day opening event!  That must've been quite a party.  #sarcasm

6.  Monte Carlo - Happy New Year 2005.  I'll collect just about any Monte Carlo chip that doesn't have Frank Caliendo on it.

7.  Silver Sevens.  Former Terrible's Casino, just off the strip.

8.  Silver Sevens - Grand Opening.  Opened in 2013.  Wonder how long it'll stay Silver Sevens?

Casino Chip Show - Battle Creek (part 2 of 4)

The second batch of chips from my brother (@ATRoss14) are all horse racing themed.  2014 will mark my 10th straight trip to the Kentucky Derby, so these are pretty cool to me.  They are:

1.  Riviera - The Run.  Undated, limited to 1,000 chips.

2.  Riviera - Kentucky Derby 2001.  Limited to 800 chips.  This race was on May 5 and won by Monarchos.  Giacomo in 2005 was my first Derby and the only year I haven't won a bet in the main race.

3.  Palms - 2005 Kentucky Derby Winner Giacomo.  Limited to 1,500.  Hey, what do you know, I was at that race.  Talk about your foreshadowing.  Giacomo was roughly a 50-1 shot and touched off a string of long shots winning the Derby in recent years.  Mine That Bird (50-1), Animal Kingdowm (21-1) and I'll Have Another (15-1) have all cashed tickets for me.

4.  Palms - 1977 Belmont Stakes Winner Seattle Slew.  Limited to 1,000.  The second to last Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew accomplished that feat in 1977.

5.  Palms - 2004 Kentucky Derby Winner Smarty Jones.  Limited to 1500.  This was the year before I started going and the thing I remember most about this mega-favorite winning the race was an episode of the Nick and Jessica Simpson show where they went to the race and bet on Smarty.  At 4 to 1.  Big time.

6.  Palms - 1977 Preakness Winner Seattle Slew.  Limited to 1,000.  See #4.

7.  Palms - 2004 Preakness Winner Smarty Jones.  Limited to 1,000.  Wonder if the Simpsons made it to Baltimore for this race?  Smarty would finish second at the Belmont in 2004, narrowly missing out on the first Triple Crown since 1978 (Affirmed).

8.  Palms - 2003 Kentucky Derby Winner Funny Cide.  Limited to 1,500.  Funny Cide was a 13-1 winner in Louisville and won the Preakness before finishing third in the Belmont.

9.  Palms - 1977 Kentucky Derby Winner Seattle Slew.  Limited to 1,500.  The race that started Seattle Slew's march to the Triple Crown.  Seattle Slew was an incredible 1 to 2 to win the Derby.

Casino Chip Show - Battle Creek (part 1 of 4)

For the second consecutive year, I made the trek down to Battle Creek to attend the Great Lakes Chip Show.  This year my brother came along as well.  Before we even left for Cereal City, I got a handful of chips from him.  Some he just gave me out of the goodness of his heart and some he charged me for ($1 under face!).  First, the non-Las Vegas ones:

1.  Overland Hotel Reno - This chip looks old and I would have thought this was from a now-closed Casino but a quick google search shows that you can still book a room at the Overland Hotel on your next trip to Reno!  What?  You don't have a trip to Reno in the works?  Oh.

2.  Hilton Resort Reno

3.  Clarion Hotel Casino Reno

4.  Boomtown Hotel Casino - Jamboree Country - Verdi, NV.  Verdi is about 10 miles west of the Reno/Sparks metroplex.

5.  Gold River Gambling Hall & Resort, Laughlin, NV

6.  Golden Nugget, Laughlin, NV.  Man I wish Tim and Tom would come back and do a Fox reality show on this.

7.  Harrah's Tahoe.

Shower/Wedding Update

Received a total of 7 new chips as Wedding Shower and Wedding gifts.  I didn't even register for them!  They are:

1.  Seminole Casino, Immokalee, Florida (courtesy of Colleen).
2.  Celebrity Cruises (courtesy of Patty)

And the next 5 courtesy of my Aunt Denise and Uncle Tom, frequent contributors to my collection:

3.  Midnight Star, Deadwood, South Dakota
4.  Silverado, Deadwood, SD
5.  Mineral Palace, Deadwood, SD
6.  Four Aces, Deadwood, SD
7.  Cadillac Jacks, Deadwood, SD