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#11
General Discussion / Re: New club auction details
Last post by Barry Sherwood R-9037 (admin) - Mar 08, 2026, 03:19 PMAUCTION IS FULL (with some exceptions and request for feedback):
My thanks to everyone who stepped up to donate lots to this year's auction. At this time, I'm considering the auction full.
HOWEVER, I would gladly make room for additional non-chip items such as silver strikes, chip sets (large/full sets, not like just one each of $1, $5, $25 chips from a casino), ashtrays, dice, slot machines, etc.
It is at this time that I would like to announce that The Atlantis Casino in Reno Nevada has agreed to donate 2 ROULETTE WHEELS to our organization to be auctioned off. I'll do one this year and one next year. These are brand new, never used wheels still in the box. They are the wheels only, not full tables. I don't believe they have the Atlantis logo. I've peeked into one box and nudged one into a slow spin (feels awesomely smooth) but haven't taken them out. I'm just waiting on Atlantis execs to provide conditions of the donation (they want to make sure we don't sell them to buyers in states that don't allow personally owned gambling devices, for instance). Once I have that, I'll pick them up, take some pics, and add one to the auction catalog. I will probably make it the last item up for bid.
I was also thinking of peppering the auction with some club items like bundles of old magazines (we will have full-year bundles of back issues for sale at the club table, subject to availability), pins, and other items. Or a 2027 convention package that would include a grab bag of 2027 stuff: show registration, 2 night stay at the SouthPoint, convention pin, Tshirt, raffle tickets, banquet ticket, etc. Do you like these ideas or does it take away from "the good stuff"?
-- barry
My thanks to everyone who stepped up to donate lots to this year's auction. At this time, I'm considering the auction full.
HOWEVER, I would gladly make room for additional non-chip items such as silver strikes, chip sets (large/full sets, not like just one each of $1, $5, $25 chips from a casino), ashtrays, dice, slot machines, etc.
It is at this time that I would like to announce that The Atlantis Casino in Reno Nevada has agreed to donate 2 ROULETTE WHEELS to our organization to be auctioned off. I'll do one this year and one next year. These are brand new, never used wheels still in the box. They are the wheels only, not full tables. I don't believe they have the Atlantis logo. I've peeked into one box and nudged one into a slow spin (feels awesomely smooth) but haven't taken them out. I'm just waiting on Atlantis execs to provide conditions of the donation (they want to make sure we don't sell them to buyers in states that don't allow personally owned gambling devices, for instance). Once I have that, I'll pick them up, take some pics, and add one to the auction catalog. I will probably make it the last item up for bid.
I was also thinking of peppering the auction with some club items like bundles of old magazines (we will have full-year bundles of back issues for sale at the club table, subject to availability), pins, and other items. Or a 2027 convention package that would include a grab bag of 2027 stuff: show registration, 2 night stay at the SouthPoint, convention pin, Tshirt, raffle tickets, banquet ticket, etc. Do you like these ideas or does it take away from "the good stuff"?
-- barry
#12
General Discussion / New club auction details
Last post by Barry Sherwood R-9037 (admin) - Mar 08, 2026, 08:46 AMI've come up with a multi-faceted buyer's premium table that incentivizes live bidding, paying in cash, and of course, club membership. I'll go into a few details below.
Lowest premium is same as previous years - come to the auction in person, be a CCA member, pay in cash - 10% buyer's premium. Best value.
Highest premium - Bid remote (online), be some rando person with no club memberships, and pay by credit card - 20%. Pretty standard BP in spite of all that.
Lots of combinations in between. I'm allowing those with bona-fide memberships in affiliated hobby clubs to get 1% off their BP. It's not a lot, but hey, let's recognize support for our hobby no matter where it is, shall we? Of course, joining the CCA nets them an extra 4% discount, so...
Bona-fide clubs include those that are organized with a 501(c)3 or 501(c)7 status, have a paid dues structure, and focus on casino related collectibles, including: Silver Strikers Club, SNCC
Having an account on a website, facebook page, or other unincorporated, non-dues-paying entity will not qualify for a discount. Best to join the CCA to maximize that benefit anyway.
We're up to 157 items and I have 2 shipments coming with unknown quantities of items. I will also be perusing the list of items I inventoried from the club's storage units for donations that some club members said they made specifically to be in the auctions but were not labeled as such in storage. I'm going back to Vegas at least twice before the convention and should be able to pull everything while there.
Question: In the past, we've had 20 items in the silent auction on the show floor and ~180 items in the live auction. With post-auction work dropping by an estimated 95% due to using software to do the heavy lifting, how do you all feel about having more items in the auction? And how many? Or more specifically, how late should we let the auction run? One suggestion would be to have the live auction be for the first 200 items, and we'd just let the remaining items take place online (only). Not sure I can flip the switch to auto-pilot like that, but I'll find out if people are interested.
Lowest premium is same as previous years - come to the auction in person, be a CCA member, pay in cash - 10% buyer's premium. Best value.
Highest premium - Bid remote (online), be some rando person with no club memberships, and pay by credit card - 20%. Pretty standard BP in spite of all that.
Lots of combinations in between. I'm allowing those with bona-fide memberships in affiliated hobby clubs to get 1% off their BP. It's not a lot, but hey, let's recognize support for our hobby no matter where it is, shall we? Of course, joining the CCA nets them an extra 4% discount, so...
Bona-fide clubs include those that are organized with a 501(c)3 or 501(c)7 status, have a paid dues structure, and focus on casino related collectibles, including: Silver Strikers Club, SNCC
Having an account on a website, facebook page, or other unincorporated, non-dues-paying entity will not qualify for a discount. Best to join the CCA to maximize that benefit anyway.
We're up to 157 items and I have 2 shipments coming with unknown quantities of items. I will also be perusing the list of items I inventoried from the club's storage units for donations that some club members said they made specifically to be in the auctions but were not labeled as such in storage. I'm going back to Vegas at least twice before the convention and should be able to pull everything while there.
Question: In the past, we've had 20 items in the silent auction on the show floor and ~180 items in the live auction. With post-auction work dropping by an estimated 95% due to using software to do the heavy lifting, how do you all feel about having more items in the auction? And how many? Or more specifically, how late should we let the auction run? One suggestion would be to have the live auction be for the first 200 items, and we'd just let the remaining items take place online (only). Not sure I can flip the switch to auto-pilot like that, but I'll find out if people are interested.
#13
General Discussion / Re: Coming soon (I hope)
Last post by Dan M R-9148 - Mar 07, 2026, 06:14 PMClose anyway I'd guess.
The AI going to put said "programmers" under sooner than we think. Lol
The AI going to put said "programmers" under sooner than we think. Lol
#14
General Discussion / Re: Coming soon (I hope)
Last post by Dan M R-9148 - Mar 07, 2026, 06:12 PMIt looks like the person is showing output from a script that is scraping or importing forum threads.
What the Output Suggests
The program appears to:
1. Fetch a forum page
• Found 14 threads on page 1
2. Iterate through each thread
• The script reads each thread title.
3. Import or process each thread
• Imported thread: <thread title>
Likely End Game
Given that output, the script is probably doing one of these:
Most likely:
➡️ Migrating or archiving forum data
Examples:
• Importing old forum threads into a new forum platform
• Creating a local searchable archive
• Converting data from one forum system to another
Clues
• Repeated "Re:" threads → typical of older forum reply titles
• Sequential logging → common in data migration scripts
• "Found 14 threads on page 1" → indicates pagination scraping
What the teaser implies
The author is hinting that he wrote a custom script to automatically import old forum content instead of doing it manually.
⸻
💡 Since you work with XenForo / forum software, this looks exactly like a forum importer or scraper used during a migration
for each forum page:
find threads
open thread
import posts into database
log progress
⸻
If you'd like, I can also show you how someone would write this in Python or PHP in ~40 lines (the type of script this almost certainly is).
What the Output Suggests
The program appears to:
1. Fetch a forum page
• Found 14 threads on page 1
2. Iterate through each thread
• The script reads each thread title.
3. Import or process each thread
• Imported thread: <thread title>
Likely End Game
Given that output, the script is probably doing one of these:
Most likely:
➡️ Migrating or archiving forum data
Examples:
• Importing old forum threads into a new forum platform
• Creating a local searchable archive
• Converting data from one forum system to another
Clues
• Repeated "Re:" threads → typical of older forum reply titles
• Sequential logging → common in data migration scripts
• "Found 14 threads on page 1" → indicates pagination scraping
What the teaser implies
The author is hinting that he wrote a custom script to automatically import old forum content instead of doing it manually.
⸻
💡 Since you work with XenForo / forum software, this looks exactly like a forum importer or scraper used during a migration
for each forum page:
find threads
open thread
import posts into database
log progress
⸻
If you'd like, I can also show you how someone would write this in Python or PHP in ~40 lines (the type of script this almost certainly is).
#15
General Discussion / Re: Coming soon (I hope)
Last post by Bob Pardue CLM-0003-40 - Mar 05, 2026, 09:13 AMSomething with the old format message archives, going back to 2010: They're now (or soon?) searchable through the new Forum message board format? Some of those go back to a Doug Smith incentive chip giveaway to new members; a prior year auction results list (including a Kactus Kate and Pop's Oasis chips); likely a discussion about TCR and its 3 authors (SSS) and their respective responsibilities, and other stuff.
So, close enough to win a free South Point hot dog at the Convention?
So, close enough to win a free South Point hot dog at the Convention?
#16
General Discussion / Coming soon (I hope)
Last post by Barry Sherwood R-9037 (admin) - Mar 05, 2026, 04:33 AMDo you know what you get when you elect a software programmer and nerd as your President? You get a hammer always looking for a nail. Or in my case, fingers looking for a keyboard. In this episode, I'm going to tease you with a little output from a program I wrote. Shouldn't be hard for you to figure out the end game, but I'll leave it to you to discover and discuss...
Found 14 threads on page 1
Imported thread: NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Re:NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Re:NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Re:NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Kactus Kates and Pops Oasis
Imported thread: Steve, can we make payment via PayPal?...
Imported thread: If you renew online at the club website
Imported thread: "I"
Did Jay Sands & David Sarles sell their...
Imported thread: No, but we only have one salesman
Imported thread: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
Found 14 threads on page 1
Imported thread: NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Re:NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Re:NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Re:NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE For 2010...
Imported thread: Kactus Kates and Pops Oasis
Imported thread: Steve, can we make payment via PayPal?...
Imported thread: If you renew online at the club website
Imported thread: "I"
Did Jay Sands & David Sarles sell their...Imported thread: No, but we only have one salesman
Imported thread: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
Imported thread: Re: ...and one guy who does all the work
#17
General Discussion / Re: Interviewed on the CCA, Mo...
Last post by Bob Miksztal R-8909 - Mar 04, 2026, 05:59 PMGreat publicity for the club, thanks for doing that Charles!
#18
General Discussion / Club Auction Update
Last post by Barry Sherwood R-9037 (admin) - Mar 04, 2026, 07:58 AMHello again. The auction prep is coming along nicely but I still need more items to add to one of our main fundraisers this year. I have about 140 items so far (more if you count individual items that are in sets). I would like to get another 60 or so to finish things up, although if I'm right about how fast we may go this year, and the reduced post-auction effort that will be needed, I might go to 300 if we can get enough donors to fill out the roster and I don't think it will cause us to run too late in the evening. We'll see.
You can straight up donate your items to the club auction or you can consign them (club gets 10%). Currently, 80% are donated, 20% are consigned. Low book value (Nevada items only) so far is $14,560. I don't know how that compares to prior years (I'm working on getting prior stats for a lot of things).
The highest book value item (so far) is a Z4 Dunes $5 chip from the Alex Cilento collection that was recently acquired by David Sarles. David made a very large donation to the club auction and we thank him for his generosity, along with the other donors (I haven't been given permission to acknowledge the other donors yet, but will do so shortly once I get their permission to publish those who don't wish to remain anonymous).
Buyer's premium will be determined by several factors. It starts at the high of 20% for winners who bid online, are NOT affiliated with the CCA or any other affiliated clubs (more on that later), and pay with a credit card. The lowest premium will be 10% which is for CCA members who win by bidding live at the convention and pay cash (which is intentionally the same traditional low premium as previous years). There are 12 buyer premium levels total in that 10-20% range, depending on various factors. Sounds complicated but it really isn't (or won't be). The software I'm using should handle it all with ease, and adjustments will be made at time of invoicing/payment. If you are NOT a CCA member but want to get the lower CCA buyer's premium, you must become a member before the live bidding begins on the first item. Visit https://ccgtcc.com/membership to sign up today. It only takes $400 in hammer prices for you to pay for your membership (10% BP requires winning bids to be made live at the convention with payment made in cash at the show). All buyer premium details will be available in the auction description.
Shipping will be available for those of you who can't attend the convention but would still like to participate in the auction. A handling fee will be added to actual shipping charges. All shipped items will have tracking. Insurance will be a buyer option and quoted at the time of payment.
I expect to have the catalog online for review (just in case I goof up on anything) May 1st. Online bidding will begin June 1. And the live auction will take place at the convention (date and time TBD). All items will close in sequence with the auctioneer dropping the hammer with a traditional going, going, gone close. No soft close where last minute bids automatically add minutes to the timer. Proxy bidding will be allowed via online bidding only (or you can have a representative bid on your behalf from the floor with prior approval). Auctioneer(s) will not manually bid for anyone.
This is going to add a lot of F.U.N. (haha) and excitement to this annual function. We have 2 great auctioneers lined up to get you all revved up (Dick Bartley returns and Jerry Birl will be his partner for the first time). I'll be running the software (please don't glitch!).
As an added bonus... WE WILL BE LIVE SIMULCASTING THE AUCTION ONLINE, so all you remote bidders will be able to join the in-room fun from home.
Bidding is not limited to CCA members only. Literally ANYONE in the world who finds our auction will be able to bid. The auction is being hosted on the HiBid.com platform using AuctionFlex360 software which has great search capabilities, so people looking for any casino items or coins (we have some graded coins this year) will find us. Those with standing searches will automatically get notified of items in our auction that they are looking for.
Anyway, that's what's up from here at Auction Central. More later. SEND IN MORE ITEMS FOR THE AUCTION. Email me at auction@ccgtcc.com to work out details.
Thanks -- Barry
You can straight up donate your items to the club auction or you can consign them (club gets 10%). Currently, 80% are donated, 20% are consigned. Low book value (Nevada items only) so far is $14,560. I don't know how that compares to prior years (I'm working on getting prior stats for a lot of things).
The highest book value item (so far) is a Z4 Dunes $5 chip from the Alex Cilento collection that was recently acquired by David Sarles. David made a very large donation to the club auction and we thank him for his generosity, along with the other donors (I haven't been given permission to acknowledge the other donors yet, but will do so shortly once I get their permission to publish those who don't wish to remain anonymous).
Buyer's premium will be determined by several factors. It starts at the high of 20% for winners who bid online, are NOT affiliated with the CCA or any other affiliated clubs (more on that later), and pay with a credit card. The lowest premium will be 10% which is for CCA members who win by bidding live at the convention and pay cash (which is intentionally the same traditional low premium as previous years). There are 12 buyer premium levels total in that 10-20% range, depending on various factors. Sounds complicated but it really isn't (or won't be). The software I'm using should handle it all with ease, and adjustments will be made at time of invoicing/payment. If you are NOT a CCA member but want to get the lower CCA buyer's premium, you must become a member before the live bidding begins on the first item. Visit https://ccgtcc.com/membership to sign up today. It only takes $400 in hammer prices for you to pay for your membership (10% BP requires winning bids to be made live at the convention with payment made in cash at the show). All buyer premium details will be available in the auction description.
Shipping will be available for those of you who can't attend the convention but would still like to participate in the auction. A handling fee will be added to actual shipping charges. All shipped items will have tracking. Insurance will be a buyer option and quoted at the time of payment.
I expect to have the catalog online for review (just in case I goof up on anything) May 1st. Online bidding will begin June 1. And the live auction will take place at the convention (date and time TBD). All items will close in sequence with the auctioneer dropping the hammer with a traditional going, going, gone close. No soft close where last minute bids automatically add minutes to the timer. Proxy bidding will be allowed via online bidding only (or you can have a representative bid on your behalf from the floor with prior approval). Auctioneer(s) will not manually bid for anyone.
This is going to add a lot of F.U.N. (haha) and excitement to this annual function. We have 2 great auctioneers lined up to get you all revved up (Dick Bartley returns and Jerry Birl will be his partner for the first time). I'll be running the software (please don't glitch!).
As an added bonus... WE WILL BE LIVE SIMULCASTING THE AUCTION ONLINE, so all you remote bidders will be able to join the in-room fun from home.
Bidding is not limited to CCA members only. Literally ANYONE in the world who finds our auction will be able to bid. The auction is being hosted on the HiBid.com platform using AuctionFlex360 software which has great search capabilities, so people looking for any casino items or coins (we have some graded coins this year) will find us. Those with standing searches will automatically get notified of items in our auction that they are looking for.
Anyway, that's what's up from here at Auction Central. More later. SEND IN MORE ITEMS FOR THE AUCTION. Email me at auction@ccgtcc.com to work out details.
Thanks -- Barry
#19
General Discussion / Calling all cars!
Last post by Barry Sherwood R-9037 (admin) - Mar 03, 2026, 06:53 AMIs anyone DRIVING from the east coast (Northern Virginia, specifically) to Las Vegas for the convention (or before) and have some extra room to bring some really cool items being donated by long time member Mark Russell to the club for our auction? Mark feels it would be too expensive to ship everything out west (some items are not tiny).
Jerry Birl is unable to do it this year, so Mark is hoping I can locate another person to make that long, beautiful 2500 mile drive. Think of the scenery, my friends. You have your choice of Chicago, St. Louis, or Memphis to pass through, any of which take the same amount of time.
If you can take on this task, give me a shout and I'll put you in touch with Mark.
Thanks -- barry
president@ccgtcc.com
P.S. I have 130 items in the auction so far. Looking for 200 (or more?). If you have items to donate, email me a list (preferably in spreadsheet form with TCR and CG numbers, descriptions to make my life a bit easier). If you have pictures, I'll get those from you later or I can take them myself. Whatever gets us more lots to bid on, right? president@ccgtcc.com
Jerry Birl is unable to do it this year, so Mark is hoping I can locate another person to make that long, beautiful 2500 mile drive. Think of the scenery, my friends. You have your choice of Chicago, St. Louis, or Memphis to pass through, any of which take the same amount of time.
If you can take on this task, give me a shout and I'll put you in touch with Mark.
Thanks -- barry
president@ccgtcc.com
P.S. I have 130 items in the auction so far. Looking for 200 (or more?). If you have items to donate, email me a list (preferably in spreadsheet form with TCR and CG numbers, descriptions to make my life a bit easier). If you have pictures, I'll get those from you later or I can take them myself. Whatever gets us more lots to bid on, right? president@ccgtcc.com
#20
General Discussion / Seminar: Tuesday March 24, Las...
Last post by Charles Kaplan LM-0115-048 - Mar 02, 2026, 08:18 AMYou cannot view this attachment.
Museum of Gaming History - Next Seminar
Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 9:00pm EST
Topic: Las Vegas Transformed: The Story of Howard Hughes and the Desert Inn
Speaker: Charles Kaplan
Description
In the 1950's Las Vegas hotels and casinos
were small compared to today's mega-resorts
that dominate the skyline.
How did this transition occur?
Unravel the complicated story of the Mob and Gaming Regulations
through the Desert Inn and Howard Hughes.
Register for Zoom Meeting: https://themogh.org/mogh.php?p=seminars&r=7