Following up from last Wednesday we now have 215 different $1 chips up in our “Real $1 Casino Chips” section. Over the months ahead we’ll be adding more to both the current $1 section and also the obsolete $1 section. As of right now there are 154 current chips available priced at just $2.50 each and 61 different obsolete $1’s starting at just $2.50/each. Just click the links to visit each newly added section to our website. I said it last week and I’ll say it again… today’s current chips are tomorrow’s obsolete ones. Who knows what the future holds but $1 chips have historically been an investment that increase in value over time.

We’ve also added this new leather poker table cover to our site. This cover comes in a separate felt carrying bag (pictured to the right) and will both protect your table when it’s not in use but also looks great on it. The cover has a soft leather feel and comes in two sizes fitting both an 84″ or a 96″ table. Priced at less than a decent dinner out this cover will protect your table investment for years to come. Click Here to see the new table cover.

When our customers talk, we listen… after getting many requests over the years for a quality Mahjong set we now have them in stock and available on our website. I’m betting that many reading this blog are even wondering what the heck Mahjong is.

Mahjong is a dominoe/tile game played by four players. It involves skill, strategy, and calculation, as well as a certain degree of luck. In the game, each player is dealt either thirteen or sixteen tiles in a hand, depending on the variation being played. On their turn, players draw a tile and discard one, with the goal of making four or five “melds” (or different combinations of tiles). Originated in China, the game has been played for over 2,000 years.

This set contains chips, racks, dice, instructions and a vinyl carrying case. We’ve been told by mahjong players that this is a quality set with very easy to read tiles. Click Here to purchase your own mahjong set.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our three October birthdays here at Spinettis. Pictured above from left to right are Carlos, Henry (sitting) and Bato who all celebrated their 29th birthdays (well sort of…) this month. We celebrated with a few pizzas and a big ‘ole cake this past Monday. Just so you get an idea of who these three great guys are… Carlos does EVERYTHING around here. He makes deliveries, does all our chip hotstamping, keeps our shelves & chip trays stocked, fixes everything that breaks and so much more. Henry is our retail manager who has the unenviable job of trying to keep all of us retail guys in line and Bato is in our shipping department. When you place an order on our website or win an eBay lot there’s a good chance that Bato was involved in getting it packaged up. If it’s got A LOT of tape on it and tough to open, then it’s almost certainly a result of Bato’s handiwork!. So next time you call, if you get one of these three on the phone be sure to wish them a happy belated October birthday.

Last Wednesday we mentioned that we added an “Obsolete $1″ chip section to our website. Since then we’ve also added a “Current $1″ section. As of this moment only half of the chips are up but in the next few days they should all be there and available.

You can click the image to the right or Click Here to see casinos $1’s that start with letters “A” through “L”. Each chip is priced at only $2.50/each in this section.

We’ve had many local Las Vegas residents buy them from us at $2.50/each because they claim we actually save them money, time and trouble. If not for us they would have to drive to the casino (have you tried to navigate through Las Vegas traffic lately?), then either find a parking spot or tip the valet guy and lastly wander through the casino looking for the cashier cage.

… and let’s face it, casino cashier’s are NEVER close to a door. For security reasons the cashier cage is almost always placed about as far away from the entrance as possible. So factor in the frustrating traffic, the parking and the “I-think-I-need-to-pack-a-lunch-to-get-to-the-dang-cashier” trek it’s almost ALWAYS more economical to pay a $1.50 premium and let us do the leg work and save you the aggravation!

So keep your eye on this section over the next week when we add the rest of the current chips we have in stock and then save yourself some time & trouble and let us ship them right to your doorstep. Believe me, it’ll be a heck of a lot easier opening up your mailbox and ripping open a padded envelope then going to the casino directly…. and that’s a SURE BET!

We’ve added a new section to our website called “Real $1 Casino Chips”. Eventually we will list all the $1 obsolete and current chips we have in inventory. As of right now we don’t have the current ones up (but soon will). However, we do have a few of the obsolete $1’s that we have in stock up and available for purchase.

So what makes a chip obsolete you ask? Three things, any of which could happen. First is the casino closes its doors for good and goes out of business. Secondly, the casino remains open but changes its name. And thirdly, the casino replaces its rack and goes to a different chip.

In any case the chips in the casino at the time of the closing, name change or replacing are destroyed. In Nevada, a casino that closes or changes its name must give notice that it will redeem the chips for 120 days. After that period the chip is no longer redeemable. However, a redemption period is NOT mandatory for a still open casino that just replaced its rack. Some Nevada casinos still honor their obsolete chips because a redemption notice was never posted. At any time though a casino can give that 120 day notice by publishing it in the newspaper and thereby recalling their outstanding chips.

The prices on the obsolete $1 chips on our website within this section range between $2.50 and $4.00.

For the new (and seasoned) collector $1 chips are amongst the best chips to collect. By far the most chip collectors are people that collect $1 which makes them the most desirable should you wish (God forbid!) to part with your collection some day. We also find that from a percentage standpoint fractional chips (10¢, 25¢ & 50¢) as well as $1 chips escalate in value the highest and quickest once they become obsolete.

Keep in mind that today’s current chips are tomorrow’s obsolete chips. So when you are vacationing and have the opportunity to buy a $1 chip for face value you can almost never go wrong. That $1 chip will almost certainly increase in value when it becomes obsolete (which it will likely do at some point).

So go and have a look. And be sure to come back often as we’ve got lots of $1’s in stock that will soon be added to the site. You can visit this new page by clicking on the image to the left or simply by Clicking Here.

We’ve added a few new products to our ever growing website that we think you’re going to want to know about.

The first is a series of books and booklets on Las Vegas history. These books, written by a local Las Vegas historian, are just jam filled with everything you would ever want to know about our great city. The author claims that they are the “most complete, concise & comprehensive” Vegas history books out there and quite honestly, we have to agree with him.

There’s not only a ton of information but also facts, history, time lines, maps, graphs, charts, photos and so much more about the Las Vegas strip and downtown motels, clubs and casinos. The booklets are priced at less than $5.00/each and are an incredible value for what you’ll receive. Both the books and the booklets are a must have on the bookshelf of every student of Las Vegas history. Pick one (or all five) up. We just know you’ll love them. They also make a great gift if you know anyone into Las Vegas history.

Here are the links to each book/booklet in the series:

We also added a nine-piece set of chips from two closed Deadwood South Dakota casinos. Both B.B. Cody’s and Buffalo Bodega closed in 2006 so you can’t get these chips directly from the casinos any longer, but you can get them from us. There are five B.B. Cody’s chips and four from Buffalo Bodega in this sample set. Nine great chips, one low price. Get your set by Clicking Here

We also added a whole new section to our website for Collectible Dice. Right now there are 18 pairs/sticks available but we’ve got a TON more and we’ll be soon adding them to this section. Of course if you are looking for dice that don’t appear in this section yet you can always give us a call and we can check the availability of that casino for you. Here’s a link to the new dice section of our website Click Here!

This is a matching stick of dice with the original wrapper. The five dice have serial #3478 and was used at the Aladdin during day shift on March 12th, 2005.

Here's a stick in it's original wrapper from the Golden Phoenix in Reno that shows matching serial numbers. All five dice have #256 on the six-side of the dice as seen above.

Often people ask us what we mean by “matching” and what in the world is a “stick” of dice. Matching dice are identical in terms of their color and logo but more so they have identical serial numbers. A “stick” is five dice all with matching serial numbers that can be found on a craps game. A new craps shooter is presented with five identical dice of which two are chosen at random and thrown. Serial numbers are used on dice as a method of game protection. The boxman (craps supervisor) makes sure that if a dice goes off the table it has the same matching number as the others that remain on the table. This makes it very difficult for a dice cheat to introduce a weighted dice into the game (or for a dice from a neighboring table to come into play). If you just want a dice or two from a certain casino it probably makes little difference to you if they have matching numbers. However to a dice collector they very much want to have matching serialized pairs and sticks.

OK, the last item of business… we had a chip stacking contest during the month of September to see who could come up with the most creative design. A $20 store credit was offered to the photo we deemed to be the winner.

And the big winner is…..

… sadly, NO ONE!

That’s right! Not a single blog reader submitted an entry. A photo of just two chips stacked together would have won by default but we didn’t even get that. Just goes to prove that old adage that “95% of the battle is just showing up”. Hopefully in future contests you’ll make a decision to participate…. you very well could be our winner!