Gameblog

Poker chips — opinions wanted

I’m contemplating on buying a set of Poker chips. I’ve got my sights set on two different sets right now, one without numbers and one with numbers. I’m planning to use the chips not only to play Poker, but to replace all unpleasant paper money and miserable plastic chips in other games.

However, I can’t make up my mind which would be better. The numbered chips have the benefit of having numbers on them — it’s easy to see the value of the chip. The chips without numbers, however, are more pleasant to my eyes. The value of the chips has to be remembered, which is an additional cognitive load on players. Having numberless chips adds flexibility, too — what if a game needs chips for $2, for example?

Any opinions on the matter are most welcome.

Mikko

7 responses to “Poker chips — opinions wanted”

  2. Thanks, that was relevant.
    If the colours of chips and the paper money match, there’s no problem, but in other cases putting a sample chip on a bill to display the denominations (as suggested in the forums) should work pretty well, I’ll imagine.

  3. Oddly, I was checking out exactly the same chips earlier this afternoon. I’ll go for the numberless chips, for flexibility. If it’s tricky to remember which colour is which value, I’ll write the values on a scrap of paper and put a sample chip next to each value.

  4. I’ve actually played poker with the numberless chips… …they have a good weight to them and are of a good quality.
    But the numbered ones look impressive, too bad it doesn’t show how heavy they are.

  5. Both chips I’m considering are 11, 5 grams, which I think is pretty good. I think I’m leaning towards numberless chips, because I don’t like the design of the numbered chips, that’s what matters most.

  6. I switched to chips instead of paper money a while ago. It was the best move I’ve made in years.
    Ever since I was a kid playing cards, white chips were 1, reds 5, blue chips 10, and green chips 20 or 50 as needed. If you use the same system everytime you play colors need not be confused.
    I don’t see a problem. You will never regret changing to chips instead of money.

  7. Should have added:
    If a game has $2 bills, you don’t need to use a $2 chip. I recommend finding one system and sticking with it, especially for small denominations. Can’t think of a single game that would need an exclusive $2 unit of money. Two white chips would work fine.
    The $2 bill is usually added for convenience, to make banking less burdensome. The chips represent a exponential step up in convenience, as is.