Poker chips for boardgames?

I know we have some 18xx players here, so I assume we have some people that know their way around poker chips for board games (not poker).

Right now the only game I have that would benefit from chips is Food Chain Magnate, but who knows what I’ll get into eventually. I expect I’ll buy Indonesia if a new printing ever comes out.

I like the subdued colours of Roxley’s Iron Clays, but not the price point or the weird inclusion of “10s”.

Also bear in mind shipping is probably horrible for me no matter what I get.

Any recommendations?

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Is there a difference between poker chips for boardgames and actual poker chips? We’ve got a huge case of the latter (750 chips, metal core, with stickers, medium weight)

We debated the Brass chips here and my partner said the price point is actually good.

There are different characteristics of chips you’ll want to decide on

Basic Material:

  • just plastic: cheaper but not as nice to handle
  • The casinos originally use clay poker chips which apparently have a very nice feel but they aren’t as robust and are also very expensive.
  • plastic chips with a metall core. There are different weights. My partner says he prefers them not too heavy, the lower end of medium-weight.

How is the design made:

  • printed on: more expensive
  • stickers: cheaper but the stickers may come off (in the years since we have our set 3 of 750 chips have had the stickers come off a bit)

Denominations

  • there are chips that have no fixed denominations just color coding.
  • or you have fixed numbers printed/stickered on the chips. My partner says the distribution of numbers is particular to each game. For poker you’ll have multipliers of 4 or 5 between the different denominations. 1 - 5 - 25 - 100 for the first numbers and then you’ll want a lot more of the lower denominations. Each game will probably need different numbers.

In the US you can order a sample to test if you like those particular chips.
He ordered his here in Germany because the poker hype made it so they are available here. He says he could imagine the same thing happened in Japan.

Hope some of these notes help. Here’s a link with a few reviews: https://thoroughlyreviewed.com/sports/best-poker-chips/

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Of course there is no difference between the chips themselves, just the intended purpose. Thanks for the info!

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The weirdest thing about the 10s is how non-committal Roxley are to the denomination. They add the bare minimum compared to loads of 5s and 20s, so not enough for anyone who wants to use 10s, but their presence winds up the purists. Very odd.

(And who needs 40 2ks?!?)

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At the risk of opening a denomination-related can of worms, is there an issue with 10-chips? Is it just not a traditional number for chips or is there a mathsy reason that they’re seen as unnecessary?

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In the world of 18xx chips with a value of 20 are preferred by many due to the integers used in the game. Although the debates I’ve seen centre around using 20s in preference to 25s.

I got these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Display4top-Holdem-Aluminum-Dealer-Buttons/dp/B07CLJXTJN/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=poker+chips&qid=1605178334&sr=8-5

I actually bought a 300 and a 500 set. Combined them in to a set I want and am trying to shift the 300 set. They feel nice in the hand and aren’t too expensive in the UK compared to many sets. I like that they have values printed on and I actually enjoy the slight tackiness of them being shiny stickers. The 300 set as sold covered FCM no worries and I got good value out of them for replacing card board coins in almost any euro. (Something not so relevant for @Benkyo…) I only made the mega set to cover the extreme bank for my copy of 18OE.

They are available on .co.jp but shipping is more than the chips. I don’t know how the price relates to expendable income though. https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/iimono117-Poker-Aluminum-Authentic-Casino/dp/B00CY8PGPK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ポーカーチップス&qid=1605178818&s=specialty-aps&sr=8-1&srs=3534638051

So on a semi related note, if someone wants a cheap but heavy postage set of chips for boardgames then send me a message

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Regarding the sets in aluminium cases, or cheap sets in general, are there any without the cards and dice?

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Simply that it’s easier to change up if the chips are multiples of 4 or 5 from the previous denomination.

So

1, 5, 20, 100, 500
or
1, 5, 25, 100, 500

are both sensible denominations to use. Throw in a few pointless 10s, and you have a superfluous denomination that adds another colour to remember when counting stacks from the side, and another ratio to make change for.

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Not that I’ve seen. Consequently I have unused cards and dice. Tax of space in money savings. The chips don’t feel cheap though so it’s a compromise I’m happy with. You could potentially make your own storage solution or buy individual trays https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B0757Y7VR8/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=poker+chip+trays&qid=1605182721&sr=8-3

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I actually have 4 cases and enough trays for 2000+ chips, but those are all for my Dominion set. Buying cheap chips then relatively expensive cases seems silly though.

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I have similar chips except I have 1000 of them. Mine were bought for poker tho. :slight_smile:

Edit: having checked mine we 11.5g ones - they feel lovely and weighty in the hand, especially when you slide a large pile over to go all in… :slight_smile:

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I own a about 600 Roxley Iron Clays and I really enjoy them, mostly because they don’t have garish colors that seemingly all other poker chips insist on. Iron Clays are slightly smaller than a standard casino chip, which means standard poker chip accessories don’t quite have the right fit which is really annoying.

If I were to do it all over again, I’d just buy sleeves of single 11.5g (metal slug) chips that can take custom labels and then design, print and sticker my own labels. I happen to know you, Benkyo, are not afraid of arts & crafts time (I’ve seen pictures of your Dominion and Blood Bowl sets), so that’s my personal recommendation if you want denominations.

I bought a few hundred “DA VINCI 11.5 Gram Blank 8 Stripe” chips to do a component upgrade project for a game (that I haven’t finished due to losing access to the discounted printing service at my old job). They are not perfect and they are not as luxurious as Iron Clays, but they come in a large number of colors and take standard size labels.

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Yeah, after using these 11.5g ones I’m always disappointed using unweighted plastic chips. If I were to become rich and upgrade I’d go as heavy as feasible. Then custom labels with denominations. Probably death metal style for no good readability but the weight would be the main tactile good feel thing.

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Still cheaper than buying expensive chips and relatively expensive holders :joy:

At a guess using the felt lined trays supplied and sourcing/building a box that held those minus the unwanted bits could be a possibility. Although it wouldn’t solve the extra cost on top of chips problem. Fun puzzle though :thinking:

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When researching to do my aforementioned component upgrade I bought 13.5 gram chips in a couple of colors. These were ABS plastic with metal slugs… 13.5 grams is just too heavy, especially for cheap chips. Some of the ones I bought started breaking under their own weight during shipping. If you got actual clay chips, then yeah, go heavy as possible. But outside of that, I would strongly recommend staying at 11.5g or lighter.

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Don’t worry, if I upgrade it’ll be expensive full composite ones with holostickers with custom prints on. Full ott expenditure for super luxurious tactile delight and amusingly ott grizzly artwork to boot.

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One of my concerns about the iron clays was the inability to expand the set easily. Non-standard size certainly doesn’t help, so good to know, thanks.

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If money were truly no object, I’d get either these king and queen chips from https://pokershop.de/KINGS-QUEENS-BOARDGAME-CHIPS_1

image

Or the Apache 18XX bank set Bank Board Game Poker Chips

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The Apache 18xx set is about the nicest looking “poker set” I’ve seen. But the colors and stripe patterns still leave me underwhelmed.

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If I lived in the US I’d have a set.

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