If you enjoy hiking in the woods it could be fun designing a game about hiking. Maybe there are millions of squirrels in your yard whose acrobatic attempts to get to the bird feeder could translate into a silly boardgame. Perhaps a school science fair, the cafeteria food line or a memorable field trip stimulate game ideas. When designing games, there are no rules and your imagination is the limit. There's a ton of stuff you can use as pieces to a game.
Tokens are the markers used to represent the players on the game board.
They may also be used for keeping track of other aspects of the game such as, points, wealth, weakness, strength, happiness, food, whatever. You can use them on the board, in a pile, on a chart, again, its your game. Chips are similar to the tokens and can be used in the same ways. Most often they represent money and treasures. You can write on some types of chips with a permanent marker, but use crayons or stickers until you are sure you like the art.