As always at this time of the year, the OTY Awards, nomination process is now underway. But new to this year is a method to view most all previous year issued/released chips, token, strikes, room keys and slot cards!

Please note that this viewing method is a change from what we published in the Fall Issue of the Casino Collectible News magazine, which directed viewers to the "Un-Official OTY Viewing Site". While that site remains, it has NOT been populated with many images, with the exception of strikes, which are there! (My thanks to William Cohenour for those scans!)

Instead, we will be using the spectacular resources and features of the Museum of Gaming History's, Chip Guide, an Educational Project of The Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, Inc.!

With our many thanks to Chip Guide founder Greg Susong, the site's further development by Charles Kaplan, the many Admins of Chip Guide and of course thanks to all of the contributors who have furnished scans of 2014 issued/released OTY candidates, this is how each Member can view eligible 2014 OTY candidates and then make their OTY Nominations.

Step 1: Visit Chip Guide's HOMEPAGE at: http://www.chipguide.com

Step 2: At Chip Guide's HOMEPAGE, you will see a list of hot-linked "Features" along the left side of the page. Click the fourth Feature down; "ChipGuide Query Facility".

Step 3: When you click on the ChipGuide Query Facility, you will see a form that allows a user to fill-in and/or select certain elements to look for in the massive ChipGuide database. But for OTY eligible candidates, we only need to fill-in 3 elements. All 3 are highlighted in magenta (maybe pink) in the scan below:

Step 3a: Under "Collectible Type" click the little triangle to the right. This action will reveal a drop-down menu of various collectible categories maintained on ChipGuide. (NOTE: You will be repeating this selection of Collectible Type several times in this process to be able to view chips, tokens, strikes and room keys/slot cards.) In this example, I have selected "chips".

Step 3b: Under "Date Range" (again clicking the little triangle there) select "Equal".

Step 3c: At the fill-in box for "Date1", type in "2014".

Step 3d: Once these 3 elements have been filled-in/selected, then click the green colored "Query" button at the bottom-left of the form. This action will display all of the 2014 issued/released items of the selected Collectible Type. In the case of chips, be sure to note that there are multiple pages that you will have to navigate to by using the navigation arrows at the lower-right of each page. In the case of other Collectible Types, you may find no items found or so few that all can be shown on one page.

These are the only elements that need to be selected to view all chipsposted to ChipGuide that were issued/released during 2014. Simply repeat this process for the several "Collectible Type" items eligible for OTY nomination, i.e., Chips, Grand Opening Chips, Jetons, Limited Edition Chips, No Cash Value Chips, Plaques, Player Club (Slot) Cards, Room Keys, Roulette Chips, Silver Strikes, Slot Tokens and WIN Cards Chips.

Step 4: Make your selections of OTY eligible candidates as your Nominees. You can select up to 5 different eligible candidates for each of the 4 OTY categories (chips, tokens, strike and key/cards). You will need to record your selections and pass that information to me (or the Assistant OTY Chairman, Casey) in any of several methods, as follows:

a. Using this link ( http://www.thechipgallery.com/ebay/pics/Nomination_Form_2014.pdf ) print a copy of the 2014 OTY Nomination Form. This is the same form that was included in the Fall issue of the Casino Collectible News. Complete the form, or the portions for which you wish to participate, and mail as noted. In identifying any eligible candidate, it is always best to use the ChipGuide reference number for the items selected. These are called CG numbers and it you prefer, I only need to have the CG number(s) included as your selections.

b. Instead of a., above, you can send me an email ( Jim@GamingOre.com ) that lists your selections. Again, you can type everything out, or just send me the CG numbers.

Well, I think that about covers everything! However, I will be working with Charles Kaplan over the next year, to see if the process to view all the eligible OTY candidates can be streamlined for future years.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please email me.

Lasty, the dead line for nomination submissions is:

On or before, 1 February, 2015!

Thank you,

Jim Follis
OTY Awards Chairman