What are the dimensions of a poker chip?

[Andre]

Metal washers can usually be bought cheaply in sizes from 1/2 an inch to 2 inches, just bring a ruler with.

Next, spray paint the washers.

I really like this idea, especially since I have ton of different colors for painting miniatures (not spray paints, but it'll work). Thanks!

 

[IamTheTest]

You could try to flatten out bottle caps with a hammer. That could work. Or remake your battle map.

 

[D+1]

Silly question but I'm actually serious.

I found a pretty cool gaming supplement from Alea Tools.

http://www.aleatools.com/Product.aspx?sm=pds

Basically, they're magnetic bases you can put on the bottom of your minis to designate how hurt the character is, what spell they have cast on them, etc.

Pretty neat idea but kinda pricey ($20+S&H for 27 bases; not that bad a deal). So I was thinking of using something else, like poker chips for example. But are they too big? We use mats with 1" squares. Is there anything else that can be substituted for something like this?

A few minutes of looking at poker chip sales sites on the net shows that "casino quality" poker chips are about 1.5" or so (39mm), and are sold by gram weight - starting at about 4g for chips that are at least a step better than dime store interlocking chips and selling for about US$.07 each. 10.5g and 11.5g seem to be the typical standard weights and are significantly more expensive. But they would be at least proper dimensions for what would be expected in a casino. CLAY chips also seem to be the standard rather than plastic, though plastic is available too.

Casino chips don't seem terribly useful for gaming purposes to me, being over 1.5" in diameter. A 1" square is standard for movement and miniatures so something that overlaps a 1" square by that much would be... obnoxious. The one advantage they'd have is being cheaper than what you've found. I'd recommend looking for really cheap dime store type interlocking chips and using those instead. The magnets aren't going to adhere to non-ferrous miniatures anyway - only to each other.