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.
- Give them a clay poker chip that mimics a casino
chip that’s been in play in a casino for about
3.5 years.
- Create a mold design on par with top casino molds.
- 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.
InPlay Clay line features:
- 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.
- Industry Leading Innovation!
Each chip in pre-oiled for optimum touch, feel, and
sound – Borrowing from a little known
phenomenon in the casino chip collecting world, we
break-in these clay poker chips with a labor-intensive
oil treatment process that mimics exposure to hand
oil, a process that can take 10 hours or more per
chip set for a chip collector. The result is a finely
polished chip that livens up the chip colors and provides
that unmistakable “InPlay” feel.
- 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.
- 11 Denominations – The widest
denomination selection of any clay poker chip on the
market. 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.
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