Peter - Here is a case of cashing in the regular strikes to lower the cost of a Blue Cap strike, about 6 months ago I was asked by a collector if I would play for a Caesars 4 in 1 Blue Cap on my trip to Tahoe, I started playing one of the two machines and won 20 strikes before the hopper was empty ( no blue cap ) and after the fill ( one blue cap was put in ) I had to play until on the 39th win the blue cap came out. That was 59 stikes won, my cost was an average of $11.50 per strike ( $678.50 for 59 strikes ) which in most cases would be a good cost per strike but even after cashing in 58 strikes at $10.00 each ( caesars wouldn't buy them back for $11.50 each ) the cost of the blue cap was $98.50 ( $678.50 cost minus $580 cashed in = $98.50 ) So unless a person can win strikes for less than face value the cost for a blue cap will be high, the cost would be lower if more blue caps were put in a fill but this was at Caesars Tahoe and at the time only 1 per fill was the rule, so the long and short of the matter is the Caesars blue caps do cost a lot more than $30 to $50.00 when they come up in auction.
One last thing, the collector I was playing for wasn't happy but understood and paid the $98.50 for the strike, it also made me stop playing for other collectors due to the cost of the one blue cap.
Walt