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2017 PAX Unplugged Inaugural Challenge Coin Thread
robirex
BostonRegistered User regular
BostonRegistered User regular
Hey everyone! I thought I would try to kick off this discussion and if needed I will spearhead organizing manufacturing, payments and shipping. I'm certainly not a PAX veteran and I only have one PAX East challenge coin from this year, but @SutibunRI made the discussion and fulfillment so enjoyable that I thought that I should try to give back to this amazing community.
I will update this top post with polls, any designs we come up with for the front and back, ordering information and of course the final product. First, if you are not familiar with challenge coins then I highly recommend this PAX Challenge Coin Wiki and the challenge coin discussions on other forums for other PAX events. I included some recent examples below and some of my favorites. The designs generally have been a gaming related design on one side of the coin and a landmark/city related design on the reverse side.
In addition to the design we should also discuss
Size? Traditionally it is 1.75"
Finish? (Gold, Bronze, Silver, something else?)
Edge? (Reeded, smooth, or perhaps some text on the edge?)
Color? (We can have color on one or both sides if we choose to)
Okay, this is all cool, but when can I order them? It will be awhile right now. Once we nail down the design we will be talking with Kiddercorp, but we need to move quickly in order to receive the coins by 11/17 for PAX Unplugged.
Price? Below, are the prices of the coins that I bought for PAX East this year. Of course this is totally subject to change at this point. Don't worry, it will be very clear once we are ready to begin the ordering process.
Regular Coins $5
Color Coins $6
US Shipping is $3 for 1-3 Coins, $4 for 4-6, and $6 for 7+ Coins.
International Shipping is $15 USD for 1-6 coins, and $31 for 7+ Coins.
Landmark side:
Liberty Bell options
Independence Hall options
Rocky options
Skyline options
Gaming side:
Agricola options
Settlers of Catan options
Dungeons and Dragons options
Flashpoint
Flashpoint 1H
Pandemic
Pandemic 1H
Past PAX coins
PAX East 2017
PAX South 2017
PAX Aus 2016
PAX East 2016
PAX South 2016
PAX West 2016
PAX East 2013
PAX East 2014
PAX Prime 2013
PAX Prime 2012
I will update this top post with polls, any designs we come up with for the front and back, ordering information and of course the final product. First, if you are not familiar with challenge coins then I highly recommend this PAX Challenge Coin Wiki and the challenge coin discussions on other forums for other PAX events. I included some recent examples below and some of my favorites. The designs generally have been a gaming related design on one side of the coin and a landmark/city related design on the reverse side.
In addition to the design we should also discuss
Size? Traditionally it is 1.75"
Finish? (Gold, Bronze, Silver, something else?)
Edge? (Reeded, smooth, or perhaps some text on the edge?)
Color? (We can have color on one or both sides if we choose to)
Okay, this is all cool, but when can I order them? It will be awhile right now. Once we nail down the design we will be talking with Kiddercorp, but we need to move quickly in order to receive the coins by 11/17 for PAX Unplugged.
Price? Below, are the prices of the coins that I bought for PAX East this year. Of course this is totally subject to change at this point. Don't worry, it will be very clear once we are ready to begin the ordering process.
Regular Coins $5
Color Coins $6
US Shipping is $3 for 1-3 Coins, $4 for 4-6, and $6 for 7+ Coins.
International Shipping is $15 USD for 1-6 coins, and $31 for 7+ Coins.
Landmark side:
Liberty Bell options
Liberty Bell 1
Liberty Bell 1H
Liberty Bell 2
Liberty Bell 3
Liberty Bell 4
Liberty Bell 1H
Liberty Bell 2
Liberty Bell 3
Liberty Bell 4
Independence Hall options
Independence Hall 1
Independence Hall 2
Independence Hall 3
Independence Hall 3H
Independence Hall 4H
Independence Hall 2
Independence Hall 3
Independence Hall 3H
Independence Hall 4H
Rocky options
Rocky 1
Rocky 2
Rocky 3
Rocky 3H
Rocky 4
Rocky 2
Rocky 3
Rocky 3H
Rocky 4
Skyline options
Skyline 1
Skyline 2
Skyline 3
Skyline 3H
Skyline 2
Skyline 3
Skyline 3H
Gaming side:
Agricola options
Agricola 1
Agricola 2
Agricola 2H
Agricola 2
Agricola 2H
Settlers of Catan options
Settlers of Catan 1
Settlers of Catan 1H
Settlers of Catan 2
Settlers of Catan 3
Settlers of Catan 3H
Settlers of Catan 4
Settlers of Catan 1H
Settlers of Catan 2
Settlers of Catan 3
Settlers of Catan 3H
Settlers of Catan 4
Dungeons and Dragons options
Dungeons and Dragons 1
Dungeons and Dragons 2
Dungeons and Dragons 2
Flashpoint
Flashpoint 1H
Pandemic
Pandemic 1H
Past PAX coins
PAX East 2017
PAX South 2017
PAX Aus 2016
PAX East 2016
PAX South 2016
PAX West 2016
PAX East 2013
PAX East 2014
PAX Prime 2013
PAX Prime 2012
robirex on
+3
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Liberty Bell
Rocky Statue
Skyline
a bunch of different sided dice with a huge D20
combination of meeple, dice, pawn and playing cards
Keep it really simple with the PAX Unplugged logo
D&D miniatures
Magic the Gathering/Pokemon/other card based games
Monopoly themed
Scrabble
Risk
Chess
Checkers
Definitely no shortage of classic games we can hone in on Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Monopoly
Perhaps something modern like Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride?
That would be so cool! I love the idea of making the challenge coin and actual usable game component. I'm going to be chewing on that for awhile.
Liberty Bell
Rocky Statue
Skyline
Monopoly
Life counter
Pog
I like the liberty bell for the front design. The back design I do like the idea of dice in particular a d20 or the life counter idea. As noted by @SutibunRi the life counter probably wouldn't be feasible with what we already have there. (Unless we have a design pro that can figure it out).
Random thought can we do a design on the edges? Perhaps we could move the welcome home ring to the edge of the coin and turn the back into the life counter that way?
Yeah I'm really interested in a design on the edges if it can be done. We'll have to check with kiddercorp, but to keep things to timeline we might have to go without. I like having the welcome home ring there if we are able to do it.
Independence Hall is another option
If a life counter was somehow integrated, how would it indicate the current value? It would need a moving part wouldn't it?
I think silver looks the best, when combined with coloring, but the antique options look classy as well for the uncolored, so I guess I like either of those options. I'm not super picky.
I'm a fan of liberty bell or independence hall. either seems like the most fitting choice for the inaugural pax in phillie.
For the back, Monopoly is out because of IP (and is a terrible game), as is Scrabble. Traditionally, the coins have avoided using official PA or PAX logos so as to not be thought of as "official". South did a pile of dice in 2016 and prime '13 did a meeple. So I'd like to see something a little further afield. A reference to Catan could work nicely, since in many ways it's the one game most responsible for the current board game renaissance in the US that has brought us to this point. The various pieces are sufficiently generic that we should be able to use them without infringing.
I also like the antique bronze finish, and the Liberty Bell would be my pick for the Philly side of the coin.
What kind of Catan reference were you thinking? When I read your post the first thing that popped into my head was a couple of hex shapes next to each other, with a sheep on one and a piece of wood on the other. Too simple? Way off?
Or, going with the Catan idea, hex shapes viewed at an angle, with a meeple or pawn on it and a D6?
How are these coin designs usually submitted?
Oh, I totally meant to include a link but then forgot. I think yours sounds cool. Possibly piles of all of the resources on a hex? Or on five hexes? Or the settlement/city/road pieces.
Some images to give a sense of what I mean. I wish I had time to mock up a coin but I'm totally swamped from now through October so all I can do is toss ideas from the back of the class.
ETA: some of the images I'm linking to aren't showing up. Here are direct links.
https://img0.etsystatic.com/147/2/10167697/il_340x270.1075331692_jevh.jpg
https://cdn.dribbble.com/users/50008/screenshots/1828250/catanicons.jpg
https://cdn.dribbble.com/users/623722/screenshots/1902780/settlers-of-catan-icons.png
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/e5/68/5b/e5685b21358e5ee06a91d4a31f64d78e--settlers-of-catan-drawstring-bags.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/7d/ed/a3/7deda39c06d0e5c9bb816c7c315bca6d.jpg
https://img0.etsystatic.com/050/0/5368349/il_570xN.714157962_o8x8.jpg
Alternatively, what about using each year to chronicle the Spiel winner, or something that's overall very hot. I guess that could be contentious.
I have also found this art.
That's kind of closer to the posing and angle I had in mind, if done in the art style of the last one.
Maybe we could represent something else. A person buying a new game while they have games still shrinkwrapped at home. Someone waiting by the mail for a kickstarter as pages fall off the calendar. A player trying to decide on a move while the players around him fall asleep. Is there a way to capture the joy of punching cardboard out?
It looks like, from the coin manufacturer site you can upload an image and they handle how it is converted? I'm not familiar with the process, so perhaps someone who has done it before can chime in.
As far as something more niche or less well known?
Could do Flash Point or Mechs vs Minions or Fief that have interesting models or standees.
Or do Kingdom Builder or Quantum or Catan that have more colorful pieces.
If you're lurking this thread, speak up if you have an opinion. I'm not trying to take over, but just trying to keep things moving. Not sure what the turn around time is on something like this. It'd be nice to have at Unplugged.
Although something like this is kind of more amusing to me.
At that point, I'll send what we have to kiddercorp, get their thoughts on it and get back to all of you. If all goes well we will start the ordering process. We're in good shape for the timeline. Check back here as often as you'd like today because I'm going to post the mock ups as they are finished. Feel free to discuss. "Hate it" "Love it" etc.
As far as the discussions go, I think the Catan pieces are really interesting. Also, I really love the idea of D&D artwork if we could make it work. The Catan and Pandemic ideas are cool. I'll see how it looks on the coin. The unplugged cord is hilarious. Simple. The assorted pieces are cool, but I think we ruled it out since someone else did it at a previous PAX. Not that we couldn't do something another PAX has done, but for the inaugural PAX I think we need to come up with something fresh. Alright, getting to work right now.
Liberty Bell 1
Liberty Bell 2
Liberty Bell 3
Liberty Bell 4
Independence Hall 1
Independence Hall 2
Independence Hall 3
Rocky 1
Rocky 2
Rocky 3
Rocky 4
Skyline 1
Skyline 2
Skyline 3
Agricola 1
Agricola 2
Settlers of Catan 1
Settlers of Catan 2
Settlers of Catan 3
Settlers of Catan 4
Dungeons and Dragons 1
Dungeons and Dragons 2
Flashpoint
Pandemic
Definitely not the totality of options that we have so if you have other thoughts I can quickly update anything. I just want to get some discussions going around what options we like or if we want different options. Once we nailed down some popular ones we'll vote.
Landmark side border
Gaming side border
Great point. Looking at the past coins that I put in the OP, you can see that sometimes we have looked past the border design and incorporated the dates into the coin. I might play around with that on some of the images. Also, I think it would be cool to find a tabletop version of the pacman border if we decide to go that route. Nothing is as perfect as the pacman border lol but maybe we can find a really cool tabletop version.
If we went with Liberty Bell, I'd want a zoom level between examples 2 and 3 -- enough to see the full shape of the cross bar and the bell corners, but not so much that the bell feels lost in empty space, as it does on 3. Remember that the background won't be part of the design, so the bell has to hold the attention itself.
Similarly, if we went with Independence Hall, I think we'd want to find a good square-on image (the image used in the mockup is a bit keystoned, since it was taken from gound level), and definitely we'd want no buildings in the background, so providing a cleaner image might be necessary. Try this one:
By the way, both the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall have been featured on US Currency before, coincidentally both on the half-dollar. That makes me a little less interested in using them, but maybe others are cool with sharing our subject with various past actual coins. Obviously the approach is unimpeachable from a design perspective (though a bit text-y for my tastes).
For the back, I prefer a more square-on, representative shot rather than a "photographic" "perspective" shot. I think it just works better on a coin that you hold in your hand. So I'd go for the Settlers 3, but it would need to be redone so that it wasn't just a printing of some guy's existing art (that particular art is very specific and stylized, and I don't think it would work well on a coin). I'm sure we could make that happen.
Independence Hall 2
Liberty Bell 4
Rocky 3 and skyline 3 would be my alternates for maybe future years.
Pandemic might look best on a coin. I like Agricola 2 and Catan 1, but they may end up unrecognizable once put in coin form.
Dungeons and dragons 2 would be my alternate for next year.
The Philly landmark choice may be cliche, but I feel it fits and represents the city really well and is worth it for the inaugural year.
I'm not a graphic designer so we will need assistance from someone else on taking out any background buildings or redesigning any previous work. I tried doing this, but it just looking jagged and bad for the Catan hexes and the Independence Hall. I'll see what the coin looks like tonight with @ilta 's picture.
I like the Pandemic and Catan options as well, but for the Catan version I'm worried whether the flat token designs themselves look game-y enough for the gaming side of the coin. Not really sure of how else we can make it work, but I think I understand the design we would like. The photo versions of the games won't look too great on a coin I don't think.
I've seen some images of Independence Hall where they've been already removed or it was shot from an angle where they aren't seen.
I've seen them take photos of skylines for other pax coins and they look decent enough. Can't hurt to send what we like and see what they think.
For Shame!
I regret nothing.
Edit: best 2 minutes in ms paint ever.