Category Archives: The Boards
Sourcing Game Components: Meeples
A Mash of Meeples!
Last week I posted the first in this series of four articles about sourcing components for your board game designs. That article was about sources for cards. Today I’m covering my go-to sources for meeples to use in games. Here’s the list of what I’m covering in this whole “Sourcing” series:
- Sourcing Cards – 9/5/13
- Sourcing Meeples – Today!
- Sourcing Chits – 9/19/13
- Sourcing Dice – 9/26/13
So that’s the list I’m working with. Those are probably the four main components you are likely to use in a prototype. When I refer to “Meeples” I am referring to the components that are used to mark your spot or location on the board or player mats. Meeples can mean different things to different people.
As I wrote last week I want to give credit to the list that inspired me to write these articles. This list is much more exhaustive than mine since I am just highlighting a few of the major suppliers. But here’s the list so you can check it out yourself:
I have picked a few of those sources to add to the ones I also use. And like last week I’ll start with The Game Crafter since they are my go-to source for these things.
The Game Crafter
First things first: If you order pawns or anything that doesn’t have to be printed, you still need to wait your turn in the production queue. I recently placed an order for 30 pawns that cost a total of about $5 and I started out as #550 in the queue. The estimated ship date was October first. I know that they have the pawns just sitting over there. I bet I could drive over and simply ask if I could buy the 30 pawns and get them the same day.
The avatar pawn
Here is their page for pawns: The Game Crafter – Pawns
I like to use the Avatar pawns. They cost 14 cents each and are not ugly. These have worked well for me in the past and I’m looking forward to getting my set of new pawns so that I have enough for a few more prototype copies of Scoville. They are just simple and easy. No need to get complicated for a prototype! But if you want to mix things up, this next source might be the right one for you…
Meeple Source
My favorite is the pirate with the peg leg!
I’ve never bought from Meeple Source, but after giving their site a long, drooling look I think they might serve me well in the future. They offer the following categories of meeples from which to choose:
- Standard Meeples
- Mega Meeples
- Mini Meeples
- Super Mega Meeples
- Character Meeples
- Camo Meeples
- Sets of Meeples
- “Misfit” Meeples
Wow. And if that wasn’t enough, you can also check out their Plush Meeples!
This site has a TON of meeples to offer and I’m afraid I should have listed them lower in this article because I feel there really isn’t any sense for you to continue reading. But please continue anyway!
SpielMaterial.de
Is that Gandalf the Red??
If you happen to be an awesome reader from Europe, I’m glad you’re here. If you are interested in meeples or pawns, then you might be interested in ordering from SpielMaterial.de. They are a European vendor of board game component awesomeness.
Here are some links:
They have so much to offer that it’s worth just browsing on their website. You might get inspired for a game design simply by looking at all the things they can sell you.
Boards & Bits
I have ordered from Boards & Bits in the past and was pleased with the service I received. Boards & Bits must have a HUGE warehouse to accommodate all the products that they carry. Their options go well beyond pawns and meeples. Their website isn’t the greatest since it is a little difficult to navigate, but they just offer so many things that I can easily look past that.
You will mostly find typical meeples and pawns at Boards & Bits. They don’t offer the painted meeples the way that Meeple Source and SpielMaterial do. But if you want a cheap source for prototype worthy pawns, then perhaps Boards & Bits is for you!
CraftParts.com
What a lovely little meeple family!
If you are only interested in little wooden people, then maybe you should check out Craft Parts. They offer a small assortment of wooden people figures that might work great in your prototype.
CraftParts.com – Little Wooden People
These components range in size from 1 1/8th inch to 3 9/16th inches. So these are quite a bit larger than your standard meeples. But maybe that’s what your looking for because you typically play games with giants. These will help those giants grab onto the pawns much easier!
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So there are a few of the numerous online sources for meeples and pawns. If there are any major vendors that I have overlooked, please let me know and I will update this list. Thanks for reading!
Scoville Print & Play Version 3
Let the awesomeness be printed and played!
Ladies and Gentlemen. I am pleased to announce the latest update to the Scoville Print and Play files!
You can find the files on Board Game Geek:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/90053/scoville-print-and-play
On that page you can also find Versions 1 and 2 of the PnP. In case you are interested, here are the things that have changed for Version 3:
- The “Pay $6 to plant an extra pepper” rule has been removed.
- Three new “Bonus Abilities have been added: +1 Move during Harvest, Plant one extra pepper, Double Back Once during Harvest
- The recipes have been revised to be more balanced in terms of cube distribution.
That’s the current update. These changes have an interesting effect on the game play, but do not change the overall feel of the game. Bidding will likely be higher since coins can no longer be used to plant an extra pepper. The coins are now only for two things: bidding and end-game scoring.
I would love for you to test this new update. If you do, please let me know how it went! Thanks for checking out Scoville!
Monday Brews: 9-9-13
It’s another Monday. Bummer. But I’m here to help. If you didn’t get to play any games or drink any beer this past weekend, then please feel free to live vicariously through me. Not only did our group have the first board game night of the season, but my wife and I also had company over that love to play games and enjoy beer.
So here’s the list of the Boards & Barley that I enjoyed this past week:
The Barley:
Vintage Oktoberfest: During our softball team’s banquet I enjoyed this Oktoberfest. Our team won our league and we were able to hand out some very cheap t-shirts from the league as a prize. They didn’t even mention what sport we won or what year we won it. For all we know the league bought a thousand t-shirts back in 1986. But I digress… This was an enjoyable beer on a night of celebration. I’d drink it again!
Vintage Cat’s Pajamas: After I had the Oktoberfest I followed it up with the Cat’s Pajamas. This is a nitrogen conditioned North English Style Brown Ale. And it was quite delicious. Plus, I love the name! So I’d probably get this beer again as well.
Sierra Nevada Flipside Red IPA: My first selection at our group’s game night was the Flipside Red IPA. I’m not normally an IPA kind of guy since I feel like brewers often just throw a bunch of hops in and label it as “special.” I’d rather have a different beer style where a brewer actually has to work for something special. Never-the-less, this was a decently enjoyable beer. It didn’t possess an overabundance of hops, which left room for some real flavor.
“I’m only gonna have one beer… I promise!”
Hofbrau Oktoberfest: I only bought one beer for game night. But fortunately it was the big beast you see on the right. This 5 liter behemoth was enough to treat everyone accordingly at game night. And it was delicious. And it was only $20. That’s a way better deal than throwing $15 at 30 PBRs. Just sayin’.
Potosi Gandy Dancer Porter: This is a beer that I’ve wanted to try for a while and never had the opportunity because I haven’t been buying a lot of beer. Fortunately my game playing compadres for the weekend threw down and snagged a sixer. So I was able to have one of these funnily named brews. For those unawares, a Gandy Dancer was someone who laid and maintained railways before the work was done by machines. And for those interested, I may or may not choose to design a game of the same name and thus try to earn a part of the train game market. Oh, and the beer was okay. I probably wouldn’t go out and buy it myself, but I’d enjoy it if someone else bought it. An interesting fact about Potosi Brewing Co.: It is home to the National Brewery Museum.
Title Town Jolly Roger: This was my second IPA of the weekend. Can someone check my temp? Well, this is about the least IPA-ish IPA that I’ve ever had, so it wasn’t too obtrusive for my palate. My friend brought some in his growler and I enjoyed Title Town beer during the Packer’s disappointing game. Oh well.
The Boards:
The Little Prince: I almost had the victory in our four player game. But the Baobabs caused me to fail. Beware of the Baobabs!
Rialto x2: It turns out that the demo we did at GenCon was taught to us incorrectly. That’s annoying. We were not taught the correct use of the Gondola cards. We were taught the highest bid puts out the gondola tile, and no one else did anything. The correct rule is that when you play a gondola card you take councilman from the general supply and place them into your personal supply. This changes things a lot and makes the game more enjoyable. So I got to play it twice over the weekend and despite losing both times, thoroughly enjoyed it.
7 Wonders x2: (Once base only and once with Leaders & Cities): Our group loves 7 Wonders. The first time I played it over the weekend I scored an absolutely miserable 35. That was with the base game only. The second time I played it we included the Leaders and Cities expansions, which makes the game quite a bit deeper. Unfortunately I had some bad leaders that only netted me 4 points.
I had almost as much fun trying to pronounce the city names as I did playing the game.
Trains x2: My friend Jeremy picked this up at GenCon and I was finally able to play it. First things first: I’d now rather play this than Dominion. I thought the game was really enjoyable. While basically being a Dominion type game I thought it offered enough interesting new stuff to make it enjoyable. I would probably buy this if I had any sort of budget for buying new games right now. My only question about the game is how can they trademark the very basic common word “Trains”?
Kingdom Builder x2: (With Nomads & Crossroads): I love Kingdom Builder. I love how simple it is in terms of mechanics and how deep it is in terms of strategy. So I jumped at the chance to pick up the Crossroads expansion at GenCon despite the Queen Games booth never offering discount pricing. This is another GenCon purchase within our group that I finally got to play over the weekend. (Note: I still have yet to play Targi.) I thought the Crossroads expansion added quite a bit to the game without changing the overall concept of the game. I’m looking forward to playing again!
Castles of Burgundy: Since this is one of my favorite games I was happy when it was selected over the weekend. I was unable to claim victory but I sure had a lot of fun trying. This game, once you get over the learning curve, is a truly excellent design. My only problem with the game is that they chose the Papyrus font.
Dominion: While I’ve lost a little of my love for the game, it’s still enjoyable every once in a while. We played with a mix of cards from the Dark Ages, Prosperity, and Intrigue expansions. It was a strange mix of cards though. After playing Trains a couple times over the weekend I realized that I enjoyed the lack of “Attack” cards in Trains, and disliked them in Dominion.
Cave Troll: I hadn’t even heard of this 2002 Fantasy Flight game until I saw it in the bag of games that my friends brought over. I played a two player game of Cave Troll and was able to win the game. It seemed to me like an interesting take on chess with a fantasy theme. While it was interesting I probably wouldn’t suggest the game above others like Trains or Kingdom Builder.
Hanabi: I also had the opportunity to teach the recent SdJ winner to the visiting friends. We scored 19 out of 25, which is pretty decent for having two new players. We were hindered by discarding both white number 3 cards without realizing it. That cost us a few points. This game is pretty fun and I’ll play it again if for no other reason than it is simple to teach but deep to strategize about.
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So those are the Boards & Barley I enjoyed this past week. You can see that it was a pretty good week of games and beer! What did you play or drink that you enjoyed this past week?
There’s Fungus Among Us! My Review of Morels.
“Amateur Mycologists have questionable Morels” ~ from Brent’s shirt at GenCon
During my trip to Gen Con 2012 I was able to meet a nice guy named Brent Povis with Two Lanterns Games. Brent was a really nice guy and so was his wife, who taught my friend Jeremy and me the game.
Morels is a two player game that has you going on a hike in the woods foraging for mushrooms. Should you pick the mushrooms at your feet? Or do you want to hike a little further for that other mushroom that looks a little tastier? Players are on a foraging hike that will allow them to gather mushrooms of different kinds. Once you’ve got three or more of the same kind, go ahead and fry them up! You’ll get bonus points if you can use butter with 4 of a kind (+3 points) or cider with five of a kind (+5 points). Some mushrooms are worth more points, but there are fewer of them. So you have to plan accordingly on your hike. On any given turn you can grab one of the first two cards available, or you can pay any number of walking sticks to walk further down the path and grab a card that you would rather have. There is definitely a lot of strategy with your choices in the game. When you’re hungry for mushrooms, or ready for a great two-player game, then pick up a copy of Morels!
Here’s a look at the setup to start the game:
This is the special version with hand whittled sticks and plastic frying pans. I’m jealous.
Each player starts with three cards. Eight cards are placed along the foraging trail. And each player starts the game with one frying pan. On your turn you can take one of the first two cards. Or you can pay sticks to forage further along the trail. You pay one stick for each card you walk beyond the first two cards. So if you take the fourth card from the end you would be paying two sticks. When you’ve got a set of three or more like mushrooms you can fry them up by laying your set down by the frying pan, or by laying it down with a frying pan card. That’s the basics of how you play.
The Upside:
Length of the game: As I have gotten more and more into awesome games my wife has kind of been left behind. So I am always on the lookout for a new, lighter game that she’ll enjoy. That’s one reason I picked up The Little Prince at GenCon this year. She also doesn’t care for games that are over an hour. So to have a game like this that takes a half hour at most with people who know how to play, it’s perfect for us.
Theme: I don’t like mushrooms. It’s mostly because of their texture (I have a weird texture-sensitive palate). However, I love looking at mushrooms and other fungi in nature. So the theme of walking through the woods on a foraging hike actually sounds pretty cool to me. Plus, you’re not trying to build a castle or earn victory points. This is just a mushroom game where you get points for cooking mushrooms.
The Downside:
Endgame: While I could almost equally put this in the Upside category I’m putting it in the downside because there are often situations at the end where you don’t really have any decisions to make. I enjoy games where decisions get more important right to the end. You can have a play of Morels where, based on the last cards to come up, you just don’t have any fun decisions to make. I can forgive that because it’s not always the case and because the game plays quickly. But it needed to be mentioned.
Designer Perspective: What would I change?
This game works pretty well overall so it was a little tough to think of something to change. Basically this is a set collection game where the ability to procure sets is very structured. There is strategy in what mushrooms you take as you are collecting the sets, but there isn’t a huge “Take That” capability in the game. It never feels like I can really strongly affect my opponent. My change to the game would be to add a few cards to the game that each player starts with. These cards would be one-time use abilities. One specific ability I would like would be to take a card without having a card decay. Another ability would be to take a card and replace it with a blank spot along the foraging trail. Both of these abilities could add interesting twists to the strategy while providing a little of the “take that” concept.
Beer Pairing:
“Ommegang! This is so good!”
For a mushroom foraging hunt one might suspect bringing along a light beer that goes down easy. They’d be wrong. For most meals with mushrooms you’ll find the Belgian or French beer styles quite accommodating. So my preferred beer pairing while playing Morels would be the Ommegang Abbey Ale, which is a Belgian Dubbel style ale.
Ommegang sounds foreign, but they are a New York based brewery. So don’t let the name fool you when you go into the beer store looking for a nice foreign beer. For those looking specifically for Trappist beer, which comes from Trappist monasteries, there are only 8 recognized Trappist sources: Achel, Chimay, Gregorious, La Trappe, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren. Of those I have had all except Gregorius and Westvleteren, which I am hoping to remedy in the near future.
Overall Rating:
I’ll rate this with two players in mind and thus it’s rating is compared to only two player games. The fact that I can get my wife to play this game means a lot, and that helps it’s rating. Overall I enjoy this little gem. We specifically love playing this game when we are camping since it feels like we are actually out foraging for mushrooms. I’m giving this game 8 out of 10 on the BGG scale:
Very good game. I like to play it. Probably I’ll suggest it and will never turn down a game.
Sourcing Board Game Components: Cards
This is the first in a series of articles that are meant to help aspiring designers and published designers alike. The goal of these articles is to simply list some of the sources for different components that we designers like to use in our game prototypes. While I have not used all of these different sources, I’ve done my research and feel confident that you’ll receive a decent quality production from any of these sources.
Today’s post is about sourcing cards for your prototypes. But over the next few Thursdays I’ll be posting articles about other components:
- Meeples
- Chits
- Dice
They won’t be dreadfully exciting articles, but I hope they can help you out as your on your way toward a high quality prototype. But first, my inspiration comes from this post:
That is a way better list than I’m going to make. But my sources seem to be some of the more mainstream sources. If there are component sources that you use, and like, that I have not mentioned in these articles, please let me know and I’d be happy to keep these articles up to date.
So let’s get to the sources I would use for cards… Note: The Game Crafter is my go-to source, and thus they are listed first.
The Game Crafter
This is the one source that I have used. They have a large number of sizes available. They provide a template for each size. And overall I have never had any problems with my cards. They are not going to be the highest quality, linen finish, and all that, but they are great for putting together a quality prototype that you could feel confident pitching to a publisher.
Here’s the details about sizing and pricing (click the link to go to the template page for each item):
| Printed Item | Cost Per Sheet | Cost Per Item | Items Per Sheet | Image Size (in pixels) | Finished Size (in inches) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridge Deck | $1.56 | $0.09 | 18 | 750×1125 | 2.25 x 3.5 |
| Business Deck | $1.89 | $0.09 | 21 | 675×1125 | 2.0 x 3.5 |
| Hex Deck | $2.29 | $0.19 | 12 | 1200×1050 | 3.75 x 3.25 |
| Jumbo Deck | $1.25 | $0.21 | 6 | 1125×1725 | 3.5 x 5.5 |
| Micro Deck | $3.99 | $0.07 | 56 | 450×600 | 1.25 x 1.75 |
| Mini Deck | $2.89 | $0.09 | 32 | 600×825 | 1.75 x 2.5 |
| Poker Deck | $1.56 | $0.09 | 18 | 825×1125 | 2.5 x 3.5 |
| Square Deck | $2.29 | $0.19 | 12 | 1125×1125 | 3.5 x 3.5 |
| Tarot Deck | $1.89 | $0.19 | 10 | 900×1500 | 2.75 x 4.75 |
When you upload files you can upload a bunch at once, or one at a time. When you are ready to have them printed, you’ll have to “proof” each one. When I order cards I usually go with the Mini Deck since you can get them for a pretty good price. They are also one of my favorite sizes for games in general. They are large enough to hold a lot of information, but small enough to not be a nuisance.
ARTSCOW
My wife has used ArtsCow for a few scrapbooking things, so I can attest to the quality of those. However, I have not used ArtsCow for any cards. So take this for what it’s worth.
On the ArtsCow page you can choose from custom playing cards, cards shaped like circles, and cards shaped like hearts. While ArtsCow doesn’t seem to have the game designer in mind with their products, I think people have had success with ordering customized cards.
The best option I’ve seen for custom double sided cards is the “Multi-Purpose Cards.” This seems like the best option for custom double sided cards from ArtsCow. They measure 2.5″ x 3.5″ and start at $10.99 for a 54 card deck, which seems quite high for 280 gsm matte paper. But like I mentioned, they don’t think like game designers.
Printer’s Studio
I have not used Printer’s Studio for any cards, but I know people who have. Like ArtsCow most of their options for cards are decks of custom playing cards. But they do have a page for blank playing cards that can be fully customized as well.
Sizes include:
- Mini Size (1.75″ x 2.5″) starting at $4.39 for up to a 64 card deck
- Bridge Size (2.25″ x 3.5″) starting at $7.99 for up to a 54 card deck
- Poker Size (2.5″ x 3.5″) starting at $7.99 for up to a 54 card deck
- Tarot Size (2.75″ x 4.75″) starting at $1.89 for up to a 10 card deck
- Large Size (3.5″ x 5.75″) starting at $13.99 for up to a 54 card deck
Those prices seem a little high to me, but these are for 300 gsm card stock. Each card size also has an option for 310 gsm linen finish.
Print & Play Productions
While I have not ordered cards from Print & Play, I have ordered hex chits. I was very pleased with their quality, so I would likely be pleased with the quality of the cards as well. But that’s not a guarantee.
Print & Play offers several sizes of blank or custom printed cards:
- 1.75″ x 2.5″ 270 gsm starting at $2.00 for 32 cards printed on both sides
- 1.75″ x 2.5″ 270 gsm starting at $2.25 for 78 blank cards
- 2.5″ x 3.5″ 270 gsm starting at $2.00 for 18 cards printed on both sides
- 2.5″ x 3.5″ 270 gsm starting at $2.00 for 52 blank cards
They also have an option for a letter size sheet of custom cards starting at $1.25 for double sided printing.
Other Sources: EAI / Amazon
If all you’re looking for is blank cards from which you can make a prototype, then perhaps EAI or Amazon is your best bet. Here are the details:
EAI: Single deck of 54 blank playing cards is currently $0.99 per deck (regular price = $1.55 per deck)
Amazon: 500 Blank cards for $13.50
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So those are the sources that I am most familiar with for blank cards. The other option is to use something like nanDECK and create/print your own cards that you could then sleeve. I haven’t had much luck trying to use nanDECK, so good luck with that.
Please let me know if you use someone else. I’d love to add it to this list and make it more complete. Thanks for reading. I hope this list and the next three covering meeples, chits, and dice will be helpful to you as a designer!
Boards and Barley 