Since the 2nd Edition of the Official U.S. Casino Chip Price Guide will be out shortly, we thought it timely to let everyone know what changes we made and why this book is even better than our 1st effort.

1) We are not self-publishing this book. A major publisher of collectible books, Schiffer Publishing, now owns the current and future publishing rights. However, the owner of the company let us make the book we wanted, despite the rise in costs. We added many new color pictures and nearly 100 extra pages! Of great importance, is that they have addressed and solved the binding problem we had last issue. No hardcover copies will be available, but we assure you the quality is very high. We asked them about spiral binding, but they rejected the idea. The reason is that they are planning to distribute this book throughout the country (5000 copies to start)and many of the major book chains do not like to carry spiral bound books. You may be able to spiral this on your own, however.

2) We had numerous requests to add all Nevada Limited Edition and Commemorative Chips. We listened to you and have created an entire section exclusively for Nevada LE's and Commems. That way, LE collectors will not have to wade through all the regular issue chips and vice-versa. Steve Cutler opened up his Museum collection for us and Dave and Debbie Harber spent TWO SOLID WEEKS pouring over countless pages of Nevada Gaming Records so that we could print the most accurate and complete list possible, including 99% of all Mintage Figures! No way can you get better info than this. Also, since LE's are usually uncirculated, we only list one price for them as the section is formatted a little differently.

3) We have added ALL the Riverboat states. (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri.)Jim Kruse and Greg Susong did most of the work for this section (which includes all the LE's)and we thank them for the great job they did.

4) Though collectors (by at least 2-1)approved of our grouping of Nevada Chips into their own sections, ie. Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Reno, and Small Towns, etc; the downside was that certain chips were hard to find if you didn't know their location. We have solved that problem with an extensive 12 page index. Now, all you need to know is the club name or initials on the chip and you can easily find the right page.

5) We have added a lot more historical pictures of casinos! Everybody seemed to love this aspect of the book, so we responded. We were lucky to find a publisher who told us to "Make the best book possible" regardless of the cost. He believes we will ultimately have more customers as a result. We need to because he also said that of the 300 books they will publish this year, ours was probably the most expensive. Now you know why we couldn't self-publish anymore!

6) We no longer use the grading term "Mint State" anywhere in the book. Since this term was the apparent cause of needless debate and criticism, we have changed it to "Chip State" so that there will be no confusion with any coin grading system whatsoever.

7) Last year we were accused by certain brain-dead nitwits of doing the book solely as a means of "getting rich" or having "alterior motives", etc. Here are the facts: Last year we lost over $10,000 each. This year, our royalties vary according to sales, but we receive only about 50 cents per sale each and we worked between 400-500 hours each to get this 2nd edition out. You do the math. Did we write this because we love chips and want to promote the hobby or because we're making a huge less-than minimum wage score?

8) Without a doubt, this is the best, most comprehensive and accurate casino chip price guide available at any price. However, the great news is that even though the book is 30% bigger, the price is still only $29.95! This has got to be a chipper's #1 best bargain. James will be handling some books if you wish to order directly, or want the book signed, etc. The price is a flat $34, but this includes priority mailing. Please make checks or money orders out to ACE, inc. Mail to 4371 Lucas Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89120. (Books will not be available for about two weeks, give or take.)

Thanks to everybody who did encourage us to keep going during the dark times, as we believe your faith in us has been rewarded. Thanks for listening and we hope you support this 2nd edition.

Happy Chipping, Steve and James