Nevada Jacks Desert Sands/Skulls vs Chipco

[adidino]

Anyone have a chance to examine both these chips together? What are the major differences between these two types of chips? I understand it's the linen finish on the NJ's that make this a better chip. Anyone have opinions? and what is your preference?

[tomb1]

Well, I have a few of both types of chips, including Chipco custom/home chips and actual casino chips. They're very similar ceramic chips of the same weight, and I don't think you could go wrong with either one, if you're looking for ceramic. They're good quality chips, and I'd be happy to use them in any poker game I hosted.

Some differences I see are:

1. Finish: (the major difference, everything else is pretty minor)
- Chipco finishes are nice and smooth. Not like a china dinner plate, but a pleasant silky smooth. They feel real good to me.
- Desert Sands/NJ Skulls/Mardi Gras finish is much more textured. It's like a moderate cross-hatching, a very distinct texture. I wouldn't call it a linen finish, but get some samples and see for yourself... it's hard to describe.

2. Stacking:
- Chipcos stack OK but in larger stacks they tend to slide a little bit more than I like. But they're not real slick like cheap plastic chips.
- DS/NJ/MG stack higher and seem to stick a little better, due to the texture. But neither ceramic chip stacks & sticks as well as clays or Bud Jones.

3. Color printing:
- Chipcos have the best color quality and sharp printing (if you have a good design, of course) of any chip out there - like the Egyptians. They can have good edge designs and colors, or even words/denominations printed on the edge.
- DS/NJ/MG have real good colors, but the texture makes the colors slightly less bright and sharp. Some of the edges are marbelized, if you like that.

4. Wear:
- Chipcos wear pretty poorly with heavy casino use. They wear first on the face around the rims, and create jagged white areas (exposing the white ceramic underneath the printing) around the rim. I don't think this would be a problem with home use, but some members have reported unpleasant wear with heavy home use/shuffling. Most Chipcos now incorporate a white ring around the edge in their design, so the wear doesn't show up as quickly. See http://www.pokerchipreviews.com/pix/dice702-4.jpg
- DS/NJ/MG I don't THINK they would wear as much because of their rougher texture, but I have seen no evidence of that either way, I just haven't used them enough to tell.

5. Edges imperfections:
- Chipcos (1) typically have a small pimple (or nipple, gawd I like that word!) on the rolling edge, from the injection process. Often times it's not real noticeable, but once you've felt it, then it bugs some people (including me). (2) Some have a minute ridge on the edge, like where the edge was wrapped around the chip and sealed. I can almost never see these. (3) I've seen written that there is an indented line on some rolling edges, almost like two halves of the chip were joined together, but I've never seen this.
- DS/NJ/MG - I've never felt a pimple or ridge or line on any of these chips.

6. Edge spots: none of the ceramics have edge spots like clays -- color insertions that go from one face, line up across the edges, and go to the other face. The edge spots vary for each chip and are not lined up with the face.

That's all I can think of from memory (I'm traveling and don't have any ceramics with me, though of course I have some Paulsons and BJs -- Yes, I'm sick, I know).

Here's some more good info: http://www.pokerchipreviews.com/ceramic.html

[ChkDeezNuts]

I have owned both...and no lie...I like the skulls much better than the chipcos.

[yeltzen]

I play with both NJs (mine) and ChipCos (friends) every week and really the only advantage a ChipCo chip has over an Nevada Jacks chip is the clarity of the printing on the face. When you hold the NJ Skulls 2 inches from your face, the graphic looks a little blurry. When they're sitting there on the table, you don't even notice this.

ChipCos have this really, really annoying metallic "ring" to them that gives you dice chip nightmares. NJ ceramics sound like Blue Chip clays.

ChipCos also have a really, really annoying white ring around the edge. Most tend to have extremely boring edgespots ("Suits" and the new WSOP replicas are the few that have nice ones). They don't line up on either chip. One of the main reasons I like the Skulls so much is because they designed the chip so the edgespots have nothing to line up with on the face. The Egyptians design also does this.

I dunno how durable ChipCos are. My NJs are used in tournaments two or three times a week and I see no wear whatsoever on the chip. The only way I have been able to damage the chip is to throw it against concrete. Throwing the chips against each other (couple of our regular players have an obsession with launching chips into the pot) doesn't damage them.

I really don't even think the comparison is close. If you really really have to have super-clear graphics, then go with ChipCos.