I gave them a try at first because they look so nice, but I've given up on most of them.

You handle credits very often, and quite a few of them. I find the credit tokens a little clumsy to handle in comparison to glass beads, so I've switched to those for credits.

I also find the click tracker token clumsy to handle for how often it's used, and it can also confuse people. Maybe I put the counter to cover a number when I've just taken that action (so it starts off the card, and ends covering 4 if I'm the runner). Meanwhile, you have the token cover up the number of your next action (so it starts on 1 and ends off of the card). When we play, we'll both always be confused about what the other is doing.

So, I use a different color of glass beads, and put the right number of them on the click tracker. I slide one off of the card every time I spend a click. Quick, less clumsy, and it's totally obvious what I'm doing even if my opponent has a different scheme.

I do use the tag, bad publicity, brain damage, and the red and blue tokens though. They look good, they're obvious, you don't handle them nearly as often or in quantity, and it avoids having to use yet another color of counter.

Yes I use the tokens. I always do for the LCGs. They feel more thematic to me.

I can imagine not using all their types (e.g., keeping track of virus counters in another fashion) in competitive play (due to space & time concerns), but for casual play (especially at a home where you're more likely to have room to spread out) I'm always going to use them because I find a lot of tactile satisfaction in having physical objects to manipulate.

More importantly, though, I think having an immediately tangible way to deal with the non-card permanent elements is very helpful for new players; remembering to manipulate dice can be difficult, or just not be a helpful way to immerse a new player. Experienced CCG players will probably not be as likely to benefit from this when learning, but those who are used to board games may feel a bit disconnected, and have a harder time understanding their opponent's board state. (It's harder to immediately see, for example, credits represented on dice, whereas a pile of the things is pretty obvious.*)

Additionally: I am adverse to using dice to keep track of numbers in games (in competitive play, anyhow); they are usually not very quick to manipulate, and are easy to have accidents or "accidents" with. I think paper records of player credits are fine, while recurring credits and other credits on cards perhaps should be tokens. I was actually somewhat surprised by the fact that the current floor rules do not address these issues. They do mention that players are responsible for bringing their own tokens, but that doesn't mean tokens are required or preferred or what other methods are acceptable for keeping track of various game states.

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* If I want to to be more detailed in what I'm trying to get at here, the Heideggerian concepts of readiness-to-hand & presence-at-hand are what I am using to describe this to myself. Experienced players will often take that sort of abstract representation and interact with it in a way that does not require very much conscious attention, but new players have not become immersed in the game at all yet (the chits aren't even really "ready-to-hand"), much less at the level where further abstractions are natural. Obviously, persons differ in their ability to absorb the spaces defined by games as they are learning (such as being quick studies or having a lot of other experience to make analogies with), but even experienced players sometimes overestimate their ability to deal with concepts outside of physical reality. I've played Legend of the Five Rings for a number of years, but I realized that (despite what other experienced players often do), I needed a token in a particular place to represent one binary state for my board so I could immediately visualize whether it was a 0 or 1.

(I am sick and stuck in a hotel room, which is going to be my excuse for the length of this reply.)

I don't use the click tokens as I can count to four! In a competition or when demoing I may use them for clarity for the opponent though. I do use the credit tokens and, as I play "Noise" I tend to use them for virus tokens as well. I have occassionally used the Brain Damage tokens but they are generally not necessary as my opponent keeps tends to have a very clear handle on what my hand size is! Also, I don't tend to play "Stimhack" that much.

I tend to forget trackers like the click tracker and first player tokens in other games, but the rest are useful. I'm sure at least one corp will be heavy on the brain damage effects in expansions

I like the counters, they're thematic and make for an attractive and colorful play space. I don't find the credit/advancement tokens to be as cumbersome as others, perhaps because I'm used to playing a lot of board games.

I will admit that the click trackers are a little frustrating, because as the initial poster pointed out, there are multiple perfectly logical ways to play them (token over the action you're presently on, token on the number of actions you've completed, or even token on the number of actions left if you're really a rebel). I like the way they look, though, and there's nothing wrong with the card. I have a feeling that when my second set comes in, I'll likely use all 4 click tokens in the two sets myself when playing against others who own the game themselves, and "fill" my tracker card at the start of each turn, much like people would do with glass beads.

I do not use the click counters when I play my regular mates, but i do use them when teaching a new player or playing randoms.

I use all the other chits.

BUT I use 2x 10 sided dice for credits. I find the constant credit flux to be cumbersome. I find that 2x 10 sided dice, each a different colour, 1 for 1-9 the other for 10-90. Between them you can do 0-99. This way you can track cash with out having a massive pile of tokens taking up space and being a pain in the but.

I also TAP cards for cards like cyberfeeder. So i am not putting bits on and then off the card every tune. I also do this with NBN Identity and Cash Space.. i know you can only use 1 of the 2 bits.. i just tap when the card is empty… it isn't hard to count to 2.

I do use the advancement side of the token…

The counters look great and are thematic. I use them.

I am still waiting for someone to ask for custom sleeves for the counters…

I really like the idea of using different colored glass beads to track clicks. So far I've just been using my fingers, which, as you can imagine, has led to problems a couple of times.

It's not thematic even a little bit, but I really like to use my Chadwick Magic Brain Calculator for tracking credits. It's basically a metal abacus with numerals in the place of beads. It clearly displays how many credits you own, it won't change what number it shows if gets knocked around, it's durable, it's cheap, it's portable, and you don't have to worry about piles of counters falling off the table and getting lost. I use it anytime I have a board, card, or roleplaying game that uses a lot of money (power grid, acquire, monopoly, D&D, etc) and it works fantastic--so much easier to use than poker chips or counters or paper money. The only downside is that it can be a little tricky to use.

http://www.gadgetvenue.com/magic-brain-calculator-built-a-long-long-time-ago-02215530/

Click Trackers: Not usually, except during Runner's Turn when they Run (which click was I on?) and Corp's turn when they score an Agenda mid-turn (on action 1 or 2).

Credit Tokens: Yes, very pretty, and flipping them to the white side has many uses:
As an Advancement Token
To represent [Recurring Credits] (flip them when they are used)
To represent Astroscript's free Advancement Token (it's what it will be used for)
To represent Nisei Mk II's ability
etc…

Red/Blue Tokens: Very useful for various things. Common practice in my area is to represent MU with the red side (and place them in the very upper left corner of a card using that MU (we have many new players and it s a very useful memory device). Blue side is pretty much everything else like virus tokens.

Tag Tokens: Very useful, we also put a tag token on Data Raven as the 'Data Raven Token' since that's eventually what it will be used for.

Brain Damage Token: I don't think these see ENOUGH use.

Bad Publicity Tokens: Corps have not embraced their evilness enough yet to have these get used a lot, but when it happens, they will be used.

And, I dislike any representation of credits that requires a different representation for Advancement Counters.

aka: Dice/Calculator/Abacus

It is so much easier to take the '1' token and flip it to the white side and drop it on the advanced card.

byronczimmer said:

There was a similar discussion over at BGG about the click-tracker. I've seen two suggestions I liked:

1) Have the Corp track for the Runner and vice-versa.

2) Place a 'click'-token on the play field where you used an action, e.g. if you installed a program, place a token there, if you took a cred, place one there, etc.

That's a good point, byronczimmer. It is pretty convenient to have the advancement on the same token as credits. Thinking on it, the counters they provide or beads are probably the best things to use for credits.

I saw something at a game store that I think people would like as an alternative to the click token (I admit it is the one token I find janky to use, and would prefer multiple click tokens for each action). I have photos on my cell phone but I do not know how to transfer them into this thread. Suggestions?

I use all the tokens except the click trackers. For the corp I don't use any click tracker since their actions are fast and easy to remember. For the runner, since I play criminal, I use four of the characters from Infiltration as my team, and take one off every time I take an action.

juggler434 said:

That's pretty cool - I love the idea that you have your criminal gang with you when pulling Bank Jobs etc.

Found a sample on-line:

A fourth red would be needed.

You can find plastic "gems" exactly like these super-cheap at craft and party supply stores. They're the same tokens that ship with Ascension (that game uses big red and small white ones).

My local game store had them for .15 each so I picked up the 7 I would need and they have worked out great.

Laying down some red a blue ice crystals, oh yea!

Much as I like the new tokens, nostalgia will undoubtedly force me to dig out the tokens/box from the old Netrunner Data Pack.

I use all the tokens but I do like the idea of filling the click card and emptying it as you go, so I might grab some beads for that

I just use different colored glass beads for counters, clicks, etc. Coming from playing MtG, I'm used to having beads and dice all over the play space.

I've not punched out a single token from the card set.

I use coloured plastic "bits" Red and Blue for the two faction for the bits, sorry credits, and advancement tokens. Action trackers I don't use.

While some people here don’t like to use dice, I actually like them for my card and tabletop games. They’re convenient: one object contains several values at once. That makes putting them into the game or taking them out much easier than moving around several objects. Also, counters (102 in the Core set!) can be a pain to keep track off when you’re starting a game or packing up. It’s much easier to lose a couple of 102 counters than any of a small bagful of dice.

Yes, it’s easy to accidentally (or deliberately) roll a die to show the wrong value, but that’s nothing to be feared if a) you’re playing with people you trust, and/or b) pay attention and make sure everything is out in the open, in plain sight.

If I can just get enough right colored dice for my game, roughly:

1 Blue D4 – Corp Click Tracker

1 Red D4 – Runner Click Tracker

10 Green D6 – Credits

8 Black D6 – Advancement (prefer to separate Credits and Advancement)

1 Red D6 – Brain Damage

3 Yellow D6 – Bad Publicity / Tag

8 Purple D6 - Generic

For commonly handled tokens (bits, virus, advancement, etc) I'm using a few color glass markers - red for runner, blue for corp, and white for bits. I've also ordered a set of the Litko Monolith markers to use as click trackers, moving them from my tracker card to the board relative to my action as noted previously.