I had intended to post this earlier in the week, but with all the recent Club doings, I held off posting it. Then the more I thought about, the more it became apparent this goes to the heart of some the discussions here about trust, not taking advantage of fellow club members and ethics. I would like to think that all of this is just inexperience and not really understanding how a Round Robin works. I hope so. But ultimately, the person who started this RR will have to be the judge of that.

For anyone who doesn’t know or has not participated in a Round Robin (RR), there are many parameters for these. A roulette chip RR, just Limited Edition chips RR, only Vegas current house chips, now room keys and slot cards, etc. Get 6-8-10 folks who would like to play and set the rules. Face value for Face Value or Vegas for Vegas, Riverboat for Riverboat, etc. One person will box up some chips to start the thing (in this case a bunch!) and send it to the first person on the list. They take out what they want and replace those chips with chips they have, according to the rules set out in the beginning. They send it to the next person on the list and so on until it winds up back to person who started it. Hopefully, everyone found something new and exciting and the person who started the thing gets back all different chips. All of this is based on trusting your fellow collectors and the US Postal Service!

This particular RR has around 100 chips in it and the rules are that you exchange your chips for the ones in the RR based on “TCR#9 value and CONDITION”. And there’s the rub. You have to pay attention to the condition of the chips you put in, because it has a DIRECT bearing on value. Just because you have a chip from say the Flamingo. $5 Flamingo TCR# N4492-this is listed with a “N” value $125-$149, in VGD condition. If you have the same chip that is so worn (from dirt and handling) the color of the chip is different, it has pieces missing (not rim nicks), has a small crack in it AND the inlay is so worn and faded that you can’t read parts of it, would YOU value this at $125-149??? No you wouldn’t, nor should you expect the next person in line to or the person who actually started the thing and more than likely will wind up with the worst of the whole deal.

There are many examples in this RR, but I want to point out three of them.

1. TCR#N6819 Jackpot Casino $1 “E” value $15-19…This is still a common enough chip to find in mint to almost mint condition. They are out there in quantity in VGD condition. The example of the Flamingo chip above is what this Jackpot chip looks like and was placed in exchange for an “E” valued chip. I would be willing to bet the chip that was removed was NOT in this condition. You can find chips in better condition in Junk boxes at dealer tables.

2. TCR#N7330 Cal Neva Lodge $1 “F” value $20-24…This chip is canceled (drill hole), and it is listed in the TCR with this value as “canceled”. So far, so good. But TCR doesn’t list it at this value with GREEN INK ON IT!! I could be wrong here, I don’t collect Tahoe, but I don’t think the green ink is part of the original design, since it is a white chip with a black hot stamp.

3. TCR#N2238 Sundance $1 “B” value $3-4…This IS a common chip that can be readily had for $4 (top end of TCR value) in MINT condition. This Sundance $1 is so worn it has rounded edges and will not stand up on edge. This may be due to the slight WARP in the chip. Again, I doubt the chip that was removed was in this kind of condition.

I point all of this out in the hope everyone puts some thought in the way we treat our fellow members. The old rule of treating folks the way you want to be treated, ain’t out of style. As I said in the opening, hopefully this is just inexperience. If any of this jogs someone’s memory and you want to discuss this, please email me. But more than that, you should contact the person who started this RR in a few weeks and discuss it with him. This is just my humble opinion.