So, like, if I were stupid enough to spend ~$200 on poker chips, would the Iron Clays 400 set ($195 in Canada dollars) + either 2 rolls of 100s or 1 set of 20s and 1 set of 100s to replace the 10s and 50s ($26 Canada dollars) + shipping ($30) be a versatile and complete set?
80 1s
80 5s
80 or 100 20s
60 or 80 100s
40 500s
40 2ks
The only alternatives I’ve seen so far seem to be either more expensive when you add shipping and box, or the cheap aluminium box garish 300 or 500 chip poker sets.
I bought a stock 400 chip set and then bought an extra sleeve of 20s and 100s. And, of course, all of this was before I dove into 18xx so it was basically overkill for anything I figured I would need.
I also have two filled out sets from deluxe editions of Brass, so I wasn’t worried about running low on low denomination chips.
That said, I think what you have will work great. Are there any games in particular that you think might be problematic?
I’d max out the 20s if you’re even considering 18XX. There’s a lot to dislike about the BGG user Clearclaw (Games | Profile | clearclaw | BoardGameGeek) but his poker chip distributions recommendations are good
100-count – recommended for almost all Eurogames and the like:
Count Value Total Sum Total
White 40 1 40 40
Red 30 5 150 190
Green 25 25 625 815
Black 5 100 500 1,315
~300 count (put the overflow in a card-well in the chip case), recommended for all but the larger 18xx:
Count Value Total Sum Total
White 75 1 75 75
Red 73 5 365 440
Gray 78 20 1560 2,000
Black 50 100 5000 7,000
Purple 36 500 18000 25,000
Looks like I won a second-hand auction for a reasonable set. Printed numbers, not too flashy, no casino name or reflective surfaces. Not an ideal composition, but at 30 dollars or so, it should do. Also, I can easily top it up or switch chips out because it is a locally sold brand.
Count
Value
Total
Sum Total
White
80
1
80
80
Red
20
5
100
180
Green
20
25
500
680
Black
20
100
2000
2,680
Purple
20
500
10000
12,680
Aluminium case, comes with decks and dice, so if I buy more chips I’ll take those out and mod the case to fit more chips.
Also 20 blues, 20 light blues (10s and 50s) that I won’t be using. Probably replace them straight away with some reds and greens.
In the same way some here are dice-obsessed, I am a “chip-o-phile” of the first order. I used to play poker on a regular basis, so I invested in a casino “cube” set of Milano chips. Not the best, but still very good, real clays. But if I had to do it over again, I would buy ceramics instead. My Axis & Allies IPC chips are ceramic, and they just feel so perfect. They’re virtually indestructible, can be doused with liquid without consequence, and the sound they make when you riffle them is just (chef’s kiss).
Read this just now. That seems perfect for your purposes. I think that, in general, unmarked chips are preferable to labeled ones if you’re going to use them for multiple games.
That assumes you are playing with people who have used poker chips before though. I suspect that having the values on the chips themselves will be beneficial for the wide variety of people I might game with, and following the multiple of 5 (or 4) rule means the set is pretty flexible. I don’t know of any board games that would benefit from poker chips and don’t need a “1” value, but maybe there’s something out there. I’ll have to add 2k values to start playing some 18xx games, apparently, but that’s not something I plan on doing any time soon.
Good point. As an aside, I have retired the Milano chips from play anyway. While I take poker seriously, the group I play with are more serious about drinking and talking, so I’ve lost a few chips to spills and careless handling. VERY annoying, but it also means that I’ve won a not inconsiderable amount of $ from them after they’re in their cups. I have since bought a set of plastic and metal composite chips and given them to the couple that always hosts.
As someone who’s not at all a poker player, and someone who knows quite a few gamers with colour vision deficits of various sorts, I can’t see myself ever not wanting denominations on the chips.
Seems to me denominations would be just one problem there. The point of poker chips is easy calculation of stack value from the side, so I suppose there must be some demand for spot markings that vary from colour to colour. I hadn’t considered that. Every colour in the set I ordered has the same 2-spot white pattern on the edges.
Here’s what my $30 got me, +$6 on extra greens, and I’ll add another $6 of reds to fill the remainder.
Happy that the card deck wells seems to fit 20-stacks just fine, and I added wooden spacers into the longer wells to split up the 20-stacks.
Could easily fit another 40 chips in there (more 100s and 500s), but I think I prefer the easy loading and unloading with the spacers, and the reduced weight. I also have no idea if I’ll ever need more 100s and 500s!
