is there a way?

Brimar · #1 (**permalink**) 12-20-2005, 05:03 PM

Having played with my Martini clubs a few times now, the guys are just shocked at how damm cool REAL chips are compared to the dice junk, 1 of the guys even considering purchasing a set of clays who always made fun of them. Which got me to thinking, Why dont some of these companies try marketing to the general public? Most people i play with roughly 16-20 guys never even heard of blue chip or paulson much less played with em and the closest they have come to Good chips are the worn out chipcos at seneca niagara casino.
Seeing the interest my new chips have brought makes me wonder why more of an effort isnt being made...i would think at least 1 of the companies would at least try to tap the casual home market.

Matthew · #2 (**permalink**) 12-20-2005, 05:22 PM

Of the major manufacturers - in relation to home market.

Chipco - custom's available - they do cater to the home market - but primarily casino market. Some other ceramics out there, CasinoTech and Nevada Jacks - home market sellers.
Paulson (GPI) - #1 to casinos - basically ignoring home market - but they have sharholders to answer to and are truely global.
Blue Chip - much smaller operation still bidding casino jobs but will do home market stuff - Samurai, Vinyard Comm, NJ clays
ASM (pokerchips.com) still do casinos but are the biggest player in the custom home chip.
TR King - very small like 5 employees - Deadwoods - but almost don't count.

Set up time to run chips is the big deal. Some manufacturing techniques do not make it ecomonic to run less than several thousand chips - casino volume. A huge home market order will be 1000 chips - most are probably 500 with 4 different colors. That's a lot of set up work for a very samll production run.
What part of Western NY? I grew up in the finger lakes and Rochester area.

Matthew

PFunk · #3 (**permalink**) 12-20-2005, 05:27 PM

Good point, and something I have been thinking about ever since I first wanted to buy a chip set awhile ago...i walked into a gaming supply store in the mall (I know), and they had nothing but plastic dice chips that were way overpriced imo....Knowing nothing about chips really, I thought to myself that there has to be better chips out there then this crap, and where are these clay chips I hear about...After some research I found what I wanted on e-bay...paulson chips.

I think the fact remains that most people (the casual weekend player) dont care about the chips really, though maybe they are cool to them for a minute and they remark how nice they are...Most people wouldnt spend a grand on a nice 1,000 chip set when they can buy 1,000 chips for 1/10th of that price....Thats the factor...casual home player = cheap chip set i guess...

Plus not everyones as addicted to chips as we are

Matthew · #4 (**permalink**) 12-20-2005, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew

Paulson (GPI) - #1 to casinos - basically ignoring home market

We'll they produce chips for the home market but all the edges are the same - they have 3 different inlay's. If they wanted the home market they would allow custom inlays.

To ASM the colors and edge spots are the big set up time - the mold and inlays are not as big of a deal - the edges are made in one step and the inlays and molds are a second step.

Matthew

PocketRocket · #5 (**permalink**) 12-20-2005, 05:53 PM

I don't know if that is a Paulson thing or a Trademark requirement and no one in the know is talking.

But custom inlays are available for the Trademark Paulsons. The catch is that you can't buy them from Paulson at their direct sales price, but rather you have to pay Trademark a markup and possibly another retailer markup and then order 250,000 chips. The option that you have with some of the other manufacturers of compression molded chips is that you can get custom inlays and even custom spots for about $1 each with a minimum 300 chip order from ASM, or $.85 each with a 5,000 chip order from TR King. Blue Chip will reportedly also handle small orders of something like a thousand chips.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew

We'll they produce chips for the home market but all the edges are the same - they have 3 different inlay's. If they wanted the home market they would allow custom inlays.

Brimar · #6 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 06:43 AM

Matt im from lancaster, outside buffalo
ok i dont think my point came across as inteded. What i meant was, for most guys who play (specially the ones without pc's) they have no idea that there are better chips out there other than dice or whatever else you can find at target or bed bath and beyond, linens and things, CVS or wherever.......i even had one guy comment and stare at the martini club for almost the whole game sayin they were the coolest poker chips he ever saw..then i showed him my samples and he flipped, and this is someone who has played cards for 3 years now..every game i go to..... D I C E...only way there poeple are seeing good chips is when i bring my martinis , then they all wanna get rid of there dice chips. till they see the price of course

Matthew · #7 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 07:28 AM

Good job educating the masses.

The game I'm in now started with hotstamped ASMs - but they got left in a hot car and warped a little. One guy bought 500 "suits" (like dice) and they were using those when I started. But they are so slick and spin like crazy. I have the same suits chips - but not nearly as slick and don't spin. The main host then bought some casino Paulsons - so now we use those at his house. At mine, it's American Beauties and at 99%evil's house - it's Pharaohs. Quite a collection of chips we got going. I don't know if our collective brain trust knows more about chips or the game we're playing.

Matthew

99%evil · #8 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew

Good job educating the masses.

The game I'm in now started with hotstamped ASMs - but they got left in a hot car and warped a little. One guy bought 500 "suits" (like dice) and they were using those when I started. But they are so slick and spin like crazy. I have the same suits chips - but not nearly as slick and don't spin. The main host then bought some casino Paulsons - so now we use those at his house. At mine, it's American Beauties and at 99%evil's house - it's Pharaohs. Quite a collection of chips we got going. I don't know if our collective brain trust knows more about chips or the game we're playing.

Matthew

Some days I definitely know more about the chips than the game...especially this past Saturday...

w16227 · #9 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brimar

then they all wanna get rid of there dice chips. till they see the price of course

Bingo.

Money talks.

If there was a profit to be made, WalMart would be carring Paulsons. If they move 100 sets of the dice chips for every 1-2 sets of premium, the premium are gone.

The problem is, the market for premium chips is small (relative to the overall poker market). My brother in law loves the AB chips that I bring to his game. He asked me about a set - and was interested until he heard the price. For many of the home game crowd, paying 10x the cost of the walgreens set is not in the cards.

The 1st time I was over for the game - they had the typical worn out bicycle decks going. Next time, I broke out the Copags. Lucky for him, I gave him an early x-mas present of a couple setups. He loved the cards, but again hated the price.