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Good quality chips and a decent case. Jul 13, 2010
I am very satisfied with the chips. 500 is a good number and the distribution of the denominations is decent, and I got what was advertised (actually, my set came with one extra chip). While chip design is very basic (as you can see from the pictures) they do look nice. No dollar values are printed on the chips themselves so you can set your own values. Some of the chips have minor imperfections, such as the colors straying outside the proper pattern (or not completely filling it) or bits of plastic/resin sticking out from the chips from where I assume it was injected into the mold (which can easily be filed off with a fingernail). One of the white chips looked scuffed or dirty on one face. At this price (less than 9 cents per chip) I can easily tolerate these very minor problems, as most of them won't be noticed unless you're looking for them. I haven't weighed the chips, but I suppose 11.5 grams sounds about right, and that is enough weight to give the chips a good heft -- any heavier and it would just make the set more inconvenient to lug around. I can't really compare the texture or sound of these checks to ones made of clay, as I've never been to a casino or played with clay chips, but they feel OK and sound almost identical to what I hear on TV when watching the pros play poker.
Like the chips, the case is basic but serviceable. I bought from amazon.com and it arrived in perfect condition, from what I can tell. I can't really say how durable the thing is, but it seems like it ought to be able to survive normal use for a good while. The latches can theoretically be locked by a pair of keys that come with the set, but I couldn't get it to work and don't really care one way or another about that.
The buttons are nothing too remarkable, and they perform their requisite duty of sitting there and providing information. I haven't really examined the included playing cards very closely, but looked and felt like they were of fairly low quality. I like that the set came with cut cards ... it's a cheap inclusion and they are nothing fancy, but they are also something that a casual player like me wouldn't have thought to go out and specifically purchase. Six translucent, red six-sided dice complete the set and its theme, which are just basic, board game quality dice (normal sized, pipped, and not machined or precision-edged or anything).
Overall, I consider this a decent/value purchase at $42.95 shipped. My friends and family (none of whom are gamblers or card players) were all pretty impressed by them and we've had a good time playing with them so far. This is one of the best sets you can buy for home/casual play, it seems. Fancier checks are available at a similar price if you want (or don't mind) the fact that values are printed on them, however.
Pretty good poker chip set Jul 10, 2010
I was very satisfied when I got this product 3 days after I ordered it, I even had it on Super Saver Shipping! The case is very good. The chips feel nice and durable. They smell a little weird, but I don't mind. The cards aren't the best quality but they are usable. I haven't had any problems with this set. For the price, your getting a great product.
 Review 123 Jun 07, 2010
1. chips were damaged during shipping.
2. card decks were damaged too
3. case quality is Normal.
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent set for the price Jun 05, 2010
First, let's get the obvious part out of the way. These are not clay. They're ABS plastic with a metal insert to help make the chips feel more substantial. However, as someone who has some real chips from actual casinos (Bellagio and The Golden Nugget), I can tell you that you won't really be able to tell the difference. In fact I think these chips are slightly heavier (and larger) than actual casino chips. They're about the same thickness as a real casino chip, but they're just *slightly* larger in diameter. The physical quality of the chips is generally excellent: there are some chips with slight burrs (*very *small pieces of plastic extruding from the chip; we're talking grains of salt in size) or where the colors don't quite line up correctly, but they're all minor imperfections. Especially at this price. After doing a full chip-by-chip visual inspection, I only found six chips with significant issues (out of 500). In those six chips, the recessed "dice" along the outer circle weren't correctly matched with the "dice dots". Not a major issue, and probably not something you'd even notice during play (since it's unlikely the top chip in your chip stack will be one of these chips)
The case the chips comes in was in fine shape (contrary to another reviewers experience) with only a very small dent in the top of the case being a visible issue. (The case has dozens of recessed lines running lengthwise across it; *one* of these lines had a minor dent, the remainder were fine). The case came shipped inside a box (which appeared to be the manufacturers box, not a typical Amazon box) with styrofoam on the corners and bubble wrap around the entire exterior. The case itself is locking, with two locks (one for each of the two latches). You get two keys (which are very basic/simple). The interior has a foam layer on the top portion of the case, while the bottom portion of the case has a formed plastic/felt-type material shaped in to rows for your chips.
As far as I'm concerned, the chips and the case are what you're buying this set for. The cards, dice, dealer buttons and cut cards are just extras. I will say that the cut cards, while probably not the highest quality cards in the universe, are a nice inclusion considering how expensive cut cards on Amazon seem to be. The playing cards (two decks) are garbage. Be sure to get a real deck of cards (Bicycle for paper cards or Copag if you want to use plastic cards). The dealer buttons are serviceable, and unlike some sets I see, the "SMALL BLIND" button is correctly labeled as "small blind", and not "little blind" (which I've noticed on some Chinese-origin chip sets like this).
Now, back to the chips briefly. The other reason I bought this set is because it appears the manufacturer (or distributor/importer) "Da Vinci" offers additional colored chips in this same style (the "dice style"). You can also buy (separately, at about $4.75 per pack of 50 chips) the following six colors (which expand upon the five included in this set):
* Orange
* Light Blue
* Gray
* Purple
* Yellow
* Pink
They also offer additional chips of the basic colors (black, green, red, blue, white) included in this set.
One final word on the chips. The colors in the image aren't 100% representative of the chips I received. The red is a duller red than the bright hue presented in the image. The green is fairly accurate though, but the blue is a darker shade (and as mentioned in another review, could possibly lead to confusion with the black chips in low light conditions).
These chips should be ideal for home games, and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending them to other people looking for a decent inexpensive chip set for hosting their own games. Just keep what I mentioned in mind: these are plastic/"composite", not real clay. They do have minor imperfections. The other equipment in the set is largely secondary to the chips and the case itself (the cut cards and dealer button being the only thing extra I'll likely ever use from the set, aside from maybe the keys).
Update: I received the extra chips I ordered (I ordered pink and orange from the above links) and the chips do match perfectly with the chips in this set. I did notice a *slight* difference in the way the outlines of the dice are embossed, but everything else matches perfectly. I'll definitely be ordering more in the future.
Awful quality control. (Updated) May 25, 2010
First off, the chips, which is what most of you will be buying this item for, are of good quality. They're nice and heavy and make a nice sound.
That said, the rest of the set is pretty abysmal.
The cards are your run of the mill cards, very average. I went ahead and invested in a few decks of KEM plastic cards before buying this. The dice, dealer buttons, and cut cards are all acceptable. Nothing extraordinary. The buttons and cut cards feel a bit cheap.
The metal case is the worst offender. Mine wasn't properly aligned so closing/locking it properly is a pain in the neck. Inside, the pseudo-black-velvet base (the thing that holds the chips and cards) is already falling out and bent in certain places. The base also does not fit the case properly, and an unappealing "bald spot" runs down the left side.
The rest of the deck is also somewhat damaged. A few chips have white spots due to the colored parts falling off. The small blind button has quite a few scratches (I suspect the other ones do as well, but their color makes it negligible). Finally, the case has a small dent on one side, about the side and depth of a quarter.
The value of this set is nowhere near $120. Even $40 would be pushing it.
The box the set arrived in is in perfect condition, so I'm ruling out shipping problems.
I bought the set from ChipsAndGames.
*Update*
I've received my replacement set from Amazon (Amazon's support is great). The replacement set didn't have any of the obvious defects, but the overall quality is still a bit iffy.
Once again, if you're looking to buy nice poker chips and the rest is just a bonus, this is not a bad deal.
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