A Game Designer's Toolkit

A list of various materials I have found to be useful to have around when designing and prototyping various games, in no particular order:

• Index Cards - Usefulness depends wildly on the game. You may cut them in half to make playing cards, depending on the size of card you want. They are useful for quick reference cards, which are especially handy when the rules change frequently throughout testing
• Blank Cards - I have a particular fondness for card games, so these come in handy when making decks of things. Buy them a few hundred at a time, as you never know when you'll need to use a lot of them.
• Pennies - Nothing like a useful token that you always have on hand. 
• Other Coins - Also useful if you need to track more than one thing, or if you need different denominations of whatever pennies are tracking.
• Pennygems - A very versatile counter, can colour code to almost anything
• Flat Marbles - At the dollar store, you can get packs of flat marbles which work well for keeping track of things; you can colour code them to correspond to health or mana; you can also paint details on to them if you are using them for game pieces

• Other Trackers - various dollar store fake gems can make for currencies, resources, or VP counters; this is usually if they fit the theme of the game better than regular counters; you can also use various beads, shapes, and whatever else fits your theme
• Army Men - those little green men make useful figures, whether you are making an RPG or a war game. There are usually a variety of them, often with vehicles for added diversity.
• Stealing other Games' Materials - Not to be underestimated. I have borrowed parts from Puerto Rico, Pandemic, Risk, and Go; though be sure not to lose any if you ever want to play the original game again. I also borrow heavily from Dominion if I am testing anything similar to it.
• Dice - Dice are very handy to have around. Whether for purposes of probability or tracking something numeric, it doesn't hurt to have dice (magic players usually use D20s to track their life). Have a variety of dice, both in colour, and number of sides.
• Pawns - These tend to start off as the generic player pieces for most of my games. I am referring to simple, colour coded pawns, like those you might see in snakes and ladders. Players are used to being colour coded in a lot of games, so these are great to have around.
• Bristol Board - whether you are making the board itself on this, or cutting it up to make markers or tiles, it is great to have large pieces of bristol board on hand. White is by far the most common colour to use, but if you have some artistic or colour-coding intent, feel free to use a variety of colours. [Also relevant: ruler, scissors, paper cutter]
• A Notebook and Clipboard (and stationary) - Easy to underestimate, but it helps to have a good writing surface to take notes on. If you are playtesting properly, you should learn something with every game. If necessary, extensively track what is going on in a game; if economy is a major factor, record how much money you are making every turn. Be sure to have enough pencils, and at least one good eraser.
• Excel - Yes, the spreadsheet program. Plot and record data about your game. About the components, gameplay data, factions, cards - whatever is relevant to your game. You may be surprised to see patterns in your data, or any holes that in retrospect seem obvious. If you are not surprised, in all likelyhood it is because you already know how useful this technique can be. Oh and also, KEEP YOUR SPREADSHEET UP TO DATE!!!! An outdated spreadsheet is a useless spreadsheet.
• Smartphone or Tablet - These are not quite as good as a notebook for writing, but make up for it in portability, as well as the ability to read PDFs; it makes it possible to have an up to date electronic copy of your rulebook or reference material on hand. They are also useful if you require a timer in your game, or are just taking down ideas that come to you throughout your work day.
• Containers - Somewhere to store your prototypes, or just to keep all of your bits and pieces organized. Tackle boxes work well for this, though you may want to use trading card boxes, plastic baggies, pencil cases, binders; whatever works for you. 
• Post It Notes - Useful for keeping things organized, particularly in your rule book. If you have any reference tables you need to keep coming back to, put a note there. 

You do not require all of these things; these types of resources are very game specific, and even within this list, many are redundant to each other. But hopefully, it will give you some ideas.

Until next time,

-Colin