Custom Poker Chips

[Keys]

I've read through the archives and I know there have been quite a few posts on this subject, but one more can't hurt. I'm in the market for custom chips. I want nice chips: either clay or ceramic with a custom graphic. I've ordered free samples from a couple of companies. I'm probably looking at 400-500 chips in 4 or 5 denominations. I'd like the graphic to reflect the denomination.

I think, at this point, it comes down to either pokerchips.com or Chipco. Pokerchips.com charges 75 or 95 cents a piece, depending on if I get edge spots, with a flat $50 color art fee. The only downside is that I've heard horror stories about their customer service and the wait. Chipco charges 80 cents a piece with a $440 art fee (for four denominations). The art fee is really the killer there. I think I'd rather have Chipco's ceramic chips, but I'm not wild about paying as much for the art as for the chips.

I know there are a couple of Chipco vendors out there such as Home Poker Chips and The Chip Store. I've heard horror stories about the Chip Store too, but not much about Home Poker Chips (their online storefront looks like one huge ad though, which is kind of disconcerting).

Can anyone offer advice on these vendors? Are there any differences between their chips and Chipco's that I should know about? What's the service like? The wait time? Are there other chip makers I should consider? Any advice you can offer me would be very much appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[slogger]

I just received my chips from pokerchips.com two days ago (ordered in February).

Their maiden voyage will be at my home game tonight, but as far as appearance and feel, I'm happy with them.

As you seem to have heard, do not expect to get your chips when they say you will. For whatever reason (and your bound to here 3 or 4 different ones if call regularly for updates on etimated shipping date), they refuse to give honest assessments of when the chips will be delivered - they must figure, correctly in my case, that once someone has waited the 2-3 months that they initially quote, they'll always be willing to put up with another 2-3 weeks and then another 4 weeks and then another 2 weeks, without giving up and canceling the order.

I don't have any insight into the quality of the other chips you mention and I know nothing of their customer service. All I can say is, the chips seem very nice and worth the price. Still not sure, however, if they were worth the wait (assuming I could've gotten something quicker with similar or better quality from another vendor).

[theWhale]

I like the chipco as well and am in the process of ordering through thechipstore.com, though I haven't gotten a price quote from him yet.

HomePokerChips.com:

Advantages - reputation, smaller art fees than chipco
Disadvantages - their stock art sucks (in my opinion); no edge text available for some reason

TheChipStore.com:

Advantages - great stock art (again, opinion), decent art fees; edge text is free
Disadvantages - hit or miss serivice (from posts on this forum); My personal experience was good for a while. He hasn't emailed me back in several days but I have been busy anyay with a new baby.

Pokerchips.com:

Advantages - low fees, this is HUGE for small orders; fees that are 50% of the cost is kinda silly; good service from what I hear (I talked to them a while back and they were very responsive).

Disadvantages: slow from what I hear


Other chips:

Some chips that are hardly mentioned are the ones at gamblersgeneralstore.com. I have a sample of the fantasy chip and it is pretty nice. You can get custom art in the center for a flat 150 and I assume the lead time is pretty good. If you watch the ESPN WSOP broadcast you will see these chips in all the "push the chips at you" shots. They are made by rtplastics have stripes with diamonds in between. I don't know if the actual ones used in the series are this type but I know they are not clay and they don't seem to be ceramic either (if you watch the actual tourneys the chips are similar but have dots not diamonds).

[AliasMrJones]

I was in the same boat as you. In the end the art charge difference ($50 at pokerchips.com vs. $950 at chipco) for the same designs swayed my decision to pokerchips.com. I found pokerchips.com to be very responsive, but expect a 3-4 month wait for the chips. IMHO, the wait is worth it. Buy some cheapo plastic in the mean time and practice shuffling your samples.

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]

HomePokerChips.com:

Advantages - reputation, smaller art fees than chipco
Disadvantages - their stock art sucks (in my opinion); no edge text available for some reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

The "their stock art sucks" is an opinion, and I can't refute that directly. I'll show you their catalog and I think there are some great designs in there. Same goes for "TheChipStore.com's "great stock art" which I also disagree with, that's one of the things that drove me away from them. I wanted more than art on a white circle in the middle, I wanted a full face design. Not to mention the non-existent service I received (didn't receive) from them. How could I expect the order to go well after they had my money?

You say that HomePokerChips.com cannot do edge text, but their catalog (http://www.homepokerchips.com/bonusbook1.pdf) shows that they do. Did Dave tell you that they cannot do that?

Honestly, I would be using HomePokerChips.com for many reasons, because I think they do great art, I got great attention paid to my questions, and they seem like a timely and professional outfit. Artwork price for me was reasonable, much better than Chipco direct. ONE THING held me back, the fact that I had to commit prior to seeing my custom artwork. I wanted to approve the art prior to the order, and they could not do that.

So I'm likely going with Chipco. I have yet to see my designs, but I am confident. They have done many of the Luxor's chips and mine will be in the same area of design (Egyptian).

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
I just received my chips from pokerchips.com two days ago (ordered in February).

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you show us your chips? The art is very important to many of us to make a decision. Plus, I like seeing other custom designs. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ten

[TenPercenter]

Keep in mind that on August 1st Chipco's prices will go from .80 to 1.10. Since both Home Poker Chips and The Chip Store have their chips made by Chipco, I have to assume that both of their prices will go up as well. I could be wrong, that's just logical to me.

I suggest you send emails (or call) each of these four places with details about what you want for your order. Feel them out based on the response time, attention to detail, and the quotes.

For me, I decided to go with the Chipco, the most expensive quote. This is because I plan on cherishing these chips for the rest of my life, and probably handing them down through my children. Why not go with the best art? I'm already gonna spend a $1,000.00 for 1000 chips, what's a few hundred more to have exactly what I want? Any less than that and I might as well just spend $55 on eBay and get "dice" chips with steel slugs embedded in them.

Ten

[theWhale]

Their 12 stock art designs are no good in my opinion, they all have the circle like you hate. Not only that they ALL seem to have black in them, some have a ton of it.

Their CUSTOM art, which costs $199 is probably good.

Me liking theChipStores stock art is certainly an opinion and each can decide on their own.

As far as edge text goes, it is not listed as a choice on their website. If it is an option, I would imagine it costs extra but I'm guessing on that.

After all this discussion I am starting to regret ever going for the chipco type. My order is just not large enough to justify large art charges.

[razor]

HomePokerChips have a lot of sample pics of custom chips to get ideas from. Check out their free members section. Many of their custom samples have edge text.

Anyone considering custom chips should check it out, if only to get ideas.

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
Not only that they ALL seem to have black in them, some have a ton of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's true. Those stock designs where they allow you to change your name, like "The Whale's Casino." I remember that those looked like too much black. I was remembering their 15 page full color brochure, which has countless unique designs that I thought were great.

Don't regret going with ceramics. When you get your chips you're gonna get so many compliments that your smile will reach ear to ear. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ten.

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
Not only that they ALL seem to have black in them, some have a ton of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

You know, I went back and looked at HomePokerChips's web page. Their stock art chips (8 total) look mostly black because they are all $100 chips! I was glancing at the photo of all their chips in a pile and I could see some of the same designs that were not black, because they were different denominations:

http://homepokerchips.com/chippile.gif

I also differ about the circle. What I didn't like at thechipstore was that the custom design is always limited to the smaller center circle, similar to clay chips. And it's always a design on a white background. The stock chips from HomePokerChips has a very thin white circle at the edge but a full face design.

Again, here's their full color brochure. (http://www.homepokerchips.com/bonusbook1.pdf)

I've emailed Dave Harber to ask about the edge text.

[razor]

be sure to check out art work gallery in the members section (free) as it has more designs then the brochure plus the pics are high resolution.

Lots of good ideas...

[theWhale]

You are right, how did i miss the $100 thing.

That is surely why I balked at the stock art. The one thing I knew was I didn't want a black denomination chip (I am getting blue, red, green).

The other reason I decided against pokerchips.com was the lack of space for the icon and words. But I could have put the whale on one side and the text on the other. The whole reason I got these chips was I passed $5k profit playing poker and I wanted the dates on there. The edge text is perfect for this. Hrmm.

Also, looking at my clay sample, they look damn good. I hadn't looked at it in so long since it was in a drawer.

-W

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
be sure to check out art work gallery in the members section (free) as it has more designs then the brochure plus the pics are high resolution.

Lots of good ideas...

[/ QUOTE ]

I finally did just that. Good tip. The images do look much better than in the PDF.

Ten.

[Large Pizza]

I ordered from thechipstore.com. I got pretty good service and customized chips that don't just have a white background. I won't get them until August, I have a picture but can't figure out how to post it here. If someone can give me some guidance I'll post it.

I think their service is hit and miss. Most of us are ordering 500 or 1000 chips and they seem to be focusing on large clients. I think they fit us in when they can. If you catch them on the right day they are very helpful. I got my whole design done and approved via email in 2 days.

[ohgeetee]

if you email me the pic at ohgeetee (at) gmail (dot) com i can host the image for you.

[Large Pizza]

I emailed it to you. I can explain the things on the chip. Terry is my last name, Ahole is the name of our poker group, one of our regular players recently passed away unexpectedly, we called him Jackass Jr.

It is a bottle cap as we drink alot.

[Keys]

I think I've decided to go with homepokerchips (or possibly thechipstore, but past comments on them have scared me off). I wanted the ceramic chips and it isn't too much more. I'd rather order direct from Chipco, but the art cost is just so high. Thanks to everyone for their input. Any other advice?

[razor]

[ QUOTE ]
I finally did just that. Good tip. The images do look much better than in the PDF.


[/ QUOTE ]

Plus for those with Photoshop or other graphics program you can mess with them to mock up your own chip design and see how it would look.

[OrangeHeat]

If you have custom artwork done - make sure you get final approval of the proof prior to production.

GL,

Orange

[ohgeetee]

Here's the pic!

http://www.jade-dragon.net/images/jackass.gif

[theWhale]

hey thats pretty nice.