View Full Version : Plastic pieces for board games - where to buy
herman.tulleken
06-01-2010, 10:00 AM
Hi all,
Does anyone know where I can buy a bunch of plastic pieces for a board game prototype? You now, the player pieces and props. I am only looking for generic ones (round, square) at this stage in different shapes and colours.
[We have been using paper clips and pins for our development, but want a bit better quality for presentation.]
Thx
ht
Fengol
06-01-2010, 10:38 AM
oh good grief, if you find one let me know; but when I last visited the Crazy Plastic store in Centurion there was stuff I could "turn" into pieces quite easily.
GeometriX
06-01-2010, 10:39 AM
What about using wood, and making them yourself? You could buy lengths of round and square wood rods, cut them up into pieces, paint and varnish them. Many modern board games still use wooden pieces (Catan, for example).
Cyberninja
06-01-2010, 12:24 PM
Try looking in the USA section of www.take2.co.za.
Just type in "plastic shapes/beads" in the search bar.
If you decide on going the wood route, I suggest using pine wood. It's soft and very easy to shape/cut.
dislekcia
06-01-2010, 12:33 PM
Hi all,
Does anyone know where I can buy a bunch of plastic pieces for a board game prototype? You now, the player pieces and props. I am only looking for generic ones (round, square) at this stage in different shapes and colours.
[We have been using paper clips and pins for our development, but want a bit better quality for presentation.]
Thx
ht
If you're still at the Innovation Hub, just go to the FabLab and laser-cut some perspex :)
They use Open Office's vector format, so once you get the template you can modify the shapes you want till you're happy with them and then get them cut from whichever colour perspex you can get hold of. That's what I'd do if I was making a boardgame!
Plus, y'know, LASERS!
P.S. If you want to assemble more complex shapes out of perspex, chloroform bonds perspex seamlessly.
dammit
06-01-2010, 01:15 PM
What about using wood, and making them yourself? You could buy lengths of round and square wood rods, cut them up into pieces, paint and varnish them. Many modern board games still use wooden pieces (Catan, for example).
This is what I'm doing at the moment. Most hardware stores will even cut up the rods into equal sizes so you don't have to.
xyber
06-01-2010, 01:40 PM
oh good grief, if you find one let me know; but when I last visited the Crazy Plastic store in Centurion there was stuff I could "turn" into pieces quite easily.
Where is this shop? Always handy to know where to get things like this ;)
herman.tulleken
06-01-2010, 02:14 PM
Thanks for all the answers so far!
@fengol So could you? Or do you need machinery? [Or am I missing the boat entirely?]
@GeometriX Must admit, this did not even occur to me... (I sometimes forget that people can make stuff too, not just machines) Nevertheless, our look is quite slick and glossy, matching this with wood is surely possible, although it's gonna be hard (especially for a bunch of geeks like us!) But it also looks like it might be the most feasible solution...we need it by Friday...
@Cyberninja Yes, actually found some cool stuff. But it won't reach us in time; we still need an interim solution. (For others interested, I found cool stuff using "plastic pegs", "plastics beads" and "plastic disks". The last one provided a pack of Bingo disks that is perfect for many uses.)
@dis We are still here, but FabLab is not :-( In fact, we are occupying what was their glorious space! But maybe they are still around somewhere; I'll see if I can find them.
Thanks again, any other ideas would be appreciated!
Fengol
06-01-2010, 02:34 PM
Yeah, you're gonna need a bit of "post production" after visiting Crazy Plastics. They sell lots of different Tupperware and those cheap, plastic toys made in china. When I was last there I figured I could turn some of the stuff into useful bits.
But I agree with Geometrix suggestion of visiting your local hardware store.
Btw, can we get any info on the boargame?
herman.tulleken
06-01-2010, 04:10 PM
@Fengol, I really hate spy-and-daggers, but we are still in that phase of development... (I already almost got into trouble for saying something elsewhere on the forum; sometimes I regret not using a pseudonym...ugh). We will soon be conducting external play tests, and after that hopefully we can be more open.
herman.tulleken
06-01-2010, 04:13 PM
PS - just remembered. Since these two images appear on our web site, I can share them here. They are from the game cards... and that's all I can say:
http://www.innovationlab.co.za/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/23_ideal_energy_efficient_house.png
http://www.innovationlab.co.za/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/49_thermal_leakage_costs_01.png
Nandrew
07-01-2010, 12:47 AM
"Psychedelic House Furnishers: The Boardgame!"
Those card images look pretty intriguing, tell us more when you can (good golly, board games are all the rage on Game.Dev at the moment!). And agreed WRT what Geo said about the pine: apparently, it's the sort of stuff you can use even if you failed Woodshop 101. ;)
herman.tulleken
07-01-2010, 03:31 PM
For anyone interested, here is what we ended up doing:
We bought a bag of plastic disks from the toy shop at Menlyn (the one in the "main" isle). They have two versions - one with 5 colours, and one with 10 (I think) colours; both have 100 disks.
From the same store we bought a peg board, with 100 plastic coloured pegs. There are also bigger sets available, I think with 400 pegs.
Finally, from CNA, we bought those plastic, stackable cubes (we used them in grade1 to learn how to count or something).
dammit
21-01-2010, 01:34 PM
For interests sake I thought I'd link back to this thread (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showpost.php?p=258000&postcount=27) since I've posted some images of the tokens I am making.
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