Skip I don't think Tom said you caould go buy a $200 strike at the cage, so what's your point.

Here's what I understood from post. (the math is mine, so feel free to correct me)

Cost of winning 20 $10 strikes = $300 to $340 on an average day. Selling price for those same 20 pieces of $10 strikes = $220-260

Since the cost for winning a $200 strike is the same, but they sell for $300 or more... buying 20 $10 strikes is a better deal for a collector, than one $200 strike.

No matter what, buying strikes seems to be much less expensive than winning them.

After dropping a few hundred into strike machines in Reno and the area, I'd say playing is much more fun than just buying them on the web.

Add in this odd twist. Sierra Sids told me that I could only trade in "new" strikes for the new $200, but the machines had many of the old issues in the hoppers. Does that make it even harder to win a $200 strike?

Honestly the people at Sid's were so nice, I think they would understand if someone sat an played for a couple of hours, and give them the $200 for 20 newly won strikes. But if they wanted to be sticklers about the rules, it would make getting a $200 even harder.

By the way, how many of each $200 strike does Sierra Sids make? 100, 150, 200? They might be more collectible than a 4Qs considering the location and rules for obtaining them.

Darn I should have kept playing until I won one.