Artfully balanced mold designs

What is a mold design?

Clay poker chips are manufactured using a compression-molding process. In simplistic terms, two sides of a metallic mold cavity are slammed together like a sandwich to make the coin-shaped poker chip. There is a lot more to it with edge spots, but that’s the general idea.

The form of the chip created during this compression-molding process is determined by the shape of the mold cavity. Most casinos have their own proprietary molds, originally used as a security feature, but used more today for branding and style. Some have the casino’s name engraved into the outer track of the chip. Others have unique geometric designs around the track of the mold. Additionally, many design elements can be worked into the mold design to enhance the beauty of a chip. Concentric circles can be added around the track of the chip. The inlay area can be deeply depressed from the rest of the surface of the chip. Pretty much anything the casino wants to do.

Mold design takes a back seat in the consumer poker chip market

In the consumer poker chip world, chip mold design is fairly lacking. Molds are fairly expensive to produce, so most all consumer chips share a single, generic mold. Quite frequently, the only thing that makes one chip different from the next is the inlay design, and of course the inlay design is completely unrelated to the mold design.

Our philosophy on mold design

The 3-dimensional form of a poker chip is a critically overlooked, yet vitally important design element. Just imagine if car companies totally ignored the contours and overall body shape of their cars, and focused on just the color and the dashboard panels. It’s no different with any other product. If the form is uninspired, the product is not as good as it could be.

Our aspirations are to make the most stunning poker chips on the market, and we begin this pursuit by investing in the design and creation of our own proprietary mold designs. The inlay design and the mold design are done in concert, as well as the base and edge spot colors of a chip line.

The Paradise Mold Our Le Paulson Noir chip line (discontinued) utilizes our artistic and intricate paradise mold design, which was selected from more than a dozen entries into a mold design contest on a popular chip collector community website. The mold features four repeating series of scroll artwork and pineapples, a smooth inlay surface, and a slightly textured, cross-hatched clay chip surface.	Paradise Mold
The Cigar & Snifter Mold Our Protege line utilizes our 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 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 Cigar & Snifter 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.	Cigar & Snifter Mold
The Courts & Numerals Mold Our old Modern Clay poker chip line (discontinued) utilizes our classically bold Courts & Numerals mold design, which features a suction-inducing inlay cavity (a Vegas secret that keeps the chips stacked even when craps dice are flying everywhere), and a popular textured, cross-hatched inlay surface.	Courts & Numerals Mold