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Explain the Wynn Chip Hype to Me Like I'm a 4 Year Old (6 Viewers)

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justsomedude

justsomedude

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OK... I need some help.

It seems like everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, here looooves the Wynn tourney chips. However, I can't for the life of me find anything attractive about them. And the lazy (awful?) inlay graphics remind me of Jim Gaffigan's rant about Hot Pockets, and his awesome reference to the "by Mennen" commercial jingle (see 3:46).

"caliente pocket"

So - what gives?!?!?!?!

PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAAAAAAAAND!

whhyyy.jpg
 
I'm with you man. I respect the interest and excitement they stir up, but I find the chips somewhat boring and without a ton of real history (at the moment).
 
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Well..they're authentic casino Paulsons with great colors in (mostly) mint condition.
 
They hold almost zero appeal to me, but there's a few things that come to mind that may be selling points...

- General rarity of the chips
- Rarity of the no-mold in quantity
- The white 4184V's could make nice hundos or $1's if relabeled
- Cult of the new

But really, I'm not sure - and given the price tag, I'm glad I don't find them interesting.
 
I'm with you guys. They do absolutely nothing for me...and the 25, though rare, is extraordinarily dull.

Nor does the fact that Steve Wynn is T.Rump Lite... :cool:
 
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I like them, but not nearly enough to cover the premium price. There's a whole bunch of rare positives, mostly covered:
  • Legit Vegas strip name
  • Spotted tourney chips
  • Paulson no-mold
  • Mint condition
  • New to the secondary market
  • Small quantity
  • Broadly aesthetically appealling
 
You could say this about any chip set that doesn't fit your fancy. I like them but not at $4.20 each or whatever bloated value they already have acquired. Just like I don't see the value in other sets once the price gets crazy like Crystal Parks, Vineyards, PNY, PCA, GCOP, Dunes, or many other 'Grail' sets. It's all perceived value. I do like the chips but how can we ever criticize anyone ever again for what We think is gouging when members flip these for huge profits every day now. If people pay it, I guess that's what they are worth to them, just not to me. The current prices we pay for these sets is all our faults including mine FWIW.
 
I think they are quite nice looking...but it's the rarity as well as the unknown history that has a lot of people intrigued...including myself.
In retrospect ALL these chips we obsess about are just pieces of clay and plastic with no intrinsic value. I laugh when someone states "that's not it's true value" or "They're not worth that much" According to some price guide? The value and market is subject to the desire and availability of certain chips...and these are pretty damn rare and desired as you can see by the outpouring of interest.

Plus...it's always nice to get in on the ground floor of a set that could be the next grail...albeit to those who consider it such.
 
BPTDirector said:
You could say this about any chip set that doesn't fit your fancy. I like them but not at $4.20 each or whatever bloated value they already have acquired.
Click to expand...

Your points are well taken, but I think they address two separate questions...

- Do I like a set of chips?
- How much do I think a particular set of chips is worth?

In this case I don't particularly care for the chips, but (by definition) I think they're worth every penny currently being paid for them.
 
I love the white 4v18 and the yellow chip but otherwise the set is just so so. Then again I never really liked or understood why people went crazy over the Stardust Mansion chips as I thought the inlay was way too busy and the edgespots boring. To each their own though.
 
If I didn't have 6 tourney sets already, I would jump all over these, even at the premium price. I'm pretty content with sets I have already, which makes me hesitate to pay a premium for another one. However, they are nice enough, that I might take a flier on a raffle ticket....
 
Psypher1000 said:
They hold almost zero appeal to me, but there's a few things that come to mind that may be selling points...

- General rarity of the chips
- Rarity of the no-mold in quantity
- The white 4184V's could make nice hundos or $1's if relabeled
- Cult of the new

But really, I'm not sure - and given the price tag, I'm glad I don't find them interesting.
Click to expand...

pokerplayingpisces said:
I think it's that they're associated with a well-known Vegas Strip property. It's rare/difficult to acquire a playable set from a Vegas casino.
I think that's why most chippers (including me) drool over them.

Also, the colors & spots patterns are attractive.
Click to expand...

atomiktoaster said:
I like them, but not nearly enough to cover the premium price. There's a whole bunch of rare positives, mostly covered:
  • Legit Vegas strip name
  • Spotted tourney chips
  • Paulson no-mold
  • Mint condition
  • New to the secondary market
  • Small quantity
  • Broadly aesthetically appealling
Click to expand...

BPTDirector said:
You could say this about any chip set that doesn't fit your fancy. I like them but not at $4.20 each or whatever bloated value they already have acquired. Just like I don't see the value in other sets once the price gets crazy like Crystal Parks, Vineyards, PNY, PCA, GCOP, Dunes, or many other 'Grail' sets. It's all perceived value. I do like the chips but how can we ever criticize anyone ever again for what We think is gouging when members flip these for huge profits every day now. If people pay it, I guess that's what they are worth to them, just not to me. The current prices we pay for these sets is all our faults including mine FWIW.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick responses. All valid points that make sense. I think I was getting incredibly hung up on the inlay graphic. Maybe it's the OCD-artist in me, but I always take offense when it's clear an artist put absolutely zero thought/effort into a design. And those Wynn inlays just reek of awful project/design management:

"Steve - make us a label - you have 5 minutes."

"OK, Bob - here you go. I slapped on our standard Wynn logo, and grabbed the first block-font I could find in Illustrator for the values. Send that sh*t to Paulson!"

"Job well done. Let's go get some beers."


Sometimes I need to separate my design-side-snobbery from the chip-side valuations.

Again - thanks all for the details/responses. It certainly makes sense looking at the bigger "chip picture."
 
This just came up yesterday in a long-standing email thread among several veteran CTers and PCFers and there was a similar split there. I'm certainly among those that like the chips very much, but not at the current price.

I could quote @atomiktoaster's post from above in describing the attributes. The only thing I'd explicitly add is that I really love the color-matching and I'd emphasize how awesome it is to handle a Paulson plain mold set.

As far as negatives, I would prefer if the inlay were standard (7/8") size. Given the simplicity of the design, I'd prefer to highlight the colors/spots.

justsomedude said:
And those Wynn inlays just reek of awful project/design management:

"Steve - make us a label - you have 5 minutes."

"OK, Bob - here you go. I slapped on our standard Wynn logo, and grabbed the first block-font I could find in Illustrator for the values. Send that sh*t to Paulson!"

"Job well done. Let's go get some beers."

Sometimes I need to separate my design-side-snobbery from the chip-side valuations.
Click to expand...

Definitely very simple design, but I like it and while the old Mirage inlay was very slightly less straightforward with the addition of the trees, it's not dissimilar and I really, really love the old Mirage chips.

18981.jpg


Also consider that the Wynn isn't know for overly complex inlay designs.

59287.jpg
87021.jpg
59289.jpg
 
Doesn't do much for me either. I think any mint condition paulson chip is nice though. It would not be on top of my list based on plain look and very high cost.
 
justsomedude said:
Thanks for the quick responses. All valid points that make sense. I think I was getting incredibly hung up on the inlay graphic. Maybe it's the OCD-artist in me, but I always take offense when it's clear an artist put absolutely zero thought/effort into a design. And those Wynn inlays just reek of awful project/design management:

"Steve - make us a label - you have 5 minutes."

"OK, Bob - here you go. I slapped on our standard Wynn logo, and grabbed the first block-font I could find in Illustrator for the values. Send that sh*t to Paulson!"

"Job well done. Let's go get some beers."


Sometimes I need to separate my design-side-snobbery from the chip-side valuations.

Again - thanks all for the details/responses. It certainly makes sense looking at the bigger "chip picture."
Click to expand...

You might feel differently if your last name were Wynn? Same thought process for the building.

wynn-casino-hotel_45361.jpg
 
ssanel54 said:
You might feel differently if your last name were Wynn? Same thought process for the building.

View attachment 48090
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but the building was clearly designed with high regard to visualization. There's a lot of design elements taking place there.

The chip design was the reverse. A logo existed, and they just made it fit on a round piece of paper.

Two completely different approaches from a design/intent standpoint.

I guess what I'm really getting at is that I appreciate when time/effort is put into design elements/standards. The chip inlay was obviously slapped together. I don't think you can argue that about the facade/fenestration.

And I'm not making an indictment of the chips... I get the attraction. With all of the gorgeous chips out there in the world, the designer/artist in me just wishes "Steve" spent more than 5 minutes on the layout. And yes, I know I'm OCD about such things. :p:ROFL: :ROFLMAO::D
 
justsomedude said:
Perhaps, but the building was clearly designed with high regard to visualization. There's a lot of design elements taking place there.

The chip design was the reverse. A logo existed, and they just made it fit on a round piece of paper.

Two completely different approaches from a design/intent standpoint.

I guess what I'm really getting at is that I appreciate when time/effort is put into design elements/standards. The chip inlay was obviously slapped together. I don't think you can argue that about the facade/fenestration.

And I'm not making an indictment of the chips... I get the attraction. The designer in me just wishes "Steve" spent more than 5 minutes on the layout. :p:ROFL: :ROFLMAO::D
Click to expand...

Like the building, I think the chips are pretty sexy as well....then to your point you just slap the Wynn name on both and call it a day. Its brand consistency...but through the eyes of a meglalomaniac.

If these were designed for a private charity event, or whatever it was, I doubt that they were putting much effort into creating the perfect inlay, the way most of us would approach customs.
 
All Wynn logos and inlays have that sparse design component. I like that personally. Perception of beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

Even though some of the spots aren't extravagant I like them all and my fav is the Hundo.

But alas, they eclipsed my price limit yesterday so all I can do is look and dream.
 
pltrgyst said:
I'm with you guys. They do absolutely nothing for me...and the 25, though rare, is extraordinarily dull.

Nor does the fact that Steve Wynn is T.Rump Lite... :cool:
Click to expand...
The 25 is actually my favorite in the set. The 100 is also nice. Not a huge fan of the other color combos.
Regarding the reason why people find the set attractive; there's not many, if any, inlaid Paulson casino tournament sets with an interesting spot progression available.
 
I am also not super impressed by the Wynn chips.

Some of the cost seems a bit artificially inflated. But when the market is so small, the price will be whatever we are willing to pay over manufacturing cost (and even sometimes less in rare cases).

All we have to do is collectively stop paying $4 a chip to get the price to fall....

Right?
 
Yeah you're not alone. I don't really get it either. I may still enter the raffle with one entry for the hell of it, but you won't find me shelling out $4.20 a chip to acquire them. Personal taste coupled with the relative rarity seems to be the driving factor here.
 
DJ Mack said:
Yeah you're not alone. I don't really get it either. I may still enter the raffle with one entry for the hell of it, but you won't find me shelling out $4.20 a chip to acquire them. Personal taste coupled with the relative rarity seems to be the driving factor here.
Click to expand...

not me...courage bought a ticket...:rolleyes:
 
Well, as the one who paid a boatload to get a playable set of these, I should probably weigh in.

Many of my reasons have already been mentioned...mint Casino Paulsons, big name casino from the strip, rare no mold, I like the colors, and I actually really like the simplicity of the inlay.

I don't see how they are THAT expensive, relatively speaking, given the attributes listed above.

Casino used Aztar $100s for $3/
Paulson home series chips for $2.5/ to over $3/

I am taking the Wynns at $4.20 all day long over those, and considering it a bargain!

Also, the AVERAGE price of the Wynns is $4.20 in some recent sales. But compare that to say uncirculated Dunes. Those START at $3/ for fives, $4/ for twenty fives, $7/ for hundos, and you can't even find mint five hundreds, but if you could, it would be well over $20/. So on average, well above the Wynn tourney chips. You may like Dunes better, fine. But to say the price of the Wynns is sky high, I dunno. How about Stardust Mansion tourney chips--some of those sets exceeded $4.5/ average.

Think of how many other sets have crazy pricing on upper denoms. No, you wouldn't pay $420 for a rack of minty Grand Vic $5s. But if you find a rack of $500s at that price, let me know and I will take them!

So I may be on an island here. But you keep the used Aztar from Caruthersville for $3/ and I will take as many of these minty Wynns from the strip as I can get my hands on at $4.20!
 
So I didn't read all responses. To me the main value of the set is the following:
- The fact that is a prototype set of a premier resort casino in Las Vegas. I've rarely seen a prototype chip let alone a set.
- It's The winning prototype set which was used to make the decision to go with Paulson.
- They are Paulson.
- The fact that they are on a rare mold.
- They are decent to look at.
- The market for Paulson chips in general has lost it's damn mind.

Chips are worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Just because someone pays $8k for a set does not set the price for a set. It means only that is what they are worth to that buyer. I can't justify spending that much on any set... But I have different spending limits than others, and if one can spend that kind of cash, well done, you likely deserve to treat yourself once in a while.
 
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