Getting game bits

We’re just back from the UK Games Expo last weekend, there were some unusual purchases to unpack and evaluate.

Ten metal coins, 100g of seemingly random wooden game pieces in a green drawstring bag, and a deck of Polish-made playing cards.

It’s the matter of having pieces from which to make a game, the process of selecting the pieces and then identifying a supplier in the right kind of quantities. For 60, the dice and dice bags came from Forlorn Hope Games. The tins were bought from a supplier of survival and military kit. The cards have been manufactured in China by a specialist printer at considerably lower cost than we’ve been able to find in the UK, but the labels have been printed by a British company and the games are assembled in Walsall.

Given it’s currently £2.80 to send even a small packet inland, the convenience of having a range of good suppliers at the expo was immense. For less than twenty quid we now have enough new resources to provide inspiration for new games and not a single penny paid in postage. That’s before you add in the value of a handshake when a supplier you only know via e-mail is able to take your money in person.

Designing the mechanic, the artwork, selecting suppliers and so forth can be a tough gig, but with good quality bits and pieces the first steps just became a lot easier!