Long Time, No Blog

Looks like it's been almost 18 months since my last update.  Fear not, I have not neglected my chip collecting duties over that time.  In fact, I've collected almost one chip per two months gone without blogging.  I am now 8 chips closer to hitting the 500 mark, the new chips bring me just 16 shy.  Now it has been a while since I've gotten some of these chips, so a lot of the pertinent details I've forgotten, but I'll try my best.

1.  The Adventure of the Seas Casino on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.  I hope whomever was on this trip had a lovely time and visited some lovely places.

2.  Casesars Windsor.  The 4th "Detroit" casino, it's easily the most recognized structure of the Windsor skyline.

3.  Rivers Casino 5th Anniversary.  Just outside of Chicago.
4.  Rivers Casino.

5.  Hollywood Casino Kansas City.  This one is near the NASCAR track in KC.  Lots going on in KC these days.

6.  Plaza.  Downtown Las Vegas.  Stayed there in January when I visited.  You've been to Vegas too many times when you opt to stay downtown because you're bored with the Strip and "never stayed downtown before."
7.  Plaza Oscar Goodman.  Former Mayor of Las Vegas.  Read a great book about him - Of Rats and Men by John L. Smith.  No, not that John L. Smith.

8.  Casino del Mar - Puerto Rico.  I'm hoping this was from the same person as chip #1.  That would be a lovely trip.

Spring Break '15 Update

Got 6 new chips to add to the collection this April.

First - my parents brought back a chip from the Hard Rock in Tulsa.  This is actually the second chip from Tulsa they've brought me.  

Next are five chips from various Laughlin, Nevada casinos.  My aunt and uncle brought these back for me when they went out to northern Arizona to visit a different aunt and uncle of mine.  I have a small group of people scouring the nation for casino chips for me and their work is much appreciated!  The new Laughlin chips are:

1.  The Avi Resort & Casino.  Cool chip with a satanic owl on it.  I like it!

2.  The Pioneer Casino.

3.  The Edgewater Casino.

4.  The Aquarius Casino & Resort.  Their motto is fun in the sun.  I've not been to Laughlin in many many many years, but I think they have the sun part correct.  Not sure on the fun.

5.  Colorado Belle.  

March Update

Six new chips to add to the blog, courtesy of my brother (@ATRoss14) and the internet.  They are:

1.  Soaring Eagle - Mt. Pleasant, MI - new house chip.  My brother stopped by the Eagle a few weeks ago and brought me back the new house chip.  I haven't been to Soaring Eagle in years, instead opting for Detroit and Battle Creek, but I'm sure nothing has changed.  Automatic shuffle machines, high table minimums, unfriendly staff and lots of smoke.  Put that on a billboard!

2.  The Mirage - Las Vegas - 25 Years.  The Mirage opened in the middle of the Las Vegas strip in 1989.  It helped kicked off the new era of modern, upscale Strip casinos.  I've always liked gambling there and once even saw Steve Lyons wandering around.

3.  Hard Rock - Las Vegas - Puma.  How could I not get a chip with a sweet pair of Puma kicks on it?

4.  Hard Rock - Las Vegas - Eminem.
5.  Hard Rock - Las Vegas - Hootie and the Blowfish (New Years Eve 1996).

Just your standard 'musician on a chip' chips.

6.  Riviera - Las Vegas - older house chip.  The Riviera Casino is set to close May 4 (just two days after the Kentucky Derby!).  So I went back and looked for some of their older house chips and found this one.  I've never stayed at the Riviera, I'm sure I've played a little there but really, I only remember that there was a Burger King in their Food Court.  And I never ate at their food court.

That brings my chip total up to 470.

November Update

11 new chips have been added to the collection since the last update.  They are:

1.  Blackbird Bend Casino - Iowa.  Just north of Omaha and on the other side of the Missouri River, I visited this casino on a work trip.  We ate at their less than stellar buffet for dinner one night.  One of the least busy casinos I've ever been in.  Even for Iowa standards.

2.  Isle Casino - Cape Girardeau, MO.  Another casino visited while on a work trip.  This one was pretty new and modern looking.  Not the easiest place to get to when you are just trying to make a quick stop on your way to the airport in St. Louis though.

3.  Horseshoe Casino - Cincinnati, OH.  The last of the four land-based casinos in Ohio to open (Ohio also has a handful of Racino's).

4.  Horseshoe Casino - Baltimore, MD.  Just opened in August of 2014, this is the 4th casino (with live table games) in Maryland.  A planned 5th is set to open in 2016.

5.  Rocky Gap Casino - Cumberland, MD.  Opened in early 2013, this was the 3rd casino in Maryland to open.  Guess I'll have to track down chips for the Hollywood Casino and Maryland Live! before too long.

6.  Linq - Las Vegas.  The Linq replaces the Quad, which was the Imperial Palace.  The name "The Quad" lasted for about 18 months, so the Linq has a low bar to clear.  We'll see if it's still in operation in June of 2016.

7. SLS - Las Vegas.  The SLS is the new Sahara, and opened in mid-2014.

8.  Cromwell - Las Vegas.  This replaces Bill's, which replaced the Barbary Coast.  The Coast is still one of my top 3 favorite places to gamble (along with the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio between 3am and 5am).

9. Westgate - Las Vegas.  The Westgate is the new LVH which was the new Las Vegas Hilton.  This name change happened in July 2014.  Westgate is known for being a time-share company, so it'll be interesting to see if the old Hilton shifts from casino/hotel to time share/casino.

10.  Grand Casino Romania.  Julie's Aunt Linda picked this one up for me while on a long boat cruise of the Danube.  This casino is located in the Marriott Hotel in Bucharest.  The front of the chip reads "10 Ron" which I think means it is worth roughly $3 in U.S. equivalency.  Hopefully, the exchange rate brings the value up as it would currently rank last amongst my chips for face value.

11.  Holland Casino.  Aunt Linda got this one for me on the same trip as the above.  But the Holland Casino was located inside the Shiphol-Airport, which seems really nice and convenient to me.  5 Euros makes it worth about $6.25, which places it as the second most valuable chip by face value, just behind my chips from London.

Maine, the return

I have now been to every casino in the great state of Maine.  All two of them.  Last year, I visited Oxford while on a work trip to Portland and visited the Oxford Casino.  This year, with time to kill, I made the two hour drive to the Hollywood Casino in Bangor.  Didn't play, as I wanted to leave enough time to visit Freeport, home of LL Bean, on the drive back (you can never have enough chinos), so I just got a chip, made a lap and took off.  But it looked pretty nice - and it seemed fairly busy for a Tuesday afternoon in Bangor.

Rhode Island

Picked up a new chip earlier this month when a work trip took me out east to Rhode Island.  Had about 6 hours to kill before heading to Worcester, so I found the Twin River Casino just outside the Providence Airport.  Since the Pawtucket Red Sox weren't in town, this was my best time-killing chance.  Walked in around 5pm on a Monday evening and the place was packed.  Not only packed, but $15 blackjack tables (and up!) were jammed.  It took me 20-30 minutes of wandering and waiting before getting on a table.  When I finally did, I did fairly well (two blackjacks and two double down wins in the first 4 hands will do that).  Afterwards, I had a couple of beers and dinner at a fairly nice sportsbar located on the second floor.  All in all - it was a really nice casino and I would definitely go back.

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."