Custom Board Game Tokens
Tokens, chips, counters: often used interchangeably, these small but important board game components have a vital role to play in the mechanics of many classic and innovative tabletop games
What are game tokens, chips, counters, or pieces?
Game tokens — sometimes also called “chips”, “counters”, or just “pieces” — are small, often round but sometimes square or hexagonal or other shapes, flat items that can play a variety of roles in board games and tabletop games. They may serve as “money”, represent players (in the same way as meeples, pawns, and miniatures), place markers, treasure, powers and abilities, or anything else you need.
Board game token materials
The traditional token is a plain disc made either of paperboard, wood, or plastic. They can be colored, printed, and finished in several ways.
We offer tokens made to your requirements in plastic, wood, glass, and paper-wrapped grayboard. Far-and-away the most popular are tokens made from paper-wrapped grayboard. Typically, we’ll use 1.5 mm grayboard wrapped with 250 gsm / 92 lb cover paper, coated on one side (C1S). The result is a robust 2 mm thick token.
Tokens made this way are practical and we can print them with any design you wish to create. They’re also lightweight (so they keep shipping costs down) but durable and economical to produce. These game tokens are also called “punch out tokens” because we print them on sheets of paper-covered board and then press out the individual shapes from the main sheet.
Custom board game token colors
If you choose to make your game tokens in plastic, wood, or glass, we will paint them with your chosen colors. However, for this to be economical, we usually suggest this option only for minimum order quantities of 10,000 pieces or more. If you choose cardboard tokens, obviously we will print them with any colors or designs you like.
Custom board game token shapes
Most game tokens are circular. But they don’t have to be round. We can make square tokens, triangles, hexagonal designs, and more. It all depends on what will best suit your game. Just ask!
Finishing your board game tokens
Once we’ve printed your tokens, we’ll add a protective layer that will also help bring the colors out. The most common finish is a simple transparent varnish. But we can also use lamination techniques for a gloss, matte, or “soft touch” surface to give a more stylish look and added durability to your game tokens.
Packaging your board game tokens
We can print all your tokens on one or two sheets, for example, which we can then load straight into your game box—in which case, the players can punch them out if we perforate the edges—or we can punch them out and pack them in one or more plastic bags first. If your game includes tiles made in the same way, you can save costs by printing your tiles and tokens on the same sheets.
Talk to us!
If you have questions, an expert member of our team will be delighted to answer your concerns. We can also help you with design, templates, and pre-press file checking as part of our board game printing and manufacture service. Get in touch today to chat through your ideas or ask us for a no-obligation quote. We look forward to working with you!
