mistahclean's "The Project" in painful detail (2 Viewers)

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Hi all, this (series) of posts is meant to be a journal/log of sorts for the project that I am *gulp* planning. It may or may not happen (especially pending discussions below) but maybe this can help other members in the future as well. Or, at least, serve as a dire warning.

TL;DR : Out of the hobby for years, came back to buy handful of chips, now planning to put together a relabel set.

First, a little background:
Got into the hobby back in the CT days about 15 years ago and recently came back into the hobby after a 10+ year hiatus. I lurked a bit, ordered a bunch of samples, but didn't really get anything for a while. Then came my first meetup with the CT crew in New England. I had the pleasure of playing with Ritz's and I was hooked. A set of Proteges and Blue Sands later, I ended up picking up a mixed set of Paulsons as my "grail" set and fell out of the hobby.

My chips had been sleeping in my closet for years while I used paper and cardboard money for board gaming. Incredibly, it'd taken this long for it to dawn on me that I could be using my chips instead and so here I am. My initial plan was to come back and pick up the denoms I needed to flesh out what I had in order to support a variety of the board games I play. And, a few of my old home game crew expressed interest in a game again.

Here's what I started with prior to joining PCF:
20220103_152135.jpg


The original plan:
Pick up some 100s, 500s, 1000s, call it a day and fade back into obscurity.
Needless to say, things already have gotten out of hand.

The new and improved plan (in steps!):
I'm actually going to reserve the few posts below for future updates if this plan winds up actually taking off.
Step 1 : Come up with a more realistic breakdown of what I need, what stakes I want to play, what I need to be able to cover my board game banks
Step 2 : Get those denoms as fast as possible so that I have something to use now. Doesn't need to be perfect
Step 3 : Come up with a "relabel scheme" (colors, progression, etc) for a new set.
Step 4 : Acquire the chips for the relabel (set aside for now) set
Step 5 : Design the label
Step 6 : Send out for label replacement (or overlabel if I'm lazy)
Step 7 : Look back at my empty wallet and think of the memories
Step ? : Take better pictures
Step ? : Create an Olivia's Poker Hall tribute set

Why I'm doing this
Why not?
Honestly, I saw a few of the custom relabel sets here @WhiteMamba1646 @sheikh617 @OfficerLovejoy in particular, and thought it'd be a fun, if slightly out of reach project.
I love projects with multiple/many steps and I also love collecting things. This seemed to be a great thing to try.

Some random thoughts:
* I know that it's probably impossible to design a set that covers everything I want so at a minimum, it'll be a mixed set of molds and inlays that'll at least cover my bases.
* I don't anticipate many of the higher denominations being used all that often in board games anyway, so they are a less of a priority. More when we get there.
* I'm actually really excited for the journey, maybe even more so than the end outcome. I like the thrill of discovery, the experiences along the way.
* I know I still have a ton to learn about the hobby. Like above, it's just part of the journey, and I'm excited to see where it goes.
* I know I'll be replacing some of the chips pictured as relabeling some of these is not feasible (and some I just plain don't want to touch)
* The Olivias are not being re-labeled. They would be part of a separate project.

Thanks for listening/reading everyone, and thanks in advance for any suggestions, comments, and questions.
Hopefully I'll be able to stay motivated on this. Stay tuned!

Step 1 : Coming up with a chip breakdown (01/26/2022 and prior)
The stakes I'd been playing with my group in the past ranged from 5c/10c to 25c/50c and there'd be nights where we'd play nothing but NLHE or a variant, and then there'd be days of circus games. I am hoping to cover 5c/10c, 10c/25c, 25c/50c, 50c/$1 on a single table (generally 6-8) with this breakdown.

I consulted this incredible thread on PCF:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...ut-a-cash-game-chip-set-5c-10c-to-5-10.30897/
QuantityValue
1005c
20025c
300$1
200$5
60$25
40$100
Which gives me a total of 900.

For board games, I consulted these fun threads:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1272906/your-ideal-18xx-poker-chip-set
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/565746/poker-chip-recommendations-how-build-set-and-proce

Most of the board games I play, I rarely need over a 25 value chip. There are a handful of games that will require the higher denominations and beyond what I posted above, I was thinking of the following:
20 $500
10 name-a-value solid
10 name-a-different-value solid

Step 2 : Get a usable (if not disorganized) set (02/04/2022)

After about a month on the forum, I was able to get some fun chips to fill out what I have to the denominations shown above (plus extras). Here's what I'm working with now.

20220204_173341.jpg

Where I'm using the Jerry's Nugget as a 100 and the extra pink paulson is used as "1000" or whatever fill in value I need for other games.

Now comes the fun/hard/excruciating part which probably is going to take months, at the very least. Evaluating chips for "how I feel about them" and to decide whether they mean enough to me (and also make sense) to have in a relabel set.

Step 3 : New re-label set project. Come up with a "relabel scheme" (colors, progression, etc) (02/2022)
This and the next step are probably going to be the hardest and longest steps of the project. And require a ton of patience. As with a lot of my hobbies, the FOMO level is really high and the rush from expanding the collections quickly can be intoxicating. But I've been trying hard lately to try not to rush through things in general, and I want to really try to apply this to my hobbies, especially this one.

It's hard, if not impossible to come up with a "perfect" breakdown as needs and inclinations are going to change over time. After having a couple talks with some of the other members, I'm thinking there's an intermediate step here going forward. Overlabeling the set and using them for at least a year and that if I'm still as happy with the chips then, maybe going through with the re-labeling process.

I plan to expand the above set into a THC re-label project. The Olivias I can't see myself ever selling and even was toying with an idea of an RHC "Olivia's Tribute" set, but that's for another thread (perhaps). But for this project, my inspiration is the Emerald Star 8v 25c chip. It's one of my favorite designs. The color and spot pattern are vibrant and interesting and I want to showcase this in the set. I plan to use it as a $1 chip. I recently came across WW's post on using the ES Frac as a BTP $1 and was even more cemented in the idea that this would make a fantastic $1 chip.
es_frac_crop.jpg

While I'm not trying to design to the California color scheme, I really like the bolder, more vibrant colors of the California scheme and am also looking to that scheme for inspiration.

Step 3 update #1 : 03/14/2022
Per the last post, I really liked the idea of using the BTP $5 as a $5 for this set but I couldn't justify what it would cost me to pick up 3 racks. Instead, picked the AS cash $5 to match the arc yellow spots (more on this later). Progress!

20220314_131614.jpg
 
Last edited:
Edited to show the breakdown I'm starting with. Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I'm actually already well on my way to getting the first breakdown and I'll update with where I am on step 2.

@joeyshin @RichMahogany Those Olivia ones are the original GOAT for me. The black $1s are incredibly unique with a fun, colorful spot pattern.

@kmccormick100 I hear you, and I've thought about it. The Le Coves will be easier for me to let go of but the Olivias...too much sentimental value and memories in those chips for me for me to part with them right now.
 
First update in, step 2 "complete?" I updated the OP to show it.

Had a few very fun discussions with some of the PCFers for which I'm very grateful for. I've been out of the hobby for a long time so I'd forgotten a lot of terms, things to look for, etc in the interim. And also got a little bit of history of how the hobby has evolved over the last few years. It's pretty fascinating stuff.

The idea of a relabel set really resonates with me, mostly because of the personalization and the journey that gets me there. This is meant to be a forever set, and like all good things, I expect this to take a lot of time and a lot of work. And, it's a story I can tell (to whomever cares).

Thanks for following along!
 
Added an update. I absolutely love the ES frac and want to use it as the foundation of the THC relabel project. I'm not strictly adhering to the California color scheme nor any particular spot progression so I'm all ears for any suggestions, especially for a $5 chip!
 
Added another update. Added 3 racks of Aurora $5s instead of BTP $5s and now am looking at potentially matching up arc yellow edge spots on all of the chips.

If anyone has an idea for a good $100 chip (with some arc yellow in it) please let me know!
 
Aside from the ES fracs (relabeled to $1s) and AS fives (also relabled?) what chips are currently in this lineup? I see the mixed set in the OP with the Olivas, are you building a fully relabeled set in addition to that one?
 
Echoing @Irish in that it helps us to visually see the plan.

As far as hundos with arc yellow in them, the fantasy line of $100s like CDIs/FLVs/Irish Mike's/etc. (left) have a tad of it and King Intl baccarat's (middle) do as well:

ZhMbSHu.jpg
 
Echoing @Irish in that it helps us to visually see the plan.

As far as hundos with arc yellow in them, the fantasy line of $100s like CDIs/FLVs/Irish Mike's/etc. (left) have a tad of it and King Intl baccarat's (middle) do as well:

ZhMbSHu.jpg
Believe he has a black $20 so looking for a white base with arc, tall order but I think there’s a few out there
 
Echoing @Irish in that it helps us to visually see the plan.

As far as hundos with arc yellow in them, the fantasy line of $100s like CDIs/FLVs/Irish Mike's/etc. (left) have a tad of it and King Intl baccarat's (middle) do as well:

ZhMbSHu.jpg
Thanks for the note

@Irish The plan is to use the mixed set in the OP until I am able to get the relabel set finished. Then create a separate Olivia's Poker Hall tribute set if I'm still feeling up for it.

I don't have some of these in hand yet but this is the current lineup:
25c - HP $2
$1 - ES Frac
$5 - AS $5
$20 - ESPT $100

20220314_143131.jpg


I'm hoping to use an arc yellow solid as a 5c and a white base with arc yellow spots as the $100 but I'm open to any options.
 
I put together an arc yellow Therese set on RHCs

The only white chips with arc yellow spots I can think of are Huntington parks.
 
I know the RPC $1s are white with arc yellow but I'm not even sure how to go about locating any of those.
I put together an arc yellow Therese set on RHCs

The only white chips with arc yellow spots I can think of are Huntington parks.
 
I know the RPC $1s are white with arc yellow but I'm not even sure how to go about locating any of those.


I don’t think you should mix leaded chips with unleaded. You can definitely tell while handling them. But I guess he’s already don’t that
 

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