POLL: Which "A" Design for A-Mold Chips? (Aladdin Recreation vs. Artichoke Joe's Tribute) (1 Viewer)

[TheOffalo]

As I posted earlier today, I (re)created the old-school Aladdin casino chips and adapted it for diamond mold ceramic chips. Since diamond mold chips may not be available in a Tina GB for a while, and I'm in no hurry to place my own individual order, which would cost a lot more, that design is on hold. But in the meantime, I picked up a set of ASM A-Mold chips from @warewulf, and instead of the diamond-related tagline, I used the traditional "Las Vegas, Nev." at the bottom of the chip:

I also recently got a The Nuts topper from @Himewad, which made me want to get some matching chips. Since I skipped out on the GB he ran, I'd have to wait until a new opportunity to get The Nuts chips. In the meantime, I was trying to come up with a design that'd fit these A-Mold chips and also the theme of the topper, and then it hit me that the topper has acorns all over it, and acorns start with "A" (duh)!

So, I looked for any existing casinos that had "Acorn" in the name or used it in their designs, but eventually I settled on a tribute concept. I really liked the Artichoke Joe's chips, even though they didn't check any of my usual boxes for inlay designs. My adaptation took the original Artichoke Joe layout, but then also used the Artichoke's Poker Palace singular image of the namesake (no peanuts).

(Images from ChipGuide, etc.)

And I turned it into this design:

Hope the resident Artichoke Joe's collector @Ben8257 doesn't mind the tribute...

So now I'm not sure which design to use when making labels for this set. I don't quite have enough of the A-Mold chips to make two separate sets. On the one hand, Aladdin is well known and easy to recognize. For the Acorn Pete's, I'd have to explain the source inspiration every time, but it's customized to my name and it goes with The Nuts topper!

I dunno, maybe I'll just put one design on one side of a chip, and vice versa. Would that be too NUTS?

 

[Ben8257]

I voted first brother and 100% absolutely LOVE the Acron Pete's design! Absolutely perfect for use on that beautiful topper!

 

[Ben8257]

I'm not "in love" with the Bright white inlay on the $1 without it being shaped, the white on the chip is too old school, it would need to be a creme background or even another shape to break up the edges for me. But still I think that is a fantastic "tribute" idea.

 

[TheOffalo]

I'm not "in love" with the Bright white inlay on the $1 without it being shaped, the white on the chip is too old school, it would need to be a creme background or even another shape to break up the edges for me. But still I think that is a fantastic "tribute" idea.

Thanks for the feedback. I was trying to figure out what to do with the $1 label color. I like the idea of leaving one chip without a (faux) shaped inlay, but @BearMetal (who I showed earlier concepts of these designs to) said it would be a waste not to put one.

As far as the inlay color goes, I could make it slightly off-white/cream colored, but I specifically didn't want to match the color of the chip (I know that wasn't your specific suggestion). But then if I make the inlay slightly off-white/cream on the $1 I'd want to do the same across the board. I'll have to experiment more with it.

 

[Himewad]

I love me some acorn nuts!

 

[satisfyingbutton]

I love these retro style inlays - it's hard to pick one over the other. That being said, the "love" that goes into the acorn tribute garnered it my vote. Not that the Aladdin chips aren't great, but that's kind of another project as you said. The Acorn Pete's are the best kind of tribute - your personal spin on a classic great.

 

[BearMetal]

Thanks for the feedback. I was trying to figure out what to do with the $1 label color. I like the idea of leaving one chip without a (faux) shaped inlay, but @BearMetal (who I showed earlier concepts of these designs to) said it would be a waste not to put one.

Yeah, I was thinking that in order to prevent reusing an existing shaped inlay you could do something simple like perhaps the $0.25 chip only has two notches taken out, but the $1 chip has four u-shaped notches taken out.

 

[svickn]

Nice! Where'd you get the labels from? Were all these chips 1in inlays before removal?

I'm also team acorn.

 

[allforcharity]

Do the Acorn Pete's. It shows some originality.

 

[TheOffalo]

Nice! Where'd you get the labels from? Were all these chips 1in inlays before removal?

I'm also team acorn.

Yes, they were all 1 inch PokerStars inlays:

(Photo from sale thread.)

The blue ones are like the ones you got.

I designed and made these labels myself using my home printer, hand-laminating printed vinyl sticker paper, and then cutting using a Cricut machine. It's small-batch "artisanal" label making, meaning slow, mistake-ridden, and prone to cursing.

 

[SendThatStack]

I really like the Alladin 25c and $100

 

[BonScot]

Acorn Pete for me… and it’s not even close.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

@TheOffalo ,
FYI, @SUN-FLY Poker Chips has Diamonds mold ceramic chips.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/chipdb/arya.170/
I really prefer these over the ones from Tina.

 

[TheOffalo]

@TheOffalo ,
FYI, @SUN-FLY Poker Chips has Diamonds mold ceramic chips.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/chipdb/arya.170/
I really prefer these over the ones from Tina.

Thanks! What specifically do you like about SUN-FLY's vs. Tina's?

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Thanks! What specifically do you like about SUN-FLY's vs. Tina's?

I've never had one single spinner with SunFly PolyClays.
Edge alignment is also better.

To be noted : SunFly PolyClay do not have square edges - which in my opinion is better as a ceramic will not get his edges wearing.

SunFly PolyClays wear very well and do not seem to loose their grip under home game usage.
For Tina's chips, I cannot comment myself as I've instant sold them when I had them in hands and discovered so many spinners in my order.

 

[MeridianFC]

Acorn Pete.

 

[LeLe]

I prefer the old school Aladdin option the most.

For Tina's chips, I cannot comment myself as I've instant sold them when I had them in hands and discovered so many spinners in my order.

I bought Tina Card Mold on 3 occasion, the super early stage (around 2 year ago) during the New China Club GB, the BTP 43 mm GB (around 1 year ago) and lastly a Tal Mahul GB (about 3-4 months) ago

NCC that I had gotten are pretty prefect and no spinner. The dye ing on the ceramic is really well done too. And It is still holding with little spinner but does shown a little bit of wear and tear in the surface

43MM BTP seem to use a different blank and the dye submissions was below standard (so much so I am very unhappy at first but I get over it since it affordable)
It does have a good number of spinners after quite a number of session and definitely felt a poorer material compare to the blank used by NCC

Tap Mah 39mm is a set I bought for my OG group and the blank felt similar to the 43mm BTP and not the same as the NCC . The dye submission is improved compared to the BTP but still not as good as the NCC. And after some sessions, I already can felt there’s some spinner issues with the set.

So in summary, older CM set are better and can last longer. And the newer CM set likely used a lower quality material and lesser QC check since there is much more demand for CM since the initial stage

 

[Ben8257]

I prefer the old school Aladdin option the most.


I bought Tina Card Mold on 3 occasion, the super early stage (around 2 year ago) during the New China Club GB, the BTP 43 mm GB (around 1 year ago) and lastly a Tal Mahul GB (about 3-4 months) ago

NCC that I had gotten are pretty prefect and no spinner. The dye ing on the ceramic is really well done too. And It is still holding with little spinner but does shown a little bit of wear and tear in the surface

43MM BTP seem to use a different blank and the dye submissions was below standard (so much so I am very unhappy at first but I get over it since it affordable)
It does have a good number of spinners after quite a number of session and definitely felt a poorer material compare to the blank used by NCC

Tap Mah 39mm is a set I bought for my OG group and the blank felt similar to the 43mm BTP and not the same as the NCC . The dye submission is improved compared to the BTP but still not as good as the NCC. And after some sessions, I already can felt there’s some spinner issues with the set.

So in summary, older CM set are better and can last longer. And the newer CM set likely used a lower quality material and lesser QC check since there is much more demand for CM since the initial stage

Spinners? Wait till they start slipping and sliding all over like the EB Matsui chips, that texture doesn't last like folks assume it will. I think we can all agree that a stack of 40 - 50 chips, ok you are asking them to fall, especially with table bumps and people putting weight randomly on the rail. But stacks of 20 chips should never be an issue, these will start to fall all over with even less than 20 with the smallest of bumps on the table.

I tried to warn people and got labeled an elitist aka a clay snob. Lmao I am anything BUT that! I love all chips!!

@TheOffalo I own 43mm sunfly hybrids and love them. Totally different texture and feel than Tina's chips, we actually got that set in play last weekend

Lots of love from both chippers and non chippers on the Sunfly Hybrids.

The only negative I have on Sunfly is that a lot of their glossy labels do not sit flat in the chip completely, they don't stick up high enough to make spinners but with the gloss and lighting reflections it can be a bit tilting on that part.

I have not had the chance to get the Tina Hybrids on the felt yet.

But there are zero labels sticking up on these guys, the matte/non glossy finish allows for better presentation than the high gloss on the Sunflys. I am really looking forward to seeing how these guys perform.

 

[TheOffalo]

Thanks @LeLe and @Ben8257. Ben, how much did you put them into play before you noticed the slipperiness. My NCC CM set was potentially mildly used when I bought them a year ago, and I've put them into play a dozen or so times and haven't noticed any slipperiness. Maybe, like differences @LeLe noticed between his 3 CM sets, mine was produced as part of a run with better QA, or before they changed their process or materials?

I have some SUN-FLY hybrid samples, and at first they reminded me of Matsui or Abbiati plastics, probably because the samples I got mimicked that style of chips. I do also have a sample set of The Nuts hybrids by Tina and I really like those too. Waiting to see if they release a hybrid-with-mold version.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

I also feel that the SF hybrids (43mm with 25.4mm labels) feel like Matsui (minus the slipiness of some Matsui series).

 

[Johnblue]

Acorn Pete’s!

 

[TheOffalo]

Wow I did not expect this to be a dead heat! I thought either most people would think the Acorn Pete's was too silly and to go with the classic Aladdin design, or that most would be tickled by the Artichoke Joe's tribute.

I think my group of guys would like the Aladdin better, since they aren't collectors and won't know the context of the Acorn Pete tribute. It's not that I'd be bowing to public pressure and going against my own preference--I made both designs and like them both! Plus I'm doing this for my poker game, not for collecting/displaying, so choosing based on what (I think) more people in my group would appreciate is my priority.

I'm really stuck on what to do. Appreciate @davislane for voting for different designs on each side! I might just do this as much as it'd tilt people here.