Yes it is I (FDLmold) who came up with this idea while sitting in my basement during COVID. I started it in 2021, and here we are almost to 2023 and it's still going strong. I'm washing and oiling a few chips right now, but I am due for an update with new pictures.

I'm flattered by the video, Oscar! I'm equally humbled by the at least three other collectors who have applied their own spin on the Rat Rod idea and assembled their own sets.

Some important points.

1) A Rat Rod playable set is not to everybody's tastes. I hold no ill feelings to people critical of my set or the idea behind it!

The inspiration is multi-faceted.
2a) I like action in my hobbies. If all you are collecting is Pick Hobson 50-Cent chips, you have to buy what is available, then sit around and wait until more come to market. There are about 2000 unique singles that fit the criteria for my set, and I own only 558 unique chips as of today. There are still hundreds of affordable chips out there I do not have yet.

2b) If all you collect is Pick Hobson 50-Cent chips, and somebody else wants them too, or even a third party as well, what used to be a $3 single chip is now a ridiculous $30-50. Assembling a Rat Rod set has no such problem. If one single gets too expensive, I go buy others. Then I will value-hunt for that single in the meantime.

2c) The best chips ever made are leaded Paulsons from 1970-1995 (both THC and house mold, with the occasional RHC chip). IMO of course. A homogeneous casino set of those is very expensive, even more so after the last 2-3 years of price inflation. I'm right at $7/chip average for the 912 chips I've assembled so far, and there are a few very expensive singles in the set.

2d) Have you seen Toy Story 3? Isn't is sad when the toys haven't been played with? I feel the same way about these CASINO chips. They were made for gambling, for action, to be handled by dealers and croupiers and card players and dice chuckers. They don't belong in flips in a folder on a bookshelf. My Sinabar $25 chip is going to see the table. My two Sierra Sid $5 chips are going to be part of a player's bet. My inlaid Del Webb Primadonna $1 (Thank you David Spragg) will be shuffled in somebody's stack. I think this might be the best part of the whole thing for me.

3) Oscar wasn't quite right about every chip in my set being unique. I have 118 pink solid quarters, but only 23 are unique. (100 uniques don't even exist). In my pink quarters, I allow up to 20 per unique chip, in my yellow half-dollars, I allow up to 10 per unique chip. In my ones, I allow 5 per unique chip. Only when my set gets to the $5s, $25s, and $100s is every chip unique. It is the highlight of my week when I add a new unique chip to the set, especially if it is a quarter or half-dollar.

4) My second favorite event when collecting these chips is to "finish a casino". For instance, there are EIGHT unique chips from the Horseshoe Reno. I have six. Nothing would thrill me more than to acquire the other two, though I doubt I would ever get the missing $100, it's just too expensive. The missing $25, however, is in my budget. (pics from chipguide)

5) This idea is work. I have made at least 170 transactions so far in 18 months or so, and sometimes I forget to update that number after a transaction, so it is likely more. That includes both buying and selling. I appreciate every single person I've bought from or traded with. David, Paul, Emilio, Dennis, Tom, ChipsnCats, and at least 20 others I'm forgetting.

I think of myself as a curator of this set, acquiring and divesting chips as circumstances dictate. If you've read this far, I appreciate it. If you see a "want list" from me and have anything you could sell me, please allow me to do so! I will take good care of your chips.

-Paul