Bud Jones Informational Thread (1 Viewer)

[churlbut18]

Admittedly I know next to nothing when it comes to Bud Jones and I'm looking for help coming up to speed. For me specifically, I'd like to avoid focus on the "coin in center - CIC" chips and instead focus on the non-CIC chips like Borgata, Wyndham Old San Juan, etc...

1) Without getting into an in depth materials discussion, are BJ chips considered high-end ceramics?
2) Are they for the home market? Casino only? Or both?
3) How do they compare to the likes of Sun-Fly, GOCC, GPI, etc...?
4) Do they have an recessed inlay, a sticker, or is the design printed on the surface itself?
5) What is the reference to S2 vs. V7, etc...?
6) How do they wear? Do the edges chip? Does the print/color fade?
7) Do they stack well? Are they slippery?
8) What is the avg price point (are we talking closer to $1, $2, $3+ per chip)? (haven't reviewed past/recent sales yet)
9) How difficult are they to come by? Less obtainable than Paulson but more so than TRK?
10) Anything else I should know?

Thanks,

 

[Mental Nomad]

1) No. They are not ceramics at all.
2) Casino only.

 

[MegaTon44]

1) Without getting into an in depth materials discussion, are BJ chips considered high-end ceramics?

From the horse's mouth

http://www.gpigaming.com/casino-currency/products/bud-jones

 

[rowlin]

Some good info here:

http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/threads/explanation-of-bud-jones-poker-chip-styles-v7-v6-s2.34987/

 

[pltrgyst]

.... Less obtainable than Paulson but more so than TRK?....

This is bass-ackward.

 

[churlbut18]

This is bass-ackward.

I didn't mean affordable. I meant quantity/supply.

 

[Psypher1000]

I didn't mean affordable. I meant quantity/supply.

Answer would still be the same. Bud Jones are still being made. TRK is gone.

 

[K ALL IN 9]

way back in the day (2007) i had a rack of Treasure Island LV poker room $1s which are BJ S2 chips and IMO they might be the most amazing chips i ever handled. Not as slippery as matsui but shuffle and handle like a perfectly broken in paulson and the sound is so unique and satisfying. Since theyre injection molded, all the chips are identical. they dont suffer from manufacturing issues either like warping like some paulsons may have.

I highly suggest trying to track down a barrel of S2s just to shuffle around but dont blame me if it leads to wanting a whole set

 

[BGinGA]

1) Without getting into an in depth materials discussion, are BJ chips considered high-end ceramics?
Nope, they are high-end plastics. Unlike other cheap mass-produced plastics, they are machined to final size.

2) Are they for the home market? Casino only? Or both?
As part of GPI sales policy, Bud Jones chips are only sold to gaming establishments.

3) How do they compare to the likes of Sun-Fly, GOCC, GPI, etc...?
Pretty hard to compare plastics to ceramic or clay chips. Plus BJ has several different chip lines, some better than others.

4) Do they have an recessed inlay, a sticker, or is the design printed on the surface itself?
Most have a metal slug with a recessed center containing an adhesive label..... but there are several different chip lines.

5) What is the reference to S2 vs. V7, etc...?
Those are two of the lines. Reference the GPI web site for more info, plus there is a good thread here on PCF that details the differences.

6) How do they wear? Do the edges chip? Does the print/color fade?
They wear pretty well, actually. Chipping is rare, and colors typically hold up much better than ceramics. They do get smaller with wear.

7) Do they stack well? Are they slippery?
Yes and no. Some lines stack very well when new, other lines blow chunks right out of the gate.

8) What is the avg price point (are we talking closer to $1, $2, $3+ per chip)? (haven't reviewed past/recent sales yet)
Can't help you here.... other than to say you won't find me paying ANY of those prices for plastic chips, BJ or otherwise.

9) How difficult are they to come by? Less obtainable than Paulson but more so than TRK?
New? Impossible. Vegas chips? Pretty unlikely, unless you buy live chips. Obscure casinos (think Washington state and Caribbean locales) are probably the most common ones available. By sheer volume, would have to be less obtainable than Paulson. TRK? Dunno, but I see a lot more TRK sets out there than Bud Jones.

 

[RainmanTrail]

In my chip sales/transactions database, there are 6,441 Bud Jones chips, and 14,877 TRK chips. As a comparison, there are over 192k Paulsons in the database. It's just a sampling of the market of course, but I think that's probably a fair representation of the market ratios.

Personally, I love Bud Jones chips (for the most part - although some of their cheaper lines suck). Most sets stack like bricks. My Grove CICs could probably stack 1000 high or more if you had a level surface and took your time stacking them, and those were in play for at least 15-20 years. The wear is unlike any other chip. If those were Paulsons, they'd be disintegrated with that much use. A barrel of the $1s, which were in play daily for 15-20 years, is only about 1mm shorter than a barrel of the $100s (which were never in play, and could be considered brand new). You'd have to be examining them pretty closely to be able to distinguish a new chip from a used chip in most cases.

The biggest complaint people have with them is that they can sometimes stick together. This usually occurs in larger card rooms like The Bicycle or Bay 101 where the chips see constant use for years on end. Players spill drinks on them, they get sticky and grimy, no one ever cleans them, etc. However, this is also true of Paulsons. Comparatively, they stay MUCH, MUCH cleaner than Paulsons, given similar abuse though.

As far as pricing goes, like most brands, it really depends on what you're after. For the less desirable sets, you can find some for less than $1 ea. For the more desireable sets, they can fetch $2-3 ea, but that's pretty rare. I paid about $1.75 per chip for my Grove CIC set, and many of those I paid $2 ea for (and even more for the rare $25s and $100s). The average price for the Bud Jones chips in my database is $1.29 per chip.

They're not slippery at all. Unlike Matsuis or Paulson suits mold chips. They're extremely well made chips, and I prefer them to most used Paulson chips, and certainly to any RHC mold chips (used or new). However, they're not in the same league as TRKs in my opinion, but then again, nothing is. Minty TRKs are as close to perfection as poker chips come.

 

[TheBigTater]

Just stop it, everyone need to quit extolling the virtues of Bud Jones chips. They are getting pricey enough without all this praise singing going on, jeez.....

Can't seem to find it but I'm hunting for a PDF I saved off of Tomb's post at CT with all of the pics intact that are missing from the blue wall (will post when I find it).

 

[TheBigTater]

Couldn't find the original PDF but luckily I still had the Word doc that I saved so I recreated the PDF. This is a copy of the post Tomb1 made over at CT with the pics intact. Of course some of the info ie: the edge spot styles & such may not still be currently accurate but its still useful info.

Don't know if you need to get permission from Toad1, but maybe the Mods could add the PDF to the resources here at PCF.

 

[RainmanTrail]

The S lines kinda suck IMO. But the V7, V6, etc are great

 

[WedgeRock]

5) What is the reference to S2 vs. V7, etc...?
Those are two of the lines. Reference the GPI web site for more info, plus there is a good thread here on PCF that details the differences.

@BGinGA Linky? My search-foo is weak.

 

[FDLmold]

edit

 

[allforcharity]

Wow, this is an old thread.