Max O.
Yelp
The first time I walked into this store I think was my 4-5th trip to Vegas. We've been to all the casino gift shops and they have a few casinos of their used decks, some dice, a few books and- holy MOTHER, look at everything in here! It's a large store and right away you see shelves of cards, a wall of books and off in the distance there are service counters and 1/3 of the store are vintage slot machines.
I'm pretty sure if you put a change machine and allowed people to play the old machines, your income would quadruple!
It was a big priority for me to come back here because I had been shop blocked and teased by having (been) driven past here 3-4 times in one week. Would it still stand the test of time of the years I haven't been able to come here?
Once inside, it took me about 15 minutes to acclimatize. There's always a big wow factor walking in. There are too many sections, where to begin?
Playing cards: It's cool that with some of the decks have 52 different facts/ pictures on the face side and they have a sample pack out, so people don't use their grubby little fingers to bust open a freshie. I admit I slacked on a few casino closings, but I managed to get Aladdin and a couple other casinos soon after they closed when I didn't get it from the source. But they do sell out.
Poker chip sets: And by the way, they're really cheques, occasionally you can impress someone in the pit knowing that. You can pick the size case/ set you want, you can pick all kinds of pre made picture sets. I like the vintage ones, pin up girls, old cars. Check out the online catalog.
You can even make your own set, make your own design. The GGC made poker chips for movies & tv, too: CSI, Ocean's 11, Rush hour 2, Las Vegas the (NBC) series, etc. They helped me with a design and it was a big deal to give them out to friends, etc. You can even drill a hole in them to wear on a chain. The lady even e-mailed me a sample proof of what my design looked like for my approval reply.
There's a bargain bin of left over/ cancelled sets or imperfections. I managed to cobble together a decent regulation weight practice set that I used with a craps dealer work book. They also have videos. I got my first job dealing craps using these invaluable tools, as well as a practice mat with a craps layout on it. It's a whole thing to do "chip math" payouts without looking. Sometimes when I hear numbers in a store, I think how I'd stack it in my mind.
People always want to know how to play better craps or blackjack. Learn to deal them! Really, if you stared at people making stupid decisions 30 hours a week, you'll definitely know the best ways to (not) bet! When you get dealing down, for some reason you just subconsciously learn blackjack tables on when to hit/ stand/ double.
They have dealer's supplies, like dealer mats, but buttons also, croupier sticks, etc. They have regulation dice, the new ones in groups of 5 wrapped in foil. They have every color!
On the back walls, it's just tons of books, categorized by game/ topic. This is the real reason I went into the store. I think I have over 40 books from this place, even after I discovered Amazon. Really, who wants highlighter distracting my gambling statistics? I got inspiration because I'm a writer and look at all these people that got published just writing about gambling. There are books on Keno. KENO, that game you play nilly willy while you have the buffet. (Horrible payout schedule, read about it.)
I love the right section of the bookshelves. The categories get into magic books, biographies, and just some random books that don't really fit into any other category.
They have a bingo section where you can get daubers and other supplies. They have coin counting/ sorting apparatus. They even have some of the tourist things you can get on the strip.
The first time I went into the store, I literally spent 5 hours there. This last time, I knocked it down to a conservative 2 1/2. I get 2 catalogs because I usually scribble my wants all over 1 of them.
