1830-themed Gaming Chips (1 Viewer)

physics squirrel

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I just did a reorder of these from CPC to fill out a second set after some of them were lost, and I realized I'd never posted the final product here.

These are my 18XX board gaming chips. I designed them two years ago to use with my Seattle gaming group and to bring to tournaments. The chips are fashioned after the logos of the eight historical train companies featured in the board game 1830: Railroads and Robber Barons, while the 1-chip resembles an unfilled city circle, from the same game.

J5 and CPC exceeded expectations in making these a reality.

ja_mock.png




Some fun facts about the development of this set:
  • 18XX games are financial games that involve transactions as small as $1 and as large as $1000, and unlike a poker tournament with increasing blinds, all 7 chips $1-$100 will be in play constantly throughout the game, and occasionally the high denoms as well.
  • My primary goals for this design were to have a denomination break down of 1/2/5/10/20/50/100 with clear denomination labels, and to stay as close to my own and my playgroup's perception of "standard colors" for denominations, since we sometimes alternate between different sets of chips. Therefore, I had decided at the outset that 1=white, 5=red, 10=blue, 20=grey (or yellow), 100=black, 500=purple, 1000=yellow (though the final design has no 1000). This also meant no green chip because 25=green and I don't have a 25. The base colors for the 2, 50 and 2000 are based partially on research, partially on personal preference and largely on finding colors that contrast well with ALL of the other chips, since all 9 colors will be in play at once.
  • I knew I needed a chip bigger than $500 to support the economies of the games it would be used for. Every other set I played with had $1000's for this purpose. I decided to jump to $2000, and it was absolutely the right decision.
  • I knew I needed at least 9 denominations, and based on cost and minimum order reqs, I skipped having a $200 chip. I have dreams of making one in the future. It will probably be dayglo pink ^w^
  • In the edition of 1830 that this artwork is based on, the PRR logo is red on white, with a green background. I decided to go with an alternate popular design for this logo, white on red with a red background, to avoid a chip with a green base color.
  • Both edge spots on the 50, the pink spot on the 100, and the orange spot on the 500 are the only edge spots that don't color match the actual logos.
  • The 2000 chip is somehow perfectly color matched with 3 colors on the Boston and Maine logo despite the fact that I designed the colors and edge spots for this "S'more" chip before I decided on the theme for this set.


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Big board game fan here. I have never played 18XX, but I love how these turned out! :tup: No doubt having dedicated chips for one of your favorite games adds something special to the sessions.
 
I just did a reorder of these from CPC to fill out a second set after some of them were lost, and I realized I'd never posted the final product here.

These are my 18XX board gaming chips. I designed them two years ago to use with my Seattle gaming group and to bring to tournaments. The chips are fashioned after the logos of the eight historical train companies featured in the board game 1830: Railroads and Robber Barons, while the 1-chip resembles an unfilled city circle, from the same game.

J5 and CPC exceeded expectations in making these a reality.

ja_mock.png




Some fun facts about the development of this set:
  • 18XX games are financial games that involve transactions as small as $1 and as large as $1000, and unlike a poker tournament with increasing blinds, all 7 chips $1-$100 will be in play constantly throughout the game, and occasionally the high denoms as well.
  • My primary goals for this design were to have a denomination break down of 1/2/5/10/20/50/100 with clear denomination labels, and to stay as close to my own and my playgroup's perception of "standard colors" for denominations, since we sometimes alternate between different sets of chips. Therefore, I had decided at the outset that 1=white, 5=red, 10=blue, 20=grey (or yellow), 100=black, 500=purple, 1000=yellow (though the final design has no 1000). This also meant no green chip because 25=green and I don't have a 25. The base colors for the 2, 50 and 2000 are based partially on research, partially on personal preference and largely on finding colors that contrast well with ALL of the other chips, since all 9 colors will be in play at once.
  • I knew I needed a chip bigger than $500 to support the economies of the games it would be used for. Every other set I played with had $1000's for this purpose. I decided to jump to $2000, and it was absolutely the right decision.
  • I knew I needed at least 9 denominations, and based on cost and minimum order reqs, I skipped having a $200 chip. I have dreams of making one in the future. It will probably be dayglo pink ^w^
  • In the edition of 1830 that this artwork is based on, the PRR logo is red on white, with a green background. I decided to go with an alternate popular design for this logo, white on red with a red background, to avoid a chip with a green base color.
  • Both edge spots on the 50, the pink spot on the 100, and the orange spot on the 500 are the only edge spots that don't color match the actual logos.
  • The 2000 chip is somehow perfectly color matched with 3 colors on the Boston and Maine logo despite the fact that I designed the colors and edge spots for this "S'more" chip before I decided on the theme for this set.

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View attachment 282974
Huge board gamer here. Mind if I share this on Twitter (crediting you as the source, of course)?
 
These came out wonderful!
Congratulations on the 1830 set!



I'd be very interested in buying a sample set also if available?
I'd be down to send out some samples at $2.50/chip + shipping.
I'm currently fresh out of 2's until my reorder gets processed (eta July-ish). If you're in for a full sample set, when those come in, or a partial set now, send me a PM. I'll need to adjust my order to get a few extras ;D
 
These are absolutely awesome. J5 is such a good designer.
I know! He took all of the ideas I had and either made them beautiful or came up with something I liked even better. Not only that, but quickly. Truly impressive.

Loving these. How many chips did you end up ordering?

I already had around 500 of these and I put in an order for around 450 more.

The slightly longer answer is that I put in for enough to build two full banks, and to have spares of the denoms that I don't use many of (1,50,500,2000), to make it easier if I want to do another reorder.

My breakdown for a 400 chip bank is as follows, though I tweak it from time to time:
35x1
65x2
45x5
45x10
73x20
32x50
71x100
24x500
10x2000
 
I just did a reorder of these from CPC to fill out a second set after some of them were lost, and I realized I'd never posted the final product here.

These are my 18XX board gaming chips. I designed them two years ago to use with my Seattle gaming group and to bring to tournaments. The chips are fashioned after the logos of the eight historical train companies featured in the board game 1830: Railroads and Robber Barons, while the 1-chip resembles an unfilled city circle, from the same game.

J5 and CPC exceeded expectations in making these a reality.

ja_mock.png




Some fun facts about the development of this set:
  • 18XX games are financial games that involve transactions as small as $1 and as large as $1000, and unlike a poker tournament with increasing blinds, all 7 chips $1-$100 will be in play constantly throughout the game, and occasionally the high denoms as well.
  • My primary goals for this design were to have a denomination break down of 1/2/5/10/20/50/100 with clear denomination labels, and to stay as close to my own and my playgroup's perception of "standard colors" for denominations, since we sometimes alternate between different sets of chips. Therefore, I had decided at the outset that 1=white, 5=red, 10=blue, 20=grey (or yellow), 100=black, 500=purple, 1000=yellow (though the final design has no 1000). This also meant no green chip because 25=green and I don't have a 25. The base colors for the 2, 50 and 2000 are based partially on research, partially on personal preference and largely on finding colors that contrast well with ALL of the other chips, since all 9 colors will be in play at once.
  • I knew I needed a chip bigger than $500 to support the economies of the games it would be used for. Every other set I played with had $1000's for this purpose. I decided to jump to $2000, and it was absolutely the right decision.
  • I knew I needed at least 9 denominations, and based on cost and minimum order reqs, I skipped having a $200 chip. I have dreams of making one in the future. It will probably be dayglo pink ^w^
  • In the edition of 1830 that this artwork is based on, the PRR logo is red on white, with a green background. I decided to go with an alternate popular design for this logo, white on red with a red background, to avoid a chip with a green base color.
  • Both edge spots on the 50, the pink spot on the 100, and the orange spot on the 500 are the only edge spots that don't color match the actual logos.
  • The 2000 chip is somehow perfectly color matched with 3 colors on the Boston and Maine logo despite the fact that I designed the colors and edge spots for this "S'more" chip before I decided on the theme for this set.


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View attachment 282974
I would love to sticker my poker chips with these, any thoughts on sharing these?
 
Wow, these look fantastic. Nice job!

Out of curiosity: wouldn't the denominations have been better spaced out if you would have gone for a $200 chip instead of the $100 ?
 
Wow, these look fantastic. Nice job!

Out of curiosity: wouldn't the denominations have been better spaced out if you would have gone for a $200 chip instead of the $100 ?

Thank you, Kikashi! You might be right! I did want to have a $200 chip, but I don't think that way to fit it actually occurred to me. I'll admit a personal bias. It just doesn't feel right to me to skip $100. ;)

If I ever expand this set, I hope to add both a $200 chip and a $67 chip!
 
Thank you, Kikashi! You might be right! I did want to have a $200 chip, but I don't think that way to fit it actually occurred to me. I'll admit a personal bias. It just doesn't feel right to me to skip $100. ;)

If I ever expand this set, I hope to add both a $200 chip and a $67 chip!

A $200 would be rather exotic I guess, and that $100 does look great. Any chance you'd be willing to share the design?
 
These are beautiful chips - excellent design work. Not sure I am ready to be in at what I guess was the approximate price tag though (maybe when the kids are older...)
 
Are we still waiting for the hourglass mold to go in to production?
 
Can only tell you it's not in production now. According to Dave, scrown has either just gone in or is about to go in. Orders totaling 20,000 chips for scrown presently.
 
OMG, and I thought I was an odd-denom nutcase!
Go for it :watching:

Yeah XD

$67 is a magic number in 1830 and a couple of other games I play (It's the lowest price at which one may issue IPO shares; subsequently there are often times when many shares are available for exactly $67), so it would actually be convenient to, say, toss in $402 for six $67's in a number of instances. I might go for an undenominated one instead, since the number is different in some games. Lately we've been playing a lot of 1841, where the equivalent number is $68.
 
as an avid poker chip enthusiast, and fairly new 18xx player, these chips are mind-bogglingly awesome. well done!
 
Explain 18xx to me please. It's obviously about railroads - I grew up playing Railroad Tycoon and Railroads on the PC - and now find myself spending WAY too much time on Railroad Empire on steam. Is the board game as satisfying?
 

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