My trip to the newest Indian casino in the Coachella Valley of southern California was overall quite pleasant. I really don't know why some of you don't want to come out to the desert in the middle of July, it really is a dry heat!
The casino was easy enough to get to. As I drove out there, I had flashbacks to the early days of the Tunica MS casinos. They were tiny islands in the middle of cotton fields. This place is an even tinier island in the middle of acres and acres of date palm trees.
There are 10 tables, 8 of which are blackjack and 2 of which are 3 card poker. They have less than 400 slot machines. There are NO tokens. For those of you asked for them, I'm sorry, only paper money and printed tickets goes into or out of these machines.
There was no one in line for the slot club, just me. Fill out some basic information, no ID required (I offered) and a club card is yours. While I was standing there, a security officer came in with cards that had been left in machines. The clerk told him to leave them at the information desk, so I'm not sure how easy it will be to pick them up. I don't collect them except the ones with my name on them, so I really don't focus on picking them up. Of course if one had been left in a machine and I found it, well that would be another story.
When I went to the Cashier's cage I asked to speak to the shift manager. I told her what I wanted and showed her my shopping list. She checked with her supervisor and my transaction was underway. It only took a short time for them to get my order filled and they were very happy to do it.
There is no plan for a GO chip at this time. The grand opening party is scheduled for August 15th, so I guess anything is possible, but for now there are only house chips in $1, $2.50, $5, $25, and $100 denominations. Everything except the $100 is pictured below. If I lived closer I would have picked up the $100 chip for scanning purposes, but I just can't afford to hold onto it for the amount of time it will take me to get back there.
They have a small snack bar. When I signed up for my player's card they gave me a ticket for a free hot dog. They also have a small restaurant. I heard other players raving about the food, although I didn't partake. The reason for this is that no road trip that far out of town would be complete without a stop at IN-N-OUT Burger!
So, if your name is listed below, I will e mail you and we can start working on trades. Your chips will be in the mail on Monday. If you are not listed below and you requested tokens only, that would be the reason why. If you somehow missed getting on the request list and you would like chips, please allow the dust to settle. Once I know what is left over, I will post for more trades.
If you have read this far, bless you.
Sunday

George D
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