to my buddies place to play some poker (you know, the usual). I get to his door, case of 700 Pharaoh's in hand ready to play, I open up the door and
BAM, the chip case breaks open, Pharaoh's flying everywhere!
SON OF A...
His front porch is basically a small deck covered in snow and ice (and now Pharaoh's chips). I stand there for about a minute, stunned in disbelief as to WTF just happened (I mean, one more step, and I'm inside the house). Someone grabs a large bowl - the closest thing handy - and we start scooping snow, ice & chips into it. As were are doing this, I watch as several $100's slip into the dark unknown through the deck spacing...
ARGG. We collected all of the chips off the deck, and I go to investigate how I can get to the fallen chips underneath. Great, there is no way under this thing! There is, however, a 4" space that I can shine a flashlight through to see the poor guys lying in need of rescue.
I let it go - for now - and go into the house to survey the damage. My poor Pharaoh's are sitting in a big bowl of melting snow, so with more than a few towels, helpers, and beers, we begin the drying and counting of the chips. With about 7 or 8 people working, we manage to dry and stack the chips in about 25 minutes (hey, they were getting dirty anyway, right?). Total Pharaoh's count: 694 (plus spacers, assorted sample chips, etc...). Hmmm, 6 missing! Not too bad, but while I was drying, I was also trying to figure out a way to rescue the trapped chips because I sure as hell ain't leaving any under there!
Well it wasn't going to be easy, with about a foot of snow around the deck, freezing cold temperatures, and especially dark night, but I had no choice, did I? I managed to MacGyver up a broom handle and some duct tape, and with some BBQ tongs and a bit of luck, managed to recover all 6 missing chips!! YAY!
WHEW!
Oh yeah, onto the main reason I was making this post in the first place: The case involved was reviewed here:
Elite 700 chip case
Overall, I've been happy with the case, and it's always seemed very sturdy. I never even actually worried about something like this happening (until now of course), and I still don't know exactly what went wrong. I took a look at the case, and one of the bottom hinges has become partially detached from the case body (which, while at first glance may look like aluminum, seems to be made entirely of some sort of plastic from what I can tell). My thinking is that one of the latches wasn't properly shut and when the case flew open, the weight of the chips opened the case more than intended, damaging the hinge. One of the black plastic corners also cracked, probably when the case hit the ground.
Anyway, Gameland Sports offers an "EXCLUSIVE NO-FAULT GUARANTEE" on this case, so I emailed them my info, and I actually
received a replacement case
THE VERY NEXT DAY! No questions asked, no hassle,
AND I'm in Canada!! I really must commend them on their excellent customer service & replacement policy.
After this episode, I will be more careful when carrying chips in this case. The replacement looks as sturdy as the original did, but I think I'll lock the case while transporting chips from now on to make sure this doesn't happen again.
10/5/07
REPRESENTING the Faux Clay Nation 
Linear Mode
