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PAX Unplugged 2019 Challenge Coin! Orders Open Now!

ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
edited October 2019 in PAX Unplugged
The final production artwork is done and we're taking orders for coins!
Unpainted coins are $7 ea.
Painted coins are $8 ea.

Shipping is as follows, but there's a nice spreadsheet you can use to calculate your total at http://bit.ly/PAXCoinCalc

US Shipping:
1-3 coins: $3
4-6 coins: $4
7+ coins: $7

International Shipping:
1-6 coins: $15
7+ coins: $31

Order Your Coins Here!
http://rebrand.ly/PAXU19Coin


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The coins should ship and arrive before PAX, given there are no manufacturing delays. The general estimate to get into your hands is about 5 weeks from when they go into production, which should be some point this week.

Original Post
PAX Unplugged dates are announced and tickets are on sale! It's time to start thinking about the 2019 challenge coin! I learned a lot last year, especially the dangers of epoxy coating dark coins. We won't repeat that mistake. I've learned even more since then, as I helped get PAX East's coin finished this year. It's linked it below if you want to check it out.

Last year's coin was finalized on having the convention center on the face, and dice on the reverse, and finished with a black nickel.
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I think this year we may switch away from black nickel, as it can vary too much in darkness from year to year. Nickel will probably work well. It will be closer to 2017's color than 2018. It's got a slightly less silver finish which should allow the metal detail to show through. The lighter metal color will mean the colors pop more as well, avoiding the issue with the dark purple ring/dice. The coins are 1.75", smooth edged, and will NOT be epoxy coated. This means that the painted colors are potentially able to be scratched/worn, but I think after last year's issues with it obscuring all of the detail and making them too dark to appreciate we can agree it's worth it. None of the other PAX coins seem to be using epoxy, and I didn't intend for it last year, so it should be fine.

This year's coins from other PAX, if you're curious:
PAX Aus 2018
PAX South 2019
PAX East 2019
PAX West 2018



If you have any ideas for the new coin, please fill out the form I have made!
2019 PAX Unplugged Challenge Coin Idea & Interest form
If there's a particular picture you like of a landmark or something for the game side, please feel free to post it! Saves me from trying to find as many suitable ones when it's time for mockups.


Ideas unused from last year: (please still submit these if you like them using the form so I can see how much interest there is for the different designs!)
Art Museum
Independence Hall
Merchant Exchange
Reading Terminal
Rocky Statue
Skyline


DM Screen
Gaming Table
War Games
Card Games
Abstract Games


We wouldn't need to necessarily stick to any official rotation, but we've done board games (Catan 2017) and RPGs (dice set 2018) so far.

We're aiming to get the design finalized by Sept 21st, so we've got some time, but the more ideas we can bounce around, the better!

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ArcSyn on
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    iltailta Registered User regular
    since we've done board games and rpgs, perhaps we're due to feature miniatures / mini painting. I feel like the classic is probably a Beholder, though that's pretty close to last year's RPG theme; you could just do Dude With Sword and get the point across.

    facetune_16-12-2018-14-36-28-2-768x1024.jpg
    3e92389ccd063907d9f5d40aa86499ae.jpg

    I'm not quite sure how to communicate the idea of "painting miniatures" in a visually interesting way that would work on a coin. A close-up of someone holding a miniature and painting it doesn't really read, and looks kind of ugly.

    miniPainting.jpg

    Possibly going more abstract would work -- some paint brushes and bottles, maybe some basing, artfully arranged?

    vellejo-miniature-paint.jpg
    51pO7YBLBSL._SX425_.jpg
    81m7oXTtNqL._SX425_.jpg

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    ilta wrote: »
    since we've done board games and rpgs, perhaps we're due to feature miniatures / mini painting. I feel like the classic is probably a Beholder, though that's pretty close to last year's RPG theme; you could just do Dude With Sword and get the point across.
    facetune_16-12-2018-14-36-28-2-768x1024.jpg
    3e92389ccd063907d9f5d40aa86499ae.jpg

    I'm not quite sure how to communicate the idea of "painting miniatures" in a visually interesting way that would work on a coin. A close-up of someone holding a miniature and painting it doesn't really read, and looks kind of ugly.

    miniPainting.jpg

    Possibly going more abstract would work -- some paint brushes and bottles, maybe some basing, artfully arranged?

    vellejo-miniature-paint.jpg
    51pO7YBLBSL._SX425_.jpg
    81m7oXTtNqL._SX425_.jpg

    We could go the comedic angle and use a picture of a mini still on the sprues and caption the bottom "*some assembly required"
    sprues_1_Front.jpg

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited June 2019
    If there's a particular picture you like of a landmark or something for the game side, please feel free to post it! Saves me from trying to find as many suitable ones when it's time for mockups.

    ArcSyn on
    4dm3dwuxq302.png
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    PaxRomanaPaxRomana Registered User new member
    How about going in a completely different direction for the back? I'm not a sports fan at all, but what about an eagle? Iconography is easy and clear, here is an image from wikimedia.

    261px-Eagle-head-vector-image.svg.png

    Plus this can tie into the whole miniatures idea, maybe going with a real eagle on the back and some mythical creature on the front.




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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Up for any ideas! Eagle could be good. Can't use the official logo, but a good generic eagle head or picture would work. Philly is pretty well identified with Eagles, whether you're a sports fan or not.

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
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    KaladinKaladin Western NYRegistered User regular
    I think a paintbrush crossed over a dropper bottle would get the mini-painting idea across pretty well.

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Alright, this thread has not seen a lot of interaction, but I made up some mockups based on what's been suggested so far.
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    IuyarFtl.jpg

    If you guys see a particular picture that you think would look great on a coin, feel free to post it and I'll see what I can do. The round space makes it a bit tough sometimes, so not every picture works.

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    ZeroHourHeroZeroHourHero Allentown, PARegistered User regular
    Wow its been a minute since I've returned to the forums, luckily Vid reminded me that its not dead.

    I know I'm late to the party, but have you considered a boxing glove straight up in the air for the Philly side in reference to the Rocky Statute? Or for a jokier image... just a big cheesesteak.

    I like the idea of the meeple on the gaming side.

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    Arithon32Arithon32 Member of the Pinquisition Registered User regular
    I like the Meeples for the gaming side and either the LOVE or the Billy Penn skyline for the Philly side.

    vru37z14gk5j.png


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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    The skyline is iconic, but personally I'm pretty hyped about that LOVE image where you can see the side colors of green and blue and getting that painted onto the coin.

    Still taking any suggestions or images. I can mock up whatever you'd like to see.

    @ZeroHourHero
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    ZeroHourHeroZeroHourHero Allentown, PARegistered User regular
    I had another idea for the gaming side: The Tomb of Horror face. Its one of the MOST iconic images in tabletop and evokes such storied memory and history whenever folks see it.

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    drakuldragondrakuldragon Long Island, NYRegistered User regular
    sign me up for the LOVE sculpture!! It's by far one of my favorite pieces. It would be wonderfully fitting to have that on one side and the ToH face on the other

    b3dyisb2mkd7.png



    DOTS RPG Project - Guild Master Jess | @dotsrpg

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited August 2019
    Realized I never mocked up the Tomb of Horrors coin. If this wins I'd try and create more rock face around it to fill the coin's inner area.
    Gv7CxDUl.jpg

    Also, we've got a few different ideas for landmark and gaming. Should we go ahead and vote, or wait until the end of August to see if any more come in? We need to have the final design submitted by Sept 21 to make sure coins can get in hand before PAXU.

    https://rebrand.ly/PAXU19Coin (poll for vote or wait)

    I apologize for the notification storm, but just want to make sure everyone who ordered last year gets a chance to chime in.
    *snipped after post*

    ArcSyn on
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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited August 2019
    Ok, so the overwhelming decision was to go ahead and move forward. So let's open this up for about a week and see what you guys prefer for the landmark side of the coin!
    https://rebrand.ly/PAXU19Coin

    The choices are eagle, eagle artwork, penn skyline, love sculpture, boxing glove, or cheesesteak!

    Edit: Link was pointed to the wrong form. Oops. Try it now.

    ArcSyn on
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    hippiecolorhippiecolor Registered User regular
    What about something with cards (decks) for the gaming side?
    I don't usually think "eagle" when I think about Philadelphia. I usually think Rocky, Love sculpture and the buildings, since most of the time I arrive into the city in the evenings and see all the buildings lit up.

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    What about something with cards (decks) for the gaming side?
    I don't usually think "eagle" when I think about Philadelphia. I usually think Rocky, Love sculpture and the buildings, since most of the time I arrive into the city in the evenings and see all the buildings lit up.

    We could do something with cards. Got an image in particular in mind?

    Eagles is the local football team, so that's why they came up. Nothing decided yet, so vote still open for this next week.

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    The votes are in! It was a close call between two of the choices and came down to the last few votes!

    ::drumroll::
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    Now it's time to vote on the gaming side! What do you like?
    https://rebrand.ly/PAXU19Coin

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    The votes were overwhelming this round!

    ::drumroll::
    4Vq54Fel.jpg

    It's time to vote for what Skyline you'd like to see! Because of the detail on the buildings, they'd likely be left plain metal, so I grayscaled all the pictures. We could potentially highlight the buildings or a specific building with another metal color, similar to what we did with East's.
    https://rebrand.ly/PAXU19Coin

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    It was a SLIM margin! The landscape side of the coin has been decided!

    :: drumroll ::
    OaXf3ufl.jpg

    It's time to vote for what meeples you'd like to see! I will be attempting to have as much color as possible maintained on the painted coin.
    https://rebrand.ly/PAXU19Coin

    This could potentially be the last vote before they're sent off for official artwork and manufacturing!

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Meeples chosen!
    You picked:
    qZevutRl.jpg

    I've submitted the artwork to Kiddercorp, and Dabe helped me find the pantone color for PAXU purple (it was in the press kit) so hopefully the outside ring will match perfectly.

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    hippiecolorhippiecolor Registered User regular
    Thank you ArcSyn for all the work you do with figuring out the design and putting everything else together for the coins!
    I get both colored and non-colored ones every year and always enjoy them!
    : )

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    Production Artwork is back!
    I've got a lot of changes I am submitting, but I'd love some feedback.
    k8t7xd9l.jpg
    l0Y0qrpl.jpg

    Changes I am suggesting:
    No black nickel on the unpainted coin. Just keep it uniform.
    No epoxy on the painted coin. That's what made last year's look so bad.
    Remove black paint from meeples, just recess the metal to make the meeples stand out.
    Only do black nickel on the sky behind the buildings. Keep the buildings in nickel so it looks like a night shot and makes them pop a bit more.
    Not a huge fan of the brown meeples, should we make those meeples black or grey to go along with Carcassonne's colors? Or just keep it brown?


    edit: Here's my thoughts:
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    s2woQIsl.jpg

    ArcSyn on
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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    So I had a crazy idea. What if we changed the Latin to something more tabletop related?
    I was thinking of something like, "Don't flip the table!" If I've done my homework correctly, that would translate into "Nolito inverte mensa".

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    PaxRomanaPaxRomana Registered User new member
    I'm fine with the brown for the meeples unless we've tried brown before on a coin and it came out bad.

    I'd be fine with changing the Latin to something more gaming related, it makes it another fun way to customize it year over year. Do other people have strong feelings one way or the other?


    Also, and this goes without saying, thanks ArcSyn, we really appreciate all the work you do in putting this together.

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Got back the preliminary changes, and the factory isn't able to do the spot black nickel as I'd hoped, so we're moving a different direction and going to see what it'd look like with the buildings in 3D nickel, and then paint the back a transparent light blue for the sky. Should look pretty nice as the transparency of the color will allow a lot of light to make it pop.

    Also sent in the Latin change, so unless there's any further complications, we should be ready to start orders by the end of the week once all of that is incorporated into the production artwork.

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    We've got our production artwork! Please look it over and let me know ASAP if there's an issue. Hoping to put production in Monday and start the orders!
    dHiXt10l.jpg
    yZ9tl1tl.jpg

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    drakuldragondrakuldragon Long Island, NYRegistered User regular
    edited October 2019
    @ArcSyn - weighing in on the latin, I don't like changing it... it's been there since the first coin (https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/16354739/#Comment_16354739) and present across multiple ( https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/39452925/#Comment_39452925), if not all coins and cons since then, I like the frame of them being the unifying feature. cc: @PaxRomana


    on the epoxy - that clear coat wouldn't make the coins look any darker. It was a combination of a too dark metal and a dark paint that made them not wonderful. I've done some digging on the threads for the proofs of other coins I have (2017 and 2018 unplugged, 2018 and 2019 east, 2019 west), if that helps when figuring out metal vs color vs epoxy. Plus some of my comments regarding last year's unplugged, since we were going back and forth on the differences in the metal when the same color was supposed to be done. looked like a mistake on kiddercorp's end.

    my comments: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/40442482/#Comment_40442482
    https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/40447948/#Comment_40447948

    (no epoxy) proof 2017 unplugged: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38508097/#Comment_38508097.
    pics: https://us.v-cdn.net/5018289/uploads/editor/6x/th15h6791jic.jpg

    (epoxy) proof 2018 unplugged: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/40249008/#Comment_40249008
    pic: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/40442166/#Comment_40442166

    (epoxy) proof 2018 east: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/39194860/#Comment_39194860
    pic: https://imgur.com/a/cUiNu

    (no epoxy) proof 2019 east: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/40843141/#Comment_40843141
    pic: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/40952288/#Comment_40952288

    (epoxy) proof 2019 west: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/41487574/#Comment_41487574
    pic: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/41584385/#Comment_41584385

    drakuldragon on
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    DOTS RPG Project - Guild Master Jess | @dotsrpg

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    @drakuldragon
    Thank you so much for your research and thoughts!

    Re: Latin
    PAX Aus has had different phrase (Nulles Anxietas) since they started, so the latin isn't as much a unifying tie in to all the other PAX as the phrase "Welcome Home" that is on every coin. That I would never get rid of, as it's essentially the slogan for PAX. If it was the same, I probably wouldn't even consider it, but since it's already been different, I feel it's a bit more acceptable? The new latin has gotten some good feedback so far (outside of this thread), so the plan is to change this year.

    Re: Epoxy
    I looked through all of those posts, and pictures, and previous years' coins, and I agree that last year the black nickel was definitely a darker batch than 2017, and likely more of a manufacturing variance or defect. Looking through other PAX coin pictures though, only East 2018 look like they were epoxy coated. PAX West 2019 says epoxy in the proof image, but the photos of the coin don't have the clear coat that PAXU 2018 had. Kiddercorp suggested antique silver as a compromise from black nickel's darkness, and regular nickel's shiny appearance that would make the detail in the skyline hard to see. The paint being used shouldn't be transparent, except for the sky blue which should give some nice coloring to the skyline image. I also picked the exact pantone for PAXU purple, which seems to be much lighter than the one from last year. So my hope is that these coins are much nicer, colorful, and up to expectations than last year.

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited October 2019
    It's time!

    Order Your Coins!
    http://rebrand.ly/PAXU19Coin


    CMLOJHkl.jpg
    SvQPmnsl.jpg

    The coins should ship and arrive before PAX, given there are no manufacturing delays. The general estimate to get into your hands is about 5 weeks from when they go into production, which should be some point this week.

    ArcSyn on
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    nomisronomisro Brooklyn, NY, USARegistered User regular
    Thanks for doing this! I just put my ordered in.

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    ltgruntltgrunt Registered User regular
    Ordered one of each.

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    DevereauxDevereaux Registered User regular
    Coins ordered! Thanks! :D

    Check out my lanyard and let's trade ;)https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Devereaux
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    TopherRocksTopherRocks Rockstar Beard Grower Kent, OH or Long Island, NYRegistered User regular
    Ordered! Sorry for not getting involved this year, I didn't anticipate going to Unplugged and then the girlfriend surprised me with badges and hotel reservation for our anniversary a few weeks ago!

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    That's awesome!

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    kwirlkwirl Registered User new member
    Hello! What are the chances of this arriving before PAXU if i ordered today? I just realized that I had overlooked ordering these

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    ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    @kwirl They haven't started shipping yet, and are currently estimated to arrive before PAX so long as there aren't any significant delays. So you're in luck!

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    Itsme242Itsme242 Registered User new member
    Is it to late to place an order? I understand I might be late to get it before PAXU but still would like to grab one for the collection.

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    nomisronomisro Brooklyn, NY, USARegistered User regular
    Itsme242 wrote: »
    Is it to late to place an order? I understand I might be late to get it before PAXU but still would like to grab one for the collection.

    You can still ordered one or a few.

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