Best Coins for LARP, RPG and Board Games
How to choose the right coins for your game
Coins are one of the most underestimated elements in games. Yet they can completely change how real your world feels.
Whether you’re organizing a LARP, running a tabletop RPG, or designing a board game, the right coins can elevate immersion dramatically. The wrong ones can break it.
Here’s a practical guide to choosing coins that actually work.
Price: Coins get lost
One of the most common mistakes is choosing coins that are too expensive.
A coin worth €1–2 may look great, but in real gameplay:
- it gets lost
- someone keeps it
- or it disappears in the chaos
For larger games, you often need hundreds of coins.
👉 A good balance:
- €0.3–0.5 per coin → safe for large-scale games
- expensive coins → use only as high-value pieces
Authentic look matters
Coins must match your world.
Plastic tokens will never feel the same as metal.
👉 For historical settings:
- use real coin types (groschen, florin, ducat)
👉 For fantasy:
- keep a consistent style (Viking, elven, desert, etc.)
Material and weight
This is critical.
Coins should:
- have weight
- feel solid in the hand
Plastic:
❌ feels fake
Metal:
✔ instantly increases immersion
Sound: a hidden immersion factor
The sound of metal coins matters more than you think.
- coins clinking in a pouch
- the sound of payment
👉 it subconsciously signals:
“This is real.”
Building a game economy
Every game needs structure.
A simple system:
- low value (copper / denar)
- mid value (groschen)
- higher value (florin)
- high value (ducat)
👉 If you lack variety:
use the same coin in different finishes (copper / silver / gold)
Distributing wealth
Different roles need different amounts:
- poor characters → few coins
- mercenaries → mixed
- merchants → larger amounts
For markets:
estimate:
- number of players
- expected spending
👉 If you don’t want to calculate manually, tools like a Game Economy Designer can help.
How many coins do you need?
Rough estimate:
- small game (10 players): ~100 coins
- medium (20–30): ~300 coins
- large (100+): 1000+ coins
👉 Always more small coins than large ones
Different types of games
LARP
- large quantities
- durability
RPG
- detail
- atmosphere
Board games
- readability
- practicality
Conclusion
Good coins are not just props.
They are:
- part of the economy
- part of the story
- and one of the strongest immersion tools
👉 Choose them well, and your players will remember them.