As a preliminary fact, strikes are gaming tokens. Take a look at the rim where you might find the words "Limited Edition Gaming Token." Strikes came out in 1992 and that was the year of the first convention at the old Aladdin. There had been a gathering at the ANA convention for a couple of years before as I recall. (Archie or Janice or some early member, please inform us.)
I also support the CC>CC decision to end the chapters. Their existence endangered the very important tax exempt educational status. This status is critical to the Club building which will be a reality in the near future. That building might be a nice place for strikers to get together when we come to Las Vegas. If you aren;t a Club member, maybe we can't give you the secret password to get in.
As to convention activities, I believe that if you aren't a CC>CC member, you are not entitled to attend the trade session following the banquet, not any of the other trade sessions. Part of the reason for staying at the convention hotel and attending the banquet is a quid pro quo for the hotel providing the convention space.
As Doug mentioned, the CC>CC is providing the former strike chapter a few specific benefits at the convention: our meeting room for our organizational meeting, business meeting, auction
and trade session; a free table on the convention floor; a possible forum for former chapters on reorganizing and obtaining tax exempt status; an educational silver strike forum which is organized by the former chapter but is actually part of the convention's educational seminars. We also benefit from the bourse where many non-strikers are offering strikes at their tables. I don't think most of those dealers would be at a srikers only show. If the strikers were to attempt to go completely independent from the main Club, I think our end of the hobby would suffer. Of course, these things will probably be discussed at length at our initial meeting and the majority may choose a different course and abandon association with the main Club. IMHO, that would be a huge mistake.
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