Tabletop gaming friends: does anyone know good places to get an assortment of generic prototype game components? Meeples, hexes, cubes etc. There were some really good stalls at Essen but I didn't think to pick any up then. Now I feel I'd really love a good play with a bunch of game bits to think about ideas. I'm UK-based, so ideally somewhere cheap I wouldn't have ship from overseas.
@TimClare
I used to get a lot of stuff from spielmaterial.de shipped to the UK before The Change, and it worked pretty well. I think they still work out pretty competitive.
Right now though, The Dark Imp (in the UK) are selling off components at great prices - a limited selection, but worth a look: https://www.thedarkimp.com/shop/
@TimClare In the US at least you can find lots of old board games in Thrift stores (I've heard them called charity shops maybe?) the Dollar/Pound store probably also has a ton of things you can use for bits. Just a thought.
Or do what I did, which is buy a 3d printer and print all your bits. Obviously this is NOT the cheap option. :)
@TimClare buy a clearance copy of 504? :D
@TimClare The stall you saw at Essen was Spiele Materials. You can online from the direct here: https://www.spielematerial.de/en/
@BoredGameDesigner @TimClare I have been using them for years and recommend them very highly.
@TimClare Game auctions at FLGS -- just buy any game that's going cheap (because it is terrible), and then re-use the bits.
@TimClare I know the UK dice maker sell bad dice in bulk (I was looking for some a while back)
Maybe some of those also produce meeple etc. and would be ok to package a big bag of bits