Reddit mentions of Learning Resources Centimeter Cubes, Counting/Sorting Toy, Assorted Colors, Set of 500, Ages 6+

I have done this for cruises a couple ways. I took a game box about the size of a Ticket to Ride box and collapsed about 20 games into it. It was pretty compact and you could definitely use a smaller box to fit and compact more games in.

The other way that was a bit easier and lighter was I took a 500 card count deck box and put 4 decks of cards in it: A rage deck, 2 decks of playing cards, and a pyramid deck (I used a Great Dalmuti deck for this one). I then used the rest of the space to fill with counters using these plastic cubes. You could also magic marker values on some of them for specific games. Jaipur is one that could come to mind.

There are geeklists like this one where people have figured out how to get creative with rage decks. With the playing card decks you can find a cheap playing card games book, and a book like all the Pairs variants for the pyramid deck.

I purchased a a bucket of these. They have come in very handy for all kinds of games, including print and play games.

edit: Just looking around amazon, I also found these not really cheap but there is a bunch of colors. Each color looks to be sold seperately for $5

If he's going to be making his own cards, get him a corner rounder. It adds such a professional touch to have crisply rounded corners on cards. You might also get him one of those tubs of colored wooden cubes/primitive meeples as I have found that merely having some meeples (even if i know they aren't my final choice) is really inspiring to the game design process.

Set of 500 cubes https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QDTVFG/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_9TR4wbGDN5EXN

Corner rounder: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WWIPEE/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_XWR4wbKRGC9KT

You can get 500 plastic cubes for $12 on amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/CENTIMETER-CUBES-500-PK-10-COLORS/dp/B000QDTVFG


If you want wood, it's $5 for 50:

http://www.amazon.com/Craftwood-Wooden-Cubes-56-Pkg-Multicolor/dp/B007LAWO60

Learning cubes for generic cubes.

"But I have a lot of outdoors combat so this comes up a lot."

For outdoor encounters, I generally don't roll out the battlemat until combat is a sure thing. Unless there's some kind of kill-on-sight order or racial enmity, most fights don't start until both sides have had a chance to exchange words, well within 30' of each other.

So, it sounds like you're setting up a lot of encounters where either one side is ambushing the other, or the majority of encounters are solved by combat so there's no reason to approach to comfortable speaking distance. That's generally not the experience at my table (my players like talking but rarely plan ahead), so I can't say my solution addresses your "a lot" case.

In cases where one side is attempting to ambush another at longbow ranges or when I want to set up huge battlefields, I'll use a battlemat scaled so 1cm = 5' (rather than 1" = 5'), and then use centimeter cubes to represent Medium humanoids, standard 1" minis or tokens for Large size creatures, etc. This requires prep work, but like I said the long-range encounters are the exception rather than the rule with my group.

You could also run combat theater-of-the-mind style until the sides engage each other at a range that can be represented with your standard battlemat.

I use these! https://www.amazon.ca/Learning-Resources-Centimeter-Cubes-Set/dp/B000QDTVFG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483815507&sr=8-2&keywords=counting+cubes

Crazy idea, but what about a Lords of Waterdeep style game? Not sure if you have played, but it's a fun game.

You can get a bucket of 500 misc colored cubes from amazon for $13.
Get some poster board, or something, and have the kids draw maps of the world. Block off certain sections, and each one of these areas of the world will produce goods (cubes)...you could say each cube represents: produce, technology, raw materials, "education." ...I don't know, something like that. Kids take turns placing units, and getting those resources.

Create a few "quest" cards (cure polio, space exploration, disaster relief, etc.) that need various amounts of resources to complete. Maybe a system where the kids could "invest" in certain areas which would allow those areas to produce more goods.

...just rambling here...

Here you go: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Centimeter-Cubes-Set/dp/B000QDTVFG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1479863937&sr=8-4&keywords=counting+cubes

I'm designing a board game, so I've been wanting to try out these Centimeter Blocks for awhile now. They help loads with making board games as they can be used for tons of different purposes!

Elephant Barber

Well I graduated college a few months ago and now I'm hanging out at home until I find out where I want to go! :D

Thanks for the contest!