Not much of a post tonight, just one fact and some speculating. Was looking at this postcard of Hotel Nevada Ely yesterday. I like to hold a chip and stare at it and try and feel what was happening at the tables when the piece was in play. I've stayed at this place three times and certainly recommend a stopover in Ely to anyone, very nice place. This PC shows a time when the mines were pumping and folks were looking for a good time. Ely's a little slow these days... The Hotel has one table open usually, no craps or wheel but slots and vp. I was looking at the roulette table with a magnifying glass and noticed a color thats not in the guides, a mint green. There are a couple on the odd section and some peeking out by the croupier's elbow. Wonder where these mints are today? I've got an amusing story about buying the brt. orange wheel check at the convention for another time, thanks Jay! Checked out the rest of my chip colors stacked about two hundred on the table. I also noticed nearest the dealer about 300-400 red chips that appeared to have inserts. The last time I played roulette was at a place called the MGM Grand/Reno so I'm not that hep to the game but I'm unable to recall many/any roulette chips with inserts! Well then, what in the heck am I looking at? Doh, upon looking in the pertinent section of the chip museum I find my $1 Hotel Nevada chip of that era is an orange C&J with inserts, obviously for the town's highrollers. Remember, this is a joint that only recently in its long history had $25 chips let alone $100's! I imagine most of the wheel bets were in stacks of 50¢? The fellas at the 21 table all have dollar bets down I see. Small mystery solved for me at least.

If you sit down at the HN blackjack table today you'll get a friendly small town Nevada game. The "eye in the sky" is the relief dealer sitting off to the side watching things. Possibly you'll be the only one in the casino that the dealer doesn't know by name, but that'll change before you cash out. They play some pretty well used dollar tokens these days but they have those Chipco Pony Express snappers still. Don't look for any green chips in the tray, perhaps those appear on Friday and Saturday nights. Everything else is gone in Ely as I recall. Jailhouse Casino is across the street, slots only. Seems they had a few fires in Ely and some of the gaming places became insurance settlements. Hope you didn't mind the musing.