While keeping chips and tokens in a more recognizable way, like a rack etc. might help to make them more recognizable, I don't really look at my problem, mentioned above, as a problem. I guess I have a bit of a sense of humor about it. The screener seemed to have a good attitude and sense of humor about everything as well. Incidentally I also had my regular chips in my bag. The rescues from blackjack that I mentioned as well as a few silver strikes. They had no difficulty with them as they were in a recognizable form etc. I also had a little pouch with all my loose change, (Pennies and Dimes mostly)in my backpack. That didn't seem to bother them either. I wonder a little about the paperweight that was mentioned above though. Was it especially large? Encased in another substance like a clear plastic? I don't recall if I mentioned it in my original post but a friend got stopped just before me at O'Hare when I had the rolled coins and the stopwatch. He was carrying a bowling ball. Some newer balls have weight blocks inside them that are odd shapes or made of high tech materials, usually ceramics (similar to chips?) that may contain metals or other substances like Titanium that I suppose may look odd to a security screener, on the Xray. Things that they aren't accustomed to seeing everyday may look suspicious to them when seen through these machines. Out of about 20 of us traveling with us that day all of us checked our bowling balls. This one guy decided he was just going to carry his on. I guess a bowling ball can look a lot different on Xray than it does when you are holding it.

Anyways, I assume that the crushed up chips with many irregular chunks, some tiny, other almost whole but all in varying shapes sizes must have looked awefully odd to the screeners.

Bill Schelhas