High End Plastic Chips - please share your experiences (2 Viewers)

I’ve only played an actual game with BJ suits mold. My local casino has them for the 5k and 10k chips (the lower denoms are super diamonds, but the better version). They’re fine, but the suction thing is weird.

I have shuffle stacks of BJ S2 and V7, Matsui Lighthouse (beveled edges) and Horseshoe tourney (square edges), and Gemaco. All of them are obviously well made chips (duh). The Gemacos are easily my least favorite, and just feel like some of the cheap sluggers with great quality control. I like the rest, but they’re all kind of slippery. By feel, the S2’s are probably my favorite.
 
I have a set of Bud Jones Parker's chips I bought years ago. I basically keep them out of the rotation due to the suction. They aren't much fun to shuffle.
 
Can anyone give me a "Bud Jones chip types for dummies". What is S2? V7? What else?
 
I don't entirely get the whole slippery criticism, at least to the extent to which it exists. We're adults--learn how to slide a barrel across the table without knocking it over :) .

The Matsuis are a bit slippery, but I like that about them. They're different. I also have two sets CPCs and I love those as well. I like to have a bit of variety.

I only have a bunch of experience with the sharp-edged Matuis. I've handled the ones with a bevel a bit, but I much prefer the sharp edges.

I briefly had some B&G samples and although I like those--enough that I just ordered a set--i still prefer the Matsuis (among plastics). That may change though, over time. Can't say now.

Among my group, the Matsui sets are the favorite.
 
Matsui: slippery but stunning and sounds great. Fixable with sanding.

gemaco: much less slippery.

abbiati: got the traveling sample loan, and for some reason I just didn’t like them that much and that led me to sit out of the gb. Sound was duller than matsuis
I actually like that duller thud sound that Abbiati makes. I think it’s because the face of the chip is so flat and combined with the softer material.
May least favorite that I have had a chance to handle are RT plastics. The chip itself if fine; shuffle and sound. It’s just the flashing and spinners that tilts me. Also, I haven’t really seen any color/mold patterns that excite me. They just look like superior dice chips.
 
I've played around with Bud Jones V7 chips - Borgata, Legends, coin-in-center Condado Plaza and they all have this suctiony-slippery quality where the chips seem to behave like they have a mind of their own. A crazy mind. So those are a no go for me. Interestingly, these chips are slugged too. If you pull off the sticker, there's the slug. The V7 was almost certainly designed by a madman.

Any materials engineers or armchair physicists out there? The suction effect is quite well documented on some Bud Jones lines (no, I'm not going to abbreviate it BJ because this isn't about creating fodder for the OOC thread, especially when talking about suction), but I've not heard any of the same complaints with B&G, Matsui, Abbiati chips. So, is the mechanism:

a) a softness/deformability of the plastic on the chip face combined with a deep enough recess to trap enough air to create the suction cup effect?
b) a build-up of static electricity on the face of the chip or just underneath the surface to cause a similar effect? more prone with CIC and surface-slugged chips?
c) a combination of both of the above?
d) some other mechanism?
 
I actually like that duller thud sound that Abbiati makes. I think it’s because the face of the chip is so flat and combined with the softer material.
May least favorite that I have had a chance to handle are RT plastics. The chip itself if fine; shuffle and sound. It’s just the flashing and spinners that tilts me. Also, I haven’t really seen any color/mold patterns that excite me. They just look like superior dice chips.

I'm sure a lot of people would agree that sound can be as important as feel for chips in play. There can be a fine line and interpersonal variability when it comes to sounds esthetics in chips, and our perceptual range can perceptibly change as we grow older as well.

A good sounding plastic chip, in my opinion, would have a reasonable medium-high pitched "click". The cheapest light plastic chips go into too high pitch, and become very much a "clink". A well-made and weighted chip, would sound like a "click", but be a little more amplified, kinda like a "clack". If the material is softer, then the sound gets duller, and you stray into "clunk" territory. Adding weight to that last category will really turn it into a "thud", which is even worse than an annoying high-pitched "clink". Forgive my lack of technical terminology.

Anybody with both unweighted and weighted S2s please tell me if the sound is similar, just louder? Or does the sound quality actually differ? Do plastics of similar weight and hardness sound pretty much the same?
 
I don’t know if I like the thud sound by itself. I might have associated it with quality manufacturing which possibly changed my perception.
 
I just sampled some Abbiati alongside my s2, r4, and v7 chips. The Abbiati seem like a mix of v7 and r4 to me. In a good way.

They stack well and have some suction effect, but not as strong as the v7. They sound and feel great, and seemed heavier to me than than the unslugged s2 and r4.
 
Oh, and a major plus is I have no worries letting the savages at my game handle my prized Matsui :tup:
That would also go for the Condado Plaza CIC set that I’m waiting to get delivered. Plastics are super durable!
I’m also very curious about mint S2s that someone here has :whistle: :whistling:
 
Just got these mint Condado Plaza $100s and they are very grippy like compression mold chips! I know they will wear down, but even used BJ CICs feel great to handle.
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Can anyone give me a "Bud Jones chip types for dummies". What is S2? V7? What else?

I thought there was something in the Resource section, maybe...?

I know I've seen a picture, probably taken from a Bud Jones catalog of some type, that has representative patterns for a range of BJ chips, but for the life of me I can't find it at the moment.
 
I'm a fan of the bud jones coin in center and some of the matsui chips. The B&g and abbiati not so much. I like the slight stick effect on stacks. Makes you more deliberate when cutting barrels.. fun to watch others fumble around. The condado plaza is a completely different look n feel compared to the Intercontinentals.
 

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I posted a (n inadvertently very blurry) video in the new sale thread in the Holdem Poker Chips vendor section to test the Big Easy chips with regard to slipperiness and stackability. Feel free to take a look, don't want to cross-post.
 
BJ chips that I played with a Paragon were awesome. They didn’t feel too slick and I had no complaints. I recently got a barrel of Gemco Plastics from @RichMahogany and id day that I love the dull sound that they make and they are definitely ascetically pleasing, but they are slippery as hell. I really wanted a set of these until I shuffled them.
 
I recently posted a video in the new Big Easy sale thread (under Holdem Poker Chips vendor subforum), where I tried to demonstrate how these chips handle from a stackability and slipperiness perspective. Please feel free to take a look. Pardon the sales language, but we are vendors, after all!
 
C
Of Coronada Plaza?
Condado Plaza are CICs. (Coin in center)
I have a sample set of the Big Easy Chips too. They are very different in feel, the plastic seems harder on the S2s and has a very nice ‘clack’ sound. I would need a barrel of the big easy to make a better comparison.
 
B&G for the win!!

The Crystal casino chips Stas has for sale are awesome!! I didnt find them slippery at all (maybe because they were well broke in)?
 
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