Official 2022 Custom Chip Set HOF Voting Thread (1 Viewer)

[Irish]

It is time to vote for the 2022 PCF Custom Chip Set Hall of Fame!

If you read nothing else, please read these two points!!!

• When voting please MAKE ALL YOUR SELECTIONS AT ONE TIME!!!! Once you hit “Submit”, you will NOT be able to go back and edit them!!!
• You may vote for as many or as few sets as you like. This year’s committee has recommended that three sets be enshrined in the HOF.

Hall of Fame (HOF) Purpose
The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to recognize significant achievements in the creation of custom poker chip sets. This recognition comes from the votes of the PCF site membership, in collaboration with the work of a selection committee that solicits feedback from the membership and nominates sets for a formal vote. The committee is comprised of current PCF members, and the committee’s nominations do not necessarily equate to choosing the most popular sets. There is no quantitative way to assess the merits of a poker chip set; therefore, it is up to each committee member’s qualitative judgement on whether a set should be nominated for public voting. As poker chip sets are a very personal creation, in no way should a lack of nomination be viewed as any criticism on the quality of a member’s custom set. The entire HOF process is solely intended to celebrate and augment the enjoyment of our hobby.

The HOF Committee Membership
The committee is comprised of a chairperson, and a group of members. The chairperson’s role is to facilitate the HOF nomination process, and the committee’s role is to determine those sets that merit consideration for a full site vote. There was no formal membership selection process for the current committee members, it simply self-manifested. When a current committee member wishes to step down, they can select their replacement. If a replacement is not selected, the current committee members will debate and offer a seat to a replacement member. It is the intent that the members rotate every few years, to harvest the best ideas from a diverse group of people. Current HOF committee:

• @Irish (Matt) – chair
• @Rhodeman77 (Adam)
• @Thomacetti (Thomas)
• @Chippy McChiperson (Bill)
• @JeepologyOffroad (John)
• @Jeff (Jeff)

HOF Nomination and Selection Process
Custom sets made by current or former PCF members are eligible for consideration in the HOF (permission from the owner is required for nomination). There is a one year “cooling-off” period from the date a set is revealed before a set is eligible for HOF consideration, intended to prevent short-term hype from influencing the process. Custom sets are eligible for nomination for a period of four years. The 2022 nominee class includes sets revealed from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2020. Once a set has exceeded the eligibility period, it is no longer up for consideration. However, the HOF committee may nominate a limited number of “expired” sets for legacy consideration (i.e., to correct a previous oversight). This year the committee has nominated two legacy sets for consideration. The general process is as follows:

• The HOF committee will solicit ideas from the site membership for HOF consideration in the first half of the year, including legacy sets.
• Using the opinions of the membership and their own personal beliefs, each committee member provides an independently created list of sets to the chairperson. Note that PCF moderators and admin have no prior knowledge or input regarding nominations.
• The sets are compiled by the chairperson, and the committee privately debates the merits of those sets. Eventually, sets that merit formal nomination are determined by an internal voting process. Members of the committee may recommend and vote for the nomination of their own sets; however, members of the committee are strongly discouraged from promoting their own sets (i.e., other committee members should do all the talking). The chairperson is responsible to discourage all forms of self-promotion.
• Once formal nominations are completed, notification is provided to the set owners. The creator of a set must formally agree to inclusion of their set in the HOF process, and a draft write-up of the set with pictures is requested to facilitate the voting process.
• After owner consent and information are obtained for all sets, the final list is subject to a public membership vote where the top sets will be inducted into the HOF. Voting is open for 2 weeks to established members - 30 days with a minimum of 30 posts. The number of sets for induction will be determined by the committee, based on the quality of that year’s nominations. This year’s committee has recommended that three sets be enshrined in the HOF. The quantity of PCF votes for each set is public; however, the ballots are secret.

Without further ado, here are this year's HOF Nominees........

2022 PCF Custom Chip Set Hall of Fame Nominees:

• The Ambessa Poker Room - @SpaceMonkey
• Athenian Owl Club - @Coyote
• Bee Room (legacy) - @alpine0000
• Clermont Lounge (legacy) - @jbutler
• Lucky Dog - @Leonard
• The Rainier Room - @madforpancakes
• Scarlet's Room - @Josh Kifer
• Story Hill - @MarquetteMonkey
• Vesper Club - @gopherblue

 

[Irish]

The Ambessa Poker Room
Owner: @SpaceMonkey
Artist: @Johnny5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: Small Crown
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-ambessa.53160/

Thoughts from the owner:
This set was a 10 year plus labor of love journey that encompassed all my experience and obsession with this hobby, as well as incorporating some family heritage.

The number of iterations that I started and stopped over the years are too hard to count. A frequent comment given to new members looking to create a custom set is to take their time and not rush the process just to get the order in. I cannot agree with that statement more. This set was my 3rd or 4th custom set, and the one I am most proud of. I always knew I wanted a cali cash set and I am glad the journey took long enough for David Spragg to bring Canary (as well as other colors) and the scrown mold to CPC. Fun fact: the crown above the lion's head matches the scrown mold. That was all J5. I love that little detail.

Because all the various ideas (some pretty terrible TBH) have been in my head for over a decade, I cannot thank (remember) all the people that helped with feedback, ideas and inspiration. But I am grateful to them all as well as the community as a whole. Several other cali sets sparked my want for a cali set of my own. H|Q's feedback at an old BOTB of alternating light and dark based chips stuck with me. The MGM National Harbour tournament chips were a late inspiration to do tonal colored matching inlays on all the chips. This last part was a fairly big risk, but I feel it paid off and really ties the set together and gives it a bit of uniqueness.

I don't want to ramble on much longer about the specific chip designs, but being a cali set, I knew the focus had to be on the $5. The 6A18 is one of my favorite patterns, so that was an early lock. It originally had 3 spot colors vs the final having 2, and the spot colors themselves changed various times as the rest of the set came together. DG peacock and Blurple were easy choices for me as base colors. The frac flag color matching spot came from one of my first tournament chip iterations that was a T100 Black 3TA316 Red, DG Yellow, Green. The T5 was obviously inspired by Mapes. I use that for progressive bounty tournaments as well as an alternate $5 for smaller cash games (giving the lower chip count of 220).

I could go on, but I would say each of my final chips went through a couple changes before finalizing all the colors. I tried not to repeat colors and while I may not have been 100% successful I think the set as a whole flows together really well, and more importantly plays well on the felt in games. That final part in the end is the one that matters the most to me. And the direct and indirect help of friends and members here, as well as the entire community, has allowed me to achieve that goal, for which I will be entirely grateful Thank you.

Thoughts from the committee:

This is a great Cali Cash set that has it all going for it...colors, spots, inlay, design...the whole package. Ambessa means lion in Ethiopian and Eritrean and it can be used to mean brave, strong or powerful as well in the language. The theme is and inlay execution is not only clean and simple, but powerful as the name implies. There is a good design choice pairing this lion inlay design with the crown on the small crown mold and the font used on the inlay carries on the strong theme. Johnny 5 matched the crown on the inlay to the crown on the Scrown mold. The colors are easily distinguished in a pot and the spot progression is good. Especially clever is the color spots on the frac .50 cent chip which is an extension of the flag. @SpaceMonkey has augmented his setup with branded custom layouts, glassware and t-shirts to round out the poker room vibe. All around, a very strong design and execution!

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 220 - 50c – Grey base 1TA316 – Retro Red, Canary, Green spots
• 420 - $1 – Dayglow Peacock base 4D18 – Retro Red, Dayglow Arc Yellow spots
• 820 - $5 - Canary base 6A18 - Dayglow Tiger, Dayglow Green spots
• 220 - $25 - Blurple base 4TA181418 – Dayglow Pink, Lavender spots
• 120 - $100 - Bright White base 8D18 – Retro Green, Dayglow Peach spots

Also included is 220 – Alternate $5 - DG Tiger base 3ATRIM - Canary, Maroon, Green.

Quotes from the community:

Sweet Jesus... These came out of the blue! Straight into the HOF, surely? 50, $1 and $5 are sublime, in particular. - @jr8719

Wow, very nice. Unique look you managed to pull off with the colored inlays and spots. Well done! - @BGinGA

Whoa! Out of NOWHERE. Think we just found the next hall of fame set. Beautiful logo/room/chips/accessories. Just nicely put together all around wow. - @Venturalvn

 

[Irish]

Athenian Owl Club
Owner: @Coyote
Artist: @Coyote
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: A-mold
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/athenian-owl-club-pr0n.32945/

Thoughts from the owner:
I joined this forum in order to see how I could make a truly custom poker chip set. CPC was the obvious answer, and then I started wondering about the theme.
My love for my city, Athens, and its past, which enriched all of Humanity in terms of Politics, Philosophy and the Arts, led me to the Owl - not least because I 'm an owl myself, refusing to go to bed before dawn, if professional or other obligations don't force me to.

The Owl is the holy bird of Athens, a place named after goddess Athena. The owl symbolizes wisdom, the goddess, and the city itself- "a diamond stone on the Earth's ring" in a poet's words.
A nice Greek expression about someone saying commonplace things is "introducing the owl to Athens" - something like introducing bourbon to Kentucky.

The holy bird was pictured on 4-drachma silver coins (tetradrachms) , as well as on the shields of the Athenian Infantry - the latter having been actually Democracy's breeding ground.

In his Funeral Speech for the first dead of Athens' City State in the Pelopenesian War against the militaristic oligarchy of Sparta, Athenian leader Pericles said:
"We pursue beauty through frugality; we pursue wisdom through action"
"Mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our empire which we have left. Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now."

Pursuing beauty through frugality has been a constant concern of mine while designing this set.
This is one of the reasons I chose a minimal spot progression, with only the fractional and the top value chip (both Non-Denominated for both practical and emotional reasons, i.e. in order to picture the ΑΘΕ inscription) being different than the main body of the set.

Also, the intention has been to use generally ancient-ish colors, technically achievable in 431 BC, still bearing in mind and observing my wife's wise advice, that this set is not meant for submission at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, but rather for playing poker.
For her, they 're now "our birdies" (she is a classical archaeologist and historian, mind you).

What the Owls could represent for you will be shown by your vote.

Thoughts from the committee:
The Athenian Owl set ventures beyond the typical norms of chips sets in lots of different aspects, but delightfully succeeds in creating a truly unique and very interesting set, highlighted by the black and white owl inlay design. Creating a lineup with multiple 3TA316 chips is a huge challenge, and @Coyote did a fantastic job selecting colors that make each chip distinct and distinguishable in a pot, and at the same time all meshing together as a set.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 120 - non denom frac - Gray 212 with Bright White spots
• 200 - 1 -Imperial Blue 3TA316 with Dark Blue & Dayglo Pink spots
• 400 - 5 - Red 3TA316 with Dayglo Tiger & Dayglo Yellow spots
• 200 - 20 - Light Green 3TA316 with Blurple & Lavender spots
• 80 - non denom -Charcoal 4TA181418 with Dayglo Arc Yellow & Black spots

Quotes from the community:

"Sheesh this is an AMAZING CPC custom set in every regard." - @Pete

"Beautiful set!" - @Highli99

"Nice work! Congrats on a really great set. Love em" - @72o

"Usually not a fan of CPC sets, but this is one of the best I’ve seen. Ridiculously awesome." - @DMack

 

[Irish]

Bee Room
Owner: @alpine0000
Artist: @alpine0000
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: HHR & 44mm A-mold
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-bee-room-cash-set-asm-cpc.14695/

Thoughts from the owner:
This set was originally ordered in 2008 in the ASM days to serve a single table $4/$8 limit hold'em game. @alpine0000 has placed several add-on orders with CPC over in recent years, supplementing chips from the original order, replacing others, and expanding to add new chips to the set, including $10s, $500s and oversized 44mm $1000. The Bee Room is a play off his nickname, “BJ” which his friends shortened down to simply “B”. Alpine0000 handled the artwork himself; the elements of the inlay all play nicely together and also note the hexagonal bee hive pattern in the background.

Thoughts from the committee:
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. Simple but classic inlay design that includes a cool honeycomb background effect. Weighing in at nearly 9,000 chips, this massive "single table" set is one of the biggest custom sets out there, capable of supporting a wide array of limit games.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 1800 - $1 - White 214 with Blue spots
• 1500 - $5 - Mandarin Red 414 with With spots
• 2200 - $10 - Light Blue 318 with Canary spots
• 2000 - $25 - Green 3D14 with Arc Yellow/ Blurple spots
• 1200 - $100 - Black 4DSA18 with Dayglo Pink /Dayglo Peacock spots
• 100 - $500 - Retro Lavender 3TA316 with Dayglo Arc Yellow / Dayglo Tiger / Blurple spots
• 100 - $1000 - Dayglo Tiger 4D14 with Dayglo Green / Bright White spots (44mm)

Original set:

Quotes from the community:

"They look great, congrats!" - @bergs

"The set is still as clean, simple, and perfect as it was originally. Great job!" - @pltrgyst

"Classic, simple, beautiful elegance." - @Ellasdaddy

"This set is so insane." - @beaver

 

[Irish]

Clermont Lounge
Owner: @jbutler
Artist: @Johnny5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: Smooth No Mold
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...smooth-plain-mold-tourney-bcc-mgk-sets.17268/

Thoughts from the Owner:
Late 2008 I was living in Atlanta and took a job in New Jersey to start in the fall of 2009. I didn't know if I'd ever move back home, so I wanted something to commemorate my time here and tried to think of a basis for a design that would be personally meaningful and also have some attachment to gambling generally.

I eventually settled on the Hotel Clermont/Clermont Lounge. As the Hotel Clermont, it was one of the first "motor hotels" in Atlanta and was a common place for my grandmother and grandfather to meet in the middle of their home cities of Columbus and Athens before they married. There are many rumors (almost all very likely apocryphal) about the Clermont Lounge located in the basement being a meeting place and underground gambling hall for criminal syndicates. So I chose the Clermont Lounge of the mid-20th century, filled in my mind with guys in black suits waiting to go rip off a local bank and trust, but trying to get their ya-yas out on the poker table beforehand.

Clermont having been chosen as the theme, I commissioned J5 to put together a design and sent him a lot of photos of the then-current Clermont Lounge, a very seedy strip club (it remains a seedy strip club now, but the area and hotel itself having been thoroughly gentrified, it's almost a theme park, tourist version of what it was even 10 years ago). I gave John what I wanted as the basic structure (strip club sign on one side, denom and circular text on the other, but as everyone who has worked with John knows, there are a hundred little decisions he will collaborate with you to make before the design is finalized and when it was, it was perfect.

Knowing there was only one choice of mold for the ultimate design, I called Jim Blanchard and asked if the Smooth No Mold might ever be reinstalled. I love several sets I've seen on the Textured No Mold, but honestly I wouldn't have even had the set made if the Smooth wasn't available. He said it was unlikely due to the error rate, but to let him think on it. Eventually, after some nagging by me, he agreed, but not without giving me as thorough a warning as he could about the quality control difficulties of the mold and how I would certainly have height disparities. My quick agreement was made much easier by the chip prices in 2009. I think my per-chip price for these was 90 cents.

Base colors are as follows: Mandarin Red, Dark Green, Light Blue, Yellow, Purple, White.

And Kenny Chesney said it best when he sang, "No spots, no mold, no problem." At least I think that's how it goes. So no spots.

Looking at them as I unpacked the delivery I knew they were perfect and while there are the height disparities as forewarned by Jim, in a way the "error rate" gives them more authenticity as I was always going for a Stray Antlers crest and seal feel and somehow I doubt their QA was spectacular.

Later I thought to add a pink $500 chip, but Jim said the mold was gone for good. I'm not sure whether any other sets got made on the Smooth No Mold after mine.

Thanks to Jim and John for making my first custom set possible. They served as a great conversation piece when in play in NJ and obviously are very much appreciated when they get broken out for a game now that I'm back in Atlanta.

Thoughts from the committee:
Proof that sometimes simple is better. This set certainly achieved what it set out to; these chips look and feel like they could have been from an underground gambling establishment. Phenomenal double sided inlay from J5, they really work with the mold to give it that old-school vibe.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 200 - 25¢ - Mandarin Red
• 100 - 50¢ - Dark Green
• 400 - $1 - Light Blue
• 600 - $5 - Yellow
• 200 - $25 - Purple
• 100 - $100 - White

Quotes from the community:

“ The no-mold cash set is my favorite. Very classy, instead of customs they look like they could have been found in those backroom illegal clubs from the 40's-50's (all that's missing are the cig burns and 50 years of oil/grime). (y) :thumbsup:” - @TheBigTater

“ that cash set is so ridiculously well-executed on all accounts.” - @links_slayer

“ These sets may just be my favorite custom combo sets out there. Both done so well and both fit perfectly what I think a great home cash / tourney set should be. Love them.” - @ohio3302016

 

[Irish]

Lucky Dog Poker
Owner: @Leonard
Artist: @Toby
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: S-Crown
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/small-crown-lucky-dog-first-thoughts.36719/

Thoughts from the owner:
The story behind the set is that over the years, my wife and I have had a number of rescue greyhounds as pets. I ran into some "cartoon-y" artwork depicting greyhounds a bunch of years ago. I contacted the artist and got her consent to use the images on poker chips. The first two sets were a CPC custom tournament set and a semi-custom Paulson cash set:

In 2019, when the SCrown mold became available, I decided to get an updated Lucky Dog set. In keeping with the SCrown mold, I went "old-school". Simple spot patterns and inlay. The set has grown over several years and 3 separate orders. It goes from a 25¢ to $5,000, although the fracs and the $1k and $5k have never been in play. I have had a few $500s on the table.

Thoughts from the committee:
An old-school set with a cartoony inlay that really works . Very nice subtle color matching on the inlay design. The spot progression, clay color lineup and use of the small crown mold complete the fun vintage vibe.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 200 - 25¢ - Butterscotch 214 / Canary
• 400 - $1 - White 212 / Blue
• 900 - $5 - Red 314 / White
• 500 - $25 - Green 312 / Yellow
• 300 - $100 - Black 414 / Pink
• 200 - $500 - Blurple 412 / Lavender
• 200 - $1000 - Yellow 614 / Orange
• 100 - $5000 - Blue 8A14 / Mandarin Red / White

Quotes from the community:

“ Gorgeous! Congrats!” - @abby99

“ They came out great! What a fun set!!” - @PAZ

“ Awesome. Great vintage look!” - @gopherblue

 

[Irish]

The Rainier Room
Owner: @madforpancakes
Artist: @madforpancakes
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: CSQ
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-rainier-room-cpc.64177/

Thoughts from the owner:
Back in 2007, I decided to upgrade my college poker game with a "custom" set. I bought some Nexgen LAS VEGAS mold chips and had a friend create some label artwork for me. Those chips worked great for many years, but the label material was not ideal and after a few years the primary denom labels were too worn to read. I joined PCF in 2016 I knew I wanted to eventually create a new custom set, but I had no idea where to start. Paulsons would have to make do in the meantime. It took 4 years for inspiration to strike and the timing to be right, and I began the project in earnest in April 2020.

If there's one thing that people in the PNW don't get sick of, it's seeing Mt. Rainier. I saw a photo from a person's house whose living room had a view of Rainier and that got me thinking about how cool it would be to have a poker room with a view of Rainier. That idea gave me the name "The Rainier Room". While I can't yet afford such a lavish poker room, maybe these chips get me a little bit closer in the meantime.

I ended up deciding I wanted Cali colors with as much blue and green as I could manage to fit in. The first chips I really settled on a design for were the $1, the $5, and the $100. The $1 is meant to remind you of a PNW nature scene. The blue base represents water, the green and brown the forest, and the lavender a typical stunning sunset. The $5 is an homage to the University of Washington, whose colors are gold and purple. The $100 has a similar color scheme to a vintage white Seahawks jersey.

I wish I could say I had some great PNW inspiration for the remaining chips, but having decided on the above it was really a question of trying to make chips that work nicely in the spot progression and hopefully wouldn't make any dirty stacks. I've always liked color gradient style chips, as the $5 shows, so I did something similar with my red 25c. The $20 was a real challenge for me. I wanted to have something pretty flashy, as this is generally the highest denom that regularly hits the table in .25/.50 games. This chip went through the most revisions and I am pretty happy with what I came up with in the end, but I do wonder if it would be even better with peach instead of arc yellow.

The final 3 chips to come into the set were all last minute no revision additions. At some point when you're ordering 1300 chips, you realize you might as well tack on a few probably unnecessary denoms and special chips. The idea for the $500 was to have another gradient chip featuring DG Tiger, but with greater extremes. The 1/4 pie 4A14 spot pattern is pretty rare, I can't think of any set I've seen that has used it. I really like how it came out. While I was at it, why not a rack of solid 5c for microstakes? Green was an easy choice here. @The Nuts had the great idea for a member chip, so I created the blue and green 1/2 pie 2A12 to give to my regulars.

Designing the inlay was a fun - but very time consuming - experience. It was my first project of this type so there was a decent learning curve involved. I made the initial mockups in Photoshop. Once I had solidified my ideas I started to learn Illustrator to translate the design to a vector graphic, which is better for printing at arbitrary sizes. This made adding some accessories like a dealer button and cut cards simple.

The mold was a very tough decision. In my initial mockups I was planning on using Scrown. After trying out the mold samples, I needed to get shuffle stacks of the molds I was considering to see how they felt in quantity. I was very sad to find that I absolutely hated the way the Scrowns shuffled. The other options I was considering were CSQ and Jockey, which were both fantastic to shuffle. I found the little jockey man distracting and CSQ ended up winning the day. I was very lucky to happen to e-mail CPC with my order right at the cutoff for the CSQ run happening at the time, so unlike a lot of people I only had to wait 4-5 months for the chips to be produced and delivered.

What's next for The Rainier Room? I am planning another order in the next year or so to create 50c and $25 chips and increase the number of $5s to 600. Additionally, I have a couple designs for a tournament set that may be produced eventually.

Thoughts from the committee:
This set has an incredible clay lineup the with some very unique color combinations that embody lots of natural colors while cleverly avoiding the risk of dirty stacks. The simple and clean inlay design nicely compliments the clay selection and adds to the picturesque pacific northwest theme.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 100 - 5¢ - Dayglo Green
• 200 - 25¢ - Retro Red 2A12 with Dayglo Pink / Maroon spots
• 300 - $1 - DG Peacock 3TRIM with Retro Lavender / Butterscotch / Dayglo Green spots
• 300 - $5 - Canary 3TA316 with Blurple / Lavender / Pink spots
• 200 - $20 - Charcoal 3V12318 with Retro Red / Retro Blue / Dayglo Arc Yellow spots
• 80 - $100 - Bright White 8D18 with Dayglo Green / Dayglo Peacock spots
• 40 - $500 - Dayglo Tiger 1/4 Pie 4A14 with Dayglo Arc Yellow / Bright White / Retro Red spots
• Member Chips - Dayglo Peacock 1/2 Pie 2A12 with Dayglo Green / Dayglo Peach / Dayglo Pink spots

Quotes from the community:

"Dayum. Sick set, congrats.." - @Perthmike

"Wow, those are some great chip designs. Love the set!" - @markleteenie

"Probably the nicest CPC custom set I've seen in a while. Love'em. " - @GianThaMan

"Wow. Just. Damn.... love them! " - @12thMan

 

[Irish]

Scarlet's Room
Owner: @Josh Kifer
Artist: @Johnny5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: Small Crown
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/scarlets-room-scrown-cpc-set.55772/

Thoughts from the owner:
First, Thank you for even being mentioned in the HOF. I'm glad people enjoy these chips as much as I do each week.

Scarlets Room came out after the passing of my Beloved Bulldog I owned for 14 years. She was my first dog, and when she passed, I fell into doing projects. I worked with J5, and we knew this was not going to be a classic chip. It just needed to feel like it should and can toss all the other logic out the window.

The hundo was my first chip, as I loved the spotted birds but wanted to play with it. I built my spot progression off of that, with the two single moving to the 25 (Antique Rose Knockoff), and a 2x3, 3x3, 3 Longx3 closing out the pattern.

The 500, I wanted to play with Saturn and see if a minor use against Blurple would mix or fight, with good results. The 1K became my chip to see what I could do with the yellow mix at CPC. I knew yellow needed help, so first move was to mix it with colors ( Tiger and Light blue) that will help the yellow be bright. The middle spot needed to base the chip. After a few meh options, I found using Maroon as the main base spot helped warm up the yellow and let the spots actually shine. The 5K, I took on the same logic against the underused base orange with bright blue/Dark rich Blurple and the white pop.

The extra chips ended up being a happy accident, as I was able to pick colors that built a Brindle blend. The accident is, most of the chips came back with split spots due to bright white not being a great base. But in the end, the little streaks of white mixed with the bases IS my dog. It creates a pattern that to me, reminds me of her fur. Every time these hit the felt, everyone shares stories of that dog. And that's what the goal was, enjoy the memory's of a good friend.

Thoughts from the committee:
Choosing to stray from the "standard" tournament chip colors can be risky.... but when done well, the results can yield a very unique and distinguished custom set. Such is the case for @Josh Kifer 's Scarlet's Room set, which creatively uses maroon for the T25 chip base color. By utilizing mostly smaller scale spot patterns through the workhorse chips - allowing lots of base color to shine, Josh was able to weave a purple/pink common accent tone through most of the chips in the set, tying them all together without beating you over the head with those colors and risking dirty stacks. The inlays are clean, simple and have a cool old school vibe, which pairs well with the small crown mold, spot pattern and overall feel of the set.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 160 – T25 – Maroon base – 1D14 – Dayglo Green/Ret Lav spots
• 200 – T100 – Charcoal base – 1TA316 – Dayglo pink/Black/Bright White spots
• 100 – T500 – Ret Lav base – 3D18 – Blurple/Saturn spots
• 100 – T1K – Yellow base – 3TA316 – Dayglo Tiger/Maroon/Light blue spots
• 40 – T5K – Orange base – 3TA181418 – Dayglo peacock/Bright white/Blurple spots
• Bounty – Bright White Base – 3ATRIM – Retro Red/Chocolate/Butterscotch spots

Quotes from the community:

"wow!!! what a unique and original set. congratulations!" - @navels

"Congrats on a great set! I love the unique feel!." @markleteenie

"Whoa. Just lovely." - @gopherblue

 

[Irish]

Story Hill
Owner: @MarquetteMonkey
Artist: @MarquetteMonkey
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: CSQ
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/welcome-to-story-hill-cpc.64864/

Thoughts from the owner:
Since finding PCF, the part of this community that I enjoyed the most with was seeing others' custom sets. I loved the personalization, the backstories, and the inspirations. I knew quickly that I wanted to make my own custom set. The right theme, however, took me well over a year to arrive at. I knew it couldn't be forced. I wanted to create an 'heirloom set', so it needed to have significance to me and my family. That's when the Story Hill set idea was born.

I grew up in a wonderful little neighborhood called Story Hill. I later moved into this same neighborhood with my wife as newlyweds, starting a new chapter in a familiar scene. Not too far from downtown Milwaukee and a short walk down the hill to Miller Park (then County Stadium) where the Brewers play, the neighborhood is filled with charm. It is known for its variety of houses that have so much character - many of which are Tudor style and feel like they could be in a fairytale story. The hand drawn font of Story Hill on the chips aims to mimic a storybook flair. This set depicts a drawing of my childhood home on one side and a drawing of the first home my wife and I bought on the other side.

I am an inlay guy - its the most important part of the chip for me. It doesn't matter how perfect the spots and colors are, if it has a bad inlay, it ruins the chip for me. So getting the inlay right was a priority. I generally like clean inlays - white backgrounds, an interesting focal point, and legible but unique font. I drew a lot of inspiration from @72o Knollwoods set which was my first love on PCF and inspired me to do my own hand-drawn font and house. Generally, I am not the biggest fan of chips that have two different inlays on either side of the chip. However, because I wanted the set to depict both houses that had meaning to me, I decided to have both houses on each chip - one on either side. My goal was to have the drawings be cohesive in style so that the differences were almost unnoticeable in a splashed pot, yet at the same time accurately capture the unique charm of both houses. I also really like well executed color matching of inlay elements to base chip and spot colors. Bold, gradient color matching generally is not my style and is very difficult to successfully pull off, so I decided to add subtle color matching elements in the font, house doors, and smoke coming from the chimney. I had many iterations of my inlay, but ultimately I was very pleased with how it captured the essence of the two houses I lived in as well as the storybook charm of the neighborhood.

As for the rest of the set design, I knew 3 things: 1) Spot progression was important to me, 2) I wanted my workhorse chip ($1) to be Marquette University colors, and 3) I wanted a hub shaped inlay for my $5. That meant adding shaped inlays to most of the rest of the set for it to make a cohesive set which was an expensive endeavor, but I was very pleased with how they turned out. Finally, I wanted a set that was versatile enough to be used for cash games as well as single or two table tournaments.

Thank you for reading and I hope that my set or any one of the other fantastic sets nominated serves as inspiration for the creation of many more fantastic sets to be shared on PCF!

Thoughts from the committee:
Story Hill has an excellent clay lineup top to bottom with some really cool & unique spot/color combinations. It's really tough to get a 7 chip lineup with minimal repeating colors that both looks good and cohesive, but @MarquetteMonkey hit it out of the park here. However the real highlight of the set is the incredible inlay design, which has a simple & clean appearance at first glance, but lots of interesting finer details upon closer inspection. The subtle color matching of certain elements complements each individual chip while the constant red denomination helps to tie the set together. The style of the font wonderfully matches the storybook style graphics. Incredible attention to detail in every aspect of this set!

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 200 x 25c - Bright White 2D14 with Light Green / Imperial Blue spots
• 300 x $1 - Retro Blue 3ATRIM with Bright White / Canary / Dayglo Peacock spots
• 200 x $5 - Mandarin Red 4D14 with Light Blue / Dayglo Pink spots
• 140 x $25 - Dayglo Green 6A18 with Black / Bright White spots
• 160 x $100 - Black 6D18 with Dayglo Yellow / Light Blue spots
• 80 x $500 - Retro Lavender 3TA316 with Dayglo Arc Yellow / Dayglo Tiger / Blurple spots
• 120 x $1000 - Dayglo Peach 2V12214 with Dayglo Peacock / Retro Blue / Retro Blue spots

Quotes from the community:

"Stunning set!!! Absolutely phenomenal! Congratulations!" - @ChaosRock

"Instantly one of my favorite sets ever. I'm not just talking CPC either. Mind blown." - @GenghisKhan

"Bravo! Absolutely gorgeous. Shaped inlays were well worth it. Magnificent colors."" - @Eloe2000

 

[Irish]

Vesper Club
Owner: @gopherblue
Artist: @Johnny5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: Large Crown
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...school-large-crown-hotstamped-cash-set.65515/

Thoughts from the owner:
The journey to create this set was, to put it mildly, a bit of an ordeal.

I am, if nothing else, a TRK guy. Like many of my TRK fellow-travelers, I love scrowns. The truth is, until very recently, many of us looked down our noses at large crown TRKs, mostly, I suspect, because there aren't that many playable sets available. However, the scales fell from my eyes with respect to lcrowns the day I met Glenn O'Neill (the O’Neill’s owned TRK) at his home workshop in early 2016. He showed me the beauty that lcrowns possess--hotstamps in particular--and after spending time browsing the old-school goodness and vintage fonts of 1940s and 1950s hotstamps, I became enamored with the idea of a playable hotstamped large crown set ever since that day. I daydreamed and mocked up a cash set of large crowns, using colors and spot patterns that would evoke a 1940s-era card club, and I even had a name picked out--named for my daughter born in 2016: The Vesper Club. I envisioned the hotstamps in true vintage TRK form: with the club name in an art deco font on one side, and the classic TRK denomination stamp on the other. Period-appropriate fonts, colors and spots. My goal was a chip that could be mistaken for one from the 1940s/1950s.

Alas, my dream was for naught, as TRK had long-since shuttered. Or so I thought. But then a little birdie told me in late 2017/early 2018 that CPC had acquired the lcrown and scrown molds. I reached out to David Spragg, who gave me a non-denial confirmation, but wouldn't say anything more until October 2018, when he formally announced that he had the molds. I immediately called @Johnny5 and, using some classic TRK hotstamps as inspiration, commissioned him to give wings to my very specific dream. Which he did.

But only a month or so later, my dream was dashed, as CPC announced that, despite herculean efforts, there was no way for the lcrowns (or scrowns) to be stamped, due to a thousandths-of-an-inch concavity in the faces of the molds. Hotstamps just couldn’t properly stamp on such chips, even with such a vanishingly small curve to the chip face.

So, my dream set was not to be. By then I had a fully formed set of mock-ups, with finished artwork, spot patterns and colors. But without a means to stamp the chips, the artwork and mock-ups would only ever exist as a great screen background on my iphone, since now, according to CPC, that was the closest I'd ever come to my dream set.

Until @AK Chip, about a year later, changed my chipping life. Pat made a casual little post on PCF about buying a hotstamping machine. I PM'd him to see if he thought he could stamp lcrowns. He said he was game to try, but that it would be some months before he could do so. He was as excited about the possibility as I was, and he didn’t even really know me. Little did I know, but this was the turning point in my quest—I cannot stress this enough: without Pat's dedication, enthusiasm, blood, sweat, and insane willingness to make this set happen, it never would have been made. Thank you Pat!

We arranged to have CPC send Pat some lcrown blanks to try stamping, and the results, while far from perfect, showed a tiny bit of promise. I asked Pat for his honest assessment about whether he could stamp the lcrowns, and he said he thought that maybe he could, but he was honest--it was a risk and I'd need to buy many, many more blanks than I needed, due to the high failure rate when stamping. So, I emailed CPC and pulled the trigger on a large set (with tons of spares) in November 2019...on a maybe.

It took the better part of another year, with many unforeseen bumps in the road, but Pat (and J5) brought my dreams to reality. I cannot stress enough how hard it was for Pat to stamp these chips, and the amount of work involved. Each chip stamped by hand, then hand-scraped, then resetting the machine and repeating. Again: without Pat's unbelievable dedication and perfectionism, this set could not exist.

Several PCF legends also gave me sage advice and encouragement along the way: @Psypher1000 (my design guru), @AfterTheFact, @bentax1978, and @PAZ. My sincere gratitude to all of you.

Some additional background on design influences. As I mentioned, I wanted the set to have period-appropriate colors, typography and look/feel. Chips that make aficionados do a double-take and head straight for the ChipGuide. I'd like to think my set is pretty close to that goal. If you’re so inclined, and you search for large crown hotstamps in the ChipGuide, I think you’ll agree. Check out the Pioneer Club 25c, the El Rancho $100, and the Caanada Club $5, and you’ll see my inspiration.


Thoughts from the committee:
A testament that patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait. Elegance through simplicity, this set does a wonderful job in capturing the vintage vibe of a 40's era cardroom. From the old school color scheme to the awesome custom hot stamp and use of the TRK style denoms and large crown mold, this set pays the ultimate tribute to all things TRK.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 100 - 25¢ - Retro Lavender
• 200 - $1 - Retro Blue 214 with Canary spots
• 400 - $5 - Dayglow Peach 314 with Green spots
• 200 - $20 - Chocolate 414 with White spots
• 100 - $100 - Gray 414 with Purple spots

Quotes from the community:

"Incredible, congratulations to you and everyone involved." - @Taghkanic

"I love every last thing about this set! Congratulations!!" - @BPTDirector

":stunned: I have no words. Congratulations!" - @abby99

"This set is another perfect example of simplicity and sophistication winning the day. " - @jr8719

 

[MarquetteMonkey]

A major thank you to the committee for all of their hard work and effort on what is my favorite part of the PCF community - the celebration of custom sets.

Win lose or draw it’s a major honor to have my set nominated. Thank you to all that have expressed kind words about my set in the past - it has meant a lot to me.

Good luck to the rest of the well deserving sets nominated this year. It’s a stacked class!

 

[Chippy McChiperson]

A major thank you to the committee for all of their hard work and effort on what is my favorite part of the PCF community - the celebration of custom sets.

Win lose or draw it’s a major honor to have my set nominated. Thank you to all that have expressed kind words about my set in the past - it has meant a lot to me.

Good luck to the rest of the well deserving sets nominated this year. It’s a stacked class!

Thanks, I think @Irish deserves a majority of the praise. As head of the committee he put in a lot of work (way more than you would think) to make this happen. He did a fantastic job, and as a result I think we came out with a phenomenal group of nominations this year.

Congrats to all the nominees, whether or not you get voted in this time, you all should be proud of yourselves.

 

[JMC9389]

Is it just me, or does each year get more loaded? I was tempted to vote for them all. Congrats to the lucky owners of these sets for the nominations!

 

[Chippy McChiperson]

Is it just me, or does each year get more loaded? I was tempted to vote for them all. Congrats to the lucky owners of these sets for the nominations!

That's what I was saying in the committee lol

 

[Goldfish]

I have been to the Bee Room a number of times. These chips look awesome especially when you have a lot of them……

 

[bergs]

The Bee Room lit a fire in my to get a massive custom limit set that took almost 10 years to satisfy. When you look at them in the context of when they were made, they’re groundbreaking and awesome.

On the flip side, there are several sets that were designed as throwbacks, for lack of a better term. The set that does it the best is the Clermonts IMO. They legit look like you found them in the attic in a box your grandfather put up there right after WWII. I’ve played with them and they handle great, perfect weight, shuffle like butter (I think physical playability is a trait often overlooked when evaluating sets).

I’ve had people who saw the Ambessa Room chips on the Ambessa Room table ask me where the casino is. Of all the chips up for nomination, the Ambessa Room is the one that you’d glance at and be looking for the Noodle Bar. Fantastic set, also handles and feels great.

Best homegame set and limit set - Bee Room
Best throwback set - Clermont Lounge
Best all around - Ambessa Room

Good luck to all the nominees. These are all really well done sets and having played with a lot of them they’re a treat to shuffle and stack.

 

[chipinla]

If I do a Pete Rose tribute set will it ever be eligible?

 

[cpac54]

Cast my vote! Congrats to all nominees and thanks to everyone involved for putting this together - this is why I love PCF.

 

[Coyote]

Many thanks to the Committee for their work.
Congrats to all fellow contestants!
I hadn't even noticed that the voting was on

 

[cpac54]

Many thanks to the Committee for their work.
Congrats to all fellow contestants!
I hadn't even noticed that the voting was on

I didn't even notice until yesterday myself. Doesn't seem like a lot of voters given it's been up for two weeks already. I wonder if the HoF vote is an occasion where perhaps a blanket message on all members could get sent out via PM so that everyone is aware, or maybe that the voting thread gets stickied somewhere that would be highly visible?

In any case, let's spread the word!

 

[Coyote]

Yeah, and to avoid mishaps like that in the joke with the macho guy being told "congrats, you 've been elected Miss Summer 2022"

 

[Chippy McChiperson]

It's only been up since Monday, the dates on the first couple posts were drafts that we did in the committee. But yes, please spread the word.

 

[Sprouty]

Congrats to all the nominees! Such an awesome accomplishment! I had a tough time voting this year.

I also want to thank the committee for putting this together! I look forward to it every year and it's something that I truly appreciate.

Now bump! Vote people!

 

[slisk250]

Best set here by a long shot is Story Hill. Fantastic art on the inlays. Outstanding clay choices. Can’t ever go wrong with Alan Crowell on the consulting team. Wish I owned this, the only set on this mold I really like but I’m picky.

 

[Okku]

Clermont Lounge
Owner: @jbutler
Artist: @Johnny5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: Smooth No Mold
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...smooth-plain-mold-tourney-bcc-mgk-sets.17268/

Thoughts from the Owner:
Late 2008 I was living in Atlanta and took a job in New Jersey to start in the fall of 2009. I didn't know if I'd ever move back home, so I wanted something to commemorate my time here and tried to think of a basis for a design that would be personally meaningful and also have some attachment to gambling generally.

I eventually settled on the Hotel Clermont/Clermont Lounge. As the Hotel Clermont, it was one of the first "motor hotels" in Atlanta and was a common place for my grandmother and grandfather to meet in the middle of their home cities of Columbus and Athens before they married. There are many rumors (almost all very likely apocryphal) about the Clermont Lounge located in the basement being a meeting place and underground gambling hall for criminal syndicates. So I chose the Clermont Lounge of the mid-20th century, filled in my mind with guys in black suits waiting to go rip off a local bank and trust, but trying to get their ya-yas out on the poker table beforehand.

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Clermont having been chosen as the theme, I commissioned J5 to put together a design and sent him a lot of photos of the then-current Clermont Lounge, a very seedy strip club (it remains a seedy strip club now, but the area and hotel itself having been thoroughly gentrified, it's almost a theme park, tourist version of what it was even 10 years ago). I gave John what I wanted as the basic structure (strip club sign on one side, denom and circular text on the other, but as everyone who has worked with John knows, there are a hundred little decisions he will collaborate with you to make before the design is finalized and when it was, it was perfect.

Knowing there was only one choice of mold for the ultimate design, I called Jim Blanchard and asked if the Smooth No Mold might ever be reinstalled. I love several sets I've seen on the Textured No Mold, but honestly I wouldn't have even had the set made if the Smooth wasn't available. He said it was unlikely due to the error rate, but to let him think on it. Eventually, after some nagging by me, he agreed, but not without giving me as thorough a warning as he could about the quality control difficulties of the mold and how I would certainly have height disparities. My quick agreement was made much easier by the chip prices in 2009. I think my per-chip price for these was 90 cents.

Base colors are as follows: Mandarin Red, Dark Green, Light Blue, Yellow, Purple, White.

And Kenny Chesney said it best when he sang, "No spots, no mold, no problem." At least I think that's how it goes. So no spots.

Looking at them as I unpacked the delivery I knew they were perfect and while there are the height disparities as forewarned by Jim, in a way the "error rate" gives them more authenticity as I was always going for a Stray Antlers crest and seal feel and somehow I doubt their QA was spectacular.

Later I thought to add a pink $500 chip, but Jim said the mold was gone for good. I'm not sure whether any other sets got made on the Smooth No Mold after mine.

Thanks to Jim and John for making my first custom set possible. They served as a great conversation piece when in play in NJ and obviously are very much appreciated when they get broken out for a game now that I'm back in Atlanta.

Thoughts from the committee:
Proof that sometimes simple is better. This set certainly achieved what it set out to; these chips look and feel like they could have been from an underground gambling establishment. Phenomenal double sided inlay from J5, they really work with the mold to give it that old-school vibe.

Set Denominations & Breakdown:

• 200 - 25¢ - Mandarin Red
• 100 - 50¢ - Dark Green
• 400 - $1 - Light Blue
• 600 - $5 - Yellow
• 200 - $25 - Purple
• 100 - $100 - White

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Quotes from the community:

“ The no-mold cash set is my favorite. Very classy, instead of customs they look like they could have been found in those backroom illegal clubs from the 40's-50's (all that's missing are the cig burns and 50 years of oil/grime). (y) :thumbsup:” - @TheBigTater

“ that cash set is so ridiculously well-executed on all accounts.” - @links_slayer

“ These sets may just be my favorite custom combo sets out there. Both done so well and both fit perfectly what I think a great home cash / tourney set should be. Love them.” - @ohio3302016

Where has this set been and why is this the first time I'm seeing it? Absolutely AMAZING, very very well done!

 

[slisk250]

Where has this set been and why is this the first time I'm seeing it? Absolutely AMAZING, very very well done!

Set was long ago and Butler doesn’t have an interest in returning to PCF

 

[gopherblue]

Thanks to the HOF committee for all your work on this, and thanks for the honor of a nomination! I'm thrilled to be in such good company.

 

[Psypher1000]

Holy….

Um, HOF committee…GREAT job of selecting candidates. Like, holy shit. Phenomenal. It’s a murderers row of candidates, and I will be voting for at least five of them because yes. The fact that only three will make it this year means some very deserving candidates will be left out.

More to say later.

 

[MarquetteMonkey]

Best set here by a long shot is Story Hill. Fantastic art on the inlays. Outstanding clay choices. Can’t ever go wrong with Alan Crowell on the consulting team. Wish I owned this, the only set on this mold I really like but I’m picky.

Thank you! Flattered again by your kind words about the set! Means a lot with all the great sets this year. Many unique sets this year.

 

[Psypher1000]

If I do a Pete Rose tribute set will it ever be eligible?
View attachment 1044322

Any Pete Rose tribute set should be appropriately employed at some craps table at Caesars.