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!