Tokens & Counters Never Tasted So Good

Welcome to Untapped, a feature dedicated to tips and the latest news in Trading Card and Living Card Games.

For those familiar with Trading Card Games (TCG) and Living Card Games (LCG), you know that you often need creature tokens and different kinds of counters. Some games come with a variety, some games don’t, and you can always buy extras if you need them. Or, if you’re cheap like me, you can use a number of creative alternatives.

For creature tokens in MtG (Magic the Gathering), I like to actually buy the token cards, because I have the attention span of a hungry mosquito, and I’ll immediately forget what the placeholder for it is supposed to be. I drive my opponents crazy constantly asking, “What is this again?” But creature tokens aren’t always readily available. Sometimes, I’ll flip over a card I’m not using, other times I’ll just put a die out (but again, no attention span). When I first started playing, the group I played with used pennies. Recently during an MtG game, I used an Oreo as a zombie token. When it died… I ate it. It was delicious. Best idea I ever had.

For counters in MtG, I usually just use a die - because I am a dice whore and I have many - and sometimes my counters go up pretty high, particularly with cards that gain counters every turn. I’m not trying to put 20 pennies on one card. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

The Lord of the Rings card game comes with three different types of little round cardboard counters. One for damage, one for progress, and one for resources. I like to use Skittles instead so I can eat them after I’m done with them. Makes for a very yummy game. But you’re constantly removing and adding resource tokens and if you’ve got a healer in your midst, you’re constantly removing damage tokens. Be prepared to have and eat a lot of Skittles. But this is not a bad thing. You can use basically anything you have lying around, but I suggest bits of candy. Strategy has never been so yummy.