I've been playing Hoplomachus: Victorum. There are a lot of different chips flying around and I sometimes lose track of the special chips in the stack. I wanted to try something transparent that sits on top of the stack so it would be more noticeable.

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This is my third iteration of the idea. It turns out that transparent chips with transparent engravings are very hard to see on a busy background. They looked really slick though. This is my first project cutting acrylic and I was surprised out how cleanly it engraves.

I've settled on some text on the edges instead of icons. The game chips are already loaded with info and visually busy. The text was hard to read by itself so I put a black background on the back to increase the contrast. I used acrylic paint to fill in the engraving. They are definitely readable on the table now.

I engraved both sides of the chip; one side for the black background and one for the white text. I needed to make sure that the engravings lined up when I flipped the circles over. It's difficult to line up a plain circle properly so I made a slightly larger outer cut with a couple of symmetrical "ears". Then I leave the material in place and flip the piece over. The ears make sure it stays aligned properly. Then I can engrave side 2 and cut the actual chip circle.

I like to put my 2-sided projects in one file, then swap out the proper groups as needed. The glowforge software is not great for fine manipulation so I find it best to get keep things all lined up in one file. If you are careful with the prep of the file then it's easy to turn pieces on and off when burning.

I kind of like cutting the acrylic. I had avoided it for months. I was worried about the smell when cutting. The smell is not bad and it sure makes a clean cut. I do like the feel of the wood better, though.

You can grab the SVGs at BoardGameGeek and cut your own.