When can I order some?
You missed your chance, sorry.
Interested in one or more coins? Express interest below. You'll be sent a message when coins go on sale! This form is not a binding agreement to actually buy coins. 2018 Challenge Coin Interest Sheet
Coin details.
1.75", as per tradition
Silver/Nickel, as per tradition.
Smooth Edges, as per tradition.
Theme: Let's figure this out together!
2017's Coin.
We need some ideas for good Boston Landmarks as well as ideas for the Gaming side!
Try to find Open Source images.
If you're in Boston, and feel like taking your own pictures of nearby landmarks, that would be great too!
TopherRocksRockstar Beard GrowerKent, OH or Long Island, NYRegistered Userregular
I'll never keep it straight in my head, isn't there a generally accepted rotation for the gaming side theme?
Also, looking at the history pictures made a question come up. Was there a reason to stop coloring the Pac people? East 16 and South 17 had them colored in but no others as far as I can see.
I'm going to give you longish answers to both those questions.
We did indeed have a rotation. (Tabletop, Arcade, Portable, Console, PC.)
What happened to break it was:
Prime abandoned the rotation and did Arcade Games as their theme 2x in a row.
We finished our Rotation with 2015's coin, restarting it would have made our 2016 theme Tabletop Games.
South was already working on a Tabletop themed coin for 2016.
So we decided we were free from our shackles and put it to a vote, and ended up with the crane machine.
With that said, if we want to keep to the 5 themes, that leaves us with Tabletop, Portable, and PC available for this jumbled 5 theme rotation.
I don't think Portable has been the theme of any coin for a few years.
As for the color on the Pac people, I think it was a combination of:
Some people expressing displeasure with the thick epoxy coating on the 2016 coin that helped protect the colors.
Our borrowing of the Coin Template from South which didn't have them in color.
It slipping our minds to color in the Pac people ourselves.
We can bring their color back, and see how they hold up with minimal to no epoxy.
For the Boston landmark suggestion, I'm going to go out on a ledge and suggest something that's not typical when thinking of Boston landmarks: the T-Rex at the Museum of Science. Every winter, they put a scarf around the guy and he's one of the first things you see when entering from the garage. It's a bit quirky, so that may fit in with PAX Challenge Coins:
I have a MoS pass, so I may be able to get a shot that's better suited for a coin.
Le_Goat on
While I agree that being insensitive is an issue, so is being oversensitive.
As for the color on the Pac people, I think it was a combination of:
Some people expressing displeasure with the thick epoxy coating on the 2016 coin that helped protect the colors.
Our borrowing of the Coin Template from South which didn't have them in color.
It slipping our minds to color in the Pac people ourselves.
We can bring their color back, and see how they hold up with minimal to no epoxy.
I'm 100% team colored Pacs with or without epoxy. It was a nice little extra touch that really popped for me. I put mine in capsules regardless so the epoxy thing probably won't make a difference to me but I'm sure others may have more to say on that.
And I'd pay good money to see that dinosaur wearing an oversized PAX scarf.
The only problem I see with portable is that most notable portables are Nintendo and we just had Duck Hunt last year. The Switch is pretty huge though so I could see it being a good choice.
If you went PC, I've been on a kick of old point n clicks - maybe a Monkey Island one? Keeping the old (fart) theme the old white and purple Gravis Gamepad would look pretty neat too.
The Sims have been around forever at this point too - the Sim plumbob with some other decorations might make a neat design.
I LOVE the Museum of Science dinosaur idea. It's absolutely perfect.
And I'd pay good money to see that dinosaur wearing an oversized PAX scarf.
...perhaps a GoFundMe campaign is in order... Obviously they'd have to give the approval before trying to fund a gigantic PAX scarf, but I'd totally donate to that cause.
Le_Goat on
While I agree that being insensitive is an issue, so is being oversensitive.
For the gaming side, I think Cuphead would be a good contender, as it’s defintely a monumental game end 2017/going into the 2018 year.
If the 2018 coin is a museum t-rex with a scarf on one side and an image of Cuphead on the other, I will quite literally die from the ensuing nerdgasm.
For the gaming side, I think Cuphead would be a good contender, as it’s defintely a monumental game end 2017/going into the 2018 year.
Issue with that is that it's definitely not an open source image. So it'd either have to hand drawn by someone here or we'd need to get permission from the developers to use Cuphead. I think Cuphead would be an interesting option though I'm definitely not 100% sold on the idea. I think it's generally a gaming theme as opposed to one specific game (not that cuphead shouldn't be a part of it, I think that'd be cool)
The only thing I don't like about Cuphead is that it was just a one title back last year with Duck Hunt. Gamewise, it's a pretty great choice though and would probably look pretty awesome from a design standpoint.
We could do a tribute to motion controls with a Wiimote, Kinect, and Move controller together. I don't know in terms of mobile gaming what could be done - maybe a tribute to the birds of mobile gaming with an angry, flappy, and crossy bird together somehow?
(I'd smooth things out a bit and sub out the old ipod 30-pin for the lightning cable)
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TopherRocksRockstar Beard GrowerKent, OH or Long Island, NYRegistered Userregular
I know the Citgo sign was shot down a few years back because it was in the background of the Fenway shot. I'm still a fan of it myself, though.
I prefer broader themes for the gaming side. Sticking to single games or even hardware in some cases feels too narrowly focuses and in some cases like chasing a fad. Don't get me wrong, I love Cuphead, but in 10 years time will it be something you can look at with universal appeal and understanding like you can with Space Invaders or Duck Hunt? It's too early to tell for sure.
I'm also more in favor of finding something more broad for the gaming side of the coin, rather than specific games. Maybe a selection of board game pieces? I'd love to see a mockup made with pieces from Catan, Carcassonne, Monopoly, chess, Waterdeep, Zombie Dice, Scrabble, etc etc.
As for the Boston side - I love the gate at Chinatown, maybe we could find a fun angle of it and the bamboo garden that would translate well to a coin.
Just fyi, PAX U did Catan this past November. Which isn't to say that a "board game mix" that included Catan tiles would be double-dipping. I actually kind of the love the idea of a generalized board-game approach.
I like the generic board game thing too. Maybe a train for ticket to ride? In fact, it might be impossible given the size but the Ticket to Ride board with routes connecting the three US Pax sites might be neat.
Heya folks, we have some pretty good ideas floating around, if anyone wants to do some image searching or mockups, that'd be awesome.
I want to get our design to Kiddercorp in the first week or two of February to make sure everyone has coins with plenty of time to spare for East.
I'll be at PAX South this weekend.
If anyone else is going to be at there, feel free to toss me a PM, I'm always down to meet up and talk about the coins. (Or not talk about them.)
My photoshop skills are awful, but I can try to do a mockup of the board game token idea since people seem to like it!
I like the thought of somehow incorporating different tokens from several games to encompass the genre as a whole, where it came from to where it is now (I believe in your skills, sparkles!). It's easy to think of PAX as a video game convention, but it's discussions like these that remind me of everything this beautiful event stands for. Plus, you're all just making me want to play a board game there this year.
And the Aquarium would be a fantastic visual for the other side as well.
I really like the Citgo idea...in the past year or so, probably more like two to three, there was a big brewhaha, about the sign when the building went up for sale. In the end, the sign remained. I would love to see it on the coin.
I really like the Citgo idea...in the past year or so, probably more like two to three, there was a big brewhaha, about the sign when the building went up for sale. In the end, the sign remained. I would love to see it on the coin.
I love the idea of the Citgo sign too. My only question is, similar to requiring the gaming images to be "open source", would the sign fall under similar restrictions since it's technically a corporate logo? Or is it enough of a gray area as part of a city landmark that it would work around it?
Hey everyone .. .sorry for the lack of being here. Life sometimes seems to take over all the time.
That being said I have worked on a few mock ups of the backside of the coin based on feedback from here. Seems the gaming piece idea is popular so I went with that. There is definitely room for improvement as well as more ideas for these coins.
Also other ideas are welcomed as always. The designs of these coins comes from all of the feedback received here. All ideas are welcomed so please do not be afraid to speak up.
Very nice! I started working on a mockup, but I'm resting after a medical thing today so I'll have to finish tomorrow! I drew out a similar Scrabble idea too haha.
Yeah i like the scrabble one too.. clean, simple and to the point.
Can not wait to see yours @ironysparkles. Hope all is well too.. rest up.
Made a front side as well.
Went with my own idea. Anyone from Boston knows exactly what this is. To me it has a lot of memories. It always reminds me of going to my grandparents house when I was a kid (or coming home from there anyway) We always drove by it on the way home on 93. It reminded us that we almost home.
Unfortunately it is copy-written so not sure we could even use it but I do think it would look great on a coin. And asking is probably not worth it seeing how it is owned by National Grid. But it would not hurt to ask them if people where interested in it. You never know.. i mean its not like anyone makes any crazy money off these coins.
My favorite part of that Scrabble idea is that all of the good point opportunities were missed... just like I do with every game of Scrabble
I've been crazy busy with work and kids, so I have not had time to make it to the Museum of Science for a better T-Rex shot. My apologies for not following through on that yet. We may try it out this Sunday, as there is a Pats game at 3:00, which means the place will be empty.
Le_Goat on
While I agree that being insensitive is an issue, so is being oversensitive.
Posts
Also, looking at the history pictures made a question come up. Was there a reason to stop coloring the Pac people? East 16 and South 17 had them colored in but no others as far as I can see.
https://allmylinks.com/topherxbeads
We did indeed have a rotation. (Tabletop, Arcade, Portable, Console, PC.)
What happened to break it was:
Prime abandoned the rotation and did Arcade Games as their theme 2x in a row.
We finished our Rotation with 2015's coin, restarting it would have made our 2016 theme Tabletop Games.
South was already working on a Tabletop themed coin for 2016.
So we decided we were free from our shackles and put it to a vote, and ended up with the crane machine.
With that said, if we want to keep to the 5 themes, that leaves us with Tabletop, Portable, and PC available for this jumbled 5 theme rotation.
I don't think Portable has been the theme of any coin for a few years.
As for the color on the Pac people, I think it was a combination of:
Some people expressing displeasure with the thick epoxy coating on the 2016 coin that helped protect the colors.
Our borrowing of the Coin Template from South which didn't have them in color.
It slipping our minds to color in the Pac people ourselves.
We can bring their color back, and see how they hold up with minimal to no epoxy.
I have a MoS pass, so I may be able to get a shot that's better suited for a coin.
I'm 100% team colored Pacs with or without epoxy. It was a nice little extra touch that really popped for me. I put mine in capsules regardless so the epoxy thing probably won't make a difference to me but I'm sure others may have more to say on that.
And I'd pay good money to see that dinosaur wearing an oversized PAX scarf.
https://allmylinks.com/topherxbeads
If you went PC, I've been on a kick of old point n clicks - maybe a Monkey Island one? Keeping the old (fart) theme the old white and purple Gravis Gamepad would look pretty neat too.
The Sims have been around forever at this point too - the Sim plumbob with some other decorations might make a neat design.
I LOVE the Museum of Science dinosaur idea. It's absolutely perfect.
...perhaps a GoFundMe campaign is in order... Obviously they'd have to give the approval before trying to fund a gigantic PAX scarf, but I'd totally donate to that cause.
But I kinda like the idea of the T-Rex being on the coin... definitely different.
Ideas are still welcome, especially for the gaming side.
If the 2018 coin is a museum t-rex with a scarf on one side and an image of Cuphead on the other, I will quite literally die from the ensuing nerdgasm.
Issue with that is that it's definitely not an open source image. So it'd either have to hand drawn by someone here or we'd need to get permission from the developers to use Cuphead. I think Cuphead would be an interesting option though I'm definitely not 100% sold on the idea. I think it's generally a gaming theme as opposed to one specific game (not that cuphead shouldn't be a part of it, I think that'd be cool)
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I think these all sum up Massachusetts very well !!
We could do a tribute to motion controls with a Wiimote, Kinect, and Move controller together. I don't know in terms of mobile gaming what could be done - maybe a tribute to the birds of mobile gaming with an angry, flappy, and crossy bird together somehow?
It's a little weird, but we could show our love for mobile gaming with some dueling charging cords. There is a certain beauty to them all laid out.
https://www.ecig-vapo.com/images/multi-adapter-10-1-usb-cable.jpg
(I'd smooth things out a bit and sub out the old ipod 30-pin for the lightning cable)
I prefer broader themes for the gaming side. Sticking to single games or even hardware in some cases feels too narrowly focuses and in some cases like chasing a fad. Don't get me wrong, I love Cuphead, but in 10 years time will it be something you can look at with universal appeal and understanding like you can with Space Invaders or Duck Hunt? It's too early to tell for sure.
https://allmylinks.com/topherxbeads
As for the Boston side - I love the gate at Chinatown, maybe we could find a fun angle of it and the bamboo garden that would translate well to a coin.
But yeah, I agree with trying to stay away from one single game this year.
I want to get our design to Kiddercorp in the first week or two of February to make sure everyone has coins with plenty of time to spare for East.
I'll be at PAX South this weekend.
If anyone else is going to be at there, feel free to toss me a PM, I'm always down to meet up and talk about the coins. (Or not talk about them.)
Maybe the aquarium? I like the harbor idea.
I like the thought of somehow incorporating different tokens from several games to encompass the genre as a whole, where it came from to where it is now (I believe in your skills, sparkles!). It's easy to think of PAX as a video game convention, but it's discussions like these that remind me of everything this beautiful event stands for. Plus, you're all just making me want to play a board game there this year.
And the Aquarium would be a fantastic visual for the other side as well.
I love the idea of the Citgo sign too. My only question is, similar to requiring the gaming images to be "open source", would the sign fall under similar restrictions since it's technically a corporate logo? Or is it enough of a gray area as part of a city landmark that it would work around it?
That being said I have worked on a few mock ups of the backside of the coin based on feedback from here. Seems the gaming piece idea is popular so I went with that. There is definitely room for improvement as well as more ideas for these coins.
Also other ideas are welcomed as always. The designs of these coins comes from all of the feedback received here. All ideas are welcomed so please do not be afraid to speak up.
Mock Up 1:
Mock Up 2:
Can not wait to see yours @ironysparkles. Hope all is well too.. rest up.
Made a front side as well.
Went with my own idea. Anyone from Boston knows exactly what this is. To me it has a lot of memories. It always reminds me of going to my grandparents house when I was a kid (or coming home from there anyway) We always drove by it on the way home on 93. It reminded us that we almost home.
Unfortunately it is copy-written so not sure we could even use it but I do think it would look great on a coin. And asking is probably not worth it seeing how it is owned by National Grid. But it would not hurt to ask them if people where interested in it. You never know.. i mean its not like anyone makes any crazy money off these coins.
I've been crazy busy with work and kids, so I have not had time to make it to the Museum of Science for a better T-Rex shot. My apologies for not following through on that yet. We may try it out this Sunday, as there is a Pats game at 3:00, which means the place will be empty.
Personally not a big fan of the big refinery structure, don't think it will work well without color.