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Feedback: Star Trek Timelines pins

CabadrinCabadrin Boston, MARegistered User regular
Hey folks!

I was the longhaired guy working the Star Trek Timelines booth. I helped set up that booth, along with my co-workers, and helped manage the hordes of people at PAX East. Since it was our first time doing pins, I'd love some feedback on how we did.
  • Was the pin itself good? How was the design? What could we have improved?
  • Was the wait / line worth it?
  • Did you like playing a demo and signing up for a pin, or should have we have done something different? If so, why?
  • If we made pins next year, what could we do to improve the pin aspect of the booth?

Thanks!

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Posts

  • SerpicoBCSerpicoBC Registered User regular
    Hi @Cabadrin,

    Firstly, great work out there in the expo hall. The lines were moving, the Timelines folks were friendly and the game itself is a lot of fun.

    As far as the pin goes, I think it was my favorite looking pin of the whole show. I liked it because it is a prolific symbol, and so has appeal outside of the community of the most enthusiastic pin traders. If I wear that thing on the collar of my coat, I will get knowing nods from people. For me, that's a great feature of any pin.

    I thought the number of stations kept the lines moving and manageable, and the distribution method (play the game and sign up) was very reasonable. Something that tends to jar people in the pin trading community is when you have to wait in line and there is no guarantee of a pin. At the Blizzard booth, folks were waiting for hours for only a chance at a pin. That is tough.

    If you did it again, I'd love to see another nicely designed, not-overly-complex pin. Especially if it feels like it belongs with the first pin. Like an alternate/parallel universe insignia of roughly the same dimensions. It would feel just as prolific and get the same knowing nods. Or a character in the same artwork of the game. Those things feel particularly timeless.

  • cabbie98cabbie98 Registered User regular
    Agreed on all counts with serpico.

    The photo area was also a nice touch and provided some funny moments while waiting in line.

    Highlights were mascot style Mario cosplayer, tribbles, and the couple who put their baby in the captain's chair.

    WiiU: cabbie98
    3DS FC: 4382-1976-1645
    Pin Pals Digital Lanyard
  • GerzzogGerzzog OhioRegistered User regular
    edited March 2015
    Truthfully you and Undead Labs are neck and neck for best distribution for a non-paid for pin. You broke it in chunks that you metered out to make sure you had enough. We as pin crazies tend to complain when no math is applied to the pin distribution. Case in point is The Order, they just chose 1 in 4 arbitrarily and they had a bunch left over. This forced the same people to go through their lines for a chance at a pin, this limits their exposure to new people. Since your game is tablet based you could have more stations to increase throughput speed, but overall it was pretty reasonable. Your pin is awesome and probably made many people both pin crazy and not, very happy to receive. I love having to play a demo for a game if I can for sure get the pin at the end. I am not a big fan of chance or skill based distributions. Metered is fine if in the end the pins all get allocated to convention goers who come to your booth. You guys did it the way I think it should be done at every booth. All in all I think you guys handled your pin giving out the best of the con (tied with UL) and possibly the best of all the PAXen in previous years.

    Gerzzog on
  • aleph0aleph0 Registered User regular
    edited March 2015
    Thanks for reaching out to the community! I agree with everyone that the pin distribution was well-handled, and I love the photo booth setup as well. It's nice that you divided your pin supply over the three days so that folks that couldn't make it on Friday have a shot at it. I love the pin design, and it's especially poignant due to recent events. Looking forward to any new pin designs you might have in the future.

    aleph0 on
  • jwquinlinjwquinlin Registered User regular
    Completely agree that the pin design and dividing up the supply by three days was great. The only thing in the booth that gave me any pause, was signing up after the demo. Not a huge deal and I understand the reasoning, just always makes me stop to think when having to cough up my info.

    The lines moved great, and had a lot of fun pin/Star Trek conversation early in the mornings. Looking forward to another Star Trek or maybe GoT related pin from you all.

  • GerzzogGerzzog OhioRegistered User regular
    Just had a funny thought. What if Twitch or Blizzard made a post like this lol. We don't need to discuss (especially here), the thought just made me laugh.

  • KhatieKhatie Registered User new member
    I just wanted to chime in - I work with Cabadrin at Disruptor Beam and I was so thrilled to be part of the Pinny program this year! But the collectors and fans made it the most fun. You were all super patient and fun in line. We tried to allocate enough for each day so we wouldn't need to disappoint too many and I'm happy to say most of you got a pin! Can't wait to do this again and we'll apply the feedback to our booth flow.

    :D

  • ClixClix This guy I know Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    You guys had, in my opinion, the best pin that wasn't PA related.

    The game was interesting, but I'm honestly not a PC or tablet gamer. So even though I love Star Trek I'll probably never pick it up.

    The crew that was at the booth was super nice and sociable.

  • purevalpureval Somersworth, NH Registered User regular
    I guess I showed up at the wrong time. I went there first thing on Friday to get the pin. The line set up was very confusing, it started in the center and wrapped around either side of the booth. After waiting a minute we were asked if we wanted to do the picture. At first we said no, but got talked into with the promise that we could jump back into line. By the time we finished the process the line had turned into a jumbled mess. We could not figure out what was what and could not even find our place back in, or anyone to help us get into the line. We ended up getting frustrated and leaving, deciding to come back later on. You ended up running out of pins rather early that day (at least that was what was reported) and we never went back to the booth and never ended up getting the pin.

    I would recommend having a much more organized booth layout from now and order way pins next time.

  • DefaultGenDefaultGen Registered User regular
    edited April 2023
    .

    DefaultGen on
  • TheAggroCraigTheAggroCraig Ultimate Lucky Douchebag MassachusettsRegistered User regular
    As a non-Star Trek fan, the pin is very nice, and bridges more media into Pinny Arcade, which I am all for. This pin will grab non-collectors and potentially bring them into the hobby, which while it may make it harder for collectors to obtain with a small print run, i will still be cool to see people have it on them.

    I personally was not a fan of the game, but that genre is just not for me... and again I'm also not a Star Trek fan, but that's only because I've never watched it.

    I did enjoy the photo opp though, as did many others. Maybe we can see a Game of Thrones pin at Prime??????????

  • VhaulVhaul Registered User new member
    I thought your booth was a very positive experience(especially when there was no pin to be given out :), late day friday). Hopefully this doesn't get the one super helpful person in trouble, but she got me the pin the next day after I completed all the activities on Friday(captain's chair, signup, demos). She was super awesome and kudos for the excellent customer service! As for what you could better, as stated before the lines were kind of a mess in the morning. Signs for what activity you were doing would make it more clear. Friday morning I couldn't tell what line was for what.

  • zealezeale Saint LouisRegistered User regular
    I had a very positive experience with your booth! The times I went, the line wasn't overly long, the staff was friendly and knowledgeable, and I think you all have a good game in the works. The demo itself did a good job showcasing what the game intends to be all about, and I hope you all got some good feedback to help move it along. I'm looking forward to its release. The picture taking setup with the captain's chair was a great idea. I enjoy fun things like that. It keeps the line entertained and engaged (pun intended). I LOVE the look of the pin, and your distribution method was as close to perfect as we pin collectors can hope for. Line up, play a demo, get a pin .. this is the way it should be and I love you guys for that! I hope that if you all are at Prime and do another pin (please do!), I'd love to see an Enterprise pin, or perhaps an alternate color of the same pin. Thanks again, you all were great and I have nothing but positive things to say about the entire experience there.

    dgiab0m7h15x.png

  • PedroAsaniPedroAsani Brotherhood of the Squirrel [Prime]Registered User regular
    First, thanks for showing up on here. It means a lot when vendors actually take time to do this kind of thing.

    On maths, numbers, booth layout:

    Booth throughput is what I have been banging on about for a while. When doing a giveaway of any kind, if you don't want to run out of items you need to know how many attendees you will handle. Assume a constant queue. Demos per hour (a) multiplied by Demo stations (b) multiplied by Expo hours (c) multiplied by Expo days (d) = x. We know c=8 and d=3 for South, East and Aus, with d=4 for Prime. You are in charge of (a) and (b). x is too low? Increase a variable. That can be adding a machine or cutting demo time so you can do more per hour. x is higher than your prize count? Increase the prize count. As for any giveaway, you will want extras in case of damage, cute kids with big eyes asking for extras, lost swag bags and all other typical convention scenarios.

    Booth layout is connected to this. Obviously the booth designer is going to want to have awesome art and some kind of funky layout that no doubt wins trade awards. And sure, that stuff is nice to look at and probably catches the eyes of curious passers-by. But if they are then stuck queuing for ages because you don't have the space for enough demo stations, or confused because the queue is snaking all through and round the booth, frustration comes in.

    As an example, Overwatch. They had a design that made it possible to see people playing from any point in the queue. But you know what else does that? Large overhead monitors. Instead of the X design they went with, if they had lined up the computer banks as they do in PC Freeplay ( | | | | | | ) they could have had more demo stations, more throughput and more people trying the game. If they want people watching, a circle of overhead monitors with cloned feeds from machines would enable that. Would that win a design award? Only Pedro's coveted Best Booth Throughput Per Square Footage Award. The trophy is a solid cube of metal. For efficiency.

    Finally, estimates for how popular a Pin might be. Is your game based on a popular IP that has spawned multiple books, movies, TV series or any combination thereof? Then you probably don't have enough. In fact, I'm certain of it.

    As to the Pin you had, it was great. The design was as it should be, and I saw a few people pinning it on their chests and tapping it a la TNG. Your staff was courteous and enthusiastic, and even with the demo problems of Friday morning all went well. I spoke to one of the staff about future Pins you might make, and possibilities for certain things. It may even have been you. If you remember a guy with a British accent, that was probably me.

    I know that a couple of people had issues with the layout when you had split queues because of demo station failures, and the oddness over the photo booth (which @Qumaden made a highlight of PAX with his pictures) so the best I can suggest is to keep to a single queue, and have the photo done after the demo to allow the queue to stay in order. People are a lot more patient in a fair queue rather than an unfair disorganised mass.

    TL:DR Work out Booth Throughput, Make Use of Booth Space, Expect Popularity, Keep Things Fair.

  • PedroAsaniPedroAsani Brotherhood of the Squirrel [Prime]Registered User regular
    As to "doing something different" there is always room to experiment with these things. Just be sure you sit and think about what the impacts of them are before you implement them. For example, one vendor had a "hunt us down" challenge, where they announced on Twitter a location and gave a Pin to the first x people to get there and perform a task. Problems for this were that data availability for phones is somewhat iffy when you cram tens of thousands of people together, turning on notifications for these drains battery life, and some people have mobility issues when crossing the convention floor.

    Another did a giveaway for the first x people at the panel, but didn't control the queue and had a lot of cutting, pushing and shoving as everyone clamoured for goodies. A solution to this would be to give vouchers to people as they queued up. First (x-n where n is the number you hold back for Disabled badgeholders, VIPs, wide-eyed children, etc) get a voucher when they arrive. Should they then choose to give them away to others, sell them or eat them because they haven't been to the hot dog stand all day, that is their choice. But it prevents pushing and arguing, and it remains fair.

    Another vendor gave away shirts after the demo. If you got a shirt with gold writing on it, you got the Pin. Problem was that whilst in theory it should have been a 1 in 4 chance, in practice booth staff could and did make sure people they liked got the "prize" shirt. See "Keep Things Fair".

    I'm sure that over the next few years we will see vendors come up with plenty of creative ways to get Pins to people. Some will be great, some will be weird and some will suck. Avoid the last one by thinking how it will impact people and how it might be abused, and you will be okay.

  • fishfishmonkeyhatfishfishmonkeyhat Freelance Pin Man Newcastle, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    PedroAsani wrote: »
    The trophy is a solid cube of metal. For efficiency.

    Nature says a sphere would be better.

  • PedroAsaniPedroAsani Brotherhood of the Squirrel [Prime]Registered User regular
    PedroAsani wrote: »
    The trophy is a solid cube of metal. For efficiency.

    Nature says a sphere would be better.

    Constantly rolling off the shelf is inefficient.

  • fishfishmonkeyhatfishfishmonkeyhat Freelance Pin Man Newcastle, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    Not if you keep it on the floor!

    PERSPECTIVE!

  • GerzzogGerzzog OhioRegistered User regular
    I think they were in a not great spot for a well laid out line. Also they did two distributions on Friday. I think they did 150 in the morning and 150 in the afternoon. I went in the afternoon to get mine because I was in the keynote/Q&A when they ran out in the morning. I agree that they could've easily unloaded 2-3 times as many pins as they did due to the IP, but it is hard to know that going in and who wants to eat pins (although with Star Trek no number is probably too high lol).

  • QumadenQumaden World's Mightiest Mortal Registered User regular
    PedroAsani wrote: »
    First, thanks for showing up on here. It means a lot when vendors actually take time to do this kind of thing.

    On maths, numbers, booth layout:

    Booth throughput is what I have been banging on about for a while. When doing a giveaway of any kind, if you don't want to run out of items you need to know how many attendees you will handle. Assume a constant queue. Demos per hour (a) multiplied by Demo stations (b) multiplied by Expo hours (c) multiplied by Expo days (d) = x. We know c=8 and d=3 for South, East and Aus, with d=4 for Prime. You are in charge of (a) and (b). x is too low? Increase a variable. That can be adding a machine or cutting demo time so you can do more per hour. x is higher than your prize count? Increase the prize count. As for any giveaway, you will want extras in case of damage, cute kids with big eyes asking for extras, lost swag bags and all other typical convention scenarios.

    Booth layout is connected to this. Obviously the booth designer is going to want to have awesome art and some kind of funky layout that no doubt wins trade awards. And sure, that stuff is nice to look at and probably catches the eyes of curious passers-by. But if they are then stuck queuing for ages because you don't have the space for enough demo stations, or confused because the queue is snaking all through and round the booth, frustration comes in.

    As an example, Overwatch. They had a design that made it possible to see people playing from any point in the queue. But you know what else does that? Large overhead monitors. Instead of the X design they went with, if they had lined up the computer banks as they do in PC Freeplay ( | | | | | | ) they could have had more demo stations, more throughput and more people trying the game. If they want people watching, a circle of overhead monitors with cloned feeds from machines would enable that. Would that win a design award? Only Pedro's coveted Best Booth Throughput Per Square Footage Award. The trophy is a solid cube of metal. For efficiency.

    Finally, estimates for how popular a Pin might be. Is your game based on a popular IP that has spawned multiple books, movies, TV series or any combination thereof? Then you probably don't have enough. In fact, I'm certain of it.

    As to the Pin you had, it was great. The design was as it should be, and I saw a few people pinning it on their chests and tapping it a la TNG. Your staff was courteous and enthusiastic, and even with the demo problems of Friday morning all went well. I spoke to one of the staff about future Pins you might make, and possibilities for certain things. It may even have been you. If you remember a guy with a British accent, that was probably me.

    I know that a couple of people had issues with the layout when you had split queues because of demo station failures, and the oddness over the photo booth (which @Qumaden made a highlight of PAX with his pictures) so the best I can suggest is to keep to a single queue, and have the photo done after the demo to allow the queue to stay in order. People are a lot more patient in a fair queue rather than an unfair disorganised mass.

    TL:DR Work out Booth Throughput, Make Use of Booth Space, Expect Popularity, Keep Things Fair.

    You mean these ol things?



  • silrnsilrn Fairfax, VARegistered User regular
    edited March 2015
    Overall, the biggest thing I want to commend you and your team for doing, is *VERY* rapidly learning and being flexible on the fly to solve as many of the challenges you all faced with being a new booth with a rad pin and raving mad pin collectors! From what I saw and understand, you all addressed the line concerns quickly to prevent similar line problems on Saturday as occurred on Friday. Further, when it was clear that your pin was going to increase the throughput to your booth, you split up your supplies to be able to have pins on each day, and you obtained the assistance to cap the line when you would not be able to supply further pins, so people would not be disappointed waiting for something they could not get.

    My suggestions really are going to echo some similar statements regarding booth throughput. If you can calculate that you will have 100 people an hour coming through your booth, then attempt to order the appropriate number of pins to match that, in this case 2500 pins might be sufficient. If the PR/Marketing budget dictates that your max number of pins is going to be 1000, then I'd have to recommend slowing your booth throughput down to reflect that (aim for about 40 people per hour for example). An additional suggestion I can make is to make distribution consistent, to give a few examples I'll use other pin distribution methods for comparison.

    Methods that involved Chance:
    • Hidden Path booth, PAX Prime 2013 (Juggernaut and Jin pins) - After demoing the game, attendees spun a wheel, the Pins were a chance on the wheel. Other prizes, such as t-shirts, cards, and beta codes were also on the wheel. Lines to play demo averaged about 15 minutes, demo lasted about 10 minutes. Frustration level - Medium, Random Chance, but short lines for additional chances.
    • Playstation booth, PAX Prime 2014 (Order: 1886) - After demoing the game, attendees received a t-shirt, t-shirts with gold logo also received a pin. Lines to play demo averaged about 2 hours and line was frequently capped, increasing overall wait time. Frustration level - Incredibly High. Random chance and long lines
    • Blizzard booth, PAX East 2015 (Gold Overwatch) - If attendee won "Play of the Game" they received a gold Overwatch pin. Each attendee participated in a 6v6 game with 2 rounds and 2 chances to win a Gold Overwatch game. Frustration Level - Low to High. Low for most people, as Blizzard also gave out the regular pin just for playing the game. High for the more hardcore collectors, owing to the requirement of either getting really lucky, or needing to be very good at a challenging (albeit fun) game.

    Methods that were Consistent:
    • Undead Labs, PAX Prime 14, South 15, East 15 (Moonrise pins, various) - After demoing the game, attendees received a pin. Lines to play demo ranged from 15 minutes to an hour. Frustration level - Low, only hurdle to playing the game was waiting in line
    • Wizards of the Cost, PAX East 13 through PAX East 15 (Magic pins, various) - WoTC has used several methods, but we'll focus on the most recent used at South 15 and East 15. Attendees must earn tickets to spend at the WoTC Prize Wall, 30 tickets required to "purchase" pin. Easiest method to obtain pin, was to pay $20 to participate in Intro to Magic and earn 30 tickets. Frustration level - Medium to High. Higher cost than most booths that sell pins at $20 dollars (versus $10 or $15) and also required a time component of about an hour (Offset by a Magic Card deck and 2 boosters worth $15, but not valued by non-Magic players). Also note, at South 15, attendees were frustrated by inconsistent treatment by booth staff regarding pin distribution.
    • Supergiant, PAX Prime 15, East 15 (Red & Bastion pins) - Attendees obtained pin by purchasing pin for $15 dollars. Frustration Level - Primary source of frustration is simply cost of money, not all attendees can or want to pay for pins.

    silrn on
  • HingoHingo Minneapolis, MNRegistered User regular
    To add to the "Methods that were Consistent" from @silrn -
    • Dungeon Defenders 2, PAX South 2015 (DD2 cannon tower pin) - Pay $20 up front to get the pin and game code. Go through the line and play the demo, get $10 off. Frustration Level - Low, only hurdle to playing the game was waiting in line.

    Pins for trade!
    2015 PAX Prime Omeganaut (I will forever hate Katamari)
  • TabooPhantasyTabooPhantasy Registered User regular
    I went Friday night (around 4:30) to play the demo and snag a pin. I noticed before doing my demo that there weren't any pins being handed out, but I did genuinely want to try the game, so I demoed anyway and did not bring up the pin. Later, one of my friends told me that he had asked after his demo and was told they were out for the day. I was a bit disappointed, but it worked out in the end for me since I was able to trade for it the next day.
    I cannot say much for the line organization, since when I went it was pretty quiet and there wasn't a formal line anywhere. I was told to pick a station and line up there and wait for my turn. It worked out pretty well!

    ~Taboo
    BH11Fnk.png
  • burned.forkburned.fork Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited March 2015
    silrn wrote: »
    My suggestions really are going to echo some similar statements regarding booth throughput. If you can calculate that you will have 100 people an hour coming through your booth, then attempt to order the appropriate number of pins to match that, in this case 2500 pins might be sufficient. If the PR/Marketing budget dictates that your max number of pins is going to be 1000, then I'd have to recommend slowing your booth throughput down to reflect that (aim for about 40 people per hour for example). An additional suggestion I can make is to make distribution consistent, to give a few examples I'll use other pin distribution methods for comparison.

    I strongly disagree with this. It's absurd to ask a game developer to intentionally slow throughput for "pin optimization". It's also absurd to expect that a small studio should be obligated to buy enough pins to give out for free that they last the entire weekend. They bought the minimum required and that's totally fine.

    My only suggestion is about communication. I think many of us were caught off guard that there were so few and that they would run out early (I was in line at 11:30am when you told us we'd be the last ones to get one for the day), but this is because of past experience. It has almost always been the case that the "free" booth pins have almost never been printed in such a small quantity and run out so quickly. It would be good to have PA announce, much like the limited edition polygons and the "first 50 people" Twitch pin that this would be the case so we know what to expect. "The first 300 per day get a pin, so line early!" Also, when they do run out, please put up a sign so that people like @TabooPhantasy can make an informed decision about whether to get in line. :)

    Also, since you guys are a small studio (as far I can tell), you could also look into some sort of hybrid model like Dungeon Defenders 2 had. Maybe charge $5 for the pin after playing the demo so that people who aren't interested won't take one, or print extras and give them free with a demo, but optionally for $10/$15 if you skip the line. Just thinking a bit outside of the box.

    On the whole, I just want to say that the pin is beautiful, I enjoyed the demo, and you guys were really friendly and awesome folks. :D

    burned.fork on
  • theoriginalztheoriginalz PhillyRegistered User regular
    I really wanted a Star Trek pin, but the line was just too long to devote 2+ hours to try and get it. :bigfrown:

    Trade pins with me! Pinny LanyardjlB4Ded.png
  • ClixClix This guy I know Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    I really wanted a Star Trek pin, but the line was just too long to devote 2+ hours to try and get it. :bigfrown:
    Was the line ever that long? I was in line on Friday when it was allowed to extend beyond the snake and down the side of the booth too. That was still less than two hours.

  • theoriginalztheoriginalz PhillyRegistered User regular
    It was pretty bad whenever I passed by and it didn't ever look like it moved.. I guess I just missed out, sucks to be me.

    Trade pins with me! Pinny LanyardjlB4Ded.png
  • DuckieDuckie Squirrel Squad Sydney, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    silrn wrote: »
    Methods that were Consistent:
    • Undead Labs, PAX Prime 14, South 15, East 15 (Moonrise pins, various) - After demoing the game, attendees received a pin. Lines to play demo ranged from 15 minutes to an hour. Frustration level - Low, only hurdle to playing the game was waiting in line

    Also note that at South when Undead labs realised that the State of Decay demo was running for long/inconsistent periods making the line wait quite long they started letting a second person watch the person demo-ing and both people got a pin at the end. We love undead labs <3


    I wasn't at East so can't give feedback on the booth but I can say that I love this pin and will definitely be looking to trade for an extra in the future so I can have one to wear all the time ^^

    Pinny Pals Lanyard | I make things!!

    [X]PAXsouth 2015
    [X]PAXaus 2015
    [?]PAXeast 2016 ???
  • gn0xgn0x Arizona, USARegistered User regular
    Not if you keep it on the floor!

    PERSPECTIVE!

    you overestimate how level my floors are...

  • PAX_SkeletorPAX_Skeletor Melbourne, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    gn0x wrote: »
    Not if you keep it on the floor!

    PERSPECTIVE!

    you overestimate how level my floors are...

    Perhaps you could go for an Oblate Spheroid.

  • QumadenQumaden World's Mightiest Mortal Registered User regular
    Hi guys, thanks for stopping in and saying hello! There's nothing we pin nerds love more than when we can get involved in anything pin related. To answer your specific questions, in order:

    1. Nope, perfect pin as far as I'm concerned. It immediately portrays the brand, it appeals to anyone pin fanatic or not.
    2. Disruptor Beam was the first booth I went to on day 1, so I didn't have any line problems...however once the word got out about this game and the cool pin to the general public, it got a bit hectic.
    3. That is my favorite way to get a pin personally. I don't really play many video games these days and honestly, as sad as this may sound, I use pins as my dousing rod to decide whether or not I want to play a game. There are plenty of other ways as previously mentioned, but this is my personal fav.
    4. The only improvement I have is that if you make a pin based on an IP with such a huge following(ala Star Trek) is to order some more pins.

    With that taken care of, I have to say I'm intrigued by the game and I look forward to seeing more of it. Your booth staff were all enthusiastic and helpful which is always a huge check in the positive column. Also, probably my favorite partner pin from the show!

    ps. The nice lady who said I looked like Colin Hanks made my day, completely unrelated, but it was a nice compliment.

  • flasheflashe Craft Beer Aficionado US - East CoastRegistered User regular
    Cabadrin wrote: »
    Hey folks!

    I was the longhaired guy working the Star Trek Timelines booth. I helped set up that booth, along with my co-workers, and helped manage the hordes of people at PAX East. Since it was our first time doing pins, I'd love some feedback on how we did.
    • Was the pin itself good? How was the design? What could we have improved?
    • Was the wait / line worth it?
    • Did you like playing a demo and signing up for a pin, or should have we have done something different? If so, why?
    • If we made pins next year, what could we do to improve the pin aspect of the booth?

    Thanks!
    • The pin was great, awesome job! Nice clean looking design.
    • The line honestly wasn't that bad, but full disclosure I did go to your booth first before one of the stations crashed; mainly cuz I curious about the game. Maybe add a timer of about 15-20 min per demo? I know Undead labs had a ~ 15 min timer to help move their lines along.
    • Yes keep the demo and pin combo plz, its a staple of PAX imho.
    • Improvements that you could make for 2016 with respect to the pin aspect would be to let ppl know ahead of time about any limits on the number of pins distributed per day.
      ,
      Additionally bring back the photo booth I found it fun to do! Looking forward to seeing what content you're thinking about adding to the game.

  • ClixClix This guy I know Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited March 2015
    The photo set is a required part of the booth now.

    B_yH3c-VEAAd6af.jpg

    Clix on
  • QumadenQumaden World's Mightiest Mortal Registered User regular
    Aww man, I was right behind you in line one day and I didn't even know it :(

  • fishfishmonkeyhatfishfishmonkeyhat Freelance Pin Man Newcastle, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    gn0x wrote: »
    Not if you keep it on the floor!

    PERSPECTIVE!

    you overestimate how level my floors are...

    Look I'm going to be 100% honest here; I didn't take the level of your floors into consideration at all.

  • SerpicoBCSerpicoBC Registered User regular
    It really was just such a nice booth overall. Great exhibitors, fun photo booth, interesting game, great pin.

  • misskassmisskass Melbourne, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    pureval wrote: »
    I guess I showed up at the wrong time. I went there first thing on Friday to get the pin. The line set up was very confusing, it started in the center and wrapped around either side of the booth.

    I was talking to the Enforcer running that line and unfortunately he (and I think the Disruptor Beam guys?) weren't quite prepared for how popular the booth was going to be among Star Trek/Pinny Arcade fans and the Enforcer was really struggling to keep that amount of people together. While I waited around two hours for as second pin on Sunday so I could get one for my dad, the line was much clearer and I had the opportunity to get in the photobooth before I got to play the game.

    While I was mainly in line for the pin, the game was actually pretty entertaining, and took a little more figuring out than just randomly tapping crew members. I didn't enjoy waiting for so long, but I talked to the girl running the demo on Friday and she explained that the pins had been split up into groups for each day and booth staff were counting the line so people didn't miss out on pins. That's the most important thing, I think, knowing when you're about to run out so you don't end up wasting a pin collector's time, but still allowing a Trekkie to get to play the game.

  • FrostbyteFrostbyte Registered User regular
    I'm late to this thread, so some of this is rehash, but here are my thoughts:

    - Awesome pin, great booth, friendly staff, A+ on all accounts.
    - I'd personally love to see one of the ships on the next pin.
    - For the love of God, please make more than 1200 next time :)

    Can't wait to see what you guys do next, and thank you so much for soliciting feedback!

  • PedroAsaniPedroAsani Brotherhood of the Squirrel [Prime]Registered User regular
    Frostbyte wrote: »
    I'm late to this thread, so some of this is rehash, but here are my thoughts:

    - Awesome pin, great booth, friendly staff, A+ on all accounts.
    - I'd personally love to see one of the ships on the next pin.
    - For the love of God, please make more than 1200 next time :)

    Can't wait to see what you guys do next, and thank you so much for soliciting feedback!

    Yeah. I'm trying to work out how many attendees would want a Pin based on your Game Of Thrones game. Somewhere between "all of them" and "world+dog".

  • sirmrejsirmrej Seattle areaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2015
    Hey!

    The booth was great. My ipad kept breaking, but that was fine. My only issue was - mid-Sunday we stopped by and there was no line! We were gonna play the game again and get another pin (because we have lots of Trekkie friends). We asked the staff guy sitting at the laptop (the guy doing the pictures) and he said the pins were gone. We later heard pins didn't run out. So we were a little sad about that. :(

    sirmrej on
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