Tokens are a key component in most board games. They track resources, mark positions, and serve as currency, life points or even characters. While tokens might seem minor compared to miniatures or a game board, they can quickly become one of the most expensive parts of your production if they’re not designed and manufactured strategically.
Many game designers overlook the importance of optimizing their token sheets. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to bring down the cost of your token sheets without making your game feel cheap or flimsy.
By understanding how token sheets are priced and manufactured, and by making smart design decisions, you can keep your costs under control while still delivering a high-quality end product for your backers.
Below, we’ll walk you through the main strategies for saving money on your token sheets. If you are in the process of designing your game and want to talk to our team for cost-saving tips and recommendations, feel free to contact us and we’ll answer all of your questions.
Why Token Sheets Cost What They Do
Before you can reduce costs for your token sheets, it helps to know what drives them in the first place. A token sheet’s price is influenced by several main factors:
- Material thickness. Thicker boards cost more to produce and handle.
- Sheet size. Larger sheets use more raw material.
- Number of sheets per game. Each sheet adds cost, both in materials and cutting.
- Complexity of cutting. Complex shapes or many small cuts are more expensive.
- Finishing. Matte, gloss, or linen finishes all add to production costs.
Once you understand these levers, you can make informed decisions about where to cut costs without reducing the quality of your game.
How to Reduce the Cost of Your Token Sheets
Optimize Token Sheet Thickness for Your Budget
One of the biggest choices you’ll face is token sheet thickness. As covered in our guide to token sheet thickness, the standard options are usually 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, or 2.0 mm.
1.0 mm is the cheapest, but usually feels flimsy. 1.5 mm is the industry standard, and is durable, cost-effective, and familiar to players. 2.0 mm looks and feels premium, but adds noticeably to a game’s cost and weight.
If your game relies on very heavy token use (like poker-style chips for money), upgrading to 2.0 mm might be worth it. But if your game’s tokens are secondary components, 1.5 mm is typically more than enough, and choosing it over 2.0 mm can save you a significant amount per unit.
One thing to keep in mind is that the thicker the material for your tokens, the more challenging it becomes to cut them, which can potentially lead to higher manufacturing costs.
For example, if your tokens are specifically customized with thin areas and intricate cuts, making them with a 2mm cardboard will be more challenging and costly than making them from thinner cardboard.
Another aspect to consider is the finishing of your tokens. We recommend oil varnish for tokens. If you opt for matte or glossy lamination, your tokens become more challenging to produce and wastage can increase, potentially increasing your costs.
Feel free to ask us if you’re interested about choosing token sheet thickness and finishing for an optimal mix of value and quality. Our team can suggest the best options for your game and help you manufacture in a cost-effective way.
Make Efficient Use of Token Sheet Space
Game manufacturers charge by the sheet, not by how much of it you use. This means wasted space equals wasted money. If half your sheet is empty, you’re paying for cardboard you don’t need and won’t use in your game.
To use your token sheets effectively, try to arrange your tokens tightly, with minimal gaps, rotate your shapes to fit more onto each sheet, and work with your manufacturer on getting the best possible fit.
We’re happy to help you optimize your token sheets to use all available space as efficiently as possible to minimize costs and waste.
Reduce the Number of Token Sheets
Another simple way to save money is simply to use fewer sheets. Every extra token sheet adds to your material, cutting, and shipping costs.
You can save money by combining tokens, such as blending rarely-used tokens into one double sided piece instead of multiple tokens, and by reducing your token sizes so that more tokens fit into each sheet.
Reducing each game by even a single token sheet can potentially lead to a reasonable amount of money saved per print run.
In addition to the number of token sheets in your game, it helps to optimize your tokens for the right sheet size. The maximum token sheet printing size we can use is 280*430mm. Within this size limit, the most cost-effective sheet sizes are 90*140mm (which fits 8 token sheets per one master print sheet), 140*200mm (fits 4 per master sheet) and 200*270mm (2 per master sheet).
With this logic, you can choose the token sheet size you need (consider also the size of the box you want), and then the number of token sheets you will be using.
For example, if you chose to use 140*200mm token sheet, the best quantities will be 1, 2, or 4. If you have one, one master printing sheet can hold 4 games, and each game will be 0.25 of a whole sheet.
If you choose two, one game will be 0.5 printing sheets, and two games will fit into one printing sheet. But if you choose three, you end up wasting space on the printing sheets because there isn’t anything we can do with that sheet.
Our team can help you use your token sheets effectively and optimize your token sheets for the most cost-effective manufacturing process.
Simplify Your Token Shapes
The complexity of your token shapes affects the difficulty of cutting your game, which in turn can increase costs. Standard shapes, such as hexes, circles and squares, are typically cheaper and easier to cut than intricate shapes that require complex tooling.
If your tokens have a special shape, consider switching to something simpler to cut. Going with a simple, easy-to-cut design can reduce your token costs, speed up production, and make your tokens more durable by limiting thin areas that could scuff or break easily.
One key factor to consider here is the cost of developing the cutting mold for your game, which makes up a significant percentage of cutting costs. If your game uses multiple sheets but has a design that can be cut with a single mold, this allows for some cost savings.
We’ve helped many of our customers to carefully develop cutting patterns and molds that have a common design across all token sheets, creating savings in this part of the game production process.
Understand Order Quantity and Economy of Scale
Like other aspects of game manufacturing, token sheet costs benefit from scale. The setup cost for cutting and printing is the same whether you make 500 or 10,000 sheets. The more units you produce, the lower your per-unit cost will be for your token sheets and for your entire game.
Shipping and Weight Considerations for Game Tokens
Another hidden cost of thicker or more numerous token sheets is shipping. Heavier cartons cost more to freight from the factory, and bulky boxes cost more to store and fulfill.
Choosing 1.5 mm instead of 2.0 mm might not sound like a big difference, but across thousands of games, the weight savings can reduce freight and fulfillment costs, sometimes by as much as or more than the initial material savings.
Best Practices for Token Sheets
Regardless of the specific thickness and design you choose for your game’s tokens, there are a few best practices you’ll want to follow to get the best results:
- Decide early. You’ll want to decide on your token size, shape and thickness before final graphic design to avoid costly redesigns.
- Prototype ahead of time. If you’re not sure what thickness to use for your tokens, ask your manufacturer to create prototypes so you can hold and feel the tokens yourself.
- Work with your manufacturer. We can recommend token sheet layout optimizations to help you maximize your value for money while maintaining quality.
- Think about the player first. Cutting costs is good, but not at the expense of playability or perception of your game. Always try to balance savings with the player experience.
The Bottom Line on Token Sheet Costs
It’s easy to overspend on token sheets, but it’s also easy to optimize your design and materials to get the best possible value for money. By being careful about your tokens’ thickness, design and shape, you can reduce the cost of your game without sacrificing quality.
We specialize in helping game publishers strike that balance of cost and quality when it comes to token sheets and other game components. If you’re preparing to manufacture your game, or if you’d like to reduce costs for your game’s next print run, feel free to contact us.
We’re happy to answer your questions and offer our recommendations to help you get the best value and quality when manufacturing your game.
