When someone first comes into the hobby, they are out to collect every casino chip in sight. They are like a kid in a candy store. After a couple of months go by, they realize that it would be impossible to collect them all. First of all, not that many people can afford to buy ALL of the chips they come across. And even if you could, there are only so many examples of certain chips available. So, they have to narrow down the field a bit. A good place to start is to decide what denomination you would like to concentrate on. For me, that happens to be $5 chips. Then you need to decide the location you will collect from. I collect all $5 chips from Nevada. Some might want to just collect from Las Vegas. Maybe the area that interests you is Atlantic City. Or Riverboat chips. Maybe chips from Indian casinos. And there are numerous other areas to chose from.
Some collectors don't just pick one denomination, they pick a casino and try to collect all of the chips made for that casino. If you pick a casino that has been open for quite a while, you might spend years trying to collect ALL of the chips they have had in use over that time. Keep in mind that just because you have a certain collecting area, that does not mean you won't be collecting other types of chips. There will be times when you come across chips that you REALLY like and you will add them to your collection. Even though they don't fall into your collecting area.
The main thing is that by having a certain collecting area, you will enjoy the hobby more, and not be so overwhelmed by all of the casino chips available.
