Poker Chips in Movies – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (6 Viewers)

[Papasatyr]

What are 8g paranoids?

Paranoid is a blend of clay with celluloid (AKA "French Ivory") that was a popular chip material in the first half of the 20th century. From what I can tell thus far, they came in three weights: 5 gram, 6 gram, and 8 gram. The 5 & 6 gram versions have rounded edges. The 8 gram paranoid have square edges and are rather kick ass chips!

This is what they look like:

 

[CrazyEddie]

What are 8g paranoids?

Paranoids are vintage chips with die-cut inlaid symbols. They look like this:

"Paranoid" is the name of the material they're made out of, which is a plastic composite similar to early clay chips but made with celluloid (probably) rather than shellac. They were made by the US Playing Card Company in the early 20th century.

 

[CrazyEddie]

Paranoid is a blend of clay with celluloid (AKA "French Ivory") that was a popular chip material in the first half of the 20th century. From what I can tell thus far, they came in three weights: 5 gram, 6 gram, and 8 gram. The 5 & 6 gram versions have rounded edges. The 8 gram paranoid have square edges and are rather kick ass chips!

Jinx!

I didn't know that about the three different weights. Cool! Do you know where that information is from?

 

[Papasatyr]

Jinx!

I didn't know that about the three different weights. Cool! Do you know where that information is from?

From samples I've handled. More accurately, the rounded chips are closer to 5.5 & 6.5g. There easily could be more varieties out there.

 

[WedgeRock]

What are 8g paranoids?

 

[BNM]

Paranoid is a blend of clay with celluloid (AKA "French Ivory") that was a popular chip material in the first half of the 20th century. From what I can tell thus far, they came in three weights: 5 gram, 6 gram, and 8 gram. The 5 & 6 gram versions have rounded edges. The 8 gram paranoid have square edges and are rather kick ass chips!

This is what they look like:
View attachment 578940

Yeah, the chips in “the sting” are pretty thick with square edges. Very nice.

 

[Alexeberlin]

When/how?

When/how?

Moved to the US in the 1980s and the job I went for closed. Getting drunk in the hotel heard that Paul Newman was interviewing for a charity that he was starting. Waited till they called the name of someone who hadn't turned up, then asked if I could have his interview. Must have done okay because I was on the greyhound to connecticut the next day.

 

[CrazyEddie]

From samples I've handled. More accurately, the rounded chips are closer to 5.5 & 6.5g. There easily could be more varieties out there.

Cool, thanks. You might be interested in this thread where a few of us went sleuthing about Paranoids; my speculation is that at some point there was a transition between "no-mold die-cut inlaid symbol chips made by USPCC" and "no-mold die-cut inlaid symbol chips made by Burt Co" which corresponded with a change in size and weight, and may have also extinguished the round-edge variety.

Pure speculation, though.

I linked to one of my posts, but the whole thread is worth checking out.

 

[Daniel Albarran]

How about these ones? From the movie Blind Fury, I think it's a horseshoe mold but can't find them and I have no idea if these are real casino chips or custom made. Any info on them? By the way, cool movie.

 

[allforcharity]

How about these ones? From the movie Blind Fury, I think it's a horseshoe mold but can't find them and I have no idea if these are real casino chips or custom made. Any info on them? By the way, cool movie.

Red chip has a very shallow edge spot, which make me think they are plastic. Maybe RT? Spots on the darker chip look somewhat funky as well.

 

[Daniel Albarran]

Red chip has a very shallow edge spot, which make me think they are plastic. Maybe RT? Spots on the darker chip look somewhat funky as well.

You're right, reds seem to be plastic and they seem to have another inlay. Blacks definitely look like clay with the horseshoe mold.

 

[duffman]

Nice shots. Those red chips look like TRK SCROWN's to me. Specifically Pick Hobson's Overland Hotel $5's. I bet they just put a paper label over them for the movie.

 

[Daniel Albarran]

Nice shots. Those red chips look like TRK SCROWN's to me. Specifically Pick Hobson's Overland Hotel $5's. I bet they just put a paper label over them for the movie.

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Half of the mystery solved it seems.

 

[duffman]

Black's look a lot like Hotel Nevada $100's.

(pic taken from the chip guide)

 

[Daniel Albarran]

Black's look a lot like Hotel Nevada $100's.

View attachment 618074

(pic taken from the chip guide)

Looks close, not convinced from the mold, though...

 

[duffman]

Looks close, not convinced from the mold, though...

Yeah, I agree those blacks look like they are on the horseshoe mold.

 

[StevieG]

"Mississippi Grind (2015)"

The movie does a great job with props. For instance these first few captures show chips from scenes in what are supposed to be actual casinos. The first an Iowa riverboat:



These are from scenes in a New Orleans casino:

In contrast, these chips are used in what is supposed to be a ritzy private game hosted on an actual river boat cruise to nowhere:

And these are from a scene at a home game:

 

[BigOlPapaBear]

I didn't recall Teddy have $500's in his stack... I remembered it as all hundos.... Had to rewatch the scene to confirm.

That's super cool.

The bottom chips of his $500 stacks appear to have different colour edgespots in some shots...I think they bulked the KGB chips out with the Chesterfield Club 500s.

 

[StevieG]

"Owning Mahowny (2003)"

Another great movie. Obviously done with an eye on budget (the interior casino sets are rather economical) but they did employ chips that look realistic enough and not distracting.

They also use wheel chips in a roulette scene, which is a nice touch.

 

[allforcharity]

Nice! Those are the same purple chips used for CDI98 and other fantasy lines, just given a hot stamp.

 

[CrazyEddie]

Looks like an inlay, not a hotstamp. I can see some kind of red design above and below the "$5" towards the left side of the face.

 

[Highli99]

Nice! Those are the same purple chips used for CDI98 and other fantasy lines, just given a hot stamp.

I wonder if that's a potential angle for a NAGB? We’re making a movie about a casino and need a few hundred thousand authentic chips. Free idea for any of those so inclined!

 

[Taghkanic]

I was re-watching Tombstone the other night, and it looked kind of like in one of the games they were using Bakelite chips. Pretty sure these didn’t exist in the Wild West...

 

[Silver_Fiend]

I was re-watching Tombstone the other night, and it looked kind of like in one of the games they were using Bakelite chips. Pretty sure these didn’t exist in the Wild West...

no, bakelite is a 20th cent invention. Tombstones time would have been ivory, but that would have been expensive (if not already illegal) to have made for a movie production. Bakelite sounds like a movie-acceptable stand-in

 

[RivieraDanny]

I always cringe when I see a movie with people gambling in a "casino" or a high-stakes home game using dice chips. Absolutely ruins it for me. But then you've got movies where they make an effort to use quality chips. Beyond the obvious ones (Rounders / ASM, License to Kill / CDI 1998), what are the movies that feature quality chips? On the other hand, what are the really good poker movies that use terrible chips?

I'll start: I was flipping channels the other night and happened to see a casino scene from Mafia! (a terrible movie from 1998) with tons of the Paulson CDI 98 chips. In another scene it looks like they have the Generals Series, Native American Series, etc. I didn't see the dogs, but I bet there in there somewhere. I guess they just raided the Paulson store.

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I like how the dealer had the quarters and hundos on the 5er rail...... "You're fired!"

 

[chrismurda]

New movie alert…

 

[allforcharity]

Not exactly an impressive title.

 

[CrazyEddie]

I broke down all the chips I could spot from the The Card Counter trailer in this post:

At two different blackjack tables: Claysmith 12-stripes e.g. Desert Heat (relabeled as a casino starting with A - Aloni?)
At a poker table: Claysmith triangle-and-stick e.g. The Mint (relabeled as "PCC")
At a poker tournament, on both the early tables and the final table: Claysmith sword-and-spade e.g. Showdown (relabeled as as WSOP clone)
At a casino poker table: A 338 chip I don't recognize (0:54 in the clip). My guess is they're Langworthy plastics but it's hard to tell. Different casino than the blackjack chips.

The "WSOP" early tournament tables are made and branded by BBO Poker Tables

In prison they're using cut-up pieces of cards as betting tokens.

There's also a shot of some generic twelve-stripe sluggos on a roulette table, but I don't think that's in the movie, it's just spliced into the trailer.

 

[surfik]

I posted separate thread but belive it belongs here...

Loki

Suspected Bud Jones turns out to be Monte Carlo

 

[Okku]

I know its an old thread but I started watching Lie to Me again on Amazon prime

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Are the peach colored ones with the edge spots the same chips that were being used on Big Brother?