# Whence the striped design of casino chips?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-striped-design-of-casino-chips/454950>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 1, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-striped-design-of-casino-chips/454950 "2008-07-01T19:27:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-striped-design-of-casino-chips/454950/1 "2008-07-01T19:27:14Z")

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It’s an icon of gambling in general: The stereotypical casino chip with its stripes of alternating colors along the rim and edge. Is this for purely aesthetical reasons, or does it serve a practical purpose? The only thing I can think of is that the striped design makes it easier to discern individual chips if they’re stacked, so you can count the number of chips in the stack more easily. Am I right with that, or is there a deeper meaning?

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-striped-design-of-casino-chips/454950/2 "2008-07-01T19:36:27Z")

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Yup, you got it - it’s easier to differentiate multiple striped chips in a stack.

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**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-striped-design-of-casino-chips/454950/3 "2008-07-02T08:18:00Z")

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Yep.

There is also often a pattern to the number of edge spots. Where I used to work, the $1 chips had two “small” edge spots, the $5 chips two large edge spots, the $25 chips four small edgespots, and the $100 chips 4 large edge spots. This makes it much easier to pick up the value of the chip on either worn or black and white monitors.

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-striped-design-of-casino-chips/454950/4 "2008-07-02T16:28:49Z")

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Ignorance fought. Thanks, guys!