GameChips: Custom ceramic poker chips designed specifically for board gamers to replace the poor quality currency often found in games.
Board Gamers Deserve Better Components
Feeling Lucky? Want a chance to win a set of these chips? Simple..just 'Like' my company page (GameKnight on Facebook) for your chance to win. You'll receive a set of 100 custom ceramic game chips plus the 3 special chips. If you are a backer of this project these will be added to whatever set you are backing. The drawing for his contest will occur on April 2nd.
My project is to create GameChips, a custom set of poker chips to meet the needs of board gamers.
Many board games use some form of game currency. The problem is that currency components included with games range from ok to terrible with some rare exceptions. Here's some of the in-box components:
- Cardboard tokens: Usually you need to punch these out yourself. They get worn out pretty fast, and sometimes they get torn when you are trying to punch them.
- Paper money: This is probably the worst type of game currency. It rips, tears, and creases. Try taking a game to the beach and watch it fly around.
- Plastic chips: A little better than paper or cardboard, but these are often very thin and difficult to stack or pick up.
- Metal coins: Usually these don't work that well because they are too small to stack. Most don't have a denomination printed on them.
Poker players and casinos found the right solution. They realized that the best replacement for currency is the poker chip. Not only are poker chips fun to handle, but they stack easily and make a cool noise when you throw them into a pile.
Unfortunately, standard poker chips have a few problems that make them less than perfect for board gaming. Most sets of chips don't have the right denominations for board games. For example, how many poker chip sets do you find with the value of 3? In board games, seeing a coin with the value of 3 is not uncommon. Some sets have chips with no values at all. However, this requires gamers to keep track of the various colors and their values. Finally, most poker chips have designs that don't look right when playing board games.
The Solution
This answer is to create GameChips, a custom set of chips to meet the needs of board gamers. GameChips will have all the commonly used denominations for board games. The graphic design of the chips will feature easy to read denominations, and a look that will fit right in with wide range of board game genres.
The graphic design follows a natural progression of materials. The low value chips (1/2/3) have been designed to look like they are made from wood, clay\brick, stone respectively. The mid-range chips (5/10/20) chips have been designed to look like metal (copper\silver\gold) and the high value chips have been designed to look like gems (emeralds, sapphire, black diamond).
GameChips will be ceramic, just like many casinos use. Ceramic chips are considered to be the most durable and will last many, many years. The other advantage of ceramic chips is that the graphic design can cover the entire chip.
I just need some fellow gamers to back this project.
Here's a little chart that summarizes the reward level. Note that the "Roll Your Own" level isn't listed.
About GameKnight
GameChips are the first product for GameKnight, my recently launched company. GameKnight's vision is provide board gamers with high quality products to enhance your gaming experience. The GameKnight website include game reviews, strategy guides, and other great content to improve your gaming.
Some Details
- Another great use for these chips is to track victory points.
- I considered creating clay chips to keep the cost lower, but ceramic chips just look so much better. I decided that the end result would be worth the extra cost.
- I did a lot of analysis to determine that most common denominations used in board games. 1,2,3,5,10,20,25,50,100.
- The graphic design of the chips is almost complete, so once the project ends, it should be fairly quick to finalize the production order.
FAQ
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The design shown is pretty close to final. Once I have actual sample chips in hand to review, there may be some tweaks needed. The special chips for (Start Player, Slow Player, and Time Traveller) are still being designed. I hope to have some draft designs soon and they will be posted.
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Definitely a strong maybe. If these are sold post-kickstarter there will likely only be one or two different size sets. The beautify of kickstarter is that I know in advance what assortment of chips to order. After this project ends, I will need to order fixed quantities in the most popular set sizes. Also, cost per set will be higher than they are in Kickstarter.
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Here are some additional details about the chips since I've had a number of questions: Denomination chips Weight: approximately 10g Diameter: 39mm (standard poker chip size) The denomination will appear on both sides of the chip. Chip Edges: the rolling edges will have color. Each will be a flat color to match the main color of its face. Special chips: Weight: tbd Diameter: will be likely be created as 42mm chips so that they don't get mixed in easily with the denominations. Reverse side: 1st Player - 1st Player image on front - GameKnight logo on reverse side Slow Player - same image on both sides Time Traveler - same image on both sides Chip Edges: the rolling edges will have color. Each will be a flat color to match the main color of its face.
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Check the updates tab. Pictures of the manufacturer samples have been posted.
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I considered including cases for the chips, but realized that there are many different styles that backers would likely prefer to pick their own.
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Yes- If you don't like the mix of chips included in any of the sets (above $10 reward level), you can customize it. Just pick the level that includes the number of chips that you want and go ahead and back the project. Once the project is successfully funded, I'll send you a survey to find out which chips you want and how many. You have to pick from the list of denominations that I am having designed 1/2/3/5/10/20/25/50/100).
153
Backers
$31,878
pledged of $7,500 goal
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Funding period
Feb 18, 2012 -
Apr 1, 2012
- 2 created · 21 backed
- Dave Breen 186 friends
- Website: gameknight.com
Pledge $2 or more
3 backers
Thank You Level - My thanks and gratitude for supporting this project. In addition, your name will appear on a list of supporters on my website www.gameknight.com If you find me at Origin's 2012, I'll give you a Start Player chip as further evidence of my appreciation.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $10 or more
18 backers
Supporter - Includes an extra serving of thanks and a side of gratitude. In addition, you will receive a set of 3 custom chips to use while gaming. The chips are (1) Start Player chip to keep track of who is start player. (2) Slow Player chip - hand this over to the gamer who is prone to a little to much analysis. (3) Time Traveller chip that can be used to 'recognize' a player who likes to change his\her mind after their turn ends. Includes free shipping within the US. I'm only offering this in the U.S.due to the low cost nature of this reward level.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $25 or more
31 backers
Chip Collector - Includes super-sized thank you, 3 special chips described in the Supporter reward plus one of each of the 9 denomination chips. Includes free shipping within the US. I'm only offering this in the U.S.due to the low cost nature of this reward level.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $59 or more
4 backers
Minimalist Gamer - Beyond a heaping pile of thanks, and the 3 custom chips described in the Supporter level you will receive a set of 50 ceramic chips in the following denominations: 25 value '1' chips and 25 value '5' chips. [see the updates tab for information about customizing your set] Includes free shipping in the US. Add $15 to your pledge for shipping to Canada addresses. Add $25 to your pledge for international shipping.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $110 or more
3 backers
New Gamer - Includes all the items from the Supporter reward plus a set of 100 ceramic chips in the following denominations: 50 value '1' chips and 50 value '5' chips. Includes free shipping in the US. Add $15 to your pledge for shipping to Canada addresses. Add $25 to your pledge for international shipping.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $160 or more
19 backers
Roll Your Own - Includes all the items from the Supporter reward plus a set of 150 ceramic chips. You pick the mix of denominations that adds up to 150 chips from the following (1/2/3/5/10/20/25/50/100). Once the project is successfully funded, I'll contact you to get the details of how many of each chip type you want in the 150. Includes free shipping in the US. Add $15 to your pledge for shipping to Canada addresses. Add $25 to your pledge for international shipping.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $190 or more
16 backers
I Love Gaming - Includes all the items from the Supporter level plus a set of 200 ceramic chips in the following denominations: 50 chips of of values (1, 5, 10, 20). [see the updates tab for information about customizing your set] Includes free shipping in the US. Add $15 shipping to your pledge for Canada addresses. Add $25 to your pledge for shipping internationally. This set will allow for use in a large number of different board games.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $275 or more
37 backers
Hardcore Gamer - Includes all the items from Supporter Level plus a set of 300 ceramic chips in the following denominations: 75 chips of value '1' AND 50 chips of values (5 , 10) AND 25 chips of values (2, 3, 20, 50, 100) This set will cover the needs of most games. Includes free shipping in the US. Add $20 shipping to your pledge for Canada addresses. Add $35 to your pledge for shipping internationally.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $540 or more
12 backers
Ultimate Gamer - Includes all the items from Supporter Level plus a set of 600 ceramic chips in the following denominations: 100 chips each of values (1, 5, 10) AND 50 chips each of values (2, 3, 20, 25, 50, 100). This set should cover just about any game in your collection. Includes free shipping in the US. Add $35 shipping to your pledge for Canada addresses. Add $50 shipping to your pledge for international addresses.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $875 or more
7 backers
Opulence - This is the package for game clubs (or for individuals that just need to have lots of everything). This set has 1000 of the custom ceramic chips as follows: 200 of the value 1 chips and 100 of each of the other denominations (2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50,100). [see the updates tab for information about customizing your set]. In addition you'll receive 5 sets of the special chips from the Supporter Level Reward (Starting Player, Slow Gamer, Time Traveller). Includes free shipping in the US. Add $35 shipping to your pledge for Canada addresses. Add $50 shipping to your pledge for international addresses.
Estimated delivery: May 2012
