I trolled some of the classifieds and
eBay to scrounge up a bunch of different plaques and here's what I've been able to put together:
All of those plaques are plastic/acrylic except the one from sun-fly.
-The two on the left are from
MSK and you can buy them off of Apache
-Top Center is a sample from Sun-Fly that I got from a vendor in the classifieds
-Bottom Center is a Abbiati plaque you can buy from a vendor off of
eBay that sells different sizes/denoms of these plaques and other jetons(poker chip sized acrylic plaques) from a fantasy casino
-Presidential plaques from Matsui from a GB a few years back*
-Casino Royal from Matsui I found on
eBay*
Price wise the Majestics were basically free as I got them really cheap as part of a 'newbie bomb' from a veteran. I believe depending on size they run form $8-10. The sunfly sample was ~$20 and I probably overpaid. The Abbiati the vendor sells for 25, don't know how much it would cost to have your own made by them. The Presedentials were $20 in the classifieds but I am pretty sure were about half that during the GB. The Casino Royal is normally on
eBay for about $40.
The
MSK and Abbiati plaques all have this lip around the edge:
The Matsui do not:
I am assuming that the lip is to help the plaques not stick to each other. You can get the Matsui to have a bit of a suction to each other pretty easily like some chips do. I for one prefer the completely flush finish but ymmv.
Something else with the finish is that the MSKs I have the plastic is a bit stippled or orange peeled. The Matsui plaques in contrast are very uniform. Not overly noticeable unless compared to the Abbiati or the Matsui and I wasn't able to really pick this up in picture format. May be a function of the plaques from
MSK I happen to have and is really splitting hairs.
For completeness here is the Sun-Fly:
Rough like what you'd get from a ceramic chip from BR Poker but completely flat, no lip.
The sides are a bit interesting.
Matsui Sides:
MSK/Abbiati sides:
All of these plaques stood on their edges.
Matsui has this uniform very milky white middle piece. I don't know if this can be colored. I've seen one or two mentioned of their being some slip here where the face slips off the center kinda like an oreo or something. Apparently it can also be fixed with some heat but I don't have any details at all. Does look like the white is somewhat influenced but the color of the face by the light passing through the face and refracting in the white medium.
The Abbiati also has a white middle piece however it isn't milky, it's just white, no translucence to it. Again, don't know if this is something you can pick.
MSKs are a color with a white trim. This, according to some GBs seems to be selectable.
The sunfly edge is not square and it would not stand up on it's own and needed a bit of help. It is also smooth instead of textured, again like a ceramic chip. It does have a continuation of artwork on the side which is nice.
The weight difference for the Matsui/Abbiati/
MSK are about the same, they are slightly different sizes so that accounts for that.
Now for completely subjective, I tapped the acrylic chips against things, each other, a table, a mat, the MSKs have a higher sound to me, the Abbiati and Matsui a lower.
Given the same cost I honestly prefer the Matsui over the
MSK over the Abbiati however:
-
MSK is the only plaque I see a lot of on the secondary market. Apache and others for instance only stock
MSK plaques in quantity with different art.
-If you wanted something custom the story is Matsui has a much higher set up cost than
MSK and Abbiati doesn't normally sell to individuals. Once the setup costs are complete the price per unit may be comparable(would love to get more info around this).
If someone who was part of the recent
MSK GB for plaques would love to borrow some for a week and compare them.
* A note about the Presidential and the Casino Royal Plaques, both have an alternative that is in production from
MSK and you can buy both of them from Apache today. The artwork for the Casino Royal is almost identical, the easiest to spot difference is the
MSK version has Royal spelled Royale with an 'E' at the end, the Matsui does not. Be careful with these as I've seen a few
eBay postings use the picture for the Matsui but are selling the
MSK at the Matsui price. The art work for the Presidentials is different between the Matsui and
MSK as are the colors. Less ambiguity here. The finish as well for both sets, the Matsuis are totally flush, the MSKs have the lip as mentioned above.