Hey, I have an idea: WW indicated he was coming to SQM 2021, so let's get *him* interested in single malts and see what he brings along. ...
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Windwalker’s Chipping Journey in Pr0n0grAph1C Detail (46 Viewers)
- Thread starter Windwalker
- Start date
25 is a nice number. That's about how many a rational human being might have.
Great. Now you all are going to get in a Scotch pissing match, WW is going to go on a Scotch buying binge, and I will never be able to afford my favorites again.
gopherblue
Straight Flush
It’s good, but to be honest, it didn’t blow me away. Then again, it was like 17 quid. I’ll bring it to the next SQM meetup, if (a) no covid and (b) @k9dr stops dicking around and moves me off the waitlist.I'll try that Glen Marnoch, please. Never had it...
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I am sadly on the waitlist. (If we’re talking about the meetup in Florida.)
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Great. Now you all are going to get in a Scotch pissing match, WW is going to go on a Scotch buying binge, and I will never be able to afford my favorites again.
I actually buy a lot of scotch to send to my dad. It’s his favorite drink, and in his words, his “constant mistress.”
Great. Now you all are going to get in a Scotch pissing match, WW is going to go on a Scotch buying binge, and I will never be able to afford my favorites again.
No sweat. We just drink everything he brings to SQM, and then turn him on to bourbons. Easy peasy.
Yeah. I'm pretty rational....
If you work on that Scotch list, some of us know where Mark (@k9dr) lives and can perhaps "influence" him...
BTW, if you drink enough, that's inevitable.
I appreciate Scotch, but still, very few people outside the US have done more for mountain Kentucky communities than myself.
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Excuse me sir, I'd like to order a half thimble of that..... On a rock. A small rock. Like a pea.
I read that in the voice of Navin Johnson. "With an umbrella in it, of course."
Impressive -- " Rare, sought after, historic. " And of course that price tag.
The only problem is that really old whiskies tend to be very muted and taste more like their final casks than the original whisky. Very few actually improve past 18 years -- Springbank 25 and 21 are about the only two that come immediately to mind...
Anyway, your Dad's next birthday might be an appropriate occasion!
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Anyway, your Dad's next birthday might be an appropriate occasion!
That was more tic than anything else, that price point is absurd.
Safety is surely found in the 18-year olds, but some 25+ year olds can be amazing. The Macallan Sherry Oak, for example, is so good; notes of wood smoke, chocolate, spice, even some citrus. But, for 18 year olds, my dad's favorite, and mine, is the Highland Park 18, with a nose of plums, heather, apricots and peaches, and a palate that's light and silky. Very affordable, too.
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I wouldn’t worry too much yet, spots often open up or I may expand back to 4 tables if the Covid-19 situation improves. I can always bump you ahead of @gopherblue too
Next big thing on PCF: Members' livers ultra-sounds 
(following the fitness contest thread, obviously directed at youngsters)
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I know nothing of alcohol. My SQM experience is bringing two bottles of Blanton's single barrel and @detroitdad telling me how overrated and eh it is while finishing a bottle the first night
As long as the Canadians have my rum, I'll have fun.
As long as the Canadians have my rum, I'll have fun.
Ben8257
Royal Flush
Hope the waitlist makes it in to SQM... if not the back up to the waitlist has no chance!!
gopherblue
Straight Flush
I wouldn’t worry too much yet, spots often open up or I may expand back to 4 tables if the Covid-19 situation improves. I can always bump you ahead of @gopherblue too
except for maybe some Mapes 
That sounds like how I'd imagine a night with DD would go....I know nothing of alcohol. My SQM experience is bringing two bottles of Blanton's single barrel and @detroitdad telling me how overrated and eh it is while finishing a bottle the first night
As long as the Canadians have my rum, I'll have fun.
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So, I’ll start by saying this has been one hell of a learning process, the past few months. I think the hardest thing to realize is that PCF has a vocabulary all of its own, combined with more popular terms from the glossary of chip collectors. As I’ve been hunting for chips outside of PCF, or speaking with companies in the chip business, the delineation of what is PCF-only versus what is normal “chip parlance” is striking. My favorite example of this is using the terms THC, RHC and IHC with anyone outside of PCF, whether it’s a chip collector or an executive from the actual manufacturer, and realizing they have no idea what that means. But on the other hand, terms like “snappers” (which I recently learned comes from the Blackjack table, not poker) are more widely known. It’s been quite the learning experience, and its overwhelming to think of how much more there is to learn and experience. Anyway, on to your questions, answered the best I can, at this stage in my chipping adolescence.
I’ve only had a chance to play with / touch / examine Paulson and TRK chips up close. I have a few samples from CPC, but most of my few weeks of learning has been limited to Paulson and more recently, TRKs. What’s been as interesting as learning about the chips, the molds and their relative compositions, is learning about the people who like each kind. The best way to describe it as a newbie is to compare THC/RHC/TRKs to vintage motorcycles. THC is like a vintage Triumph – well designed, classic, fiercely loved by those that believe in it; RHC is like Harley Davidson; a bit more popular, more volume, less finesse; and TRKs are like vintage Indian motorcycles (not the new Polaris-owned monstrosity, but the original, immeasurably cool, quirky choice.)
Personally, I like the feel of leaded THCs much more than the recent ones; so while the fantasy boat chips in my collection are gorgeous, The Outposts, the Binion’s WSOPs, even the Sacrament Giraffes are much more pleasing in the hand, to me. That said, after finally being able to handle some mint TRKs, I’m madly in love. There’s a sense of gravitas (both mental and physical) that really elevate them, for me.
Ironically, before knowing all this, I decided on an RHC set as my primary cash game set. Having read multiple accounts of how close the symbol is to the edge of the chip and how that is going to cause fleabites even with just home use worries me…but I’ve laid a pretty big bed, and I’m going to have to sleep in it for now.
As someone who owns a firm that does, among other things, visual design, product design and sometimes even architectural design, color theory and cognitive resonance that comes from the use of color is critical to me. I truly did not appreciate how important color is to chip design until I got my Paulson color sample set, and realizing that once a combination of colors /edgespot colors have been used by the company, it can never be used again. This made me think about the actual number of permutations and combinations that might be allowed. So, I took the 88 colors that Paulson provides, the edgespot patterns that can be used, the number of color combinations in the edgespots, along with some of the color restrictions I was able to find on various threads, and ran a calculation: The average possible number of versions per chip/edgespot pattern is 109,736. It goes up or down depending on the number of usable colors on the chip. More than enough to go around, I guess.
I don’t really know the history of colors from each manufacturer, but I do know that GPI occasionally adds new colors. I suspect this is to increase the number of permutations, by the way, not just to add a new color to the palette.
While I know that some states actually regulate color, like Illinois and New Jersey, and that “Cali Colors” are an actual thing, I believe a lot of this is up to the discretion of the individual casino. What I find fascinating though, in states like New Jersey, is how prescriptive they are– they literally include tolerance limits from the Munsell System of Color Coding for each denomination of the chip in the legal code. The $1.00 white, the pink snapper, the red $5, the blue $10, the yellow $20, the green $25, the black $100, the purple $500, and the (actually in quotes in the NJ code) “Fire Orange” $1000, the grey $5000, and the mustard $20,000. I haven’t seen any other state than Illinois that specifies colors to this extent – even Nevada; which I find fascinating. School uniforms versus “suggested clothing stye” is a good metaphor.
This is now a new passion of mine, as I’m putting together my first mixed leaded Paulson/THC set, and trying to figure out appropriate spot progressions. I was in Nevada last weekend and a friend of mine who owns a casino there let me up into their “eye in the sky” room to show me how what we call edgespots are their primary mechanism to track issues with chips on tables. We of course, look at them as design elements more than security features, but also ways to make sure the set feels “cohesive”.
Another fun discovery was that “spot progression” and “set cohesion” is a PCF thing, not something that people really look at in casinos. That said, I love the idea, and have been experimenting with different found chips in the creation of my mixed set. I was actually just PMing a friend of mine to get advice on some chips I had chosen for my set, wondering if it would be OK to have both my $5 and $25 have the same 4d14 pattern. This was my initial pass:
$1 is a blue 414
$5 is a red 4d14
$25 is a green 4d14
$100 is a black 3ta316
$500 is a white 8a18
We agreed that the $5 needs to probably be a 3d14.
All that said, my current favorite spots are the 8a18, the 8v, the 4tsa18 bearclaw and the 4w (I like that each spot on the 4w has 2 colors).
For me, a perfect set would be:
- Bright, vibrant colors
- A cohesive, smart, progressive edgespot pattern
- A white hundo
- A yellow $5
- A red frac
- Whimsical, playful inlays.
I’m still figuring that one out. More to come.
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Lol I was surprised when I learned this too. Idk why I was because it would make little sense otherwise. That said, nice spot progression can turn an ok set into a great one. At least in my opinion of course.
So is what we see as spot progression in most casinos actually purely just a cost and security feature? If so it sure works out to a decent spot progression for most casino chips.
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Honestly Tom, this is my theory -- I think forums like PCF helped evolve edgespot pattern progressions and color selection -- the collective knowledge of the hobbyist become the ingrained knowledge of the protagonist. But I've spoken to a couple of casino owners -- they really don't think of it in great detail except for security and distinguishability. Of course, they think they should have pleasing colors, but not necessarily how we (you guys) think about it.
Idk about cost, but security yes and to differentiate chips from each other on the cams when they are in the trays. Heard it was a no no for example for dealers to line up edge spots in the trays because it makes the chips hard to differentiate. @BGinGA knows the nitty gritty details, but that was my takeaway
@dennis63 would know about this too from his time as a casino dealer. His thread on it is really worth a read for anyone that has an hour of free time.
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