About the InPlay Clay Poker Chip Line

The InPlay Clay line is the successor to the popular Modern Clay line, the first great clay poker chip that we designed and built from the ground up. Our goal with the InPlay Clay line was to go above and beyond “a great clay poker chip” and create the finest home game poker chip on the market.

How can you improve a great clay poker chip?

When poker players were telling us they wanted chips, “exactly like the casinos use”, we took them literally and designed and produced the exact same chips that casinos order, straight from the manufacturer, with the dust still on them. That’s what they were screaming for, so that’s what we gave them.

We could have stopped right there and still have had what is widely considered the premier clay poker chip on the market today. Of course, we're not really ones to rest on our laurels.

In our continuing relentless pursuit of a better poker chip, we asked ourselves if it was possible to make even better chips. So we decided to delve into the mind of home game poker players and ask them what reservations they had (if any) about the top clay poker chips on the market. What we found out was a little surprising. While they loved clay poker chips, there were a number of reservations that were widely shared. They biggest complaints were as follows:

• The chip edges are too sharp - The most common complaint we heard was that the clay poker chips people were buying for their home games had sharper edges then they remember casino chips having. Since casinos use chips for about seven years on average before destroying them, the average chip you see in a casino is about 3.5 years old and thus has nicely rounded edges. In fact, most people have never even seen a brand new casino chip, so when they were asking for chips “exactly like the casinos use,” they really were asking for a chip that’s been worn in for 3.5 years.

• The chips are too rough –We heard a lot of people complaining that the face of the clay chips they were buying for their home games were overly rough, unlike what they were used to in casinos. This complaint is related to the issue of the edges being too sharp (people are used to worn in chips, not new chips right out of the factory), but has a slightly different root cause. The mold for most clay chips used in casinos is intentionally made with a rough, textured surface. The exact reasons for this intentionally textured surface is debatable, even among industry insiders, but the general consensus is that it makes for better friction between chips which makes them stay in stacks better. Nonetheless, most casino chips become smooth after just a few years in play and still stack just fine, and casinos continue to use them another five or more years. As we found out, home game users far prefer the feel of the smooth “worn in” chips. The tradeoff in ability to stack is negligible, if noticeable at all. From what we can tell, the reason casino chips are intentionally made rough, may be just be based on unsubstantiated notions, or worse yet, just plain habit.

• Inlay design is severely lacking – A widely held belief is that casino chip design, namely inlay design, is fairly poor. Not only for home game poker chips, but for actual casino chips as well. There is a lot of frustration on the part of home game poker players when it comes to design.

• Home game mold designs are lacking – Home game poker players tend to agree that the molds the casinos use are pretty nice. Their thoughts about the home game poker market mold designs are quite different. The general consensus seems to be, “Why is it so difficult? Especially when you’ve got great casino mold designs to model them after?”

The birth of a legend

Knowing exactly what home poker players were dissatisfied with in the currently available clay poker chip market, our task was simple.

1. Give them a clay poker chip that mimics a casino chip that’s been in play in a casino for about 3.5 years.
2. Create a mold design on par with top casino molds.
3. Go outside of the currently lacking poker chip design world and get fresh design inspiration from other industries where design is considered outstanding.

The resulting effort created a rather innovative leap forward in clay poker chips, in terms of both design and the all important touch and feel component.

Our InPlay Clay line utilizes our throwback Cigar & Snifter mold, what some insiders in the poker chip industry consider the finest mold ever produced. The engraving design features an intricate cigar and snifter design, repeated 8 times around the track of the chip. Two concentric circles frame this repeating design, one inside and one outside.

The innovation that really sets the InPlay Clay line apart from every poker chip in the world is the innovative (and intentional) smooth feel of the track and edge of the chip combined with the popular textured, cross-hatched inlay surface. Unlike all other clay chips in the world, which come out of the factory with a rough surface, the InPlay Clay chip has an unmistakable smooth feel. It feels just like a chip that has been in use in a casino for 3-5 years, exactly what home users have been screaming about for years.

Lastly, our idea to bring good design to the poker chip market is a very simple and straightforward idea. If the industry is plagued with bad design, then go outside of the industry for your talent. Give that talent full autonomy to design a poker chip as if it were the first chip ever designed, and intended to establish a benchmark for all future designs. Have them borrow from award winning designs in other design disciplines, as well as completely unrelated industries that are known for great design. Our InPlay Clay line very successfully took this approach and borrowed from proven international currency design.

Industry Leading Innovation! Smooth clay touch and feel built right into the mold of the chip – A major innovation for home game poker chips that gives them the “InPlay” feel of a poker chip that’s been properly broken-in within a casino environment.

100% Authentic Casino Chips - Same clay chips, same manufacturer, as those used in numerous popular Las Vegas casinos including the prestigious Mandalay Bay

Exclusive mold - This chip line uses Sidepot Gaming Company's highly touted throwback mold design, the Cigar & Snifter mold.

Highly refined base and dual edge spot color combinations - The colors are a key, yet often overlooked, element of a chips beauty.

10 Denominations – Choose from 25 cent to $5000 denominations.

Textured cross-hatched inlay surface - Not flat and lifeless just because it’s easier to make.

Inspired inlay design – Inspired by the award-winning design elements of popular International currency.

Chip Mold - Cigar & Snifter mold, exclusive to Sidepot Gaming Company.

Chip Weight - Between 9 and 10 Grams - weights vary slightly from color to color on true clay chips.

Chip Diameter - 39mm. Standard casino size.

Chip Construction - True compression-molded clay, same as Las Vegas casinos using the same manufacturer.

Inlay Construction - Classic 7/8ths inch cross-hatched inlays are compressed into the chip, which means they won't come off unless you destroy the entire chip.