[Turner Profit]

Coconut Chip Tree Review
by Turner Profit

Manufacturer: Unsure. Definitely not Chipco
Retailer(s): Discount Casino Gear
Average Price: $.30/Chip
Material: Ceramic

These chips are advertised as being 39mmin size. However, they are slightly larger than a Paulson chip so I’d guess it to be at about 39.25mm in diameter. They have 5 multicolored edge spots (but not well defined at all) The Coconut Trees come in 8 different denominations ($1, $5, $10, $25, $100, $500, $1000, $5000) I could not get the $5 in my sample set because they were sold out at the time of purchase.

Pros

• Affordable ceramic chips
• Potentially nice stack-ability

Cons

• Hard to differentiate denoms by color at a glance/different denoms have similar rolling edges
• Some spinners
• Little bit slippery (un-textured)
• A couple of spinners
• Blurry image on a chip (1 of the 16 in my sample set)
• Did I mention there may be a few spinners?

Price

The Price of these chips is the best reason to buy these chips. The MSRP is $0.59/chip, but Discount Casino Gear has them for $0.30/chip. A fairly cheap price considering these are ceramics.

Feel

The Feel of these chips is very smooth. They lack the texture of Nevada Jacks (I like the texture of the NJs). Also almost every chip has 1 square shoulder and 1 rounded edge. The Square shoulder is not as square as a new Paulson but there is a noticeable difference between the top edge and the bottom edge. (or vice versa)

Stacking

These chips are a bit slippery. However, I think they tend to stack well (bear in mind I only have 16 chips in my sample). I am able to stack my 16 chips and tap ‘em, jolt the table without much movement. I can slide the 16 pretty well (simulating a “degree all in moment” lol). Comparing this to my BR Pro Tiki samples, I find the Coconuts stack much better. (Love Br Pros but mine are very slippery…that’s why I haven’t bought a BR Pro custom set yet) The spinners are a problem though. This is where I find weakness in the stack. In other words, when the stack falls it is usually due to a spinner. I have about 3-4 spinners out of 16 chips and I feel that’s a pretty high ratio. These chips shuffle well.

Sound

The sound of these chips are good when I compare to my other ceramics. They sound closest to the Nevada Jacks but are a little bit deeper in tone. Compared to Paulson Top Hat and Canes, they sound a bit plasticy (plasticle, plasticated, pasticular, plastified.. pick one) but I attribute that to the fact that they are ceramic. Besides it’s not fair to compare Ceramics to Clays except when using the Clays as the benchmark as is my intention here.

Looks

Here is where some serious issues arise for me. I am big on looks and these chips lack. I mentioned the blurry image. It is on 1 of my $1000 chips (both sides/shown below). Don’t know if this is water damage or what. But 1 in 16 is bad.
Generally, I don’t like the design at all. I appreciate the tropical theme but they look more like a cheap postcard than a quality poker chip. Furthermore, the color schemes are not diverse enough. It’s way to easy to confuse chips and there may not always be a friend at the table to tell you when you’ve called a $10 bet with a $1000 chip. OK I know that’s ridiculous, but with so many printable colors available, this is an avoidable design issue.

Security/Originality

What can you say about security? It is not a custom chip so anyone can buy it. So security is low but this is a home game chip and security cannot be taken seriously.

Durability

Fairness is important here. I am without question a newbie. I have not owned these chips (or any chips for that matter) long enough to honestly discuss durability outside of speculation. That said, I think they will last as long as any ceramic. They don’t feel cheap and it’ll take some effort to damage them.

Reviewers Comments

Over all these are not the chips for me. While the price is fantastic there are too many cons. Especially when you compare them to other options on the market.

FYI - Basically the same chip but much nicer in appearance are the Grand Royales. Discount Casino Gear has them for $0.30/Chip and I have fewer spinners in my set. The colors are also a little tuff to differentiate but if you choose contrasting colors they’d make a great knock-around set of ceramics.

Additional Pictures