Anyone interested in BYOAC tokens?

[iscariot]

Hi folks, my wife's brother over in China strikes coinage for some of the pachislot machines over there, and he sent me a bunch of his tokens to use in my basement.  Just wondering, is anyone interested in some of the BYOAC tokens?  He's offering them at .025 USD per token if I can get 30k of them, since they have to set up the dies.  Anyone want some of these struck?

[Generic Eric]

Pac Man tokens here we come!  Do you think he can do Pac Man?

Copper? Nickel? Unobtainium? Overabundancium?  How many per order? How much per order? Is that for both sides or per side?

[iscariot]

I can check.  He said he can strike just about anything but if it's under 30k then there's a die fee of 650RMB($100)

[JDFan]

+1 to Pacman or any other 80's classic Arcade character. Similar to these :





At 0.025 cents each I'm pretty sure we could get 30 people together for 1K each (ie. about $25 + shipping for 1,000) or maybe even 60 people for 500 pcs. depending on how much the shipping winds up costing -- If you can keep it around the $20 - $30+\- per person shipped for a decent amount of tokens, I'm pretty sure there would be interest (since most options currently run about $0.20+ per token - making it cheaper to just go to a Chuck-e-Cheese and get some of their's for use.

Main problem I see is the shipping costs from here add up fast so reshipping would add to the cost - if He can ship straight from China in the e-packets to 30 or 60 addresses it might keep the cost down significantly but not sure if he would be able to do that ! (China gets charged about $0.50 cents per pound shipped in those epackets with tracking where here it costs about $20 for the same ! )

[Vigo]

I agree with JD, China gets an insanely cheap shipping rate and shipping would be the factor for me. If shipping is low, and the design is good, count me in for 500 at least.

I'd like to see the BYOAC token come back, but last time that was attempted, things got messy. 

[AzureKnight]

I would be interested as well.

[DeLuSioNal29]

+1 here.  Especially for the design above.

[Le Chuck]

I'd like the BYOAC token to get a second (third?) life but we'd need to check in with Santoro - his market place is still up so if we wanted to reuse any of those designs he'd need to bless off.  I love the 2007 design myself: http://www.arcadereplay.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=69&osCsid=09bf315c054d8adb178d4758ab927d4f

[ViriiGuy]

If we do the pacman design posted.. I am certainly down for 1k.

[yotsuya]

I'd like the BYOAC token to get a second (third?) life but we'd need to check in with Santoro - his market place is still up so if we wanted to reuse any of those designs he'd need to bless off.  I love the 2007 design myself: http://www.arcadereplay.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=69&osCsid=09bf315c054d8adb178d4758ab927d4f

Agreed. You'd probably, as a courtesy, get Saint's blessing since BYOAC is his site/name, after all.

[WindDrake]

I'd be in for 1k if it's that Pacman/SI token there. Hell, other designs would be cool too. Can never have too many tokens. I've got 3 pachislot machines myself plus my token dispenser, and my gameroom is token-fed.

[Yinzer]

I would be interested.

[vorghagen]

I would also be interested. Not so much in the PacMan and SI tokens but more a general BYOAC token like the previous ones Santoro organised.
Will these tokens be the same size (.984")?

[vorghagen]

I know I mention it every time a token design thread comes up, but I STILL think this is a fantastic design and I STILL want tokens featuring it.

jfunk's 1UP Army
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,66659.msg699928.html#msg699928

[iscariot]

Ok.  Let me see what the turnaround is on this.   If someone wants to do another design let me know, and I can mule them back since I'm going next week and I'm back the first week of August.  Remember, each design is $100 but I need to know what the time frame is.

[Generic Eric]

JDFan is probably spot on, but I'd like to know the minimum order and cost.

[pbj]

Throw together a kick starter and let all these chuckle heads pony up if they're serious.

[Generic Eric]

Throw together a kick starter and let all these chuckle heads pony up if they're serious.

Won't get a pac man token, or likely any recognizable character that way.

[iscariot]

Spoke with wife last night and he was there on skype.  Cost of the die is $50 each.  If someone's interested then I need to know.  Trying to get the turnaround time right now.

EDIT:  Apparently there was some misinterpretation there.  It's $50 per side....so it's still $100 to strike them if less than 30k are ordered.

[DarakuTenshi]

I agree with Erick throw it up on kick starter to get people to put the money down rather than taking people's word for it.

[iscariot]

Probably going to, I've never done kickstarter before.  How's that work?  They hold the $$ until it's done?

[iscariot]

Nevermind....it's going to take 6 days to run them and 4 days to get them sent over to us.  Unless I had everyone confirm within 24 hours then it's not worth doing, plus I have to drag them back to the US.

[Generic Eric]

Nevermind....it's going to take 6 days to run them and 4 days to get them sent over to us.  Unless I had everyone confirm within 24 hours then it's not worth doing, plus I have to drag them back to the US.

If I remember correctly, this isn't the first trip you mentioned.  I wouldn't be so quick to throw in in the towel.  As it stands now, I wouldn't commit with out knowing how much I was committing to.

Maybe next time?

[iscariot]

This is probably the last trip for at least 5 years.  I was thinking about kickstarter but the problem is that 30,000 tokens weighs around 250 pounds.  That's going to add LOTS of costs to ordering these things.  I figure I could do a kickstarter but ti would add probably 2 cents to each token.

[JDFan]

Nevermind....it's going to take 6 days to run them and 4 days to get them sent over to us.  Unless I had everyone confirm within 24 hours then it's not worth doing, plus I have to drag them back to the US.

This is probably the last trip for at least 5 years.  I was thinking about kickstarter but the problem is that 30,000 tokens weighs around 250 pounds.  That's going to add LOTS of costs to ordering these things.  I figure I could do a kickstarter but ti would add probably 2 cents to each token.

Ah well was a good idea anyway and it would probably add more than that by the time they are repackaged and remailed in individual 4 -8 lb. packages (4 lbs per 500 tokens +\-) 

Seems to be the norm -- the main problem with getting custom tokens made is the Qty minimums and the weight of the tokens for shipping really adds to the cost quickly and what starts out to be 3 or 4 cents a piece in QTY, winds up around the 20 - 30 cent mark by the time they are delivered and getting a concensus of a design together when dealing with the number of people needed for a run of 30K tokens is difficult to agree upon.

I think a Kickstarter is a good idea since that would allow the funds to be in place before having to commit to the production run and yet would also mean that participants are not actually out any funds before the production is funded so no chance of sending the funds never to receive the tokens - problem being that would mean not being able to use any artwork from the old games unless specific permission was obtained from the copyright holders which is a real hard thing to do.

Also running it as a Kickstarter would mean someone would have to do all the legwork to get the actual costs nailed down so that it could be detailed and follow through with packaging and sending out the rewards etc. etc. which would be a considerable amount of time to invest with little return. (which is probably why so few BYOAC tokens have actually made it to print and why they run $27 for 100 tokens.) 

[iscariot]

I'm doing some checking here.  Her bro mentioned he could throw it on a ship for cheap, and if it can get to me I can stick it into flat rate boxes.  If I remember right, you can get 1000 into a small flat rate box if you pack them well.  I'll have some more info soon.

[iscariot]

Ok I did some checking and 30k tokens aren't light, and shepherding them to the US isn't too easy.  I'm seriously doing this, and the fees with shipping to the states aren't too bad, but it has to go to a port.  Fortunately I live near a port and could possibly go down there and get them, then ship packs of 500 or 1000 in flat rate boxes.  I'm thinking $100 for 1000 tokens and $60 for 500. 

Should I get a kickstarter going on this?  Are there any other suggested designs other than the ones posted here?  30k tokes are a lot of tokens.

[Nephasth]

I'm thinking $100 for 1000 tokens and $60 for 500. 

What the ---fudgesicle--- happened to 2.5¢/token? Now we're up to 10¢/12¢ a token. Rip off.

[iscariot]

Where can we all get custom made tokens for 10 cents a piece? 

They're 2.5 cents because I was going to pick them up in her home town.  Shipping 250 pounds is not cheap, and that's just to a port.  Then I have to get there, back, pack, and ship each one.  That's where the extra costs are coming from. 

[yotsuya]

Before you do anything, I think you need to nail down a design. Then people will decide if they want to commit.

You might want to use this thread as a cautionary tale, too:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138182.msg1427107.html#msg1427107

[iscariot]

Interesting how much those cost.  Still a ripoff Nep?  Could you please show me where you can find them for a cheaper rate here in the USA so that I can order form them?

[yotsuya]

I think you missed the point of pointing out that thread....

[Nephasth]

Still a ripoff Nep?

Yup. 7 cents a token: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Pounds-of-various-Tokens-Arcade-Car-Wash-and-other-tokens-/201114753599?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ed35f9a3f

4.6 cents a token: http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-POUNDS-Mixed-Tokens-GAMING-CASINO-ARCADE-PARKING-/281365542718?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4182b1773e

[iscariot]

Nevermind.

[yotsuya]

Nevermind.

Just for the record, my goal in posting that thread was to show you how difficult it can be to do a token run. Tech_noob had a community-assisted design, needed 10K for a run, and when it came down to it, could only get a commitment for 1500. You say you need 30,000. My goal was to prevent you from committing to something and not be left holding the bag. You'd be sitting on a LOT of tokens.

[pbj]

Tokens are up there with rotary telephones in my book.  Yeah, they were neat, yeah, we all remember using them, but it's 2014 and no thanks.

 

[Nephasth]

Tokens are up there with rotary telephones in my book.  Yeah, they were neat, yeah, we all remember using them, but it's 2014 and no thanks.

 

What? Kiddos quit taking the bait?

[iscariot]

I know Yotsuya.  They can strike less, but they have fees for the dies.  The fee goes away at 30k.  I'm considering the kickstarter to see what if any interest there is.  Sure, people can get a bucket of used tokens cheaper, that's just fine.  I'll probably post something else once I test these that they did for me personally and see how they work out.  Right now, what I'm using in my machines are a sakura/triple7 design from japan, they're nice, and I don't want to have to worry about losing them when kids are playing with my units.

[yotsuya]

I know Yotsuya.  They can strike less, but they have fees for the dies.  The fee goes away at 30k.  I'm considering the kickstarter to see what if any interest there is.  Sure, people can get a bucket of used tokens cheaper, that's just fine.  I'll probably post something else once I test these that they did for me personally and see how they work out.  Right now, what I'm using in my machines are a sakura/triple7 design from japan, they're nice, and I don't want to have to worry about losing them when kids are playing with my units.

I'm with you, I like using tokens in my gameroom. Just keep us posted. Good luck!

[JDFan]

I know Yotsuya.  They can strike less, but they have fees for the dies.  The fee goes away at 30k.  I'm considering the kickstarter to see what if any interest there is.  Sure, people can get a bucket of used tokens cheaper, that's just fine.  I'll probably post something else once I test these that they did for me personally and see how they work out.  Right now, what I'm using in my machines are a sakura/triple7 design from japan, they're nice, and I don't want to have to worry about losing them when kids are playing with my units.

One thing to keep in mind - even with the fee at say $200 for the 2 sides (IIRC you mentioned $100 per side) if you spread that over 10K tokens it is only adding 2 cents per token so you might be better off not worrying about the fee as it would probably be easier to get 10K sold at 14 cents each than 30K at 12 cents !!