2017 Custom Chip Hall of Fame Voting (1 Viewer)

[Mr Tree]

Voting is open!

Voting for the 2017 custom chip set Hall of Fame class is now open.

After careful deliberation and much arguing the committee is submitting 13 sets for your consideration. Three will be enshrined.

New rule - "cooling-off" period

A new rule has been introduced this year. A "cooling off" period of one year. To be eligible for the 2017 HOF, a set has to have had pr0n posted before 12/01/2015 in order for it to be eligible this year.

So, any sets with pr0n posted during 2016, for example, will have to wait until next year's HOF before they will be considered by the committee.

The reason for the cooling-off period? New sets are fresh in people's minds and are likely posted by currently active community members, so have an advantage of currency over the older sets.

The one-year wait allows time for the appeal of immediacy to wane, and for the novelty of a new set to wear off.

Writeups retained

Following the popularity of last year's writeup, we have again included our thoughts on why each set is worthy of HOF consideration.

In the 13 posts below this one you will find a writeup on each set and associated pr0n to whet your appetite.

Voting window

Voting opens on January 25.

Voting closes on February 7.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

You can only vote once. Please make all three of your selections before you submit to the poll.

You will not be able to edit/change your vote once it has been submitted.

Only members with at least 10 posts may vote.

HOF admission

The three sets with the most votes will be admitted to the Hall of Fame.

I would like to thank Bergs, k9dr, Poker Zombie, Puggy and Toby for all their work in putting the list together this year.

Now please read through below, this is a tough decision!

 

[Toby]

Via Lactea

Owner: Ben
Artist: J5
Manufacturer: ASM
Mold: American (A-mold)

History

Ben started hosting a weekly game back in 2012 and wanted to upgrade his chips for his crew.

Design

Ben has held a keen interest in astronomy since a child and studied astrophysics at school.

Reflecting this, a set based around the Via Lactea – the Milky Way – was born.

The chips started out with the $1. An instant classic, and a personal favorite.

The colors and spots are sublime, from 5c to the radiant $500 supernova.

Individual chips

• $0.05 - Apus (the bird of paradise)
• $0.25 - Libra (the balance scale)
• $1 - Eridanus (the river)
• $5 - Corona Australis (the southern crown)
• $20 - Draco (the dragon)
• $100 - Cassiopeia (the queen)
• $500 - supernova

Story

Each chip holds a special significance to Ben. The 25c-$100 constellations each represent a member of his immediate family, also concepts very important in Ben’s life.

By way of example, the nickel is his "new house" chip, representing the time he moved home. In the early spring, giant flocks of migratory birds fly overhead, often stopping on his land by the thousands.

Ben describes it as :

“...very majestic. You'll see an enormous shadow flying by the window at breakneck speed, then 1,000 birds land in the yard in exact unison. Then sometimes the entire flock will get up, and move 30 feet and settle back down.” ​

So Apus was the perfect choice for the 5c, a reminder of the important life event and the beauty of the migrating birds.

Final words

There is a poetry to Via Lactea, highly personal to Ben. The great design is full of depth and meaning.

Some of the very best chip sets have community appeal: cool design, colors, spots… But they also hold that special resonance and significance for their creator.

I think the Via Lactea chips are cosmic. I hope you do too, and will cast one of your votes into the stars.

Quotes from the community

“Beautiful, beautiful chips” - @jbutler

“Just amazing” - @stocky

“One of my favourite custom sets” - @Mr. Cheese

“Holy Frak!” - @Puggy

“SPEECHLESS!!! Absolutely gorgeous” - @ChaosRock

“Beautiful chips, every one” - @BGinGA

“The whole set is perfect” - @AK Chip

 

[Toby]

Iron Bank

Owner: k9dr
Artist: J5
Manufacturer: ASM
Mold: FDL

History

stocky commissioned this set back in 2012, a nod to his love for the novels of George R. R. Martin, and back before the HBO show had fully penetrated every nook and cranny of pop culture.

He even approached GRRM for - and got - permission to create a set based on the IP, which is pretty baller.

Valar Morghullis! One of the bounties evar

Color-matched inlays? So passé...

IB employs color-matching on its inlays, sure, to great effect. But it does something far cleverer too. Something I’ve not seen on any other custom set. Edgespot matching.

It’s easy to miss, but look closely at how clever the design of these chips is:

• T25 - 316 spots ape the shape and petals of house Tyrell's rose
• T100 - 4DS316 spots mirror the arms of Greyjoy's kraken
• T500 - half pie reflects the shape and colors of the Tully sigil
• T1000 - 6D18 spots reflect the licking flames of Martell's sun
• T5000 - 4TA181418 is the flesh of the flayed man and the cross he’s bound to on Bolton's sigil

I can't think of another set that comes close in such a clever use of edgespots to reflect the art theme.

Iron Bank is on another level design wise.

Thematically, the vying for the Iron Throne is a good metaphor for the combative nature of tourney poker - only one player can claim the throne (a chop excepted, which has very different, dire consequences for the denizens of the GoT universe).

Hopefully no-one gets raped, poisoned, or has to watch their family brutally murdered at stocky’s game though.

Final words

This is a fabulous set: great colors, epic theme, cool art and edgespot matching. Well-deserving of a HOF accolade.

Vote for this set: the Iron Bank will have its due.

Quotes from the community

“Stunning stuff” - @Mr Tree

“Just magnificent” - @jbutler

“Excellent theme and great looking chips” - @k9dr

“These chips totally rock” - @BGinGA

“The Set. Pure excellency” - @Puggy

 

[Toby]

Steel City Club

Owner: gcrissman
Artist: Roxtarbaer
Manufacturer: BCC
Mold: Flame

The headlines…

• Beautiful colors, including Blaze Orange, Blurple, Horizon Blue
• Fantastic edgespots including 1-1, 3 moon, 3T18, 614, 414818 and 4T18
• Strong, bold logo design
• Flame mold is a great fit for the steel/forge theme
• Design celebrates Pittsburgh, the "Steel City", and creator's close family ties to the steel industry
• Baller primary and secondary chips
• BCC doing it right

The Steel City Club (SCC)

I love the strong industrial logo design of the SCC set, which celebrates gcrissman's family's roots in Pittsburgh and the steel trade.

The inlay is simple, bold, relevant, personal and not overwrought, with a uniform look and feel across the whole set.

The steel theme works nicely with the flame mold, reflecting the heat of the forge.

Popping colors

When I look at this set I am reminded of all the wonderful possibilities available to the home market via BCC.

Glowing, beautiful, rich colors that sadly you just can't get on the home market anymore.

Spots not to like?

This set has some of my favorite spot patterns that were available from BCC and has the greatest spread of those spots in any set that I can call to mind. 1-1, 3A12, 618, 3 moon, 614, 414818, 4T18…

A really nice progression across both the primary and secondary chips. I’d happily rotate the primary and secondaries in and out of play. I love all of them.

Final words

You’ll be hard pressed to find another BCC with a design theme that marries so well with the mold. Steel City suffers from the lack of available, cohesive, high quality pr0n. Also we’re limited to 5 pics for nominations, so I can’t show you all the chips here clearly.

I’d entreat you to take a look at all available snaps and give over one of your votes to Steel City. A gorgeous set.

Quotes from the community

"Superb color combos, spot pattern selection, artwork […] everything! - @toad94

"Awesome chips. Love that spot progression and the use of the primary and secondary chips” - @krafticus

"Green with envy here, killer set” - unvmyset (@hdgeno)

“Absolutely stunning” - @viet rounder

“Great looking chips” - @bergs

"Great progression of spots and the inlay design is classy” - @dolomite128

 

[k9dr]

Circus City House of Cards

Owner - Lucky Dog
Artist - J5
Manufacturer - JimB at ASM (2010)
Elephant & Crown mold

Circus City House of Cards was commissioned by Lucky Dog as a tribute to his father who was a clown in the Shrine Circus for many years. The $1 hobo clown represents his father. Back in 2010, ASM in conjunction with Marion and Company offered a limited production run on the Elephant & Crown mold. Together with JimB and J5, Lucky Dog designed a classic quarter pie cash and tourney set that is the ultimate combination of theme and mold. Each chip is half weighted color and half unweighted color. The bright and playful colors in conjunction with the variety of facial expressions on the clown inlays are definitely reminiscent of the big top. This unique set deserves to be the first representative of the E&C mold inducted into the PCF Hall of Fame.

Quotes from the community:

"How ridiculously sick and awesome!" - Courage

"I'm usually scared of clowns, but this is a very nice set. Congrats!" - dew4au

"One of the best looking customs sets I've seen." - hod

"Words are so inadequate: Perfect design for a truly awesome mold, and a wonderful tribute to your Dad. Instant classic, IMO. Congrats!" - abby99

"Amazing artwork, amazing color selection. Instant classic, you should be thrilled." - JM

"Nice work--they look great! Nice tribute to your father, too. Good luck with them! - toad94


Cash denominations:
.10 - Grey & Retro blue
.25 - Lavender & Dayglo green
1 - White & Dayglo orange
5 - Retro red & Imperial blue
20 - Plaques from HPC

Tournament denominations:
25 - Green & Dayglo yellow
100 - Black & Retro lavender
500 - Chocolate & Dayglo peach
1000 - Light blue & Retro green
5000 - Purple & Dayglo pink

 

[k9dr]

Bart’s Bowl-O-Rama

Owner - Dave99
Artist - J5
Manufacturer - ASM Vegas (2013)
B Diamond mold

Bart’s Bowl-O-Rama was commissioned by Dave99 on CT. Produced by ASM Vegas in 2013, the B Diamond mold is the perfect match for this retro set. The nostalgic J5 designed inlay unmistakably captures the flavor of an old time bowling alley. Although the chips are non-denominated, the simple spot progression and matching number of bowling pins on each chip subtly conveys their value. The muted colors are reminiscent of bowling balls, shoes, and pins. This awesome retro set deserves to be the first representative of the B Diamond mold voted into the PCF Hall of Fame.

112 - Gray & White
212 - Blue & Mandarin red
312 - Black & Butterscotch
Quarter Pie - Pink & Light green

Quotes from the community:

"Beautiful set mate. Easy contender for 2015 calendar. J5 is a magician." - Stocky

"Quite stunning! I remember the artwork when you first posted! Came out magnificently!" - Redbelly

"Simply awesome. Nice-looking chips to start with, then something about that inlay just multiplies the wow factor by about 50! One of my favorite inlays ever." - Ben

"Very cool. And the mold is perfect for these chips. Congratulations, grrrrrrrrrreat." - Puggy

"These chips are just awesome. Perfect design concept, artwork, execution, mold choice, everything -- even the pr0n is classic" - BGinGA

"This is a special set, one of the classics…its a combination of the inlay and the mold." - Jeff

 

[Puggy]

Everleigh Club

Owner: Jeff
Artist: tttubby
Manufacturer: ASM (Maine)
Mold: MD-50 (Diamond Square)

Colors:
$0.25 - 3TA316 Light Blue with Bright White, Blue and Retro Blue
$1 - 3AV12 Black with Retro Blue, Bright White, Retro Red and Retro Green
$5 - 4VA12 Red with Pink and Bright White
$10 - 4DSA316 Purple with Black and Grey
$20 - 6TA14 Canary Yellow with Chocolate, Red and Orange
$100 - 312318 Green with Dark Green and Bright White
$500 - ¼ PIE4A12 Orangewith Dayglo Arc Yellowand Orange

Comments:
Very classy looking set. Great use of ASM color pallette and old school
and new school styles. The chips are individually different, so that
dirty pots will not appear. Also, the chips fit well together.

Summary:
Jeff had been thinking about creating his main cash set and was inspired
to go to ASM by playing with Abby99s MD50 Lady Luck set. Having lived
in Chicago for over 25 years, he wanted a Chicago theme. The inspiration
for the set was a book he read, called "Sin in the Second City". It was a
biography of the owners of a real-life Chicago brothel called the "Everleigh Club".

Jeff decided to make chips he like using colors that he like, only loosely
constrained by traditional rules/colors. He loves black chips. Hundos see
very little use in the games he plays in, so he decided to use black as the
$1 chip. He tried to use bright colors for other chips, something that would
fit the flashy style of the original club.

The set was built over time by using JimB/Portland ASM for the original 1500-chip
set. Jeff added on another 1500 chips after ASM was sold and moved to Las Vegas.
After ASM Las Vegas sold the company to CPC, he added 1000 spotted secondary
$1 chips, a new $500 chip and several other racks adding to the existing set.
Over time, he also had made commemorative $1 chips for Windy City Blowout 6
and Windy City Blowout 7.

At the time the original set was made, Jeff had been BEGGING for JimB to make
a 312/318 combo spot for his $100 chip and Sally was finally able to get him
to agree. Jeff's set was the first one made with this spot combo.

 

[Puggy]

Havana Club at the Gran Casino

Owner: Lucky Dog
Artist: J5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: H-mold

Comments:
This set is one of the best ever of the sets, which gives one the very
old skool feeling. And the colors bring Havana into my mind. Especially,
when looking at the $1 chip, I get the feeling really being over there.

Havana Club color combos:
dime: white 314 with maroon edge
quarter: yellow 314 charcoal edge
$1: imperial blue 312 black edge
$5: red 312 bright white edge
$20 black 312318 charcoal/bright white edge

Secondaries:
quarter: chocolate 314 dg yellow edge
$20 yellow 312318 charcoal/black edge

Summary:
CPC produced thison the H mold in 2014. J5 designed the inlay. The set is one of a
handful of Elaine Townsend tribute sets. The set honors Lucky Dog's wife's great
Aunt Elaine Townsend who arrived in Cuba in the spring of 1947 about the same time
Lucky Luciano was deported from Cuba. In the summer of 1947, Elaine made history when
she bought the dice concession at the Gran Casino Nacional for the $30,000 cash.
This acquisition marked the beautiful gutsy 27 year old blonde bombshell's entrance
into the gambling rackets of Cuba. She hired Connie Immerman, one of Meyer Lansky's top
lieutenant's to manage her game. She claimed to be the only female gambling impresario
in the world during the 40's and 50's. These chips represent her debut into the gambling
halls of Cuba. I chose the H mold as it was a popular mold for Cuban chips during that
time period and it worked wonderfully with the theme "Havana Club At The Gran Casino".

 

[Puggy]

Clermont Lounge hotstamps

Owner: jbutler
Artist: J5
Manufacturer: Blue Chip Company (chips); monkeydog (hotstamping)
Mold: Medium Green Key

Colors:
T25 - TRK Signal Green
T100 - Charcoal
T500 - TRK Lavender
T1000 - TRK Fire
T5000 - TRK Light Blue

Comments:
This hotstamped set combines very well the bright BCC colors, combined with a mold,
which feels great to one's hands and fingers. Very classy looking and well exceuted
hotstamp adds kick to the chips.

Summary:
Since jbutler was so thrilled with the first Clermont set designed by J5, he went back
to him when he decided he wanted to do a hotstamp design. Monkeydog helped him in the
design phase. He had dies made of a few different possible designs and test-stamped
some chips to help his figure out which design he wanted to finalize. John (J5) and he
went through several iterations, but finally settled on all the elements.

Since BCC had already shut down consumer sales, jbutler was stuck trying to cobble together
enough blanks for a playable set. Fortunately, emptypocs was way beyond generous and sold
him a lot of his MGK blanks for his cost.

He then put up some WTB ads and brought the rest of the blanks together, including some
from monkeydog himself. He shipped it all off to monkeydog, who did the hotstamping.

 

[Mr Tree]

The Bee Room


Owner: Alpine0000
Artist: Alpine0000
Manufacturer: American Standard Molding
Mold: Horse Head Right

In 2009 Alpine0000 dropped a bomb on the custom chip community with his first post being the unveiling of the fully designed and created Bee Room. The progression and use of standard Vegas colors are spot on, especially for someone who did not receive any advice from the community before processing them.

The Bee Room itself is a play off of his name, “BJ” which his friends shortened down to simply “B”. Impressively Alpine0000 also handled the artwork himself, a pitfall to many but something he pulled off beautifully. The elements of the inlay all play nicely together and also note the hexagonal bee hive pattern in the background.

Colors and spots

• $1 – White 214 Blue
• $5 – Mandarin Red 414 White
• $25 – Green 6A14 DG Green / Arc Yellow
• $100 – Black 4D14 DG Pink/Lavendar

Quotes from the community

“BEE-U-TIFUL!” – @Josh

“The Inlay is really quite clever!” – @AlbinoDragon

“Very impressive set” - @toad94

“Colours, edgespots, and the inlay are all sensational” - @B.C.

“Still drooling over this set years later” - @Payback

 

[Mr Tree]

The Cedar Room (BCC)

Owner: @toad94
Artist: @toad94
Manufacturer: BCC
Mold: Flame

Story

@toad94's last name is "Huntley" and the "Huntley Lodge" is his house. He remodeled the basement with Cedar planks and had heard of "The Oak Room" before, so his basement became known as "The Cedar Room", an "exclusive poker parlour" located inside Huntley Lodge.

toad94 unveiled this massive 6000+ chip set in order for him to run a casino night including craps, roulette, blackjack, and potentially other casino games. The set runs the gamut in denominations in order to spread this multitude of games.

Mark also was able to use the TRK color palatte in addition to standard BCC colors, enabling him to do some extremely dazzling and memorable color combinations. The final product is a gorgeous array of chips worthy of a casino.

Colors breakdown

• $.10 – Almond with Chocolate and TRK Tan
• $.50 – TRK Fire with Peach
• $1 – TRK Dark Blue with TRK Light Blue / TRK Signal Green
• $2 – Hot Pink with (new) Canary Yellow
• $3 – Grey with Black
• $4 – TRK Light Turquoise with Arc Yellow/TRK Purple/BCC Gold
• $5 – TRK Red with Charcoal
• $10 – Mustard with Forest Green, Coral, and Mauve
• $20 – Purple with (new) Canary Yellow and BCC Gold
• $25 – TRK Green with Mustard/Adobe
• $100 – Black with Arc Yellow/BCC Lavender
• $500 – TRK Lavender with TRK Light Turquoise
• $1000 – New Signal Yellow with TRK Dark Blue/Gray
• $5000 – Chocolate with TRK Signal Green/BCC Purple/Radiant Red
• $20,000 – Sky Blue with TRK Purple and TRK Light Turquoise

For the one-of-a-kind size, spread and colors, this set is a definite HOF worthy set. Lookaddit fer crying out loud! If there was a collective noun for the likes of Cedar Room BCC it'd be "an obscenity of chips".

A chip set done right, in every sense. Epic. And he designed it himself! Get in!

Quotes from the community:

“Pure awesomeness” – @Puggy

“That $100 is so sick.” – @B.C.

“Good lord that’s awesome” – @ttttubby

“Wow, really great!” - @courage

“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime set, for sure.” – @abby99

 

[Toby]

Contreras Landa

Designed and commissioned by PatoLanda
Inlay designed by J5
Produced by BCC in 2009

Most custom set owners will tell you that it's extremely difficult to design a chip set that means something personally to the owner, while at the same time being coveted by other people. Pato and J5 were able to accomplish both goals with this stunning giant inlay BCC set, while as the same time also making it look like the set was lifted off the tables at a high end South American resort and casino.

Pato chose to leverage some unusual base colors for this set - particularly with the $1 chip:

The outstanding color matching, eye-catching inlay design, and giant inlay all work well together. The headstone of any set is the highest denomination chip - it should look a little special and stand out from the rest of the chips. In using the pale green base for the $1 and reserving the white base and flag edgespot colors for the hundo chip, Pato nailed this.

It's also worth noting that he designed this chip nearly 8 years ago, and it was created by BCC who admittedly had some quality control problems at times. When you consider those factors, this set is remarkable not only for it's design and artwork, but also for the execution of the manufacturing.

This was one of the first poker chip sets I saw when I started visiting the Blue Board in 2009. It's the first set that made me realize that having a casino-quality chip set with your own design was possible.

A bonefied BCC classic. Well worthy of a HOF nod, so please spare it one of your votes!

Quotes from the community:

"That $1 in particular is spectacular" - @jbutler

"Amazing chips. They look and feel great" - @PAZ

"Astounding [...] those $1 look like delicious bites of key lime pie and the $20 is a stunner. They all look tremendous" - @courage

"A dreamlike visage of alien invaders" - @bivey

"Chili peppers [...] not stylized guys in suits" - @tigon

"I thought they were people too" - @Phantom

 

[Toby]

The Capital Room

Originator: joshuadalton
Artist: machinelf
Manufacturer: BCC, 2009
Mold: Medium Greek Key (MGK)

Story

joshuadalton grew up in DC and The Capital Room design is a nod to his roots. Details are scant, as I couldn't uncover much on the Big Blue...

Design

machinelf's design is a classic. Pure class and a great use of space. It's really nicely balanced, with a lovely, classy look, and cool color matching on the text.

Mold

The Capital Room is one of the few sets that uses the Medium Greek Key (MGK) mold. A really fantastic design and usually the envy of the BCC house Flame and Sun molds. Very cool indeed. I wish I had an MGK set, super nice mold.

Order breakdown

???? - .5
1050 - .25
1395 - $1
1465 - $5
1140 - $25
760 - $100
???? - $500

The production numbers were split between
jadillon, JM, MultiMike and shaboo originally, with around half the chips going to joshuadalton

The sherbert nickels were an add on in 2010, I believe. Not sure of the volumes involved. I couldn't find any info on when the $500 chips were made. Maybe under the GB?

Quotes from the community:

"Best customs evar. Inlay, spots, colors, mold...perfectly cohesive design. A classic" - @tastic

"Amazing chips" - @abby99

"Awesome" - @Felix

 

[Toby]

Silver Dust Casino

Owner: @toad94
Artist: @toad94
Manufacturer: BCC
Mold: Flame (and 50mm no mold)

Story

The set is based on the mining town of Crystal, Colorado which is basically a ghost town now. toad's great grandfather came to the mountains of Colorado during the gold and silver rushes circa 1880. toad's family is where it is today because of this history with mining towns.

Design

The graphics represent some of the items the miners and townspeople had in their daily life. The crown at the top of the inlay ties this set to toad's Silver Dust tournament set from ASM and adds to its old-timey look.

toad used mostly earthtones for the color combos, to reflect the dusty mining theme. He used a few splashes of dayglo colors to add contrast, which help when sorting mixed pots. He went with a black $1 chip after seeing the Olivia's $1 black chip.

Color breakdown

• 25c: TRK Tan & Almond
• $1: Black & BCC Light Blue, Charcoal, BCC Lavender
• $1 sec: Black, W Day Green, Charcoal, BCC Lavender
• $2: Adobe, Charcoal, BCC Gold
• $3: New Canary Yellow, Sherbet Green, Grey, Hawaii Flower
• $5: Chocolate & Arc Yellow, BCC Dark Blue, Adobe
• $5 sec: Blood Red, BCC Gold, Chocolate, Arc Yellow
• $10: BCC Dark Blue, Sky Blue, TRK Gold
  
• $20: Light Pink & Forest Green, Coral, Plum
• $25: W Day Green & TRK Fire, Forest Green
• $100: Gray & Charcoal, Peach
• $500: Laker Purple & BCC Purple, BCC Gold
• $1000: Arc Yellow & Adobe, Mustard, Charcoal
• $5,000: TRK Light Turquoise & Plum, TRK Day Green, TRK Dark Purple
• $25,000: Bone White, Black, Blood Red

Summary

This is another, insane, baller set from @toad94, the crowned King of Insane Baller Sets. Despite a few BCC quality control issues, it was one of the last great sets to come out the factory doors.

Another epic set, taking in secondary chips, lovely TRK colors and those fawesome 50mm high denom chips. It even includes a couple of colors not usually available to consumer orders. Righteous!

Show it some love and votes, people!

Quotes from the community:

"Insane set and beautiful pic's, this is as close to a "casino look" I've seen from all the custom sets ever" - @hdgeno

"THE EVAR... Amazing set" - @krafticus

"WOW. Just, WOW!" - @abby99

"The pinnacle of custom set design" - @Toby

"A perfect set. Absolutely perfect" - @AlbinoDragon

"This is one of the most beautiful sets I have ever seen" - @Lucky Dog

 

[Mr Tree]

We are live!

 

[Payback]

Sweet. I got the first votes in. This was incredibly difficult to choose just 3!

 

[jbutler]

Okay, these are tough choices. Thankfully I came up with a system. I started two lists: (1) Locks; and (2) Contenders. I figured I'd get to the end and let the contenders fight it out. Unfortunately the Lock list was overflowing before I hit the end of the write-ups...

Seriously. JAYsus these are some crazy sets to pit against one another. Regrettably I can't even vote for my own set. It's at least sixth for me and maybe seventh among the nominees. Any set that makes it through this gauntlet is luckier than hell.

Thanks, you guys, for putting in the work. The quotes from the community section is a particularly nice tough. Can't wait to see what everyone thinks.

 

[bivey]

Some unbelievable selections. Some new to me sets to think over as well. Reminds me of how much the BCC loss hurts our creative possibilities. Good luck to all. I've voted, but will not attempt to sway others here.

 

[Toby]

Good luck to all the nominees!

Some tough choices this year!

 

[slisk250]

As nice as some of these are, it was a very, very easy vote for me. It took about 5 seconds after viewing the pics.

 

[Chippy McChiperson]

How the heck are we supposed to cut the list down to three? Holy crap, these are all amazing sets. These writeups are great too, but Jack you did yourself a disservice by not mentioning the Clermont Lounge set is used to play the most epic tournament of all tournaments ever contested amongst all sports in the universe.

 

[jbutler]

Jack you did yourself a disservice by not mentioning the Clermont Lounge set is used to play the most epic tournament of all tournaments ever contested amongst all sports in the universe.

I didn't want to take an unfair advantage. Anyway, I bought some Russian bots to register, make 10 pointless posts and then blow the Clermonts up to 300 or so votes at the last minute.

 

[jbutler]

I'm shocked by some of the voting honestly. I would have thought Iron Bank would have been a lock. I totally get why the specific theme might drive people away from it and I would typically feel the same, but whatever marks it might lose for the ties to GoT, it wins them all back and then some with the perfect execution.

But there are plenty of deserving sets. I had 6 that I really wanted to support, so it's hard to be bummed whatever the result.

 

[Chippy McChiperson]

I'm shocked by some of the voting honestly. I would have thought Iron Bank would have been a lock. I totally get why the specific theme might drive people away from it and I would typically feel the same, but whatever marks it might lose for the ties to GoT, it wins them all back and then some with the perfect execution.

But there are plenty of deserving sets. I had 6 that I really wanted to support, so it's hard to be bummed whatever the result.

This is what happens when there are so many amazing sets to choose from, and limited entries. There is no shame in not getting elected right away, it truly is an honor for all of these sets just to be nominated, and in my opinion they are all worthy. You can look at baseball for an example: Joe DiMaggio, Cy Young, Rogers Hornsby, Yogi Berra, Carl Hubbell, Lefty Grove, Hank Greenberg, Robin Roberts, Whitey Ford, Eddie Mathews, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Harmon Killebrew, Jimmie Foxx, Ferguson Jenkins, Duke Snider, Mel Ott, Tris Speaker, Juan Marichal, Pie Traynor, Dizzy Dean, Roy Campanella, Bill Dickey and Catfish Hunter. None of these people were elected to the MLB Hall of Fame on their first ballot.

 

[k9dr]

Patience, the Iron Bank will have its due :

 

[Phantom]

Would love to see Silver Dust get a nod, love that set.

 

[jbutler]

Would love to see Silver Dust get a nod, love that set.

@toad94 has something of a signature style in his inlay designs and spot choices imo. Says a lot that both of his sets are doing very well when nominated in the same year. I would have feared there would be something similar to the dynamic in the Oscars when an actress is nominated for Best Actress twice in two different movies and she loses due to her support being divided.

Not here, though - Mark is deservedly killing it! #toadlife

 

[links_slayer]

^^ what he said. plus, let's not forget that he (toad) has SEVERAL more HoF-worthy sets out there (imo).

 

[jbutler]

^^ what he said. plus, let's not forget that he (toad) has SEVERAL more HoF-worthy sets out there (imo).

Absolutely. I could name no less than four off the top of my head and with his arsenal I'm probably forgetting one or two (or three or four).

 

[Blaster]

Very hard choice, all good .. Good Luck to all!