Count tokens in a tray from a photo

Counting bar, festival and arcade tokens on a tray

Tokens stand in for cash at bars, festivals and arcades, so they get counted like cash: a float before a session opens, a reconciliation against sales afterward, and a handover between shifts. Plastic drink tokens and metal arcade tokens are uniform discs, which suits a tray photo well as long as none are stacked.

Tip the tokens onto a tray and spread them in one layer; a stacked pair shows as a single disc from above. Metal tokens catch the light like coins, so use soft light and avoid a lamp directly overhead. Events that run two token types, such as drink and food, can mark one of each in Similar items and read the Found per example rows to split the total. A token embossed differently on each side may look unlike itself face down, so mark both faces if the count seems low.

Label each corrected tally row by token type and by bar or booth, so the CSV reads as a float sheet. Real coins in the same float belong on the coin counter, and poker chips from a club night follow the same spread-and-shoot routine.

Token tray checks

• One layer, no stacks
• Soft light for metal tokens
• One example per token type
• Tally row labelled by type and location