"Gaming themed "Swag" ideas needed." Topic

Every year we run a Charity event at the Fall In! convention and during that event we usually give out a "Gaming Related" item if you buy "X" amount of tickets. Every year we have Dice with either the Toys for Tots logo or the WNPG logo and if you buy a larger amount of tickets you get someone of more value, such as a Tape measurer, Ruler Templates or a pocket Dice Tower. (All with the T4T logo on them)

So what I am looking for is ideas for this years "Handout"/"Swag' Hopefully something that is not rule/game specific, that can be used by most gamers. It also has to be cheap to buy as these are usually purchased by me for the event.

ALso we would, as always like to have the T4T logo, etched, engraved, printed etc on it.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks

Santa Moe.

I was very impressed at the Carronade show in Falkirk earlier this year: the "tickets" to the event were actually laser-cut MDF shapes. These were etched with the event name and the company who did the laser cutting on one side and can be used as bases for scatter terrain or for small squads. Every time I deploy such a piece, I'll be reminded of the show; it'll be written on the underside of the model.

Could you do something similar, perhaps? Have some simple "tokens" made up (maybe 50mm x 40mm rounded-rectangles), that could be used as generic bases? Or smaller tokens which could be used as counters or individual figure bases?

Dice bags? Easy to make and customize, and everyone uses them. But I like colgar's idea too.

Oh. Might want to standardize something. I noticed a bit back that some of my T4T dice had the logo in the "6" position, and some had it in the "1" position. We need some sort of hobby standard for that.

Robert, sorry about the dice issue,, one year chesex decided printed on the 1 side. Every other year it's been on the 6.

I like the token idea. The dice bags are a good idea, but depends on cost.

An arc widget?

A laser-cut MDF that has 30, 45 and 60 degree angles on it so you can use it to measure firing and turning arcs.

I made a couple for my own use with plasticards. One edge can be 1" long and another 40mm for measuring ZOC.

Well, the odd dice are off to the flea market, then. Thanks.

Really, you know, by the time you've done dice, rules, tapes and templates, your average wargamer is pretty well equipped. Dice cup would probably be a bit expensive. Tokens or damage markers of some sort would be a possibility.

Casualty markers…….

A line of standing miniatures waiting in line at the registration booth…. 28mm or 15mm.
You could do several eras all standing in the convention registration line. A roman, medieval, ECW, WSS, SYW, Napoleonic, ACW, WWI, WWII etc. with the final miniature the guy in the booth with show banner name overhead.

Mardi Gras or Pirate type coins – Wooden Nickels are one thought – can either be etched or printed on – I use poker chips at time when tracking movement for certain games

Another thought – I picked up a medical caliper type device – two longer plastic cards joined by a circular piece – that allows for angle measuring – for an EKG – I find it handy as one tool that allows me to measure from 30 – 90 degrees – could easily be customized

More good ideas! Keep them coming.

We have also thought of Turn Marker which shouldn't be too expensive.

We had thought of a line of miniatures but can't ever get the right connections. People volunteer to help but it always falls through. We had thought about a Santa Figure dressed in various period outfits.

Could people use a Scale marker to determine figure sizes/scales?

How about lanyards for the convention badges to avoid poking holes in my shirts?

Scale card is an excellent idea! My old one died, and I haven't found a replacement. Credit card size. Transparent. Black outline of a human being in various scales.

You could do custom dice bags for not too much. Start with bulk cotton muslin bags:

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Then order a custom stamp from rubberstamps.net (I've bought from them before, and they're pretty good folks to deal with) of your convention logo. You can then just stamp out as many as you'd like, and the irregularities that come with hand-stamping would just be part of the charm. You could even buy an un-inked stamp pad and ink it with two different colors, if you're feeling really creative, which would give the bags even more flair.

Pens and pencils, with custom names, and/or logos on them.

Mechanical pencils are nice, depending upon the cost.

Custom rulers with inches AND mm, preferably bendable.

When I was running MagWeb, we handed out 4950 or so of the 5000 we ordered over the dozen years. Still see them around at conventions. You could bend them into an "O" -- got 'em from a political products catalog.

Alternately, some sort of tape measure…

Tape measures are a taboo item. One year we got them and half of the, broke the first time you used them. Had to apologize to everyone.. Luckily the company refunded the money.