Hi, I’m Chaz Marler, and welcome to another installment of Pair Of Dice Paradise’s The Component Proponent, where I discuss things and ideas that can help make the games we play more immersive.

Today on The Component Proponent, I ask the question: has this ever happened to you? You’re nearly through a game of Samurai Sword, when suddenly you can't remember which of your little pile of hearts is tracking your hit points, and which one tracks the damage you've taken. It's embarrassing, and more than once has resulted in a player being threatened with bodily harm.

Well, nobody wants a game based on feudal Japanese warfare to end in violence, so that’s why I invested in a few of these: these are Status Chip markers from GameKnight. About a year ago, GameKnight ran a successful kickstarter for a line of ceramic Victory Chips, and around that time they also developed these green little Status Chips. There’s a heart on one side, and a skull and crossbones on the other side. I use these when I’m playing games like Samurai Sword to keep track of everybody’s hit points. Not only does flipping the chips from the heart side over to the skull side prevent the type of confusion mentioned above, but they also make it very easy to see how many hit points each player has from across the table.

Now let’s open the mailbag for questions. @WellTimedFakeTweet asks:


Thank you for your well-timed question. I was just about to mention that I’ve had mine for nearly a year now, and not a single one has gotten chipped, scratched or spontaneously burst apart during play.

Note that these chips are ceramic, not clay, so they’re not quite the same material as “casino style” poker chips are. And they’re also 10 grams, slightly lighter than the standard 14 gram poker chips. As a result, they don’t have quite the same feel when you handle them. However, they’re still heads and shoulders above, and more engaging, than wimpy plastic poker chips.

Yes, these Status Chips are easy to read and durable. So, they’re a no-brainer, right? We’re all going to go out and buy some right after the show, right? Well, hold on there, Johnny Q. Buychip. Unfortunately, they’re a bit spendy.


So, because of that, they’re definitely a luxury item in my opinion. As for me, I did buy some, but just the minimum I could get away with in order to use them with a few select games.

I hope you found this information about GameKnight’s ceramic Status Chips helpful. Thanks for watching, and, until next time, I’m Chaz Marler, your Component Proponent.