This isn't fun for me anymore and my active collecting of silver strikes has ended.

I've enjoyed collecting Nevada silver strikes from very nearly the time of their introduction. My wife and I have had great fun driving to Las Vegas, Laughlin and even northern Nevada just to play the machines. Those trips were really fun. We live near Los Angeles, and these were fairly easy and inexpensive trips to make. We are also close friends with other couples who are silver strike collectors and really enjoyed our Nevada visits with them.

I've also bought and sold on eBay and Jackpot to get strikes that were no longer available or to get rid of extras. That was fun, too. We have gotten to know lots of great people and have almost always had good experiences with them.

Between trips to Nevada, the internet, trading and buying at shows we were able to get nearly every Nevada silver strike available through the end of 2002. I don't have a $200 Las Vegas Caesar's Palace, but do have every other Nevada $200 strike. Ditto for the other denominations including most of the errors--there are probably fewer than ten others who have a more comprehensive Nevada collection.

I had been looking forward to gradually finding the very few older strikes that we don't have and in plaing for the new strikes as they became available. This had always been a fun and enjoyable challenge.

I have even created and kept my own data base that documents when and where we got a strike, what it cost, etc. As new strikes were introduced, I would add them to the data base and later fill-in the details of how we acquired them. When we sold, traded or redeemed strikes even those details are listed. It had been enjoyable keeping this up-to-date and accurate.

This has indeed been a many faceted hobby and all aspects have been fun. Even following the rants, news, the ups and downs posted on this message board has been fun.

However, for many of the reasons expressed on this message board recently the fun has gone. The turning point for me was last month when it became virtually impossible to get to Las Vegas in time to play for the Palms $200 Pentagon strikes.

That just soured me on silver strike collecting. It seems that this had become too much of a business and not something that a casual collector like me could enjoy. The dynamics have changed and it isn't fun for me anymore.

My silver strike collecting has ended. Our collection will include all Nevada strikes available through 12/31/02. If we happen to go to Nevada in the future, we'll possibly play a silver strike machine--but maybe not.

We have lots of friends and acquaintances among silver strike collectors and have really enjoyed our times together. I'll miss you.

Roger Bryant