The poker boom of 2003 and 2004 really brought a lot of attention to a game that was previously only associated with smoke filled rooms, back alleys, and shady characters. The resulting explosion has brought poker into the mainstream media via television. Additional side effects of the boom were the creation of many new types of poker chips and the creation of home consumer lines for some of the very expensive casino chips.
Manufacturing mainly moved to China where it is more cost effective. This fact drove most US manufacturers out of business. The most popular method of producing poker chips is by using injection molding. Injection molding basically works as the name suggests. It is usually used in plastics. The plastic material is heated to a fluid state and forced into a mold. The molds are typically designed by an engineer and made by a tradesman known as a toolmaker. The job of the toolmaker is very important since each mold is precision machined to produce the intricate details of each poker chip.
At least two types of poker chips are made with the injection molding method. The most popular chips in the home market are made via injection molding with an ABS plastic. Some of the more popular designs you may be familiar with are the striped dice and suited designs. It is also reported that ceramic chips are made with the injection molding process. However the material used to make these chips is quite different. If you have ever handled a ceramic poker chip then you know why they have the name. Many of these chips are made to have a very unique texture that is like very fine sandpaper.
Traditional clay poker chips are made with a lot less clay today than originally used. It is estimated that no chip has been made of 100% clay in many decades, probably even before the 1950’s. The clay poker chips of today are made with some percentage of clay, but other materials have been added in order to make the chips more durable. Modern day clay chips are made with a process called compression molding.
Compression molded clay chips are very time consuming to make and exactly how each manufacturer does this, along with the formula they use, is a guarded secret. However it is believed that the clay like material is made into cylindrical shape, cut into poker chip slices, and then put into the compression mold. In the compression mold the clay chip receives pressure up to 10,000 psi and heat up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. You may remember that most clay chips have edge spots. These edge spots are not painted on. Instead these sections of clay are removed from the cylinder of clay, before it is cut into poker chip slices, and replaced with clay of a different color. Additionally, most clay chips have an inlay. These inlays are often made of paper, however the paper inlay is covered with a plastic film before the compression molding process and the inlay is basically made to be part of the chip. After this process the inlay can not be removed without destroying the poker chip.