Poker Chips have been the body of the games of poker and no poker game till date has been played without chips inside casinos. It holds the value for people’s money and offers more fun and style in the games. But the poker chips haven’t always existed since the time poker is played. In fact, they were only introduced 200 years after the first poker game was played. Here we look down the history of poker chips to uncover some of the lesser-known facts.

The origin of the chips

The first chips were made in the 1880s with clay. There were different colours such as red, blue, yellow and white, and they were pretty delicate to be thrown away casually. From the 1880s to 1930s was the time when the poker chips were getting shaped and introduced in the casinos.

People used valuables for betting

Before and during the first introduction of poker chips, people were using direct cash, gold pieces, and other valuable objects like ivories. Some of the biggest stakes in poker have been farms according to past records. People decided the bets through equivalent things. Most of the bets were not accurately equal and were agreed upon according to the player’s will.

Modern casino chips contained cat litter.

After the 1950s the casino chips were redesigned, and new materials were experimented to be used for making the chips. Modern chips used clay and similar composites like chalk, sand, and even cat litter. This made the chips more durable and suitable for continuous casino gaming sessions.

Why casinos used chips?

Casinos wanted a standard system of betting where they could use their own markers to represent currency in order to eliminate any object betting. It also helped the casinos to prevent any counterfeit notes from being used in the casinos. The dealers could also determine the accurate amount of bets instantly without counting the notes in large quantity, which sped up the gameplays.

Modern chips use RFID technology

 The chips casinos use today ave RFID chips installed inside them which can be scanned at the cashier’s counter to detect the chip type and custom colour combinations for odd money count. Some of the chips also have audible tagging, which is helpful in detecting invalid chips. It is way more difficult to fool casinos with fake chips than it was a few years ago.

Collectable chips are made of gold

Many times the manufacturers and casinos launch exclusive and limited chipsets made of metal. These chips are pretty expensive and are only used for collection. Some of the chips have gold, silver, and bronze coatings on them, which increases their value even more. If you want to get a hand on such collection, you will need to follow the manufacturer’s news column to keep track of their launches. You can also try searching on eBay and hope to find some collector finally selling one of their metal chipsets.