I was reading through Mouser's board game mini-review thread, and suddenly I remembered something I had checked out a few years ago, called "piecepack" (lower case intentional). It's basically a free (public domain) set of counters/chits/cards/ in pdf form you can download, print, and make up your own rules for. There is a board where you can browse and download different game rules, and there are game design contests where presumably, the cream rises to the top. Check it out:
http://www.piecepack.orgWhat is a piecepack?
Flexible. Portable. Affordable. Public domain. The piecepack is a set of boardgame parts that can be used to design and play a wide variety of games. Anyone may design and publish a piecepack rule set. Any manufacturer or individual may produce piecepacks.
Tom Vasel in the video says the piecepack is best for abstract strategy-over-luck games, but because it is simply an open-ended system, you can make up your own story or theme, or simply make up your own pieces using the piecepack system as a base, or use the piecepack bits as an add-on to other games that may need a little "extra".
