The Rounders chips no one talks about... (1 Viewer)

[tallsbutler]

I made myself a little set from BRPro with my logo a couple years ago when I was feeling inspired by these simple old school chips. Used colors from favorites sports teams and decided to add some edge spots.

 

[RagahRagah]

I made myself a little set from BRPro with my logo a couple years ago when I was feeling inspired by these simple old school chips. Used colors from favorites sports teams and decided to add some edge spots.

Flat faces with edge spots. Interesting.

 

[mike32]

If you look closely also used in the Cincinnati Kid and I believe The Sting too!

 

[Poker Zombie]

These aren't what we think of as clay chips. More like a plastic perhaps. They sound different. Something between a metallic clink and the ringing of glass. Perhaps a bit slippery too. Not dice chip slippery, but nothing like a Paulson style brick. No chip towers with paranoids.

I believe the term you are looking for is "Bakelite". You may know it better by it's actual name, Polyoxybenzylmethyleneglycolanhydride.

...or maybe not.

Basically, it was an early (1909) version of plastic using natural resins.

It is longer than Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, so now you have a new longest word (until some chemistry geek here outdoes this one). However, I challenge said geek to use a longer word that directly refers to poker chips.

 

[mike32]

 

[chippitydoodah]

Teddy used ASMs and KEM Arrows. Major upgrade.

View attachment 1139401

EDIT: I can't believe I never checked before, but the Taj scene looks like legit custom/house cards and legit house mold Paulsons. Not surprised, really. Rounders got a lot of the details right.
View attachment 1139404
View attachment 1139405
View attachment 1139406
(Chip pics used without permission of the MOGH.)

Smart move, really. Sure, they may have had to lay out some coin to purchase the chips before the scene (especially the barrels and barrels of blacks for Johnny Chan)... But once the scene is filmed, just cash them back in at the cage...

Movie production always looks for everything to be a handout with screen time & a credit at the end as "payment"

 

[AlbinoDragon]

It is longer than Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, so now you have a new longest word (until some chemistry geek here outdoes this one). However, I challenge said geek to use a longer word that directly refers to poker chips.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Though, "artificial" and "made up" in the article rolleyes seems a bit out of the way to diminish the word. It was in the copy of Webster's we had when I was growing up (and how I stumbled across it looking up pneumonia when I was stuck at home when I had the latter as a kid), so I still call it "real" and still my favorite "long word".

(I still have a fondness for the German language's affinity and flexibility to create new words for things just by gluing a bunch of other words together.)

 

[AlbinoDragon]

Back on topic, I remember early in my chip obsession slow-motion and freeze-frame stepping through the wide table shots of the Judge's Game and was pretty much convinced the chips used there are ASM Roman mold blanks (no inlays or even a hot-stamp). I'd have to do the experiment and make screen-captures to confirm, but have no reason to think that was the case otherwise.

In-story, it makes sense. The Taj chips make sense, even outside the "product placement", the municipal workers game chips make sense as being adopted from a local Elk's Club or such (the "E" on the chips jives). The Judge's pitching in for a nice set of no-frills set of chips for their game that weren't miserable interlocking wafers, long before the influx of "official casino weight" dreck we saw post poker boom makes sense too.

 

[Mike mac]

.

 

[OfficerLovejoy]

(I still have a fondness for the German language's affinity and flexibility to create new words for things just by gluing a bunch of other words together.)

Like Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft? (Steam boating company)
It's convenient but doesn't safe as much time as you'd think.

 

[JustinInMN]

They should almost all be $5 chips though....and maybe $1s for antes. They were playing 10/20 7 card stud, right?

I remember the lines
"He took me for a grand at the lodge."
"Well that's the buy-in here, we're playing 20/40 stud. Have a seat"

I remember they were paying antes with 3 white chips, which would be reasonable for 20/40. I don't remember which chips were used when Mike was making bets

Spoiler: (spoiler)

in the hand they show him winning early in the night.

There apparently was no low card force since Mike was able to check an ace

Spoiler: (spoiler)

when he had wired sevens in the hand that that ultimately got them beat up when worm dealt him a third seven.

 

[Johnblue]

Those chips are all over eBay… not to hard to find, sometimes way overpriced..

 

[Taghkanic]

Teddy used ASMs and KEM Arrows. Major upgrade.

View attachment 1139401

EDIT: I can't believe I never checked before, but the Taj scene looks like legit custom/house cards and legit house mold Paulsons. Not surprised, really. Rounders got a lot of the details right.
View attachment 1139404
View attachment 1139405
View attachment 1139406
(Chip pics used without permission of the MOGH.)

Smart move, really. Sure, they may have had to lay out some coin to purchase the chips before the scene (especially the barrels and barrels of blacks for Johnny Chan)... But once the scene is filmed, just cash them back in at the cage...

Those chips represented maybe 0.000001% of a Hollywood budget…

 

[Terrys394]

I remember the lines
"He took me for a grand at the lodge."
"Well that's the buy-in here, we're playing 20/40 stud. Have a seat"

I remember they were paying antes with 3 white chips, which would be reasonable for 20/40. I don't remember which chips were used when Mike was making bets

Spoiler: (spoiler)

in the hand they show him winning early in the night.

There apparently was no low card force since Mike was able to check an ace

Spoiler: (spoiler)

when he had wired sevens in the hand that that ultimately got them beat up when worm dealt him a third seven.

Yeah that was the old ante structure in Atlantic City.

Stud Antes
$1-$5 spread limit no ante or $.25 depending on where you were playing ($1 Bring in)
$5-$10 50 cent ante $2 bring in
Pink Chip Game $1 ante $2.50 Bring in
$10- $20 $1 ante $3 Bring In
$20- $40 $3 ante $5 Bring in

 

[JustinInMN]

So looking a little closer, there is a frame where you see Mike pick up two blue chips and tosses them and says "bet 40" so those much be $20 chips. The whites are probably singles. It's hard to determine what the tan and red chips are for though.

 

[upNdown]

Back on topic, I remember early in my chip obsession slow-motion and freeze-frame stepping through the wide table shots of the Judge's Game and was pretty much convinced the chips used there are ASM Roman mold blanks (no inlays or even a hot-stamp). I'd have to do the experiment and make screen-captures to confirm, but have no reason to think that was the case otherwise.

In-story, it makes sense. The Taj chips make sense, even outside the "product placement", the municipal workers game chips make sense as being adopted from a local Elk's Club or such (the "E" on the chips jives). The Judge's pitching in for a nice set of no-frills set of chips for their game that weren't miserable interlocking wafers, long before the influx of "official casino weight" dreck we saw post poker boom makes sense too.

I thought the judges were using interlocking plastics. I’ll have to give it another look.

 

[JustinInMN]

I thought the judges were using interlocking plastics. I’ll have to give it another look.

I thought those were super diamonds.

 

[PokerDogDoc]

A little bit more info:
As already confirmed, those E monogrammed and Fleur de Lis chips in Rounders are often called Paranoid chips. Paranoid was a trade name USPCC used for their proprietary clay and plastic (prob celluloid) compound used to make them, but has since become a generic term for all faro/poker wheel chips made like that. That material is not exactly Bakelite, but let's call them "cousins". USPCC was later bought out by Burt Co who continued making the chips using the same dyes but with a different clay compound... Paranoids can be found in both thinner, round-edged versions, and thicker, square-edged versions. I've seen early catalogs circa 1935 selling them for $7.50 per box of 100 (7.5 cents ea). In 2023 dollars that would be more than $16 per chip!

The white portion of the chip is an actual die cut inlay pressed into the solid color blank during manufacture. You can see what I mean in this photo courtesy of @CrazyEddie


It was a challenge, but I've been able to collect a 1000 chip playable set of the 3-Comet design through many eBay purchases for my monthly T25 home game tournament... $25 green, $100 brown, $500 blue, $1000 yellow, $5000 red. Here's an early photo of my set when I had gotten it up to 600 chips.


And here's another pic of Paranoids in the movies...Gone With The Wind (1939)!
And a few more references for you to enjoy.



Best of luck should you decide to pursue a playable set of Paranoids!

 

[maxim_666666]

A little bit more info:
As already confirmed, those E monogrammed and Fleur de Lis chips in Rounders are often called Paranoid chips. Paranoid was a trade name USPCC used for their proprietary clay and plastic (prob celluloid) compound used to make them, but has since become a generic term for all faro/poker wheel chips made like that. That material is not exactly Bakelite, but let's call them "cousins". USPCC was later bought out by Burt Co who continued making the chips using the same dyes but with a different clay compound... Paranoids can be found in both thinner, round-edged versions, and thicker, square-edged versions. I've seen early catalogs circa 1935 selling them for $7.50 per box of 100 (7.5 cents ea). In 2023 dollars that would be more than $16 per chip!

The white portion of the chip is an actual die cut inlay pressed into the solid color blank during manufacture. You can see what I mean in this photo courtesy of @CrazyEddie
View attachment 1172787

It was a challenge, but I've been able to collect a 1000 chip playable set of the 3-Comet design through many eBay purchases for my monthly T25 home game tournament... $25 green, $100 brown, $500 blue, $1000 yellow, $5000 red. Here's an early photo of my set when I had gotten it up to 600 chips.
View attachment 1172791

And here's another pic of Paranoids in the movies...Gone With The Wind (1939)!
And a few more references for you to enjoy.
View attachment 1172793View attachment 1172795View attachment 1172797


Best of luck should you decide to pursue a playable set of Paranoids!

How do they feel?
Is this similar to modern clay?

 

[Poker Zombie]

How do they feel?
Is this similar to modern clay?

Mine are not at all similar to modern clay - China or otherwise.

They are very smooth and light. By my feel, more like plastic than clay. Perhaps like a china clay if polished smooth.

 

[TRKingChips]

My small group of those type chips .
“ I “ monogram paranoid chips in 3 colors :
Brown - Blue - Green

 

[TRKingChips]

“ K “ monogram paranoid chips in 3 colors :
Blue - Pink - Red

 

[Klobberer]

They should almost all be $5 chips though....and maybe $1s for antes. They were playing 10/20 7 card stud, right?

20/40 stud...took me for $1000, well that's the buy-in grab a seat.

 

[Chanceman]

I played with paper bicycles all night last Friday. Doesn’t bother me really. Paper cards are fine as long as they are decent paper cards and not overused (worn out). You can get a good night of poker out of a couple new bicycle decks.

I like that moment in Cincinnati Kid where they smell the decks to choose which paper cards to play with. I was told that they smell to figure out whether the cellophane has been broken and resealed using heat.

 

[JustinInMN]

I like that moment in Cincinnati Kid where they smell the decks to choose which paper cards to play with. I was told that they smell to figure out whether the cellophane has been broken and resealed using heat.

I remember Norman Jewison mentioning that on the director commentary.

 

[Chanceman]

I remember Norman Jewison mentioning that on the director commentary.

I didn't know that movie had a commentary track. I'm going to hunt down the blu ray.

 

[JustinInMN]

I didn't know that movie had a commentary track. I'm going to hunt down the blu ray.

This is the version I have from Amazon. (link)

Jewison is still with us at age 97.

 

[Chanceman]

This is the version I have from Amazon. (link)

Jewison is still with us at age 97.

He did some quality stuff. It didn't occur to me he was still living.

 

[ChippinUp]

Completely agree. I’m in the process of building a solid set. Love them

 

[grebe]

20/40 stud...took me for $1000, well that's the buy-in grab a seat.

I think I was mixing it up with the judges' game... Kept thinking of the line "the big bet is 20".