Information transfer and use, particularly with respect to objects such as gambling chips

A system which associates information with objects comprising:a plurality of said objects each having a plurality of code elements which are machine-readable from a same side thereof, said plurality of code elements associated with each of said objects being adjacently disposed and defining given information for respective objects and repeating at least part of said given information;means for machine reading from said same side of a respective object a number of said plurality of code elements which at least defines said given information and for providing signals related to said code elements read by said means for reading; andmeans for processing said signals provided by said means for reading to obtain said given information from said respective object.