My first trip to Las Vegas was in 1981. I remember looking at some chips and thinking that it would be pretty cool to keep a few as souvenirs . Then I said to myself "Self, keeping chips as souvenirs would be like keeping money for souvenirs! Would you keep money as a souvenir? NO! So give the chips back and get the cash, then buy something for a souvenir." How dumb was that . (I bought a mauve vase with gold trim). But I did keep a .50 from the Westward Ho and a .50 from the Pioneer. I also aquired a few ashtrays (was a smoker at the time...and used the ashtrays). Eventually the ashtrays ended up packed in a box; the chips thrown in another box.

Fast-forward to somewhere around 1994-1995, and we began collecting casino ashtrays. That story is in the current CCTN...so I won't repeat it here. Over the years, we went to many flea-markets and antique/collectible shows in search of Nevada ashtrays. It isn't all that easy to find Nevada casino ashtrays in Michigan! We started buying postcards and matchbooks and swizzle sticks and other stuff like that, when we stumbled across it. We ran into the late Bob Matthews at several shows, he always had ashtrays for us to browse through and buy. He also had chips...and my husband had started browsing through them occasionally. Eventually my husband bought an El Rancho Vegas chip, with a cord mold, and a Mapes chip. Bob had applications on his table for the CCGTCC, and I picked one up. I figured that if club member Bob had ashtrays, maybe some other club members did too...and maybe I could find someone selling ashtrays mail-order...??? So in 1998 I sent in my application and dues. Then, of course, we had to start buying chips to go with the ashtrays and postcards and matchbooks and swizzle sticks and ...

In 1999 we got a webtv unit for Christmas...and it opened up a whole new collecting world to us...EBAY!!!!! Also, I'd see stuff in the CCTN about websites for chippers, but could rarely get one to open ...but every now and then, I'd try again. In 2001 I was home recovering from surgery when a copy of the CCTN arrived. There was mention of a site called thechipboard.com. I figured it wouldn't open, but I didn't have anything better to do, so I typed in the address...and it opened !!! Over the next couple of weeks I was a lurker; I read most of the chipboard, and a lot of archives...I was hooked . Finally I made my first post...in a "has the CCTN arrived yet??" thread!

How I found the hobby, the club and the chipboard...now you know the rest of the story .

http://www.thechipboard.com/archives/archives.pl/bid/306/page/1/md/read/id/167387/sbj/c-c-g-t-c-c-magazine/