Oh this is actually going to be a tough one. First trip to Reno I was playing roulette and walked away from the table at the MGM Grand, the dealers shouted and stopped me, said, you can't take those chips. About that time, after losing $200 I decided the heck I can't! So I managed to pocket one. They were very worn, generic H&C mold that said "Roulette" and 1 on them. Nice florescent orange at least? Bargain box material, I didn't know any better, and I was happy? That was my first casino chip...

I had some chips in a drawer from one of the Michigan casinos. Then one of the Las Vegas trip we went to Laughlin. When I got back I found a $5 chip still in my pocket. That might have been it? But I remember a trip to Reno where I went to every casino and tried to get a $1 chip from the crap tables. (hey big spender...) Which was the actual start of collecting instead of accumulating.

I told some of the guys that I bowled with and one of them said, "Oh I saw an article in Poker Player Magazine about a club for people who collect casino chips. He gave me the magazine, I followed up and joined the club. At least that's one version of the story?

Possible a second path after the magazine was Prodigy and the BB there, which was before Greg started this one. In which case I would have joined because of the people on the Prodigy BB. So discovered in the magazine, found on the Prodigy BB.

Whichever it was, the online people (many still here) at the Prodigy BB sealed the deal.