Injection Molded

Injection Molded chips:
So you want nice chips but haven't won your local state lotto. No worries. There are plenty of great injection molded chips out there for a reasonable cost. And the best news is that they are getting better each day.

Rating System:
Everything is a 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. FEEL is the overall feel of the chip when you handle it, shuffle it, splash it, etc etc..... QUALITY is how well the chip has been manufactured as well as my guess on how well it will hold up in the long run.Off center graphics and bleeding colors take points away from QUALITY. Finally, LOOKS is how attractive the chip design itself is to my own eyes. This one is the most subjective. Here is where the pictures help you make your own decision.

Questions?
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10 gram Dice faux clay chips: Wow. This is the first of the low-cost 'next generation' chips that I've received. Looks wise, these won't knock your socks off. However, the colors are nice and subdued. Obviously, no edge spots. Where these chips shine is when you pick them up. The chips have a nice, 'chalky' clay feel to them...very similar to a top end clay chip. They handle well and sound JUST LIKE real clay chips. No joke. In fact these chips sound closer to my real Vegas chips than many of the high-end clay's I've got. Throw in their amazing low cost, and wow, killer chips. Also, for the most part, the edges on the chips are *slightly* rounded. On the minus side, there is a very visible injection spot that might bug some. These chips are solid composite material. There is no metal insert. If this is the future of low-cost home-use poker chips, then the future looks really bright.
WEIGHT: 9.2 - 9.3 grams.
FEEL: 9.5
QUALITY: 8.5
LOOKS: 8
Vendor: WeDoItAllVegas

13 Gram Composites: The other chips on the picture are their heavier 13 gram composites. What these give up in cool colors and graphics to the 9 grammers, they more than make up for in 'feel'. The entire chip has a semi-soft feel and they make a pleasant sounding 'thud' when handled. And the extra weight makes a huge difference. (Note: The construction on these guys is exactly like the 'cheap' plastic chips. They have a metal slug in them to help weigh them down. However, the surrounding clay-composite material has a much better feel than their crappy plastic cousins). A pretty good chip, which suddenly becomes a very good chip when you look at their cost. The only major detractor to the chips were that the lighter chips were easily marked up my scratching a darker colored chip on them.
WEIGHT: 12.8-13.1 grams.
FEEL: 8
QUALITY: 7
LOOKS: 4
Vendor: Poker'nStuff

13 gram Casino Clay-Composite: This is the solid green chip with black edge spots seen in the top two pictures. This isn't a bad chip on any scale, but when compared to the 'stickered' chips above, it's a step down. Feel is good, as is the sound made when handling. Just visually not as striking as We Do It All Vegas's 'stickered' chips.
WEIGHT: 12.9 grams.
FEEL: 7.5
QUALITY: 6.5
LOOKS: 7
Vendor: WeDoItAllVegas and Nevada Jack's

14 Gram Tri-Color Ace King Suited: The tri-colored chip have been pretty common in the plastic world, but someone finally got smart and make a composite version. The results are outstanding. This is one of the best looking composite chip you can get...period. The weight is over the top at 14 grams, but feel is great. These are made of similar stuff as the Neophytes and Sopranos. I cut one of the chips apart to see if the graphics were silk-screened on or part of the mold itself. I'm happy to say they are part of the mold. These chips DO have a metal insert, which is slightly audible, but really, it's not to bad. Like most of the chips made out of this composite material, you can scratch up the lighter colored chips with the darker ones if you try. Just remember that while playing. It's rare a chip hits my desk these days that really surprises me, but these chips do it in spade. Just a good quality, great looking chip.
WEIGHT: 14.1 grams.
FEEL: 8
QUALITY: 7.5
LOOKS: 9
Vendor: AcePokerChipCompany
4/05

All-In Chips: Good news first. The All-In chips are a non-metal insert, injection molded chip that have a pretty good appearance/design. Personally, I like the colors a lot. Looks wise, you should be happy to show them off to your friends. (Even though the self promotion thing on every chip is a bit overboard). The "graphics" on the chips are crisp with no bleeding. They feel pretty good as well, although there is a rubbery feeling about them that prevents you from going 'wow'. Sound wise is OK...but you won't mistake these for a real casino chip. More dull sounding. Where these chips fail completely is in their durability. First, I can break these chips in half with my bare hands. Something that I have tried and cannot accomplish on ANY other chip I've reviewed. Second, these chips are easily damaged both by fingernails and by rubbing against each other. The damaged half a chip you see in the second picture was made that way just with my thumbnail. Again, damage I have not been able to recreate in any other chip I've reviewed.
WEIGHT: 10.3 - 10.5 grams.
FEEL: 6
QUALITY: 3 (7 on manufacturing and 1 on durability)
LOOKS: 7.5
Vendor: All-In Chips

A counter-review from a reader added 1/29/05:
"I think you have a great site but your review on All-in-Chips is a bit harsh.I did my research for weeks and got samples before I purchased these chips.Me and my friends have been playing with them for months and they still look good.I don't know what kind of people you play cards with but no one at my table try's to snap or scratch poker chips.You should choose different poker pals.You make it sound like there gonna break when you throw them in the pot.Thats pretty far fetched.I guess if your trying to break them they'll break,but that goes for most things.Anyway to make a long story short your review on these chips is pretty bad.They feel,sound and look great.They at least deserve a rating of 8 or more.Take it from someone thats been playing with them for a while.I'll still reccomend your site,keep up the good work." signed Anthony.

Clay-Composite: We Do It All Vegas.com's clay-composites immediately gave a great first impression. (There is one review here, because all the chips have exactly the same construction. The only difference is their appearance.) They all have a 'inlaid' sticker in the center that rests below the chip's edge...so it's not so likely that the sticker will get caught on anything. As always, I pried away at the sticker with first fingernails and then a knife. Long story short is that they are really 'stuck' on and you should not have to worry about anything peeling off barring a VERY VERY obnoxious poker friend. I particularly liked the rough, matt texture on most of the stickers. It gave the chip a similar feel to a ChipCo style chip. The icing on the cake was the nice feel and sound made when handling. Bottom line is that these are very good chips, and if you like the looks, one shouldn't hesitate with purchasing them.
WEIGHT: 9.6 - 9.9 grams.
FEEL: 8.5
QUALITY: 8.5
LOOKS: 9
Vendor: WeDoItAllVegas

Casino Royale: So I hand these to my lovely wife to look at and the first words out of her mouth are: "Where is the picture of Daniel Craig naked?" So...I suppose you can't please them all. That said, these are some pretty damn nice chips....and they get nicer when you consider the price point. Clean molding and good design with a straightforward insert all lead up to one decent looking chip. The quality control guys have been on the ball here and these are really some good, clean 'plastic' chips with pretty much no noticeable injection molding issues. The chips have a matt finish to them that gives a great feel and adds to their look. Sound is good and muffled. Nothing 'ringy' here. Oh...and did I mention they weigh a ton? OK...we've got great looks, good feel and nice weight. Anything wrong??? They are slightly slick. Not bad, mind you...but enough to make shuffling them fairly challenging. For game use, the 'slickness' is comparatively nothing to some of the other injection molded chips out there. Good stuff....once again...especially considering the price point. Oh yeah, and you are that much closer to being 'Bond' than you were five minutes ago. ;-)
WEIGHT: 14.0 - 14.1 grams
FEEL: 9
QUALITY: 9
LOOKS: 9
Manufacturer: ?????
Vendor: Apachepokerchips

Casino Quality Clay Composites: Just when you thought you'd seen everything. An injection molded chip that is a serious threat to the ceramic and compression molded buyers out there. Everyone at my office that laid their hands on these chips immediately fell for them. These are *VERY* nice chips. If you like their looks, then I highly recommend you order a sample to check out. There is no metal insert in these, as you can see in the picture. Great quality as well. These chips have raised the bar.
WEIGHT: 10.8 - 10.9 grams.
FEEL: 9.5
QUALITY: 10+
LOOKS: 8
Vendor: The Poker Chip Co. Ltd.

Note (6/4/05): This review is of TPCC's 1003 and 1006 chips ONLY!

Desert Palms 'Pure Clay': In a hurry? Got something better to do than read reviews about pokerchips? OK, here...I'll make it easy for you. These are the best composite chips I've ever had hit my doorstep. Why are you still reading? OK, fine. Are they perfect, no...so let's go over that. Naming the chips 'Pure Clay' is....interesting. I'll stop there. Any other badness can be summed up in that the chips are not for stacking. They are slick. Period. Slick as any plastic chip out there. Now...the good stuff. First, these chips use the same mold as their big brother Compression Molded chips, which gives them a fantastic look right out of the gate. Second, the color combo's used are great. In fact, IMHO, better than the Compression molded version colors. The spots are multi-colored...another huge plus. Their feel is great, helped by a nice weight ranging 9.3 to 9.5 grams. The inlay is a sticker that's really tough to finger-nail off and has the added bonus of having some nice texture to it. Oh, and did I mention they were smart and have six of the chips available without denoms? And the icing on the cake is their sound when shuffled and handled. There is no metal insert to mess things up, so one word: Fantastic!!! Great great chips.
WEIGHT: 9.3 - 9.5 grams
FEEL: 9.5
QUALITY: 10
LOOKS: 10
Manufacturer: Overseas
Vendor: TheChipRoom

Dunes Casino Tribute Chips: One word: Wow. For a second or two after pulling the chips out of the shipping envelope....I thought these were actual clay, compression molded chips. These are amazing and fantastic chips. Feel is amazing close to a real clay. The material appears to be extremely similar to the 10 Gram Faux Dice chips shown above...which I am a big fan of. Sound is excellent...very casino-like.....not ringy or to obnoxious. And finally....looks wise...these are just GREAT looking chips. The spots have a simulated edge to them that replicates a compression molded chip and look really good. The inserts are glued on nice. Only bad I really see is the use of U.S. currency on the denoms, which isn't real popular with my readers over in Europe. Take a close look at the pics of these suckers. Great, great chips. In fact, probably the best non-compression molded chip that I've ever reviewed. 
WEIGHT: 9.2 - 9.4 grams
FEEL: 10
QUALITY: 10+
LOOKS: 10+
Manufacturer: Overseas
Vendor: TheChipRoom

KingPin Chips: I've lost count on the number of emails I've received on this chip. The question?? "Are these 'Neophytes' without the logo???". The answer is, I'm about 99% sure, 'yes'. Exact same weight, mold, design, feel, etc etc etc. Exactly like the Neophytes, these chips have a good feel and sound. Same metal insert. These can also be damaged with a fingernail. That said, still a very good chip to consider.

WEIGHT: 12.5 grams.
FEEL: 8.5
QUALITY: 7.5
LOOKS: 8.0
Vendor: AceHighSupply

Michael Graves Poker Set: For the poker player on a budget, I cannot think of a better bang-for-your buck than the poker chip set available at any local Target store as well as online. For $40, you get 240 clay composite chips in 4 cool, low-key colors. The chip's texture is great, and really give a 'soft' feel in your hand. They sound great when you play with them. They only problems are they are slightly THINNER than a 'real' poker chip, and thus, feel less substantial in your hand. However, these chips just clobber all the cheap plastic poker chip sets you see on E-Bay. Aside from their thin-ness and lighter weight, the feel is really good. I own 2 sets and use them for Roulette. HIGHLY recommended for those players with a limited budget. Really a great buy.
WEIGHT: 7.0 - 7.2 grams.
FEEL: 7
QUALITY: 9
LOOKS: 8
Vendor: Target Stores

All reviews are the opinions of John Tucker unless otherwise stated, and can be changed at any time. Content cannot be used without express written consent of John Tucker.
Copyright John Tucker, 2007. All rights reserved.