[Apotome]

Manufacturer: Unknown/Made in China
Retailer(s):

5StarDeal.com – 10 cents per chip
PokerChipsUSA.com – 20 cents per chip plus case
ChipsandGames.com – 10 cents per chip
TheGameSaloon.com – 21 cents per chip
HomePoker.com – 18 cents per chip plus case
The PokerChipCompany.com - 35 cents per chip unstamped / 45 cents per chip hotstamped

Average Price: 16 cents per chip
Material: Composite Resin
Member Review by: Apotome

These chips are often seen advertised as the 'Sopranos' chips, based on the fact that they were used by the HBO show during some of the poker scenes. They are also sometimes just called 'six-stripe' chips, based on the edge spot design that is 3 sets of 2 thin stripes spaced equidistant from each other on the face of the chips. I believe the design used on these chips is based on the Langworthy design as shown on this page.

Price

It's hard to complain about the price of these chips. They should be within the budget for most people looking for a starter set or a set to hold you over until you commit to your own customs. Now that the 10g version of this chip has arrived on the market it’s probably a good idea to keep an eye out for deals on the 8.5g version. However, 10 cents per chip price at 5StarDeal or the similar price at ChipsandGames.com are already pretty good deals. These chips are only slightly more expensive than the Super Diamonds or the 10g faux clay with dice mold. But for that extra 5 - 10 cents per chip I think you are getting a slightly richer looking design. Obviously, these are priced miles below clay or ceramic customs and for that savings you will have to give up some significant features, as I've noted below.

Feel

Of course these chips aren't 'clay' nor are they ceramic. The feel you get from them is not like either of those two materials. The 'composite resin' material (i.e. plastic) from which they're made does give them just a hint of a plastic feel. The material actually reminds of a bit of Fimo or Sculpy brand polymer clay; the type of material you can use to make clay-like jewelry that you bake in your oven at home. The actual surface of the chips is a slightly matte finish and not what I would call 'shiny'. Right out of the box they actually had a slightly tacky feel to them. In other words, they didn't slide easily against each other nor shuffle well. They seemed to wear in a bit after some handling. See below for more on durability. The chips I bought are all 8.5 grams. I weighed several and verified that they are all pretty close to this weight. While this isn't 10g casino weight I have recently seen the same chip (same colors/same design etc.) advertised at the full 10g weight. It sounds as though they've increased the weight but not really changed any other features of the chip, so if you think you'd enjoy the chips based on this review chances are you would probably enjoy the heavier ones even more. This review then is about the lighter ones, not the newer ones. And to be honest, when I held one of these in my hand with a real casino chip in the other I had trouble telling the difference. Maybe other people can distinguish 1.5 grams but I just can't. So for a middle-of-the-road home set the 8.5 gram weight is probably fine.

Stacking

I am able to easily stack and slide 30 - 40 of these chips. There were no spinners at all in my initial order of 300 from 5StarDeal.com. In fact, these chips seem perfectly flat and round. It is also easy to pinch a stack of 25 chips between my thumb and middle finger and move them without having the stack disintegrate. The edges are crisp with only hints of some extra material from the molds. I found it easy to shave off this extra material with just a fingernail. The edges are square and well-formed. Every chip I have tried sits up perfectly vertical when put on edge. Tall stacks of the chips are nicely stable and show no signs of irregularities in chip shape.

Sound

Possibly the best feature of these chips is that they have no metal insert and therefore no 'clinking' sound when stacked. As well, the resin from which they're made seems to give them a slightly clay sound, more so than a ceramic sound. They have a distinctive 'tick tick tick' sound when you stack them that is unlike either of the more expensive materials. Since they have a flush center the sound is also slightly duller and has more of a 'thud' than a '*****' sound. I don't mind the quality of the sound from these chips. Sure, I wish it was a lighter crisper sound, but on the other hand it gives them a uniqueness that you will enjoy. And it's miles ahead of the clanking of cheap dice chips.

Looks

How a chip looks is entirely subjective but for what it's worth I feel these chips have a simple classic elegance to them. In fact, I've seen them used on a couple of different websites and in a book or two as background artwork. In other words, they have a look to them that says, "poker chips". The design itself (by which name they are often known) has six edge spots or stripes. This is also one of the limitations of this chip. The stripes on these chips are all white, with the sole exception of the white chip that has blue stripes. This isn't a bad thing in-and-of-itself but does result in stacks of these chips being a bit bland and not nearly as colorful as chips with more exciting edge spots. That said, the edge stripes/spots on these chips are very consistent with razor sharp lines. As well, the inner recessed circle (between the outer border and the center of the chip) has a dashed line motif that works well with the rest of the chip design. On the edges of the chips (where you see the ‘spot’ part of the stripes) there is slightly more variation in the quality. There are tiny overlapped areas where the body color obscures the spot color but I found this added at least some character to the chips.

For my initial set of 300 I ordered the standard colors usually associated with the four lowest denominations. So I got white, red, green and black chips. The colors are sharp and vibrant with no hint of the stripe colors bleeding into the main color. This is even true of the white chip. I could find no cases of the blue stripes bleeding into the white body of those chips. There are a few chips that exhibit a bit of color streaking (almost as though the dye wasn't perfectly mixed) but these are really not an issue. If anything the high quality and uniformity of the chips made them almost too much alike. I would have almost preferred a few irregular pressings just to add character to the set, but that's just me. The overall 'look' of these chips is quite handsome. They aren't flashy but at the same time they aren't trendy either. They have a classic motif that will age well. If you like them at first, they will probably remain appealing for a long time. Note that some sites selling these chips offer as many as 17 different colors, though most list just seven basic colors: white, blue, red, green, black, grey and purple.

Security/Originality

Obviously unless you get these hotstamped they offer little in the way of security. The only reason I didn't rate them as a zero is that because this chip isn't the most common one out there you might have limited security based solely on the fact that few of your fellow players have bought them. Since the centers are not recessed it's probably not a wise idea to plan on putting labels on these chips. However, it's interesting to note that the movie 'The Cooler' staring William H. Macy did exactly that. These chips were used to create a custom set for the fictional Shangri-La Casino.

Durability

In order to break in my chips I have spent a few hours handling them in as rough a manner as possible. I have repeatedly stacked and unstacked chips. I have scattered them into piles and swirled my hands over them. I have taken handfuls of chips and simply reshuffled them over and again in my hands. I have deliberately scraped the edge of one chip against the surface of another. And so on. What was the result from all this abuse? Few if any lasting marks and only a hint of white scuffing. For some reason the green chips do tend to show this wear a bit more than the other colors but even then you really have to look for it. It's my feeling that these chips are likely to hold up well under normal usage.

Reviewers Comments - Overall Rating

It's probably clear by now that I'm fond of these chips. Are they perfect? No, far from it. Are they good value for the money? Yes, most definitely. Why would someone buy these chips? I think they make an excellent 'hold over' set until you've designed and saved for your clay or ceramic customs. I initially only ordered 300 chips as I wasn't 100% sure this was what I wanted for now. However, after enjoying them for several weeks I went ahead and bought 200 more privately from another member of ChipTalk.net. I think this now 500-piece set will suit me just fine as I plan for something bigger and better.

Chip Pictures

There isn't a huge amount of detail to capture in these chips. So I have limited the photos to just three. First is 300 chips in my wooden chip case. Second, is a wide shot of several stacks of chips. Finally, a close-up of a few of the stacks to better show the stripes and edges of the chips themselves.