Read on, we will eventually get to Rhode Island. Sort of.

OK since I never give advice, I thought I would break that rule.

In 1994 I found the CCGTCC thru an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal advertising a chip convention at the Aladdin. To be honest I thought it was a computer chip convention when it 1st caught my eye.

I had been collecting chips for 32 years and thought I was the only person in the world that collected chips. I attended, I gawked, I was amazed. Met many new people that I still call friends today. Some have passed, rest easy friends, some turned out to not be friends, many new ones become friends throughout each new year since. So goes life.

Whether you are old or new to the hobby, you need a database for your collection. You need to know what you paid for a chip, where it is from, who you got it from, color, inserts, date you acquired the chip, date made, mold, etc, etc, etc, etc. You need to see your chips without looking thru a bunch of 3 ring binders.

The first CCGTCC magazine I opened in late 1994 had a paid ad in it for a chip database, $29.95 if I remember right.

Geez, that’s what I need!
OOPS, I don’t have a computer!
Would not know how to turn it on if I had one!

I did realize if I did not have a database, the older I got the more history of my chips I would lose.

I called the number in the ad, Tom from Carlisle Development answered. I explained my situation. He said send me $29.95 and buy a computer. Did it!

A week or so later I called Tom and said “what now.”
He started out with “turn the computer on.” My reply, “where is that button?”

It really happened real close to that description. Tom spent hours on the phone, some on the program but mostly about getting me some computer skills. I got my $29.95 back 20 fold. What a guy.
These calls went on for about a year. That is when I realized, computers weren’t so tough.

I had well over 3,000 chips at that time. It took me a year to get them all in the program as I was working many hours a week as poker/keno mgr at the Four Queens. I now have well over 31,000 chips. I can find and view any one chip in a matter of seconds. I can enter a new one in a minute or two. Tom has updated my program several times over the years. But in reality mine is a “Beta” version of where this program was to evolve to.

This is the same data base that Terry Shaffer sells “Collectors Assistant,” although it was not called that back in 1994. When he got involved a few years ago, he redesigned it with lots of new bells and whistles. From what Terry showed me it is super today. My version will not take those new upgrades.

http://www.happychipper.com/

I have no monetary interest in Happy Chipper. This is meant to be advice only.
I am sure some of you can design your own database.

Whichever way you go, GO!!! The longer you wait, the harder it will be to start a database

OH well, I needed an easy day, so decided on a real DUD of a state. Don’t get your nose out of joint if you are from RI, I meant DUD as I do not have a real illegal from RI.

Rhode Island:

I collect illegals and have a file for Home Game chips I can’t put a Club name to.
This one is strictly a home game chip.

William Martin Lafferty
Owner Millennium Games
Woonsocket, RI
I met Bill at the 1998 G2E Gaming Exposition in Las Vegas, at the convention center. He was showing a couple new games for casinos.

Anyone have a real RI illegal to show? If so, I hope you have a trader.