Located way south in Las Vegas at Interstate 15 and Blue Diamond Highway, this casino used to be Boomtown. In 1997 it changed hands and was re-named Silverton. The Guide lists a Brown-Blue card as the first type. I don't know if Steve and Pat are talking about the card I would call a "Silver Flag" type, but that one and the white card with a tan cowboy hat are the two designs I have seen from this casino. As I remember it, the white card was the first used, and in 1999 or 2000 the silver card debuted. I can't prove it as I have no white card noted with an issue date before 2000, but I may have gotten one before then. It was only a couple of years ago I started putting tags on the back of my cards telling me when they were issued in my name or when I picked up other cards. I thought this type of information would come in handy. I do remember a trip, probably in April of 2000, when I was at Silverton, got a silver card off the top of a machine on the way to the player's booth, and was puzzled when I was issued another white card. I got together with Jerry and Janice O'Neill that trip and we talked about the cards. They mentioned the silver was a new card, and didn't know why the white cards were being issued. I suspected that Silverton got in the silver and then decided to use them for high rollers only. Last December I noted that the white cards are now being put out in a new type, with a CPICA 26940 mfg mark. The Guide mentions one other type from Silverton, a green tournament card issued for an event in March of '98.

An interesting clue in determining card ages is the type and placement of the players name. In these samples, you can see the embossing was shifted around to fit better on the white card. The name was dropped down and the number shifted to the right where the design had an open space. And on the latest cards, the embossed names no longer are given a black overprint. On some places (especially riverboats), this type of clue doesn't work because they may have a player's booth on the dock that puts the name on one way, and a booth on the boat itself where the name is applied differently or with a different type font.