Regarding the Silver Strikes, I recall, when I first started collecting them, the same points were being made. Machines sitting on the casino floor taking up space and nobody playing them. Their demise has been projected for years. They were supposed to be extinct a couple years ago.

While I have seen fewer of the machines when casino hopping I find that they are still there. I know, in the case of The Orleans, they used to have 2 machines. One was by where the Coffee Shop is, over toward the sports book and the other was accross from the entry to the rooms, pool, gift shop... The one that was by the hall going to the gift shop was always pretty tight. I gave up playing it for a few years until this year when I actually won a few tokens from it. Other than that, I could pump in a 20 and get nothing. The other machine was a different variety and was pretty loose. I could regularly put in a 20 and get at least 1 usually 2 or more tokens from it. Of course that is the machine that no longer exists.

I still see the machines all the time at the airport and have continued to try them where ever I find them. I usually just put in a $20 and play. My best hit was at McCarran when I put in a 20 and played for 7 tokens and left with some of my 20 left. They play just like any other slot. It is just sometimes rather than building up credits and getting quarters you hit tripple bars and here a clunk. Or you hit tripple double bars and hear clunk clunk and tripple bars, Clunk Clunk Clunk. Some machines use the 7s instead of bars and of couse some machines pay different than others. With bigger payouts you might get bigger tokens. Say a 1lb silver token? I may be mistaken on a few of these things but they are what I seem to recall.

Last June when I stopped by The Palms, I couldn't get near the machine. There was a machine over by the food court. There was a line of people around it playing it constantly. I never got a chance to play before I had to leave.

While the machines may be dissappearing the odd thing is that the tokens that go into them keep coming. They keep getting better and nicer and more unique. The tokens that Gene showed pictures of. If they are that expensive, and with the holograms... I would guess, Am I wrong Gene?, that they would likely be distributed through Silver Strike Machines. Some casinos like Riviera keep putting out more and more Hologram Tokens. Some may not have the brass rings around a silver token but they may have enameled designs in the center of a bronze coin etc. They may start to use more and more, lesser expensive, materials but make them attractive in other ways.

I have noticed over the years that as is, there is a wide variety of the tokens. One comment years ago was how the Silver Strike tokens were getting too expensive to produce. On close scruitinization you can notice that some say they are gold overlayed. Others are just polished brass. As for the silver inserts, some say .999 Sterling or others, I can't remember all the hallmarks but say that they are plated, layered filled or other ways to finish a cheaper metal with a silver polished surface.

Thus, some tokens are cheaper than others and may not be what they look like. In fact, I have never seen a Silver Strike that ever had ANY gold in it. Almost all my tokens, unless I transfer them to AirTites, will turn toward a dark brown in a matter of months. The Silver stays nice but the rings get darker and darker.

I get the impression that for the sake of souvenirs they may be around for quite a while and will probably continue to evolve in new and more unique ways. Some maybe pretty exciting for the collectors.