Reddick Poker & Gaming
Reddick Poker & Gaming (RPG) is the general branding of poker games hosted by Jon & Ro Reddick.
The name implies there is some larger organization or genuine gambling establishment backing the regular events, though in reality the games are simply home games, albeit well-coordinated and quite often unnecessarily elaborate home games.
Custom Chip Design
In October 2005, RPG commissioned PJCC Collectibles to print a 1000-piece set of custom poker chips bearing the stylized "R" logo on one side, and similarly-textured iconic silhouettes from classic video games on the reverse side.
The design characterized the family's enjoyment of poker, their love of classic arcade video games, and ironically combined the two. Ironic because poker has a somewhat "cool" or "macho" image in popular culture, and classic video games are instead quite "nerdy" or "geeky." The combination of heads & tails uniquely reflected the organization for which it was intended.
The final artwork was submitted in November 2005 and initially approved. But a few days later, tragedy struck when Jon received the following email from PJCC:
| Jon,
After looking at your chips again, we are concerned that the images you just added (to the reverse side) are copyrighted. We are not sure about our rights to reproduce them... Michele |
The submitted design was exactly what he wanted, and to have to change at this point and re-design the chips would have been heartbreaking. But rather than accept defeat, he scrambled to put together a defense. He drafted the following letter to PJCC:
| Hi, Michele:
I investigated this myself prior to adding the images. The way in which the elements are being used falls under parody/fair-use in all of the following legal criteria... (From www.publaw.com) To touch on the items, (1) the purpose is not at all commercially motivated and is for personal use, (2) this falls under the "creative work" category, (3) the individual icons are extracted from their environments, completely re-created and re-colorized (the chrome texture) as to differentiate themselves from the original and (4) will have zero impact on the the existing market or value of the icons themselves, as none of them are even remotely related to the sport of poker. This last point also touches on the parody aspect -- the juxtaposition of these video game characters (all over 20 years old) in relation to the current popularity of poker (which has no electronic element) create the humorous correlation. From my understanding, for all of these reasons my designs fall well within the parody/fair-use provision of copyright law. Please confirm that all is well. Thanks. :) Jon Reddick |
Within a day, the response came back:
| Hi Jon, That's great...thanks! We will proceed with the order. Thanks again, |
The order did indeed proceed and the chips were delivered in late December 2005.
1000 Poker Chips
Collectively, the set of 1000 chips is unique, with 200 of each of the five different designs.
- 990 - Still in possession of Reddick Poker & Gaming and in regular use (give or take a dozen to loss)
- 5 - Set of five in possession of Sharon Reddick as keepsakes
- 5 - Set of five in possession of Kenneth Reddick, Jr. as keepsakes
New Tournament Chips
For the 2013 Birthday Tournaments, Jon purchased a new set of tournament chips.
The design is called "Z-Pro" and he found them online at a retailer called discountpokershop.com.
