We are finally wrapping up our Chai print and play board game project! Today we cover tea tokens, the bags for the tea flavor tiles and pantry tiles, thermometer, and the tea cups themselves! We can’t wait to finally play this game after spending so many hours on assembly!
Tea Tokens
Each player receives 6 tea tokens in their corresponding color at the start of the game. In the published version of Chai, each color tea token is a different shape. I did not pull this off. They are slightly misshapen, yes, but all of them are relatively similar in their appearance. I used polymer clay to make the tokens. For each color, I rolled it into a tube, or “cane,” and then cut small 1/4″ pieces off. I took each piece and formed it into a leaf shape. Once all of the leaves were created, I baked them in the oven using low heat to cure them. As a finishing touch, I painted the veins on each of the leaves.
Tip: Use a thin paint brush to create the leaf veins. The veins on our tea tokens are thicker than I would have preferred!
Heads up: The Chai Print and Play files I purchased from Steeped Games actually include 3-D printer files for each style of tea token. We do own a 3-D printer, but I have yet to attempt making these components. Somehow polymer clay seemed easier, but we fully intend to attempt this as a future upgrade for our game!!
The Bags
I have to be honest. This part of our print and play board game project was subcontracted out to my dear mother. I could have easily purchased some small bags on Amazon, but the plan was always to use as many supplies from around the house as we could. Rummaging through a pile of fabric, I found this simple green fabric that I thought would accent the game components for Chai. My mom was able to take that fabric and turn it into two awesome drawstring bags that will be perfect for the game. She even found some matching ribbon and beads that made them extra fun!
Thermometer
Finishing the thermometer is super simple. We talked about how to create the thermometer in part 1 of this series. The only thing left to do was attach a paper clip to it so you can keep track of the temperature (or rounds in the game)!
The Tea Cups
Creating the tea cups is the very last component we crafted for Chai. Several things needed to be considered before we decided how to best create the cups: durability, size, and our available supplies. A part of me just wants to use real tea cups when we play the game. But no, a craftable solution presented itself.
My kids have been playing with Crayola Model Magic a lot lately, and it hit me this could be the perfect material to create our cups with. With zero caution, I grabbed a couple bags of white model magic and almost immediately realized I was in over my head. It was going to be impossible to create 5 identical tea cups with this stuff. So I decided to take the “artistic” route and “sculpt” 5 unique vessels that we could use for our game.
Along with the tea tokens, I do feel the tea cups will need an upgrade in the future!
Missed any of the Chai Print and Play series? See how we made the rest of the components below!
Flavor tiles, pantry tokens, and coins
Game boards including the dual-layer market board
Tea tokens, tea cups, thermometer, supply bags, and rulebook
Wrap up and thoughts about the print and play process for Chai
