| Buyer Beware | |||||||
| Inconsistent quality of 8.5g poker chips | |||||||
| These chips are all advertised as 8.5g "clay", "clay composite" or "clay filled" diamond chips, but there is no clay whatsoever in them. They are not clay composite and they are not clay filled. They are 100% plastic. That is not a problem for me, because that's what I expected. But it is still deceptive advertising. I ordered my chips from two different vendors with very similar results. They both mixed and matched chips of different quality in a single shipment. I can identify four distinct types: Type A: These have a smooth rounded border and the injection point is almost invisible. These are not as genuine-looking as the "B" chips, but they are the easiest to handle, shuffle etc. [blue and white chips on the left side of the picture] Type B: These look and feel the most like real casino chips. They don't even look plastic. They have a smooth flat border and a matte finish. The injection point is very discreet. I didn't actually get any of these, but a friend of mine did. I assume he got better chips because he had them hot-stamped with his initials. [not pictured] Type C: These look similar to the "A" chips, but are made from a cheaper plastic. They are slippery and don't feel as good. [not pictured] Type D: These look similar to the "B" chips but have rough edges, plastic flaring and a very visible injection point. Their plastic is also of poor quality. These are the very worst of the bunch (and the ones they sent me the most of). [purple and green chips on the right side of the picture] The A and B chips are quite good. I like them as much, or better than the more expensive 11.5g "dice" or "suited" plastic ones with the metal slug inside (also deceptively advertised as clay, clay filled or clay composite). The C chips are not that great, and the D chips are just pathetic. The red, black and white ones can be made to look a bit better by scraping the edges, but the purple and green ones are hopeless because scraping leaves white marks in the plastic. The name of the manufacturer is not on the sleeves, only the country of origin. One type of sleeve says "China" and the other says "Taiwan R.O.C." (but then, ROC = Republic Of China). I think all of he Type "D" chips said "Taiwan R.O.C." but that could be just chance (or the fact that I didn't check the sleeves for the first shipment). The two vendors I used were Gameland Sports and 5 Star Deal. Of the two, Gameland Sports seemed to have slightly better chips. |
|||||||