The Ambessa Poker Room
Owner: @SpaceMonkey
Artist: @Johnny5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: Small Crown
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-ambessa.53160/
Thoughts from the owner:
This set was a 10 year plus labor of love journey that encompassed all my experience and obsession with this hobby, as well as incorporating some family heritage.
The number of iterations that I started and stopped over the years are too hard to count. A frequent comment given to new members looking to create a custom set is to take their time and not rush the process just to get the order in. I cannot agree with that statement more. This set was my 3rd or 4th custom set, and the one I am most proud of. I always knew I wanted a cali cash set and I am glad the journey took long enough for David Spragg to bring Canary (as well as other colors) and the scrown mold to CPC. Fun fact: the crown above the lion's head matches the scrown mold. That was all J5. I love that little detail.
Because all the various ideas (some pretty terrible TBH) have been in my head for over a decade, I cannot thank (remember) all the people that helped with feedback, ideas and inspiration. But I am grateful to them all as well as the community as a whole. Several other cali sets sparked my want for a cali set of my own. H|Q's feedback at an old BOTB of alternating light and dark based chips stuck with me. The MGM National Harbour tournament chips were a late inspiration to do tonal colored matching inlays on all the chips. This last part was a fairly big risk, but I feel it paid off and really ties the set together and gives it a bit of uniqueness.
I don't want to ramble on much longer about the specific chip designs, but being a cali set, I knew the focus had to be on the $5. The 6A18 is one of my favorite patterns, so that was an early lock. It originally had 3 spot colors vs the final having 2, and the spot colors themselves changed various times as the rest of the set came together. DG peacock and Blurple were easy choices for me as base colors. The frac flag color matching spot came from one of my first tournament chip iterations that was a T100 Black 3TA316 Red, DG Yellow, Green. The T5 was obviously inspired by Mapes. I use that for progressive bounty tournaments as well as an alternate $5 for smaller cash games (giving the lower chip count of 220).
I could go on, but I would say each of my final chips went through a couple changes before finalizing all the colors. I tried not to repeat colors and while I may not have been 100% successful I think the set as a whole flows together really well, and more importantly plays well on the felt in games. That final part in the end is the one that matters the most to me. And the direct and indirect help of friends and members here, as well as the entire community, has allowed me to achieve that goal, for which I will be entirely grateful Thank you.
Thoughts from the committee:
This is a great Cali Cash set that has it all going for it...colors, spots, inlay, design...the whole package. Ambessa means lion in Ethiopian and Eritrean and it can be used to mean brave, strong or powerful as well in the language. The theme is and inlay execution is not only clean and simple, but powerful as the name implies. There is a good design choice pairing this lion inlay design with the crown on the small crown mold and the font used on the inlay carries on the strong theme. Johnny 5 matched the crown on the inlay to the crown on the Scrown mold. The colors are easily distinguished in a pot and the spot progression is good. Especially clever is the color spots on the frac .50 cent chip which is an extension of the flag. @SpaceMonkey has augmented his setup with branded custom layouts, glassware and t-shirts to round out the poker room vibe. All around, a very strong design and execution!
Set Denominations & Breakdown:
Owner: @SpaceMonkey
Artist: @Johnny5
Manufacturer: CPC
Mold: Small Crown
Showcase Thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-ambessa.53160/
Thoughts from the owner:
This set was a 10 year plus labor of love journey that encompassed all my experience and obsession with this hobby, as well as incorporating some family heritage.
The number of iterations that I started and stopped over the years are too hard to count. A frequent comment given to new members looking to create a custom set is to take their time and not rush the process just to get the order in. I cannot agree with that statement more. This set was my 3rd or 4th custom set, and the one I am most proud of. I always knew I wanted a cali cash set and I am glad the journey took long enough for David Spragg to bring Canary (as well as other colors) and the scrown mold to CPC. Fun fact: the crown above the lion's head matches the scrown mold. That was all J5. I love that little detail.
Because all the various ideas (some pretty terrible TBH) have been in my head for over a decade, I cannot thank (remember) all the people that helped with feedback, ideas and inspiration. But I am grateful to them all as well as the community as a whole. Several other cali sets sparked my want for a cali set of my own. H|Q's feedback at an old BOTB of alternating light and dark based chips stuck with me. The MGM National Harbour tournament chips were a late inspiration to do tonal colored matching inlays on all the chips. This last part was a fairly big risk, but I feel it paid off and really ties the set together and gives it a bit of uniqueness.
I don't want to ramble on much longer about the specific chip designs, but being a cali set, I knew the focus had to be on the $5. The 6A18 is one of my favorite patterns, so that was an early lock. It originally had 3 spot colors vs the final having 2, and the spot colors themselves changed various times as the rest of the set came together. DG peacock and Blurple were easy choices for me as base colors. The frac flag color matching spot came from one of my first tournament chip iterations that was a T100 Black 3TA316 Red, DG Yellow, Green. The T5 was obviously inspired by Mapes. I use that for progressive bounty tournaments as well as an alternate $5 for smaller cash games (giving the lower chip count of 220).
I could go on, but I would say each of my final chips went through a couple changes before finalizing all the colors. I tried not to repeat colors and while I may not have been 100% successful I think the set as a whole flows together really well, and more importantly plays well on the felt in games. That final part in the end is the one that matters the most to me. And the direct and indirect help of friends and members here, as well as the entire community, has allowed me to achieve that goal, for which I will be entirely grateful Thank you.
Thoughts from the committee:
This is a great Cali Cash set that has it all going for it...colors, spots, inlay, design...the whole package. Ambessa means lion in Ethiopian and Eritrean and it can be used to mean brave, strong or powerful as well in the language. The theme is and inlay execution is not only clean and simple, but powerful as the name implies. There is a good design choice pairing this lion inlay design with the crown on the small crown mold and the font used on the inlay carries on the strong theme. Johnny 5 matched the crown on the inlay to the crown on the Scrown mold. The colors are easily distinguished in a pot and the spot progression is good. Especially clever is the color spots on the frac .50 cent chip which is an extension of the flag. @SpaceMonkey has augmented his setup with branded custom layouts, glassware and t-shirts to round out the poker room vibe. All around, a very strong design and execution!
Set Denominations & Breakdown:
- 220 - 50c – Grey base 1TA316 – Retro Red, Canary, Green spots
- 420 - $1 – Dayglow Peacock base 4D18 – Retro Red, Dayglow Arc Yellow spots
- 820 - $5 - Canary base 6A18 - Dayglow Tiger, Dayglow Green spots
- 220 - $25 - Blurple base 4TA181418 – Dayglow Pink, Lavender spots
- 120 - $100 - Bright White base 8D18 – Retro Green, Dayglow Peach spots
