"Ceramic Poker Chips VS. Clay Poker Chips: 10 Stack For Stack Comparisons"Spinettis Gaming has a great selection of poker chips Ceramic poker chips vs. clay poker chips. People favor one to the other. Why? Are the two chips really THAT dissimilar? I’ve used 10 factors to compare the two chips. YOU decide which is better. 1. The feel of the two chips is very different. Clay poker chips always have the feeling of authenticity. Holding them makes you feel like you’re in Las Vegas, when it was ran by the mob. This is because clay poker chips have been made and used since the late 1800’s. The composition of clay chips gives it a gritty feeling. When the chips are rubbed or “shuffled”, they feel resistant. They’re “sandy” when held in your hand. Ceramic poker chips are very smooth. The materials used in ceramic chips can stand high amounts of pressure during manufacturing. This contributes to their soft feel. These chips are made using a special plastic or resin formula, which also attributes to their smoothness. 2. The only similarity in the look of both chips is their roundness. There can also be “stripes” around the edge. 1-12 colored stripes can be found on the chip. Stripe colors are always in contrast to actual chip color. Ceramic chips usually feature a design around the edge of the chip. 3. The sound each chip makes when in contact with another chip varies, to the acute listener. Clay poker chips make a “thud” sound. When chips come in contact with one another, the sound is un-mistakable. The sound comes from the materials used to make clay chips. We’ll go over materials further down the page. Ceramic poker chips have a “clangy” sound. Almost like plates do, when they are stacked on top of one another. The sound ceramic chips make is due to the process by which they are made. Ceramic chips take more pressure when they are made. The result is a much denser chip, than clay chips. 4. Durability in a poker chip is vital. Clay poker chips are prone to “nicks” and “dents”. Over time ware and tear happens to clay chips. How worn a chip becomes depends on... · Amount of use · If they are protected · If they are consistently cleaned The more care you give them the longer they’ll last. Some ware gives them character though. Ceramic poker chips are very durable. They’re resistant to most ware that happens to clay chips. Using the chips properly will never result in dents or chunks out of the chips. Thanks to the materials that go into these chips. 5. The cost of clay to ceramic varies. Some factors of cost... · Manufacturer · Customization · Amount you want Paulson clay poker chips and chipco ceramic poker chips are top manufacturers in their niche. Blue chip co and Atlantic standard molding are other manufacturers of clay chips. Palm gaming international is another company that makes high quality ceramic chips. Paulson clay chips are the highest quality chips you can buy. They are also priced more than any other manufacturer. Custom Paulson chips cost about $1.09 USD per chip. Prices start from there and go up. Blue chip co offers custom clay chips starting at $0.75 USD each. Atlantic standard molding makes clay chips starting at around $0.50 USD each. Chipco has ceramic chips for $0.95 USD each. $0.97 USD and up for custom chips. Palm gaming international’s custom ceramic chips start at $0.53 USD each. The golden rule of ALL poker chips: the more you buy, the cheaper the per chip cost will be. Blank poker chips of any material will be much less than custom ones. 6. Which chip wins a popularity contest? The winner would have to be clay poker chips. The majority of casino’s and poker rooms, IN THE WORLD, use Clay chips. Plus most players prefer the feel and authenticity. Clay chips are “tried and true”, which gives them a lot of credibility with big and small purchasers. Ceramic poker chips still have their pluses. When it comes to preference, people like clay. 7. Reputation ties right in with popularity. The simple fact that big casino’s use clay chips lends to their reputation. Would big casinos and poker rooms purchase low-quality products? Defiantly not. They want the best, and they buy the best. Some casinos and poker rooms use ceramic poker chips. Their use is limited to smaller casinos and poker rooms. The biggest reason big casinos use clay chips and small ones use ceramic has to do with price. When you purchase large amounts of chips, they get expensive. Large casinos can spend more on their products than small casinos. They still look for quality. The argument that big casinos can purchase any chip they want, makes the fact that they choose clay chips, even stronger. 8. Obtainability: how easy is it get clay or ceramic chips? Very easy. If you type “clay/ceramic poker chips” into any search engine, you’ll get close to 2 million results. Most are sites selling poker chips. The hard part is deciding which chips to buy and how many. It’s all about preference. 9. Customization of clay and ceramic chips varies. When customizing clay poker chips, you have a few options. The first is the inlay. Whatever you come up with for a graphic can be put in the inlay of a clay chip. As long as it fits. Next you can get the edge around the chips engraved. This can be a design or your name, or whatever you’d like. Casinos usually have their name engraved on their chips. Last you can get chips in any color that you’d like. Since ceramic poker chips are flat from edge to edge, graphics can be much bigger and more detailed than clay chips. It’s common to find ceramic chips that have graphic from edge to edge with a chip value in the middle, instead of an actual chip color, like the clay chips. The outside edge of ceramic chips can also be customized. You can have color and chip denomination on the edge, or maybe your company name. Ceramic chips offer a lot more “creativity” in design than clay chips. 10. Materials used in making clay and ceramic chips, are obviously different. What exactly do they use though? Clay poker chips are actually a composition of different earthy materials. Material differs by who makes the chip. Common materials in clay chips are... · Sand · Calcium carbonate · Chalk · And clay To be accurate, clay chips haven’t been made using 100% clay for about 60 years. Clay alone is too prone to chipping and breaking. By combining materials, the chips become stronger, while retaining a “real feel”. Manufacturers have yet to give up the process they use to make their chips. It’s a trade secret. Ceramic poker chips are made from plastic/resin formulas. The chips are injection molded. This is what makes them so durable. The exact process manufacturers use is unknown. Which chip you choose, should be a little easier. Remember it’s all about preference. Good luck! What do you favor?Are you a ceramic or clay poker chip person? Let us know why YOU prefer one over the other! |
