[Poker4eveR]

So way back when who decided what denoms were going to be what colors? And why were the colors chosen for what denoms? I understand more than one color is used for certain denoms, but there seems to be certain colors that casino's have been using for a long time. You have your cash game chips and tourney chip colors. Anyone know how the colors came about?

[bmwguy525]

I can't say for sure, but Jim will probably jump in here as soon as he sees this thread

If I had to guess, then I would say that since the mafia owned most of the early casinos, there were most likely more than one casino under one person's control, and that might have influenced the colors being the same between certain casinos. From there the others probably followed suit. That might sound really dumb, but it's just a guess.

[erikk]

my guess is that when chips were first introduced it was from relatively few suppliers if not a single one and probably 1 company was larger than the others. The current normal color scheme ($5-red, $25-green, $100-black) was probably chosen by someone at that company early on and it just stuck. Like bmw just a guess.

[JM]

BMWs only come in red, green & black??

[poislb]

Heres a little something I found, dont know if this helps or not.

The concept of representing something of value with a replacement object goes back hundreds of years to the 1700s with bones and small pieces of ivory being used as surrogates. After all, it's one thing to bet a handful of gold coins another to stack them all on the table beside someone's equal stack of silver and copper coins. Such a disorderly table could lead to possible distractions and theft, not to mention confusion as to which stack belonged to whom. Paper was a popular substitute for cold hard cash as well as small pieces of ivory, bone and clay. And at the end of every game the winner would then return the proxy to his owner for the cold hard cash.

But this led to more problems than just having stacks of cash on the table. Unscrupulous players would duplicate these makeshift chips and add or subtract from their stack at will, stealing from the other players. As well, these rather delicate items didn't stand up well to continued use, leading to chips breaking off of the main body of bone and ivory - confusing the players even more as to what was being represented here. Is that small chip of bone a new bet, or just an accident of that larger piece hitting the table too hard? And how much is that hunk of clay worth, anyway?

The casinos began to worry as well with the eventual organization of poker into a standard parlor game. In the early 20th century counterfeiting chips became a major concern with more and more money exchanging hands and the industry growing by leaps and bounds. The casino owners knew that something had to be done to assure the quality and the quantity of each chip that was played at their tables - not to mention keeping track of each casino's chips!

Each casino began to personalize their chips; adding a special mark or insignia in the center to make sure that their customers knew where they were playing and, more importantly, where to cash their chips in. Before this it was too simple to take your chips from one casino to the other, making it a major concern for the winners and the losers.

But the chips didn't look like the ones you see in Las Vegas today - in some cases the different denominations often were of different sizes, much like regular currency. Your ten-dollar chip was significantly bigger than your five and so forth. Expermentation went on for years with each casino trying to find out what worked best for their customers.

[Poker4eveR]

Poislb,

Thanks for taking the time to post that bit of history.

[Gaming Ore]

Originally Posted by Poker4eveR

So way back when who decided what denoms were going to be what colors? And why were the colors chosen for what denoms? I understand more than one color is used for certain denoms, but there seems to be certain colors that casino's have been using for a long time. You have your cash game chips and tourney chip colors. Anyone know how the colors came about?

I've asked this very question over on thechipboard.com and also of several "old timers"!

The general concensus is rather vague, but sometime after the legalization of gaming in Nevada (1931) it just became customary to do red, green and black for the $5, $25 and $100 denominations. Bearing in mind that Nevada has no regulation or requirement for uniform coloring, in 1979 the New Jersey Gaming Commission did establish a uniform coloring standard for all denominations in all of the Atlantic City casinos.

This then tended to "formalize" the colors to certain denominations and was bolstered when Colorado adopted the same colors. I would imagine that the manufacturers probably promoted the idea of using standard colors, as it made their raw material ordeing process easier, but that is just my supposition.

Bear in mind also that the higher denominations (above $100) escaped a color assignment (prior to New Jersey) because those denominations did not normally exist.

Well, thats what I was able to find out.

Now, Poker4eveR, your avitar... A for real James Bond! Not one of the Paul-Son retail store knock-offs or the more recent knock-offs! Is it yours?

Jim (Gaming Ore) Follis

[erikk]

so what did AC standardize on?

[Poker4eveR]

Originally Posted by Gaming Ore

Now, Poker4eveR, your avitar... A for real James Bond! Not one of the Paul-Son retail store knock-offs or the more recent knock-offs! Is it yours?

Jim (Gaming Ore) Follis

Yes, not a knock off, it's the real deal, you can ask Noelsarch all about it, it's all mine. Thanks for asking and the info on the colors.

[Mike Sears]

White, Red, Blue, Green, Black, Purple, Orange & Gray for 1, 5, 10, 25, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 I suppose, but did they every standardize $2 and $3 chips?