I can only tell you my own experience.
When I took over a game from a previous host, I also inherited his two boxes of dice chips.
I knew I wanted better chips, but wasn’t sure what those should be.
At first I bought two birdcages of slugged chips from a friend. Very soon afterward, I discovered this site and quickly realized my mistake. (The friend was kind enough to take the slugged chips back.)
As I was hosting tourneys, I was fine with solids, and gravitated toward Paulson Starbursts. They were fairly plentiful on
eBay and PCF at the time, and cost between .50-$1.50 per chip.
After about a year of using those I started getting a taste for spotted chips. The Chip Room sold a ton of the mint
RHC Jack Detroits, never actually put into play, and these were snapped up in the sale and heavily bought/sold here.
I had no special connection to Detroit, but I thought this was one of the best-looking casino-commissioned sets I’d seen, both the primaries and secondaries. Great base colors, great spots and progressions almost throughout both lineups.
After a lot of work and costs I never imagined I’d incur, I assembled a tournament set big enough for three tables, plus a cash set.
Somewhat later TCR started selling the Jack Cincys, and I swapped out some denoms for these because I preferred them. Also, since I wasn’t crazy about the red fives, I bought some other RHCs and overlabeled them with @Gear’s help to match the Jack scheme.
Having by now caught the chipping bug, I branched out and assembled another large cash set (hotstamped PCRs, on the suits mold)… Because I really liked them. These were “fantasy” chips sold by Paulson for a while to the public. I had no special feeling for the name but loved the way they handled, the stamps, and the color/spot schemes.
I sold my Jack cash set but kept the tourney set in case I went back to that.
Then the pandemic hit, and I took a break from having a ton of people crammed into my house. I renovated my barn as a combination workshop, studio and occasional poker room. I also decided to only host cash games when I resumed, using the PCRs.
But like many here, the pandemic also meant a lot of time at home, and more time on PCF. I bought and sold a lot of different chips that just caught my eye, mostly spotted RHCs and THCs in good condition.
My goal was to eventually make a fully custom set but now with murder/inlay replacement instead of overlabels. So the existing casino or fantasy inlays/stamps didn’t matter.
Given the stiff competition and rising prices during that period (combo of the pandemic and several giant whales entering the chip market), it was a struggle to build a set that I liked. I overbought not knowing if/when I could get the quantities I needed.
Finally the spotted THCs won the race, and I sold off all the extra RHCs and stray THCs from the process. I broke even or made a small profit on those.
Then I designed custom inlays for the murdered chips, and had them produced by
@Gear for my “forever” set (ha ha we’ll see). I did some of the final murder jobs myself, and also bought a Cricut machine to churn out some small-batch inlays for some extras. I also made matching dealer buttons and a customized case etc.
I then regretfully sold my giant beloved PCR set as well, since I did not need it anymore.
As if this weren’t already a TL/DR post… During this this time I also amassed a bunch of H-mold hotstamped solids, which were milled by @Kifer. I was going to turn these into a set for a family vacation home. But then a vintage set of Caribbean casino chips on the HHR (Horsehead) mold caught my eye, and I traded most of the H-molds to get it.
That set needed some extras to fill it out, so I used the Cricut to make matching inlays for it on some other HHRs which I bought and again murdered.
I don’t need this set, but it has been fascinating to research the casino’s history, and to acquire a bunch of other items and ephemera from it (dice, postcards, matchbooks, etc.). At some point I’ll probably sell it but for now I’m still enjoying the research and collecting. I can also use this as a change-of-pace cash set for my game now and then.
Oh, and along the way I designed a chipset based on one of my hobbies (wild mushroom foraging). But this is currently on hold.
So what is the point of this longwinded tale?
You asked why people here do certain things. My own story is both typical and atypical: I randomly found this site, realized my chips were shit, bought what better chips I could find and afford, developed fancier or just different tastes over time, tried to match what was available to my needs and preferences.
While some may have affinities or nostalgia for specific locations, I don’t have any particular love for any old casinos, or “fake” (fantasy) lineups.
Opportunity, design, cost, mood swings, and fun led me around by the nose. I’ve sort of settled down having made a custom set, but will probably veer off onto some new tangent eventually.
I suspect you’ll either not catch the chipping bug and wander off… Or you’ll catch it. Then in a few years you’ll look back on your question and have a similarly long answer for the next new guy.
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