Just finished putting together a coin upgrade for my Great Western Trail game. I went on eBay and bought real Indian head pennies and buffalo nickels from the turn of the century. Due to wear and minor damage, they were considered junk coins to collectors but after cleaning, they were perfect for an old Western themed game! One of my favorite upgrades ever!
First I thought "Spirit Island Spirit Presence" look nice, then I remembered a simple base rule: Plastic is bad, wood is good. This had help so often as I explained the game to others.
Normally I’m all about metal upgrades, but for spirit island I have to agree with Alex, wood goes so much better with the theme of the game and ends up looking and feeling so much better
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of those coins! The Istanbul ones would work perfectly with Mystic Market, and I’ve wanted to upgrade that game for a while now. It’s a criminally under-appreciated game you might enjoy with the family, btw. Quick light-weight economic fantasy.
wow, what a coincidence you shown off the wooden bits for spirit island. I just ordered them two days ago. They look really nice! Great video as always Alex
@@eriklindqvist9923 My Roll Player set is already heavy on its own. I don't need wood to it. I like foamcore inserts and I wish I can make them but I can't cut a straight line even with help
Nice video Alex! I usually buy components from Gorilla 3D, I think they are very flexible about coloring. I bought some cornucopia tokens in gold color, they look amazing bro!
The Spirit Island tiki tokens are neat, but something I love about the SI design asthetic is that all the spirit/goodguys stuff is wood and cardboard and the evil invaders are plastic. Plastic spirit items are just a no-go. For fear we use small glass skulls someone in my group found online somewhere.
We did tower rex organizer and moedas coins for our spirit island. The metal fear tokens are great and I always thought the spirit energy was the blandest part of the presentation, so we love the coins. Organizer has been great for making it play faster, and at low player counts it still works with the expansions thankfully!
I feel like the wooden tokens for Spirit Island make it easier to interpret the board state and are great for teaching new players the game (i.e., plastic are bad guys and wooden are friendly).
yeah love spirit island too Alex. Upgraded, sleeved. No broken token organiser. Need it though. I too have the xpacs but yet to really play the game out. Maybe played it 3 times. Zero regrets.
Have you heard Bruno Cathala is working on a total rebuild of Cyclades :) ? He posted a picture on his facebook ("Bruno Cathala off") on the 4th of July.
Not all games have metal coins available or are worth buying metal coins for. Here are some games I use Iron Clays as tokens for: Obsession (Nancy Narking are out of stock), Coup Brazilian Art edition (Italian medieval ≠ futuristic dystopia), Pan Am (no coins exist), Spirit Island (not as energy but as a way of counting defense level), etc. Some upgrade is better than no upgrade.
I found it very amusing how you unconvinced yourself to throw out the cardboard coins. At least you tried, I don't even pretend I'll throw anything out :-)
Hehe rationalizing keeping the old tokens; I just upgraded Yellow and Yangtze with the geek up bits, there isn't room in the box for the old tokens. Can't throw them out lol. My current reason for keeping them is the bits have been fading for some people and I might need the original (all nonsense of course). OCD brothers unite lol
Metal coins are always a fun upgrade, I would do it for more games if it wasn't so expensive... I actually got the Spirit Island crate since it's one of my favorite games, but I didn't have the heart to throw out the original boxes. Then after assembling and putting the game into it I found flaws. Due to the way the crate stores the trays roughly half the trays are loose while putting the top on, and they would shift out of place while trying to slide the top on. It was such a pain in the neck to put the game away I reverted to the old boxes. I'm usually pretty happy with broken token things but that one was a huge miss for me.
Personally, I have chosen to upgrade / big box lately a few of my favorite games. I've played long enough to know what's staying on my shelf a long time. Terraforming Mars, Scythe, Everdell, and I am deciding on next steps for Spirit Island (great timing!). Only holdup for spirit is I wonder if the game developer isn't done with expansions so may do their own big box.
Hey just curious are you going to do a "what you did and didn't back for June"? I love those because I get to play along on what I think you backed lol.
Well you've showed me that folded space inserts are definitely worth it. I've been hyming and hawing for months about getting a Marvel Champions one. I think I'll finally pull the trigger next month
Well since you asked ( or not :D ) the actual name in Greek is key-clades (intonation in the cla) but in English most probably sea-clades (intonation in sea)
I'm playing with the idea to buy the metal mechs for sythe to have the complete upgrade set...but on the other hand I've already painted the plastic mechs
That’s exactly why you should keep your coins: if you use the metal coins in another game. Not only can you trade the game away and keep the metal coins, you will also never be in the situation where you grab Istanbul to take to a coffee shop and then remember when you get there that you tossed the coins and had left the metal coins at home maybe with another game.
As someone who buys one game / expansions every 2 months, I can’t justify buying deluxe components when that could be an extra game. I love spirit island but I’d much prefer getting jagged earth over getting premium tokens (even though they do look really nice)
Folded space inserts are cost efficient, but very far from deluxification. Check Etsy for other options, for instance there are amazing wooden inserts for Cyclades from TowerRex and GameFit. Especially TowerRex makes awesome looking inserts, but GameFIt or RUBrandShop also do that - very efficient, even though costly and requiring assembly. And these inserts usually can fit all expansions in one box, saving valuable space!
4mins - 4 mins 30 secs.... amusing how long your resolution lasted. Surprised you'd not got the folded space insert for istanbul. They even do a big box version of the insert now and I always dislike baggies.
I bought the Folder Space for Spirit Island (less expensive). Love them. About the premium tokens, I`m not that impress (Why did they not do Effect Markers and better spirit presence?) If I compare with Scythe (upgrades are crazy awesome!), not really worth it.
I'm putting together a Folded Space insert while watching this video :D they are the number 1 upgrade I get for my games. I'm too cheap to buy metal coins for my games haha. Foam inserts are better value for money IMO.
@@BoardGameCo why is that? I'm asking because the reprint is coming to Brazil this week and I'm getting my copy. Since I started on the hobby in 2019 I didn't experience the game as much as I wanted. Do you think exists better options? I like to watch as many videos as I can before buying a new game that fits my group. The only game it rarely goes to the table is root. I love root, but I'm inclined to agree with what you said in the video together with quacklope recently!
I'm more guilty of upgrading than buying games. I have 50 games in my collection but I've spent an embarrassing amount of money upgrading them. The only game that I have that DOESN'T have metal coins is Hogwarts Battle lol
Helping with Portuguese pronunciation: Moedas should be read a little more like this: Moo - Eh (like you say the E in words like Envy, it should) - duhssss Muh-eh-duh-ss and company :D
I really want token holders for zombicide to replace those thin cardboard inserts that hold the boars in place in the box...but it's justifying the cost of them....cause we all know....its not just one box....
You need to invest on a 3d printer. It became a second hobby for me, and the ability to print upgrades to your games it's amazing. Now, for upgrades, I mostly buy sleeves (only for frequently shuffled decks) and metal coins when I get a good deal.
@@BoardGameCo Yeah, there's a learning curve in the beginning, but totally worth it to invest that time in. The important thing is to have fun while learning ;)
Spirit Island itself has always been egregiously overpriced but the price of those wooden upgrade tokens is just hilarious. I laughed out loud when I checked the tag.
Instead of metal coins you can also try the budget version with coin capsules, they are cheap and work quite well. Nothing beats metal coins but these offer a cheap option
I have at least 4 sets of metal coins that I can use to substitute for the punch board cardboard coins that come with games. But I hate aftermarket inserts and especially card sleeves. If I play a game enough that I wear the cards out, I’ll buy a new game (but can’t see it happening). I imagine card sleeve people as people who eat greasy chicken wings or something like this while playing. 🙈 Oh I almost forgot my pool of fancy resources and glass beads that can be used for various games.
I love the idea of broken token inserts but I know I won't spend the time to glue things. I wish someone would come out with an even more deluxe option that I don't have to craft myself.
If you know anyone with a printer, there is lots available on Thingiverse. Some on Etsy are pretty good as well, like Tingeringpaws. And some bigger companies has started providing 3d printed or mixed foam and 3d printed inserts, like Feldherr.
For terrific 3d printed inserts, visit inserthere.me, which have great features, such as rounded bottoms to make component retrieval easier, holes to help facilitate card retrieval and room for sleeved cards.
Hello Tom, as Alex said we are three small companies located in Brazil who´ve been working to make your little work of love to be acquainted in other countries. I contacted Alex a couple months ago and asked him if he would be willing to advertise our products on their channel and he kindly accepted. If you wish to know more about what we do, please write me at moedaseco@gmail.com and it will be a pleasure to help you out. ;-)
@@tomasxfranco we can ship for both countries, but right now due the COVID, shipping to Argentina it´s been more expensive than to USA. Usually a package with around 2 lb (two or three coin sets) have a shipping of USD33.00. Increasing the weight to 4lb for example will make the shipping goes to USD42.00. If you have more questions, write me back and it will be a pleasure to help you.
Guys just stop throwing out money vor inlays... Just get a 3d printer and do your own they are way better and sheaper after time👍 i bought myself 2 printe and printed so many and i regret ever have bought an inlay so go ahead upgrade your games😉
Same reason I got a 3d printer for xmas. Also helps when you get a game like Micro Dojo off kickstarter and they ship in an envelope but provide a 3d file to print boxes and meeple upgrades
Why not hide the Instanbul cardboard coin underneath the white paper insert (in the Instanbul box)? That way you don't have to see it, but it there if you ever want it again in the future.
