So what is the deal with jetons and French Roulette?? (1 Viewer)

spellholly

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Hi!

So I first off am trying to wrap my head around the real different between a jeton and a chip other than the fact the jeton is somewhat transparent and has rounded edges- they are both forms of checks, right?

Second, why do they use jetons in French Roulette in Vegas casinos (see photo below) . Is it just to make it feel like a vacation to another country- or is there actually some benefit of using a non "poker style" chip?

Third, basically the first two together. Why? Just because they look fancy- is it just a change that looks like its worth a lot so people get excited?

1614322094694.png
 
Hi!

So I first off am trying to wrap my head around the real different between a jeton and a chip other than the fact the jeton is somewhat transparent and has rounded edges- they are both forms of checks, right?

Second, why do they use jetons in French Roulette in Vegas casinos (see photo below) . Is it just to make it feel like a vacation to another country- or is there actually some benefit of using a non "poker style" chip?

Third, basically the first two together. Why? Just because they look fancy- is it just a change that looks like its worth a lot so people get excited?

View attachment 644155
I have no idea but that is probably the worst looking chip I’ve seen :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:

Why would they use that over their $5 chip :sick: :vomit:
 
Jetons are a type of check. Modern jetons are 100% premium molded plastics, often with a marbleized or crystalline design, like plaques.

The Paris chip above is not for roulette, because roulette checks are never denominated. It is made by Bourgogne et Grasset (a.k.a. GPI France). You can see the BG initials on the face.

And all that stamped metal wire is a security feature.
 
Jetons are a type of check. Modern jetons are 100% premium molded plastics, often with a marbleized or crystalline design, like plaques.

The Paris chip above is not for roulette, because roulette checks are never denominated. It is made by Bourgogne et Grasset (a.k.a. GPI France). You can see the BG initials on the face.

And all that stamped metal wire is a security feature.
Yeah I thought about that- I was wondering if they had fixed limit tables or something and used different colors for different players-

But any idea where in the casino they would use this?
 
Yeah I thought about that- I was wondering if they had fixed limit tables or something and used different colors for different players-

But any idea where in the casino they would use this?
maybe to give it the french feeling.....

In Europe and parts of Asia, plaques and jetons are viewed to be more prestigious than plastic or clay chips.
 
Jetons are common in Europe and chips are common in America. There's a reason for that, and it has to do with Poker (or perhaps even more importantly, the defunct game Faro).

The poker chips we know and love are descended from gaming tokens that have been used since ancient times. In Europe, Whist and some other related card games were often played for stakes, and counters were used to keep track of how many stakes each player owed. The counters came in various shapes and sizes (including, for reasons that elude me, counters shaped like fish).

These practices carried over into America as well, but in America something unique happened. America had a frontier. Frontiers are settled by the adventurous. And of the many sorts of adventurous people who expanded into the American west, among them came the professional gambler. And with the gambler came Faro, and then later Poker. Faro was directly imported from the French, but it became wildly successful in America; Poker, on the other hand, was a purely American novelty.

Faro and Poker have a difference from Whist and other card games played for stakes - they are inherently gambling games, where money is the primary element, whereas in most other card games the players are merely wagering on the outcome, and the use of tokens is merely an aid to keep score. Faro and Poker both require placing actual money on the table... or they would, except using tokens as a substitute for money was a natural adaptation.

So while in Europe casinos were evolving games such as roulette and twenty-one, in the American west Faro and then later Poker were taking off. This led to two separate lines of development. In Europe, the fish-shaped counters, most commonly made out of mother-of-pearl imported from China, evolved into counters of different shapes and sizes to represent different values, and mother-of-pearl gave way to translucent plastics once plastics were created. In America, counters were made out of whatever was at hand - wood, ivory, and bone - and settled on a common shape and size (round) with colors and designs being used to distinguish different values. When the age of plastics arrived, blends of plastic and fillers such as clay and sawdust took over, but the familiar characteristics of roundness, opaqueness, and uniformity of size remained.

As to why you can sometimes find European jetons in American casinos... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe next time someone's there they could ask the dealer. :)
 
Looks fun to me. What an amazing gambling hall. Doubt I could afford to play the minimums
They are pretty to see and robust enough

at french roulette it is also interesting to see the 3 croupiers knowing how to memorize all the players' bets with value chips and not colored chips

the noise of the jeton is also particular


View attachment 644174
 
In casinos and poker clubs in Europe and especially in France, "jetons" are mostly used for "traditional games" -- jeux traditionnels a.k.a roulette, carribean stud, black jack, punto banco (baccarat), ultimate poker, while in the same place, poker chips are used for cash games and tourneys.

B&G ACF jetons
jetons acf.jpg

B&G Cercle Concorde poker chips
concordes.jpg
 
In casinos and poker clubs in Europe and especially in France, "jetons" are mostly used for "traditional games" -- jeux traditionnels a.k.a roulette, carribean stud, black jack, punto banco (baccarat), ultimate poker, while in the same place, poker chips are used for cash games and tourneys.

B&G ACF jetons
View attachment 664877
B&G Cercle Concorde poker chips
View attachment 664876
Those are SO cool, even the chips seem so much cooler than the American ones (like I love my Paulsons and Bud Jones chips... but these are next level). The fact that the Jetons are all different sizes is really neat.
 
Hi!

So I first off am trying to wrap my head around the real different between a jeton and a chip other than the fact the jeton is somewhat transparent and has rounded edges- they are both forms of checks, right?

Second, why do they use jetons in French Roulette in Vegas casinos (see photo below) . Is it just to make it feel like a vacation to another country- or is there actually some benefit of using a non "poker style" chip?

Third, basically the first two together. Why? Just because they look fancy- is it just a change that looks like its worth a lot so people get excited?

View attachment 644155

GPI rolled out that new Jeton at the gaming convention a few years back. A feature of the chip, was that it was impossible to simply take an old $1 or $5 chip, spray paint it, and add a new label to pass it off as a higher denom chip.

As far as I know, only the Strat and the Paris adopted the new jetons. Personally, I kind of like them, but I suspect they will stack for crap. I haven't used one, but I'm also not harvesting a rack of $5 chips that wouldn't match any usable set.
 
GPI rolled out that new Jeton at the gaming convention a few years back. A feature of the chip, was that it was impossible to simply take an old $1 or $5 chip, spray paint it, and add a new label to pass it off as a higher denom chip.

As far as I know, only the Strat and the Paris adopted the new jetons. Personally, I kind of like them, but I suspect they will stack for crap. I haven't used one, but I'm also not harvesting a rack of $5 chips that wouldn't match any usable set.
You’re simultaneously talking about the premium decor chips and classic Jetons, which are two different things. Jetons have been around since the 1900s or earlier, but the premium decor chips are the newer chips that are part-clay and part-jeton used at the Strat. Paris uses normal BG Jetons. The original post appears to be referring to classic Jetons.
 
I now have exactly one jeton in my collection, one of the green Crystal Moscow ones here.

The wife handled it and subsequently declared that I was not getting any more. She said it felt like a toy.
 
The Paris chip above is not for roulette, because roulette checks are never denominated.

This simply isn’t true. MGM Vegas, and Paris Las Vegas both used denominated jetons for French roulette.

At the MGM, the table was in the high limit room. The table was oversized, and had a crew of three or four. Players would all use the some jeton set, and would call out there here, toss them to the croupier, and the croupier would place them with a rake.

The wheel was single zero, and I believe that players could converse in either English or French with the dealers. I saw this on my first trip that Vegas, and was amazed.

After a few years, the table was shut down, put in storage, then sold to the Paris casino. They used it in a similar fashion for a couple of years, and then the table went away.
 
You’re simultaneously talking about the premium decor chips and classic Jetons, which are two different things. Jetons have been around since the 1900s or earlier, but the premium decor chips are the newer chips that are part-clay and part-jeton used at the Strat. Paris uses normal BG Jetons. The original post appears to be referring to classic Jetons.
I stand corrected. :tup:
 
I have no business being in a high limit room, so I can't say what goes on there. But if everybody is using the same denominated chip set for roulette, then each dealer will have to remember who played what bet and where, and lord help them if multiple people place the same bet. Unless they also used coloured lamer on top to separate each bet.
 
I have no business being in a high limit room, so I can't say what goes on there. But if everybody is using the same denominated chip set for roulette, then each dealer will have to remember who played what bet and where, and lord help them if multiple people place the same bet. Unless they also used coloured lamer on top to separate each bet.
They had a person tracking where each wager was placed.
 
Can Jeton's (circular) stack? If so, how high (roundabout?)...

Thnking about ordering some from MSK?

Looks like they can here...

1692465033952.png
 
Can Jeton's (circular) stack? If so, how high (roundabout?)...

Thnking about ordering some from MSK?

Of course they can stack, but only the smooth outer rim makes contact and jetons are very light, so they don’t stack like clays. If you have no trouble handling plastic chips (some people do) then I don’t see why jetons would be an issue. Personally I’d go with 43mm minimum to give them a bit more presence since they are so light. For the below pic I stacked mine 20 high, but in play I use them just like any chips (stacks of ten). The larger the size you get, the more stable the stacks should become.

full
 
Can Jeton's (circular) stack? If so, how high (roundabout?)...

Thnking about ordering some from MSK?

Looks like they can here...

View attachment 1182329
I had a barrel of $20 ACF gold 39mm jetons for use as bounty chips with my Paulson ACF tournament set.

Players had a hard time keeping a stack of two or three jetons in one place. Twenty of 'em was the live version definition of 'exploding barrel'.

Far worse than the most slippery plastic chip I've ever handled... and that's saying a lot.

On the other hand, they are often very pretty.
 

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