Museum of Gaming History’s recently updated ChipGuide provides a handy photo and background info database of over 280,000 gaming chips and memorabilia from worldwide casinos
For the growing hobby of collecting casino gaming chips, instant and easy access to a free photo database to authenticate and date a newfound chip is an enthusiast’s dream come true. That dream is a reality, thanks to the Museum of Gaming History (MoGH), an educational project of the Casino Collectibles Association (CCA). Over 10 years in the making, and drawing on over 76,000 submissions from over 1,200 contributors and club members, the non-profit MoGH has painstakingly built an online database of over a quarter-million gaming chip photos. The free online database is called the ChipGuide, a website that has just undergone an upgrade and revitalization that adds even more gaming chip information.
Serious and first-time amateur collectors alike can easily find pictorial documentation of many denominations of current and obsolete casino gaming chips from open, closed, and even illegal casinos, as well as those produced for fraternal organizations and promotional purposes.
Simply go to the website, click on a state or interest icon, and the clickable casinos and organizations are listed in alphabetical order.
Each gaming chip photo includes information on the chip’s date of issue, color, mold, and inlay. Also included are data on the casino, including the address and opening and closing dates, complete with a handy Google Maps location link. When submitted, photos of memorabilia such as matchbooks, ashtrays, room keys, and postcards are also included.
“The goal of the latest update of the ChipGuide was to take collector-driven input from our one thousand-plus CCA club members and other collectors and present the information in a very simple-to-use format,” said Charles Kaplan, ChipGuide chair and webmaster. “Any interested collector can submit gaming chip and memorabilia photos and data via the ChipGuide website. A staff of volunteer administrators evaluates and posts an average of about 200 contribution updates per day – and each contributor is recognized on the site.”
The ChipGuide covers only fact-based gaming chip and casino memorable information – subjective material such as monetary value is not included.
To visit the ChipGuide, go to chipguide.themogh.org.
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About the Museum of Gaming History
The Museum of Gaming History is an educational project of the Casino Collectibles Association, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) club devoted to the fast-growing hobby of collecting casino memorabilia. With the mission of preserving gaming history, the Museum of Gaming History is currently an expanding series of kiosk exhibits in Las Vegas located within The El Cortez and Plaza casinos, the Nevada State, Mob, and Neon Museums, and recently the National Atomic Testing Museum. A single permanent location is the ultimate goal.
