The Heirloom Set (Low Lvl, Low Stakes Cash) (1 Viewer)

[Jake]

Here I will document the process by which I design a custom set of CPC poker chips. Even writing this down will help me articulate better what I want to achieve with this set. Any advice or opinions are appreciated.

Goal:

To create a set of Custom Poker Chips to commemorate the birth of my child next year, and to last a lifetime and be passed on down as an heirloom.

Rough Requirements:

approx 500 chips.
5c, 25c, $1, $5 (maybe a $25 but prob not)
Original Inlay design on round 7/8" or 1"
Low Lvl edge Spots. (1-3)
More traditional than modern.

Plan:

To start small. I want to make a lvl 1 spot only set in the pokerchip design tool. This will help me make sure I get the colors right. From there I can add some complexity if needed. I have ordered sample molds and colors so that will help a lot.

Challenges:

In order to design the Inlays I may need to upgrade my software beyond MS Paint.. I will have to look into the forums a bit more and find information on making ones own inlay design.

Choosing the chip color order is difficult. I am in two minds. Do I make the $1 white/blue, the $5 red etc.. or do I go White, Red, Black, Green Yellow for denom order. Its hard to say right now, need a lot more time in the design tool.

Mockups:

Here is what I have done so far in order from top to bottom.

 

[intjester]

Due to inflation, the nickels will become nano stakes by the time you pass the set along as an heirloom.

Just something to be aware of.

 

[Perthmike]

Those upper denoms are all on the darker side. You could consider lighter base colours to brighten it up.

I liked one of your earlier $5s with the orange spots.

Cpc has some really nice blues such as light blue or dg peacock that look great as a base too.

 

[Jake]

Due to inflation, the nickels will become nano stakes by the time you pass the set along as an heirloom.

Just something to be aware of.

Hmm thats a very interesting point. Especially since I'm taking away the $20 chip. I essentially want a set suited for a $20-$50 buy in for up to 10 people. Does anyone allow paper notes onto the table if chips are running low?

Those upper denoms are all on the darker side. You could consider lighter base colours to brighten it up.

I liked one of your earlier $5s with the orange spots.

Cpc has some really nice blues such as light blue or dg peacock that look great as a base too.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Señor Tony]

You have certainly come to the right place for help designing your poker chips.

What is the design concept or inspiration for the chips?

 

[Perthmike]

I’d also recommend paying someone to do your inlay for you. @p5woody is excellent at inlay design. It will make a big difference to the outcome of your set. Even at lvl1 spots you are looking at a large financial outlay, you want to get it right.

Here’s a couple of versions using similar, but lighter colours to your mock-up. My advice would be to spend ages mocking up tonnes of versions so you can see what you do and don’t like.

 

[Jake]

You have certainly come to the right place for help designing your poker chips.

What is the design concept or inspiration for the chips?

The inspiration is an heirloom set. Something that will be timeless in terms of style and color choices (aiming high). That I can pass on to my kids that represents the connection between them and their father and our shared ancestry. A dignified, classy set with a sense of gravity and contrast. I think more and more that the key will be the Inlay design. Something that represents my connection to my European ancestors or lineage would be great. Originally I was thinking something like "Jake's Cash Game" as my friends had only ever played tournament style until I threw a pretty well received "Cash Game". But now I'm thinking something that could be a little more ambiguous or suggestive. I chose the Knight on a horse as a placeholder as I like European history and I was influenced by an Avalon chip I saw recently. I also thought a well designed inlay which included 'The Laughing Cavalier' could be interesting, although probably a bit too gimmicky.
Id also like to have edge spot progression in some sense.

Intjester brought up a good point about inflation so I could make make a non denominated Chip that could be a 5c chip to start, and in future could become a $25 chip?

I’d also recommend paying someone to do your inlay for you. @p5woody is excellent at inlay design. It will make a big difference to the outcome of your set. Even at lvl1 spots you are looking at a large financial outlay, you want to get it right.

Here’s a couple of versions using similar, but lighter colours to your mock-up. My advice would be to spend ages mocking up tonnes of versions so you can see what you do and don’t like.
View attachment 194468
View attachment 194469

Those look really great. You make a good point about tone's, and your examples clearly look more like a 'set' than what I have been able to come up with so far so I will take that advice on board. I might have to look more into getting a designer on board at some point, I keep hearing about a few such as a J5 etc. Partly i'd like to be able to say I designed the whole chip by my self but its an area I need to look more into either way. I might be putting the cart before the horse by working on the chip color and spot pattern's before the Inlay and theme : /

 

[intjester]

Hmm thats a very interesting point. Especially since I'm taking away the $20 chip. I essentially want a set suited for a $20-$50 buy in for up to 10 people. Does anyone allow paper notes onto the table if chips are running low?

Thanks for the advice!

Not on this forum. MOAR chips!

 

[Perthmike]

here’s an example of an amazing sets using uniform level 1 spots. Both have excellent inlays.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/suicide-queen-asm-cpc-md-50-cash-set.8695/page-2#post-440608
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/soapys-2-0.30994/

 

[stocky]

Perhaps consider a non denominated chip that could be used as a 5¢ or if you host a larger game as a $20/$25 chip

 

[stocky]

Also you can do a simple lvl 1 set with some variety.

As you can see here, different spots, same chip for the 5¢ and $25 that works for both.

 

[andy699669]

I'd go for Tier 2 614 spots, more spots at same price.

 

[stocky]

also as your in Australia don’t forget about exchange rates, shipping costs and even taxes that may arise when they land in Oz. iirc the limit is 1000aud then they charge about 15% of the purchase price.

 

[Jake]

Thank you gentlemen for the advice, links and mockups.

I noticed something while playing around on the design tool. If you select the same color for some edge spots it reverts to a different edge spot design. In this example below, I may prefer how it looks in A. however because the spot has changed to a 312, will the finished product look like it does in A, or B?

So far I like the more rough, hand made looking spots more than the cleaner ones. It might help with my theme of heirloom as well. Also I think the theme or name of the chip has been right under my nose this whole time: "The Heirloom Set". Perhaps "Heirloom" will be the logo/text on the Inlay.

 

[Nex]

The level info the Chip Design tool tells you for these down-simplified spots are incorrect though as far as I know. I believe the automatic mention of a lower complexity spot in the tool is just so you know there is a cheaper option available. If you design a chip with the 3TA181418 punch but with three identically colored spots, and the tool shows 312 for the spot, when you order that without any further mention it will be done using the 312 punch.

If you elect to have a 312 punched with the 3TA181418, that still costs more. Not sure though, but before you make any assumptions regarding pricing there, ask David. When ordering something like that, you have to mention it explicitly.

 

[Perthmike]

If you pick the 3ta181428, it will cost more as @Nex says. I think the tool has just identified that by selecting one colour it’s effectively 312.
if you want a base spot like the one in your top post then pick 3916, although note that it’s level 2, not 1.

 

[Nex]

For further experimentation, do note -- 3A916 (two or three different spot colors) costs the same as 3A12 (two or three different spot colors). Both level 4. 3916 cost only is higher than 312 when you have three identically colored spots.

 

[stocky]

There is no 3t181418 punch. They use the 312 punch and then fill the punches out area with 2x 1/8 and one 1/4 spots to make a more complex spot.

The design tool just makes this easier to visual

So essentially you would just be getting 312 spots but making it a more complex spot name

 

[stocky]

This is a 4t181418 chip. It was punched as a 412 but filled differently. Just to give you an idea

 

[Jake]

There is no 3t181418 punch. They use the 312 punch and then fill the punches out area with 2x 1/8 and one 1/4 spots to make a more complex spot.

The design tool just makes this easier to visual

So essentially you would just be getting 312 spots but making it a more complex spot name

OK I see, that is interesting. I'll make sure I look at samples of an edge spot on a finished product before finalizing anything on a chip.

The picture below represents either the honing of a custom poker set design, or the ramblings of a mad man.

This is where I am at currently in terms of spot progression and base chip colors. Still needs work and any constructive criticism is welcome.

 

[Nex]

$25 - best one so far. Color distribution around the edge could be slightly out of balance. Maybe experiment with 4DS316 vs your 4DS18.
25c - too dark/muddy, not going to look good.
$1 - white plus blue always reminds me of dice chips, I can't help it.
$5 - could get a bit too dark overall. maybe go with some more spots around the edges, particularly with DG colors.

Maybe it's just coincidence, but in case you deliberately tried to find spots that would increase by one for each higher denom chip - don't limit yourself needlessly with that. The set overall has to look good; bonus points if higher denoms look more "worth" than lower denoms. But that absolutely is not necessarily reflected by the spot levels.

 

[Perthmike]

Agree with nex. That $25 is fantastic.

I very much like the light blue 25c with the grey spot you did on the third from last mock-up.

The $1 is ok, but I think you can do better. Not loving the $5 either as it does seem dark. Additionally the spot progression is thrown out by it being only 2v12.

Maybe bring back the yellow chip you mocked up and use it as a frac. Switching up the $5 spot type would allow you to use similar colours but not have it look quite so dark.

 

[Jake]

$25 - best one so far. Color distribution around the edge could be slightly out of balance. Maybe experiment with 4DS316 vs your 4DS18.
25c - too dark/muddy, not going to look good.
$1 - white plus blue always reminds me of dice chips, I can't help it.
$5 - could get a bit too dark overall. maybe go with some more spots around the edges, particularly with DG colors.

Maybe it's just coincidence, but in case you deliberately tried to find spots that would increase by one for each higher denom chip - don't limit yourself needlessly with that. The set overall has to look good; bonus points if higher denoms look more "worth" than lower denoms. But that absolutely is not necessarily reflected by the spot levels.

Some good points. I think you are right about the $1 in particular.

Agree with nex. That $25 is fantastic.

I very much like the light blue 25c with the grey spot you did on the third from last mock-up.

The $1 is ok, but I think you can do better. Not loving the $5 either as it does seem dark. Additionally the spot progression is thrown out by it being only 2v12.

Maybe bring back the yellow chip you mocked up and use it as a frac. Switching up the $5 spot type would allow you to use similar colours but not have it look quite so dark.

View attachment 195022

Yeah thanks, I was stuck on the $1 and the blue and the white over and over. Time to get past that. Just trying some more things here:

I think the $1 is going in a better direction now, thanks Mike and Nex. Although I have pretty quickly gone from Lvl 1's to a Lvl 10.. But I guess I am not the first one to do that around here.

 

[Nex]

The new 25c looks way better. Upper $5 interesting idea too. Do keep in mind however that the $5 probably has the highest count in a well-balanced chip set at these levels, so this could get expensive. The 6DSA18 $25 is a nice alternative spot to improve the color balance.
Still not really into the $1. Contrast between red and blue is just too harsh.

 

[Jake]

The new 25c looks way better. Upper $5 interesting idea too. Do keep in mind however that the $5 probably has the highest count in a well-balanced chip set at these levels, so this could get expensive. The 6DSA18 $25 is a nice alternative spot to improve the color balance.
Still not really into the $1. Contrast between red and blue is just too harsh.

Speaking of, I was thinking of the following denominations and amounts:

200x 25c
200x $1
80x $5
20x $25

500 chip total.

I have done a little bit of looking and I think that this will mean I could have a ten player table and even with rebuys there is enough 25c and $1 for everyone to have a stack of each. $25's mostly for rebuys etc. I'm Looking for a distribution that encourage 50c - $2.50 bets etc. I was close to having a 5c chip but Intjester made a good point about inflation. Am open to suggestion though, as I have only ever hosted a handful of poker nights.

 

[Jake]

 

[Nex]

If you are going for so few chips, definitely cut down the number of 25c chips to 100 or 120 and add more $5s instead.
Do calculate your total bank for your breakdown. Right now it's just $1150 which comes down to 23 buy-ins of $50. That's basically not even one and a half rebuys per player.

New mockups:
- New 25c also very nice. Fits the new $5 very good, as both are kind of monochromatic.
- Lower $25 viable alternative to black body color.

 

[Perthmike]

Much better, it looks nice from top to bottom now, although granted you’ve upped the stakes in terms of cost. I think it’s worth it though, you have to make a set you will be happy with.

My other advice would still be to pay one of the designers here to look at your inlay, it will make a world of difference to what is already looking like a nice set.

If you are set on only buying a small set I’d go.
120 - $0.25
200 - $1
200 - $5
20-40 - $25

Most people would advocate for more $5s but I also like to have more than 200 $1s at these stakes. To show you why, here is a pic from my recent $50-$100 buyin $0.25/$0.50 game. The $1 is clearly the workhorse chips at these stakes.

 

[Jake]

I'll have to give distribution a little more thought it seems.

I'll continue to post my designs as I go just for record, and as always constructive criticism is more than welcome.

 

[Jake]

Just wondering from those who have ordered samples from CPC international. Do they send you an email when they have shipped them or do they just turn up in the mail? It's only been 9 days but I look forward to getting them. I accidentally ordered 2x Mold samples to go with 1x color samples. I know my designs keep changing wildly but its all going in the right direction I think.