Desert Palms Poker Chip Review

[2_hotty]

Manufacturer: Blue Chip Company
Retailer(s): The Chip Room
Average Price: .85/chip
Material: Compression Molded Clay


Member Review by: 2_hotty

To be honest, I never intended on picking up these chips. Jim from TheChipRoom.com had posted about a contest they were running to design the color combinations and edgespots of a custom set of Blue Chips that he was having made. On a whim, I decided to enter and after a couple of weeks I received a notice that I had won for one of the denoms. I decided to add an additional 300 chips, to the 200 chips that I had won to make a playable set. After having these chips, and playing with them for a while, I couldn't be happier with them. I'm considering picking up another set of these chips, for cash games. Even though I don't need them at all.

Price

Initial 20k pieces can be had for .85/chip. This is a quote, for after the initial 20k shipment is exhausted: "once the first 20,000 are gone, the price will go up." We just don't know how much they will go up.

Feel

It's been stated in other reviews, but just to re-iterate; compared to other clay chips, these chips are hard. They are not soft like a Paulson chip. On the same note, they also feel quite durable. After a dozen or so games, they still have perfectly sharp edges, and are holding up great.


They are lighter then regular clay chips, at around 8-9gram. I noticed this immediately, and so did the guys that were playing with them. However, this issue was forgotten quickly. By the end of the game, no one noticed that the chips were lighter. And by the next game, no one noticed that we normally play with heavier chips.

The Desert Palm chips have a particularly smooth inlay. The contrast of rough, hard edge, to smooth inlay works well with these chips, and gives them a great overall feel. There were several occasions during these games where people commented about how nice they feel. Non-chip junkies' reactions to the different chips I present at my games is my true test. These chips seemed to have passed the feel test with these guys, as they commented on them multiple times, and always with positive comments.

Stacking

These chips stack wonderfully. I don't know what Blue Chip has done differently in their manufacturing process, but I asked the people I was playing with to try and find spinners in this set. We have yet to find one. I haven't personally flipped every chip and checked them, but I'm confident that if there are any in this set, they are very few and far between. There are no worries with having a stack of 60 chips in front of you. These chips stick together like glue. I will say that once I oiled these chips, they lost a little of that stackability as they lost some their gritty texture. It really doesn't hurt the stackability much, but I thought I should mention it. They stacked better before being oiled.

Sound

With a harder chip comes a higher pitched sound. It's not a terrible sound like a slugged composite, but it is more of a "clank." I didn't find it at all distracting, but I did notice it.

Looks

These chips look fantastic. This is the one aspect where these chips excel far beyond a lot of chips available today. They are made on a custom mold that is a perfect fit. The mold says Desert Palms on one and, and Las Vegas NV on the other, divided by two palm trees. Beyond the fantastic mold, is a great inlay design. The inlay is not your average white background inlay. It's a full color graphic that pops off of the chip. One concern with Blue Chip is the quality control with their inlays. They are known for having oblong shaped, and off center inlays. I'm happy to report that every inlay on these chips is perfectly round. Some of the inlays are slightly off center, but nothing that stretched outside of the recessed center of the chip. The main design of the inlay has a border around it, which makes it difficult to spot anything off center, unless you are looking for it. In a game environment, I don't notice the chips that are off center. It's not distracting at all.

Everything from the text of the denoms to the text of the Desert Palms logo is spot on. The palm tree in the background of the inlay matches the color on the chip, which gives it a nice touch. These chips have the same inlay on both sides. Honestly, I can't think of anything about the inlay that I would change. Whoever designed these made an inlay that fits the theme and feel of these chips perfectly.

Security/Originality

These chips are readily available at TheChipRoom. At .85/per chip for the first 20,000, I would imagine that 20k of these will be in peoples hands very soon. They are not the most secure chips, because anyone can buy them, but they are only available at one place which should help. Anything that can't be purchased at your local Wal-Mart and brought into your home game, gets a plus one in this category.

Durability

As I mentioned before, these chips are really durable. They take a long time to break in because of how hard they are. This could be considered a good thing or a bad thing. You might not like the hardness of these chips if you like the soft Paulsons. I think it's a positive, however. After a dozen or so games, I don't see any wear or color transfer at all. They still look brand new, as they don't pick up grime like softer chips do.

Reviewers Comments

As I'm sure you've picked up by now, I love these chips. The colors, inlay and mold combination is a homerun. The look just simply works perfectly. They are a little harder then other chips, but more durable also. I decided to oil these chips, to try and remove the chalkiness of them from manufacturing. It worked perfectly, as the colors are now bright and vibrant. I also am pleased with the denominations available. Denoms are $1, $2, $3, $5, $10, $25, $100, $500 and $1000 with a hot stamped .50 to be available soon. I don't need anymore chips. I have more then I'll ever need. After playing with these chips, I find myself trying to come up with a good reason to tell my wife that I need more of these. This is a fantastic set of chips, and a great price at .85/chip. (for a limited time)

Chip Pictures

150 chip stack....rock solid!

[Wylecoyo]

Purchased from: The Chip Room
Price Paid: approx 90¢ each (bought as pre-order promo and can't remember exactly)

These are my absolute favorite out of the five sets I own (including sets of Paulson, Chipco, and NJ) and I love them more every time I use them.

Pros:

• Outstanding, vibrant colors
• Clear, well laid out inlays
• Great feel, sound, stacking and handling
• Excellent price for the quality of chip

Cons:

• California weight (8-9 grams) - doesn't really bother me at all, but I know how you chip junkies can get
• No $0.05 or $0.10 available
• I don't have enough money to buy all I want