A Brief History of Poker Chips

The history of the poker chip is actually not a story about poker chips but one about the chip as a substitute for money in general!

"The guy who invented poker was bright, but the guy who invented the chip was a genius."

The Beginning

When gambling became widespread in the 18th century, one difficulty was that people who gambled had different types of coins or valuables for wagering. To solve this problem some gambling venues (no, the Vegas-style casino wasn't invented yet) offered gamblers substitutes like pieces of ivory, bones or clay. This was a nifty solution to the problem but of course resulted in a second problem: gamblers began to forge substitutes. As a result, gambling establishments began to brand their substitutes, the only surviving relic of which is the large plate (check) with a printed value.

Same Old, Same Old

When casinos began to flourish in the early 20th century, the chip as we know it today was used across the board (across the felt?) but the size differed from casino to casino, with some establishments even using chips of various sizes and materials for different values. The more valuable a chip was, the bigger it was. But once again the same old chip-forging problem resurfaced. And once again, the casinos responded in the same old way - each casino created specially designed, hard-to-replicate chips that were unique to their venue.

As the 20th century progressed, with independent chip manufacturers delivering to a multitude of casinos, the chips became standardized in size, but the materials used for them, such as clay or expensive ivory, still varied widely. Manufacturers now use high-pressure techniques combined with a mix of composite to produce chips. To hinder forgery the casinos even include a microchip in their chips. Today, a standard chip is 39 millimeters in diameter with a weight ranging from 8.5 grams to 20.5 grams.

Thanks to the ongoing poker boom, high-quality chips are produced in unprecedented quantities and have thus become affordable to the general public. It wasn't that long ago that one had to pay a couple hundred dollars for a quality set of poker chips, but the same sets are now sold for a fraction of that price.