Casino Token - Construction

Construction

The vast majority of authentic casino chips are "clay" chips but can be more accurately described as compression molded chips. Contrary to popular belief, no gaming chip going as far back as the 1950s has been 100% clay. Modern clay chips are a composition of materials more durable than clay alone. At least some percentage of the chips is of an earthen material such as sand, chalk, and clay similar to that found in cat litter. The process used to make these chips is a trade secret, and varies slightly by manufacturer, most being relatively expensive and time consuming per chip. The edge spots, or inserts, are not painted on; to achieve this effect, this area of the clay is removed and then replaced with clay of a different color; this can be done to each chip individually or a strip can be taken out of a cylindrical block of material and replaced with the alternate color before the block is cut into chips. Then each chip receives a mid-inlay if desired, and is placed in a special mold that heats and compresses the chip at approximately 10,000 psi (70 MPa) at 300 °F (149 °C), hence the term compression molded chips.

The printed graphics on clay chips is called an inlay. Inlays are typically made of paper and are then clad with a plastic film applied to the chip prior to the compression molding process. During the molding process the inlay becomes permanently fastened to the chip and can not be removed from the chip without destroying it.

Ceramic chips were introduced in the mid 1980s as alternative to clay chips, and are also used in casinos, as well as being readily available to the home market. The ability to print lettering and graphics on the entire surface of the chip, instead of just the inlay, made them popular. Ceramic chips are sometimes also referred to as clay or clay composite, but they are in fact an injection-molded chip made with a special plastic or resin formula that approximates the feel and sound of ceramic or porcelain. There are less expensive chips for the home market, made from various forms of plastic and plastic covered metal slugs as well.

The chips used in North American casinos typically weigh about 10 grams, but are usually between 8 and 10.5 g. Companies that manufacture chips for actual casinos include Gaming Partners International's subdivision Paulson, NevadaJacks Manufacturing Co., Atlantic Standard Moulding, Blue Chip Company, and Chipco. Paulson, BCC, and ASM produce compression molded clay and Chipco make ceramic chips. NevadaJacks utilizes a sublimation process on a ceramic chip.

Nevada Jacks was started by Nick Bates, of San Francisco and Duxbury, MA and Jim Evering of Baltimore MD in 2001. The firm outsourced the manufacturing process of the original Nevada Jacks clay chip to ASM in Portland, Maine. Approximately 75,000 chips were produced. Demand was so strong that Nevada Jacks created a new line of clay chip called the Martini Club which were made by the Blue Chip Co. in Las Vegas for NevadaJacks. In 2003 Nevada Jacks worked with a plastics firm and created a composite chip which was perfect for usage of a sublimation process. The artwork for the NevadaJacks brand was created by Kevin Norris, a famous artist who has a love of creating the inserts for Casino Grade Chips. The artwork was so impressive that NevadaJacks sold in excess of 4.5mm chips in a one year period and became the largest maker and provider of home-use chips in the world.