Savannah, GA

Just off the main strip in Savannah, GA is a riverboat that should probably be avoided at all costs.  From the best I can tell, it operated fine for a while, before being shut down by the Feds and is now re-opened "under new management."  I went there on a Sunday with @JulieAnne19 in an effort to get a chip.  Since the cruise was 8 hours long, I was hoping I could just run on, get a chip and run off.  There was a 45 minute boarding window, and we were there right at the start of that so it should have been no problem.  I was also willing to pay the $5 entry fee just to run on and run off.  In short, I was prepared to give them $15 for a $5 chip.  After going through the metal detector and explaining my plan to the dude working the ticket window, I was denied.  No reason was given.  Boo.  Whatever.  I got this chip on eBay for less than $15 anyway.  I'm not sure if this is the current chip being used onboard, or if this was the chip in use when the Feds shut it down*, but I have one.

Also, in the 25 minutes or so we were there during the boarding window, we saw maybe 5 people get on.  Even if there was a mad rush shortly before heading out to International Waters, that's what... 20 people tops?  On an 8 hour gambling cruise?  I can't imagine that being a fun endeavor and I'll bet on anything.  Literally anything.

Oh well, I have a chip from the Diamond Casino and I don't ever have to go back to that parking lot again.  Point for me.

*I realize you'd be able to better tell me if this is a current or old chip if there was a picture included.  As always, I'm efforting the pictures.  I have 14 new ones to add.  I'll get to it, pump the brakes a tad.

Riverside Casino

The Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, just south of Iowa City, has a new 5th Anniversary chip. Actually, the chip must've come out later in 2011, because it has 2006-2011 on both sides as well. And what a coincidence, this was my 5th visit to the Riverside Casino. Which means I've eaten at the Ripple Diner roughly 12-15 times. The Cheeseburger Chowder is phenomenal and the Chicken Tortilla Soup also is very good, even though it has beans in it - no matter what the waitress tells you otherwise. One of these days, I'd like to play the golf course there, too... BlueTop Ridge.

Palazzo

For the first time in its' four plus years of existence, the Palazzo has a $5 chip that does not say "Grand Opening" on it. Bravo. They really out-did themselves, too... the new house chip is exactly the same as the Grand Opening chip, except without the words Grand and Opening across the top.

I'm not sure if "You're a Slob?" works at the Palazzo or next door at the Venetian, but the two are connected, so if you are ever in the area, stop by the blackjack pits and ask every pit boss if "You're a slob?" Oh, and you have to do it as incredulously as possible. He'll remember.

Mid-April Update

Handful of new chips to add to the collection;

1. Aladdin - Planet Hollywood Coming 2006 chip.

2. Hard Rock - 11/11/11. Normally I don't like chips that just commemorate dates, but for whatever reason I kind of liked the triple 11.

3. Palms - 10th Anniversary. Cool looking chip, has the Palms towers on one side and the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign on the other.

4. Westward Ho - Puttin' On The Ritz. The Ho had three preferred customer chips; this one, the next one on the list, and the Grubstake Jamboree chip. These were apparently regular events and according to Wiki, the parties helped make the Ho semi-famous. But apparently not profitable, as it closed in 2005.

5. Westward Ho - Ho-Waiian Luau. See above.

6. Silverton - Get Your Grove On. This is a casino in North Las Vegas. I don't understand the slogan and am not entirely sure they didn't misspell "groove."

7. Western - House. The Western closed earlier this year and I believe this gives me all three of their house chips. I also think it kind of looks like the Westward Ho's "The Ho" chip - which is one of my all-time favorites.

Las Vegas Hilton, old and new

Two new chips added from the same building, but with different names. A Las Vegas Hilton chip and a Las Vegas Hotel chip, which is a new brand after Hilton pulled their affiliation from the casino/hotel.

1. The last house Hilton chip I needed, so now I have all of them (that I am aware of). This one is newer, red with a script Hilton across the front. Probably my least favorite of all the Hilton chips, it's pretty plain compared to the others.

2. Las Vegas Hotel. This one isn't bad, it's similar to some of the older Hilton chips in that it has a picture of the hotel tower on it. And has a big "LVH" across the picture. If you aren't going to change the name that much, why mess with changing the chip that much?

Mardi Gras Casino & Resort, West Virginia

Added two new chips to the collection... stayed at the Mardi Gras Casino & Resort in Nitro, WV on my drive down to the Masters. First, the chips;

1. House chip. Looks pretty good. Has some type of creepy masked face on it and says "Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming."

2. What I assume is a chip commemorating their opening. Picture of the outside of the casino with the date 8-25-2010 on it.

The casino itself was super nice. No smoking anywhere in it, which was a bonus. They dealt decent blackjack (when some putz wasn't sitting at 3rd base), offered horse race betting (lost a bunch on the Louisiana Derby thanks to some 100-1 shot winning), and had live greyhound racing. Which was phenomenal. Watched the first race while we had dinner just to see what the hell they were actually doing, and after that I ended up betting 5 races. So much fun. The races itself were 31 seconds of madness. If your dog got bumped or knocked into early, that was pretty much it for him. But if he got through the initial scrum with clean air, he had a good shot at running near the top.

Won one of the races - which netted enough to cover the losses on the other 4. The winning dog? Rockdown Ross. What a great dog. Want to see him dominate the field?

http://www.trackinfo.com/video-box.jsp?raceid=gts%2420120401e05

I highly recommend a trip here to do some gambling and bet the horses/live greyhounds. You won't be disappointed.

February Update

The February Update is a little late, but whatever. You aren't paying me to do this. Pictures, as always, coming soon.* On to the chips, all courtesy of @AllThingsSharp. Definitely one of the top 1,000 twitterers with "All" "Things" and "Sharp" in their handle.

1. Las Vegas Hilton - old house chip. I call this one the Rainbow chip, because there's a huge rainbow across the front. With the Hilton changing affiliations, I'm trying to get all the old chips from there. I think it's just called LVH now, but I'm not sure what they are using for chips.

2. Las Vegas Hilton - old house chip. I call this one Big Red. It's all red with a huge $5 on the front. Not very imaginative. Also not as gay-friendly as the Rainbow chip.

3. Las Vegas Hilton - old house chip. No clever name for this one, it has a black and white print of the hotel tower with "Hilton" in script across it. One more older Hilton chip to get, and then I think that's it. Aside from the Spock chips that are wildly expensive. Damn Star Trekkies.

4. Monte Carlo - 1st Anniversary. Do you remember where you were on June 21st, 1997?

5. Monte Carlo - 2nd Anniversary. How about on June 21, 1998? And what event happened on June 21, 1999 to make them go against a Third Anniversary chip and ruin the streak?

6. Western - old house chip. The Western closed on Jan. 17. 2012. Pour out a little liquor.

*I swear, I'll get pictures up relatively soon. I have chip-getting trips planned to Savannah and some town in West Virginia this month, so after that, I'll post pictures. I know you are all dying to see these beauties.

January Update

Five new chips added to the collection thanks to a trip to the SHOT Show in Las Vegas. They are -

1. O'Shea's - new house chip. O'Shea's really went all out with their new chip... it is exactly the same as their previous chip only they added a tiny top hat logo above the name of the casino. Scintillating. From the looks of it, they haven't changed anything else about the actual casino, so they have that going for them.

2. Monte Carlo - Jabbawockeez. Again - a really bold move by a casino here as it's the same as the other Jabba chip, only instead of having a black insert, this one is white. The group's motto is apparently "Laugh Cheer Move." I bet when the Monte Carlo caught on fire a few years back everyone skipped the laugh and cheer part. Which reminds me of something I commented on on twitter (@jonross22)... The Carlo has a casino bar named "Ignite." How quickly we forget the 2008 fire. Unless they were going for irony. Which, if that was the case, why not just name the bar "Smoke Inhalation?"

3. Flamingo - Margaritaville Casino. This is a section of the Flamingo dubbed "Margaritaville." It appears to be as dumb as it sounds. I didn't even stroll through it to double-check.

4. Flamingo - new house chip. As opposed to the Margaritaville chip, I actually like the new Flamingo chip. It has a little flamingo bird above the script "Flamingo." Looks nice and isn't super busy. I bet they have a separate marketing department than the Margaritaville folks.

5. New York, New York - new house chip. Gone is the Statue of Liberty, replaced by just a red insert with a printed "New York New York." Not nearly as good as the old one. I still can't walk into this place without immediately thinking of two stories; the fight, and the ecstasy.


That's it for now - I'm off to read about a proposed casino Lansing hopes to open in 23-24 years. Hopefully that will be chip #1200 or something for me.

Mid-January Update

One new chip added to the collection, courtesy of Michelle Lange (@LangeM77). She spent two weeks in Australia and visited one of the countries 17 casinos. This one is from the casino in Cairns, called The Reef. It's on the northeast side of the country.

Their website is pretty slick (http://www.reefcasino.com.au/), when it initially loads up, it actually has an image of a rotating casino chip. The casino has a dress code, requiring "smart, clean clothing and suitable footwear." I'm not sure I want to know the story behind the "suitable footwear" clause. Wait, since Lange was there, I think I know the story.

This is my first chip from the Eastern and Southern hemispheres. I need to get cracking on some Euro chips.

Overall, this is a pretty nice looking chip - complete with a mini-seahorse type creature design on it. And, bonus!, the $5 Australian chip is actually worth around $5.16 US. Which makes it about 3% more valuable than my other chips! Thanks again Michelle!

December Update

Two new chips added in December, I got both of them for Christmas. They are:

1. M Resort - 2nd Anniversary 2011. Congrats to the M for making it to year two! I still have not seen this place, as it's a good 10 miles south of McCarran.



2. Monte Carlo - Grand Opening 1996. June 21 to be exact. I've probably gambled at the Carlo more than any other casino on the strip. Actually, there's no probably about it. I've definitely gambled here more than any other strip casino. Still haven't stayed here though. Maybe next time. Which is in ten short days... hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few of the new house chips.

October Update

Two new chips added during the month of October.

1. Las Vegas Hilton - older house chip.
2. Las Vegas Hilton - Spacequest Casino.



The LV Hilton will most likely be changing names sometime soon, as they are losing their affiliation with the Hilton brand. So, I'm trying to collect as many of the Hilton chips as I can while they are still floating around.

The Spacequest Casino chip has a hologram in the middle and I guess it sort of fits in with their Star Trek theme. Sounds like a place the Klingons would gamble.

September 2011 Update

Three new chips have been added -

1. Grand Casino - Hinckley, MN
My aunt and uncle picked this one up for me while they were (hopefully) traveling through Hinckley. I hope they didn't purposely go there... no offense to all my blog readers from Hinckley.



2. North Star Resort and Casino - Bowler, WI
My parents picked this one up on a trip designed to go to Bowler. I don't know either.


3. Menominee Casino Bingo Hall - Keshena, WI
Same trip for mom and dad. Beats me.



What do all three of these chips have in common? I couldn't find any of the cities they are located in on a map. In fact, I had never even heard of these places until I read their names on the chips.

August 2011 Update

Three new chips have been added -

1. Barbary Coast 2000 "The Millennium."
Nothing special about this chip, but I think it gives me every $5 chip the BC pumped out before its' untimely closing. The Leprechaun on one side is a nice touch.

2. Oneida Casino - Green Bay, WI
One of my aunts brought this back for me. One of the few non-red $5 chips I have seen. Maybe the guy who runs the Oneida is color-blind?



3. Gun Lake Casino - Wayland, MI
Situated between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, this is Michigan's newest casino. A buddy picked it up for me while he was there for a bachelor party. This one is red, so at least they got that going for them.

Hard Rock - Tampa, FL

This will be the first chip for frame #5. Yes, the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa is my 253rd five dollar chip. It's also where Anna Nicole Smith died. I didn't know that when we were there. We stopped in one night after a spring training game and it was odd. No roulette or craps. Blackjack minimums were $50! And the tables were full. There was also some type of dance contest going on in front of one of their bar/restaurants. It was crazy. Mostly because I didn't win, but also just because it was going on. I'm not sure if it was a sponsored thing or an impromptu breakdown or what. So, we packed up quickly and hit Thee Doll House. Should have stayed at the casino, as bad as it was. But that's a story for a different blog.

Tropicana

The Tropicana. It smells like old people. Always has, probably always will. I don't like seeing the older "famous" casinos close down, but I'd make an exception for this place. Plus, that corner lot is dying for a new casino to tie in with MGM, NYNY and Excalibur.

Sahara

The Sahara. Sadly, the Sahara is closing May 2011. I've played thousands of dollar blackjack hands at the place. Never once rode the roller coaster or went down the water slide in front of it though. The Sahara had one of the strangest side bets I've ever seen at a casino. I think it's evolved over the years because there are a few different versions, but it either involved getting a blackjack or a pair of the same card (including suit) and if you made an extra $1 bet - you would either spin a wheel to win a prize or there was a pre-determined dollar amount you won. Either way, it was dumb. But most of the people playing there were dumb, so I guess it evens out. One of our first trips (Vegas '98) we ate the buffet for some strange reason. The was the year we willfully stayed at the Stardust, so we were obviously a group that wasn't strong with decision-making. But - despite all that, I'll miss the Sahara. The north end of the strip gets a little more lonely come May.

Caesars Palace

This logo looks like it would work better for Little Caesars Pizza not Caesars Palace. But Caesar didn't actually live there and the casino isn't beeper friendly (a bank of pay phones doesn't count) so who cares?

Del Webb's The Mint

The Mint. Opened in 1957 and later became part of Binion's Horseshoe. Hunter S. Thompson stayed there during his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas book. Also, I believe James McManus stayed there (after it sold to Binion's) and wrote about it in Positively Fifth Street. The have (or had) a rooftop pool - which would be cool to swim in if it wasn't 250 feet closer to the sun. I like to get sun burnt but come on people! You might as well sit inside a microwave!

Jockey Club

The Jockey Club isn't a casino and never has been. It was supposed to be, hence they made chips. But it wasn't to be. Now, the Jockey Club is just a timeshare on the strip. I'm not even sure if the rooms are available like a hotel - or if it is strictly condo type arrangements. It's had a pretty prominent spot on the strip for years though, so even though the casino never made it, the chip is kind of cool.

Gold Spike

The Gold Spike casino opened in 1976, closed shortly thereafter and then reopened in 1983. It's apparently been totally redone on the inside and is quite nice for a downtown joint. It's been years since I've been downtown, so I'll have to take the interwebs word for it. I just like the logo on the chip.

MGM Grand Boxing

Three new chips from the MGM Grand Las Vegas for the collection.

1. New house chip. Nothing fancy. In fact, it's pretty tough to notice the difference. I thought I had the same chip for a second. But upon closer inspection there are two noticeable differences. The first is a small top hat/cane icon just above the "Las" in Las Vegas. The second is a thicker red circle around the white inlay. Way to change things up MGM.

2. DelaHoya-Hopkins. Quest for History - 9/18/04. The infamous "body shot" fight. Hopkins KO'ed The Golden Boy in the 9th round and did it very impressively. Oscar would fight just 4 times after this one, going 2-2 with losses to Mayweather and Pacquiao. Hopkins meanwhile has gone 6-3-1 since this fight, losing twice to Jermain Taylor (I attended the second one) and beating Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver, Kelly Pavlik and Roy Jones Jr. Of course, that Jones victory would have been more impressive 15 years ago. Back to the DelaHoya/Hopkins fight - it was in the 9th round that you could hear Hopkins' corner calling for a body shot. Seconds later, B-Hop crushed Oscar with a vicious left hook to the body, that dropped the former champ for good.

3. Mayweather-Mosley. Who R U Picking? - 5/1/10. Derby Day 2010. While we sat in the rain and cheered on Super Saver, Floyd beat the ever-living crap out of Shane Mosley. 119 on two cards and 118 on the third for Pretty Boy. Mosley did rock him once in the second, but Mayweather never went down, regained his composure and put on a clinic. Unfortunately, that's the last time we've seen Floyd in the ring, although he had reportedly been out hitting people in the Las Vegas area. Meanwhile, fresh off a draw against Sergio Mora, Mosley gets the guy everyone wants Mayweather to fight - Manny Pacquiao. Awesome.

Four new chips

Four new chips for the collection... all of them splendid.

1. New house chip for the Silver Nugget in North Las Vegas. Kind of a cool chip, the reverse has a white inlay. I don't believe I'm been to the Silver Nugget (it's no Golden Nugget), but if I'm in North LV, I might stop in. The chip inspires me.

2. New house chip for the Tropicana. You can dress up the Trop all you want, but that place will always smell like old people to me. Always.

3. Monte Carlo Jabbawockeez. Being my favorite casino, I get any chip the Carlo pumps up... but I did have to think about this one for a second. Some dance group or something? Just doesn't seem like they should have their own chip. But if the Carlo deems them worthy, I guess I can too. I just hope they don't burn the place down.

4. New house chip for Fitzgerald's in downtown. I have been to Fitzgerald's, probably a handful of times. And I can't remember a damn thing about the place. Fitzgerald's - at least I didn't get knifed there, I don't think.