Club Hel: Choice is an Illusion (CPC) (2 Viewers)

[Nex]

Just checked tracking for my sample set going to the Wachowskis... delivered yesterday morning!
Yes, of course so far it has only reached the hands of their agents now. Still excited

 

[Frogzilla]

Mine made it! I saw your careful packaging and “LIFT ->” opening instructions. I completely disregarded them out of excitement.

The chips look really good...and as first time handling CPC’s, I see why they are so popular! Wow!

 

[Nex]

After not hearing anything from CPC for nearly a month, I decided to ask.
Turns out they shipped the spinner replacements five days ago and the package departed the export airport yesterday!

 

[Nex]

Spinner replacements were delivered today!
And they actually sent a lot more than what I was short of because of the spinners, I ended up with nearly half a rack of extras.

So in the end now my rack of purpose-ordered emergency replacements is filled up again, and on top of that I have over three barrels of extra live chips - the surplus from the original order combined with the surplus from the spinner replacements. This should definitely suffice for two-figure years of set usage; I doubt there will be enough loss/breakage to burn through all those replacements. Unless I add on, that is, but for the set in its current form there's plenty of replacements for every denom.

I am more than satisfied, even if it took a month extra!

 

[BGinGA]

I don't know how old you are Nex, but that text is so small that it's nothing but an annoyance for anybody over 40. I just put on some reading glasses and I still have no idea what any of it says, and that's on my computer screen, where the inlay is probably twice the size. I know you've put a lot of thought into the design but my opinion is that you're the only person who will ever know what any of the text (aside from "club hel") actually says.

24 here, but as said in my OP -- the circular text on the denominated chips does not contain any additional info. It's merely the nominal value spelled out in words, and mostly there for decoration (to achieve better visual balance of all the elements on the inlay). The line below "Club Hel" reads "private cardroom". Putting on reading glasses will help you nothing when looking at the mockup because the resolution of the raster graphic is just too low. When printed, the resolution will be much higher than that.

As for the undenominated pill chip with the quotes, I have more leeway here and will probably increase the font size a bit more than on the denominated chips to make sure the quotes are readable.

Saw your chips (and this thread) for the first time tonight, as @Jeff was using them as card cappers.

I'm wearing 200x magnification reading glasses under bright poker table lights, and have no idea what any of the text says -- it is way too small and totally unreadable. Wish you had taken the advice offered above.

 

[Nex]

Saw your chips (and this thread) for the first time tonight, as @Jeff was using them as card cappers.

Pics?

I'm wearing 200x magnification reading glasses under bright poker table lights, and have no idea what any of the text says -- it is way too small and totally unreadable. Wish you had taken the advice offered above.

The only thing that somewhat needs to be readable by everyone really is the chip value as a number, and that one has the biggest font size on the inlay if you ignore the logo. It's actually just a little bit smaller than its counterpart on the Horseshoe chips - and keep in mind those aren't as limited with space as I was, given they have used faux shaped inlays where they can put graphical elements very close to the border.

If you can read the text around the circle and the small subtitle, that's cool. If you cannot - you are not missing anything. Both have a purely decorative function, they don't carry any relevant extra information; not being able to read them really doesn't matter if you can at least somewhat read the colored value label.

If you want to see for yourself, look the set up on ChipDB, there's high resolution photos of the inlays you can view fullscreen. If that still doesn't quite make them readable, then the problem might not lie with the chip inlays.

Sizing all of these labels up so far that people with glasses can easily read them (or simply removing the text around the circle) would have drastically changed the overall look of those chips in a way I absolutely didn't like - else I would have considered doing it.

Maybe if I went with the FDL mold, larger 1 1/16" faux shaped inlays, it would have just so become readable.

The only thing I regret about the inlays was not brightening up the purple for the $500 value label more - that one really is hard to read. But well, I guess there's no such thing as a first time without mistakes, and the impact could be far worse - the $500 is a chip that will probably never see the felt in the first place, and even if it does one day, the chip edge spots really stand out, making recognition still quite easy.

 

[Nex]

Got the proofs for my addon two hours ago

Club Hel is going to become Limit-ready. Together with the addon, the set will be at 1000x $1 and 1000x $5.
Slightly upped the amounts on a couple other denoms and threw in some additional replacements as well.

 

[Nex]

In that addon, I threw in three barrels of snappers, cause why not

And before you ask - sorry, no samples this time.

 

[Nex]

Just read the news... apparently Warner Bros. recently confirmed a fourth Matrix movie, another sequel, hitting theaters probably 2021 (work to begin 2020). Reeves and Moss on board, some other sites are rumoring Fishburne too.

I only realized now that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the original movie - would have been a great opportunity for a special chip. But now it's certainly too late, and I don't have the funds at hand right now anyway.
I have already been considering adding a $25 chip to the lineup sometime in the closer future since a while, alongside a gentle redesign of the $100. I could have an anniversary chip piggyback on that order if it happens.

But cheating by simply having the 20th anniversary chip made next year or later doesn't sound cool to me.
The upside is, the movie isn't going to be ready for the round anniversary either. And the Merovingian doesn't appear in the original movie, but only in the 2003 sequels. So I have four more years from now to make a 20th anniversary chip for the "club" at least.

 

[Nex]

Previously mentioned $25 and revised $100 are actually going to come sometime next year. Placed a small add-on order. Probably due late spring/early summer next year but nothing set in stone.

No samples again, but I'm planning to do a fresh photo shoot of the whole set after delivery.

The initial photoshoot was done with my old cheap APSC camera and a crappy kit lens and with a lot of ignorance towards photographic methods. An update is much overdue, now that I dove into photography on a serious level (for a guy who does not want to make it his job), picked up my first full-frame DSLR a year ago (quality lenses alongside) and recently upgraded it to the current flagship model. Already did a fresh photo shoot for my Paradise LA set with the first FF camera body last year.

 

[BarrieJ3]

No samples again, but I'm planning to do a fresh photo shoot of the whole set after delivery.

 

[davislane]

Amazing set Nex. Was fortunate to acquire a sample set. I echo @BarrieJ3 sentiment. Your fans need complete sample sets when admiring their beauty!

 

[Nex]

For the Paradise set there really is no way around it, but here I likely have enough time to collect sample orders. I simply don't expect many people to pay like 4-7 bucks to get merely two chips shipped.

 

[davislane]

For the Paradise set there really is no way around it, but here I likely have enough time to collect sample orders. I simply don't expect many people to pay like 4-7 bucks to get merely two chips shipped.

I would. I don't have a choice if I want them. I also have you Paradice set also and would also get the extras if available. You can always put it out there. If people want them they can pay if not then you dont order any extras.

 

[Nex]

I'd have to gather 22 two-chip sample set orders for Club Hel, if less it doesn't work out.
However, I have at least 3 or so months to gather them.

Cost of both chips combined would be 9€ plus shipping. Haven't revealed the design yet and am unsure if/when I will. For now I'll say it's L6 and L8 spots, shaped inlays and dayglo clay on both.

Shipping is a bit tricky because of a new dirtbag ruling by our national postal service, who now disallow sending any goods in int'l letters (even the 500g class), telling people to send parcels via DHL instead (80-140% more expensive). Might be able to disguise the chips as documents with some cardboard within the bubblewrap envelope, but not sure. As a letter shipping is 3.70€ +optional 3.50€ for tracking. Via DHL it's 8.89€ +optional 4€. Bubblewrap envelope costs me 0.50€. Shipping can be combined with samples for Paradise LA.

Not sure how to best handle this. I don't really want to start collecting money from people right off the bat here, only to perhaps be forced to send the money back (wasting transaction fees twice) if I don't get the numbers by the deadline. On the other hand if I only do an interest check, some people on the list might bow out when the deadline hits which would also screw things up.

Suggestions?

 

[davislane]

Im in!

 

[Nex]

Wanted to wait until I had the proofs in hand, but duh.

Changed my mind on the $20 vs $25 considerations over time. I still see the value for a $20 in limit together with $1 chips, but I ended up preferring $25s like I have in my Paradise set for everything else. Plus, this adds a bit more base color contrast to the old $100. Should also look sick under UV light.

The $100 I wanted to brighten up just a little. Charcoal is a better match for the steel of which the gigantic drill heads are made anyway, and this brings out the shaped inlay better. In the original design I wanted to stick to the traditional chip colors so I made it black.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

@Nex Just stumbled into this. Seriously cool set with a tremendous amount of thought and planning. Wish I had been around when sample sets were available.

 

[Nex]

Now this took quite a while.

Over one year of wait for having the chips made, chips in transit for 21 days, and because our retarded postal service now decided that deliverymen may no longer collect customs duty at the door, the box was routed straight to the next post office where I could only fetch it a day later at the earliest...

Some quick snaps, all still factory dusty so looking somewhat bland. These will pop once oiled

 

[davislane]

Now this took quite a while.

Over one year of wait for having the chips made, chips in transit for 21 days, and because our retarded postal service now decided that deliverymen may no longer collect customs duty at the door, the box was routed straight to the next post office where I could only fetch it a day later at the earliest...

Some quick snaps, all still factory dusty so looking somewhat bland. These will pop once oiled

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Congrats. Looking forward to the updated family pics!