The History of USA Poker Chips

All poker chips have existed since the game has been around though they were quite different in the earlier days. In the 1800s gambling and poker especially gained much popularity in the US and especially in the west states of the country. With this popularity came the need of keeping the track of the wins and losses during the game.

In the earlier days all the players had different currencies and some used no paper currency at all. Many players used gold nuggets, dust or any other type of expensive mineral, gems or ores which they had been able to find while working in the mines. Some players even put their cattle on stake while other traded for expensive food items. However, since the game had been so popular it was necessary to have a standard currency.

Introduction of all poker chips

A couple of centuries ago, in the US during the time of riverboats and small card rooms there was a need to safeguard real currency while playing the game. There was also a need of standardizing the game and the currency so the card rooms and gambling houses began making use of poker chips. Those rooms used to collect the real currency from the players and charge them a small fee to provide them the chips for playing poker.

Mass production of plastic chips was not used in those days yet. Instead items like bones, wood and stones were used in the form of chips. It was at these gambling houses that the trend of poker chips first began where they took the player's money and turned them into the house's special poker chips. However, the history of poker chips can be traced back to other parts of the world even before that. Several different civilizations had been fond of gambling and many of them even used their own versions of poker chips to keep track of the game.

Clay poker chips

The clay poker chips were first made almost at the end of the 1800s. Over the years as technology developed, new materials and different production methods began to be introduced for making poker chips. Acrylic and plastic poker chips were also soon introduced in the market. Several manufacturers also produced custom designed ivory poker chips.

Modern poker chips

In the mid 20th century the large casinos had already been established in several parts of the US and these casinos became the hot spot for gamblers from all over the world. There was a need for manufacturing thousands of poker chips.

Also, there was a need for making different poker chips so that they could be authenticated and separated from the other casinos. With the technology that is available today most casinos use chips with microchips inside them. The weight, size, color and shape are all standardized and the designs are so intricate that it is not possible for anyone to forge these chips. Millions of chips are mass produced by manufacturers today and every casino has its own special set of poker chips which are customized and made from high quality material.