My wife brought home a chip from the Flamingo Hilton in 1986 and one or two more from casinos we visited the next year. We didn't really start growing our collection until we visited the Chip Convention on the last day at the Riviera in 2008. We ended up buying a little over 100 chips at the convention and have been hooked ever since. Didn't join the club until two or three years later. Collection has grown to about 4,000 chips. Still looking for chips and having fun.