Bingo chips are ubiquitous here. Probably made in China, of course. They have a beveled edge, making them easy to pick up, maybe 2mm or 2.5mm thick, and critically the size sold here as 7/8" (slightly larger than average) is surprisingly close to a standard stone in diameter. Maybe a hair smaller, which is a good thing.
I suspect it would be easy to make these out of more contemporary environmentally friendly materials as well, such as soy-based plastic.
They have at least starting making those sets, which are not super cheap (called Pente here by the biggest manufacturer) 19x19. But look at this horrible detail:
O yes i hope ppl can get better for this prize
That is what I have been thinking about for a long time. Americans with little money, or children, and people in places like South America or Africa with less buying power could all be satisfied with the kind of solution I am exploring. It would be so nice if anyone who wanted to play could get a set just for asking. For the boards, coated paper or the kind of plastic paper used for maps would be very durable, light and inexpensive as well. Everything could be shipped in a prepackaged flat envelope to minimize shipping as wellā¦
Once a high official of go organization told me we were wrong, we should have shell snd slate stones in every go clubs because itās an underestimated part of the pleasure to play go.
But thatās cut from the real world and the quest to get the cheapest set with minimal quality so that everyone can enjoy the intellectual side of the game remains something of highest priority.
Even more considering that a standard set is not that cheap in many places of the world.
I recently endeavored to make quality but affordable go sets more available to the US (and to some degree Europe and elsewhere).
I ordered a metric-butt-ton of stones and boards and sell them here: Baduk Pieces (Full Set of Black and White) ā badukclub
(It seems the auto-applied bulk discounts arenāt working at the moment), but basically bought at maximum discount stones would cost $8.
(Also the stones come with a very thin plastic 19x19 board)
So hopefully that can be a help to some people.
That being said, I would also be very interested in figuring out how to import the bingo chip solution, ziplock bags for them, and perhaps even some paper 9x9 boards at the marginal cost of ten cents a set. With the goal being to hand out go starter sets like candy (while at an Asian festival or a convention or of course to brand new players at a local club). If anyone wants to work with me to make this a reality, please reach out!
Also, Iād want the board to be 2-sided where one side has super simple rules and the other has a grid, and somewhere on there is a url they can use to find the most up-to-date info about where to play go no matter where they are. (I made that here https://9x9.baduk.club please use it if you like it)
This is the kind of thing I want to see happen. Cheap enough to pass out to anyone and everyone who wants to try. When someone gets hooked they will buy equipment to their taste and budget. But in the meantime, this kind of solution letās them flirt with the game long enough to decide if it suits their tastes.
I found a good replacement for the cups I was using before. These are 10 for $1.25 at the dollar store retail, so I imagine in bulk they could be had for something like $20 for a thousand. They are just big enough to hold chips for a 13x13, but would be excellent for 9x9 and seal well. very light alsoā¦
Hello, I would like to know where I could get the go board. Thank you so much.
I just bought these melamine stones.
20ā¬ on Amazon.
Nice touch and feel. Lightweight but not annoyingly light. 1 kg with boxes.
The BGA used to have a set like this. A4 printed card board, 9x9 with rules on. Stones were tiddlywinks winks in black and white. Like these I guess:
They look very nice 
The larger size that in the US is listed as 7/8ā is the one I used and they are the exact size to fit on a regular go boardā¦You can buy them in bags of like 33,000ā¦
I searched but couldnāt find any for sale at a low enough price. Do you have any links?
It has been a few years since I did this, but at that time they were available in bags of 33,000. 3/4" size came in bags of 50,000. Might need to approach a manufacturer with the number of chips for the project to get a better deal. I would start at mr. chips because I think that is the company I bought from before and they make them:
https://mrchips.net/collections/bingo/products/7-8-inch-tiddlywinks-in-bags-of-1-000-pcs
$10/1000pcs = .01 each would be $3.61 for a full set or maybe 1.60 for a 13x13 or so but if you contacted them and said, for example, we want 40,000 or 161,000 that price would come way down, maybe something like .001 or .0005.
This is another one selling bags of 50,000 3/4" chips for 161, for example:
https://alliedbingo.com/bulk-bingo-chips-50-000-count/
I would reach out to distributors when ready to purchase and ask for a quote. I think I was also quoted for a full palette, which was something like 100,000 pieces in a palette bin. the price was at the time something like 250 plus 300 shipping at that was the largest unit size I could find.
