Here's a report of my recent trip to Reno.

Arrived last Friday around noon and after getting off the plane made a beeline to the nearest SS machine even before picking up baggage. was able to pick up three of the designs right away but not the elusive Man on the Moon strike. Had ot get downstairs to pick up baggage and head to my hotle to check in.

After arriving at the Sundowner and checking in I headed to their SS machine on the ground floor. After putting $30 in the machine I had 8 strikes including four of the six current strikes and two of the older strikes and a couple duplicates. Traded the two duplicates at the cage for the two current ones I needed. Very collector friendy at the main cage on the ground level of the Sundowner. After picking up a few more duplicates playing the machine later the cage manager looked through all the racks he had at the cage for other strikes I needed. The Sundowner had VERY few of the older 2000 series left. I was able to find the few I needed but when I left Wed. morning they had none left at the cage and maybe some left in the machines.

Walked less than a block to the Sands Regency. Their machine is almost not even in the casino -- was stuck down the end of the hallway past the signup desk for the slot card and the gift shop. The bill acceptor on the machine wasn't working so I had to head to the cashier for quarters. After putting #40 in the tight machine I had two different strikes. Tried the machine a couple days later and got a Fitzgeralds strike out of it!! After waiting more than a half hour and being told someone was on their way to help me I gave up and left. Sold the Fitz strike to another collector who needed it.

Next stop was the Flamingo. Was able to get a number of the new strikes (Welcome all Bowlers 2001 and Year of the Snake) and a couple of the older series but mainly the two new ones was what was coming out of the machine.

Headed over to the Silver Legacy and after putting $20 in the machine I was finally able to get the 5th Anniversary strike. Checked at the cage and was told none of the earlier anniversary strikes were left. Don't know if they didn't want to look or just didn't care about the SS collector.

I already had the current strikes from the Eldorado but checked at the cage for the earlier issues and traded for one of the earlier ones I didn't have.

Next stop was Fitzgeralds and being there for the ABC Tournament I signed up for their special slot card they had for the bowlers and got $2 just for signing up. Even though I had the current SS from there I decided to play the machine. Put $10 in and got 3 strikes. Went downstairs to the main cage to check about trading strikes and they reffered me to the smaller cage upstairs and to ask for Jack. He was very helpful and exchanged the extra current strikes I had for some older Fitzgeralds strikes he had and I also picked up the 1992 St. Patricks Day $5 Fitzgeralds chip and the 1995 $5 ABC Bowling chip. Very nice people at the Fitzgeralds in Reno.

Stopped in The Gambler and they had none of the silver strikes left. The machine was pulled a while back and all apparently were gone.

Headed over to Harrahs (sorry to see the plaza where Harolds Club used to be). The first stop there yielded no strikes at either of the main cages. stopped by there again on Sun. and was able to pick up three that had been cashed in that I needed. Then came my Monday stop at Harrahs -- just before I arrived someone had cashed in at least three racks (150+) of $10 silver strikes. was able to pick up every Harrahs Reno, a few Las Vegas, a couple from Tunica, one from Lake Tahoe, and a $40 strike also from Lake Tahoe. Wish I had additional funds and I could have picked up a nice group of extras for trading.

The first stop at Circus Circus resulted in the #10 Elephant, two $7 Elephants, and two of the Emmett Kelley Jr. $10 strikes. Stopped by there a couple days later in the evening and they had more of the Kelley series but the man wouldn't sell me any of them. Made a return trip during the day and the lady there sold me three more from the Emmett Kelley Jr. series I didn't have (need the #2 if someone has a trader) They still had a stack of the $7 Elephants and few of the $10 Elephants if anyone can stop by there.

Took the free shuttle bus to Boomtown in Verdi and had no luck -- machines had out of order signs on them and none of course could be bought at the cage.

After returning on the shuttle bus back to Reno I hopped on the free shuttle to the Peppermill. Was able to pick up one strike from the machine there I didn't have.

Walked from the Peppermill to the Atlantis and it took a while to find the machine even after asking where it was. After putting about $50 in the machine I had four of the 1999 Skyway Grand opening strikes. Figuring they had put a rack of them in the machine I decided not to play the machine anymore and headed to the main cage. Traded two of the Skyway strikes for two of the Toucan and Fish stikes. Took a couple minutes but was glad to see they would trade strikes for those I didn't have.

Took the local bus (free pass) over to the Reno Hilton Resort. Put around $60 in the machine and was able to get #2, #3, and #4 from the current series and a couple duplicates I saved for trading. Put $20 in the other machine and got two reno Rodeo and one De Havilland 1934 Plane strike.

Was able to pick up a few obsolete strikes at the various casinos when I asked.

Checked out of the Sundowner Wed. morning and made sure I stopped by the main cage to thank the manager again for being so collector friendly and helpful. He appreciated the compliment.

Got out to the airport about an hour early and decided to try the machine downstairs again -- after putting about $30 in I had one Balloons duplicate and one Man On The Moon strike. Needed to find my gate so I headed upstaris and after cehcking in I had about another half hour so I put a $20 bill in the machine near my gate. Had a two-strike winner. One Ski Reno Tahoe and one Man On The Moon. Left Reno with a carry-on rather heavy with silver strikes, chips, slot tokens, slot cards and numerous other things picked up when Icashed in my points at various casinos when I used my slot cards.

Well, thanks for reading this lengthy trip report and good luck on your next trip and please hop on this new message board with your report.

Best regards,
Roy Baldwin
CC & GTCC R-4155