ok, quick version here for others:
Went to alibaba (they only deal with companies normally, which was fine for me).
Spoke to a few people at various companies, found a good-un, you may be able to deal directly with this bunch, they're easy to chat with.
https://onemoregame.en.alibaba.com/
Total turnaround was 2 weeks,excluding 2 weeks for Chinese New Year in the middle, so nothing happened then. From agreeing the price (0.03 USD per token for 3,000, ~185USD delivery to my door), I sent them pdfs of the token arts front and back (35USD for them to make the dies), they made up 3,000 tokens within a week, package ready last Wednesday, picked up from Honk Kong last Friday, on my doorstep yesterday morning.
The name is a family joke thing, but tokens (and use) are here:
http://prehoc.co.uk/tokens/1.jpg
http://prehoc.co.uk/tokens/2.jpg
http://prehoc.co.uk/tokens/3.jpg
They're 24mm x 1.85mm so *very* close to the 10p used in the pac ball and working perfectly.
Very happy with the service.
Did wonder if enough people wanted matching tokens (not matching mine, just matching each others) whether a bulk order for a generic token would be an idea, but everyone has their own needs for tokens (be it size, style, etc)