Isn't about time for the yearly token design thread?

[Pixelhugger]

Just wondering if anyone else is hoping for 2007 tokens. Given the past timelines if we don't get started soon they won't arrive this year.

Santoro?


Anyone?

[fatfingers]

Perhaps you and your madman skills should post the first "sample"? 

 

[JONTHEBOMB]

I have been waiting patiently for Santoro to announce 2007 tokens.  I am no artist, but I have some slogans in mind.

[Joystick Jerk]

Ooh, I'd like to take another crack at these babies. The last time a participated, I got a fair number of votes for my design.

[Santoro]

We can definitely get a design thread going, it's always fun.  I'll set it up.

Economically, however, we will have a much steeper uphill battle in getting tokens made this year. My token costs have gone up 45% since we first started this (almost 30% of that in the last 12 months.) Having raised my prices correspondingly, orders have effectively slowed to a trickle of late. 

I am very concerned that at these prices we won't get enough takers to justify a run. (Last year I thought we would not have enough demand to order them, and we sold them out.  I may just be a worry wart.  We'll see.)

I guess we will get some designs out there and see what the community reaction is. If it's very positive, I can do some polling to see who would buy what. 

[Kaytrim]

Just a thought Santoro.  How about Arcade related poker chips?  I have no idea on what the costs would be to get these done but I would be interested.  It might also be something to add to the beer mugs you have for sale.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[Santoro]

I looked at that actually because I'd certainly want them, but I decided against it.  'Poker-playing arcade buffs' is a very narrow target audience and the up front costs were too high to make it worth the risk.

[Kremmit]

Slow orders may be due to lack of publicity, I haven't seen much traffic on these boards about your tokens in the last several months.  I'd bet BYOAC members and lurkers are the bulk of your customer base.  You ought to add a quick poll to your order page:  How did you hear about us?

At any rate, I'm in for 400 brass, same as always.  And a token machine, if you've got one that'll fit in my basement.

[patrickl]

There should be enough people here who want the 2007 tokens.

[SirPeale]

At any rate, I'm in for 400 brass, same as always.  And a token machine, if you've got one that'll fit in my basement.

The AC1000 is a very small changer.

[Jeff AMN]

I'd want some tokens. I didn't get them in the past due to the simple fact that I didn't have any cabs.

[Kremmit]

At any rate, I'm in for 400 brass, same as always.  And a token machine, if you've got one that'll fit in my basement.

The AC1000 is a very small changer.

The ritual now demands I ask you if it works, how much the free shipping is, and also, does it work?

[Santoro]

At any rate, I'm in for 400 brass, same as always.  And a token machine, if you've got one that'll fit in my basement.

The AC1000 is a very small changer.

I don't think there's a code for this one.

[JoyMonkey]

I know brass prices have gone through the roof lately, would it be more economical if you abandoned the brass tokens and just concentrated on one big nickel order?
Or is nickel just as pricey?

[RandyT]

Ok, so why did last years sell out so quickly, yet there's such a surplus of previous years / other designs still?  Is it just a matter of how popular the design is?

How about something simple, like a large MAME™ logo on one side, and a nice BYOAC logo on the other? 

I obviously have certain other interests in this configuration  , but the universal appeal of the design might be better than that of some of the previous offerings.

RandyT

[Santoro]

I know brass prices have gone through the roof lately, would it be more economical if you abandoned the brass tokens and just concentrated on one big nickel order?
Or is nickel just as pricey?

Nickel is just nickel-plated brass.

[Kremmit]

Ok, so why did last years sell out so quickly, yet there's such a surplus of previous years / other designs still?  Is it just a matter of how popular the design is?

I believe all the previous years sold out fairly quickly as well, and Santoro's since done a second run on those that have stock available again.  Last year's only got the one run.  (so far?)

[SirPeale]

At any rate, I'm in for 400 brass, same as always.  And a token machine, if you've got one that'll fit in my basement.

The AC1000 is a very small changer.

The ritual now demands I ask you if it works, how much the free shipping is, and also, does it work?

Contact the distributor directly for more information.

[Santoro]

Ok, so why did last years sell out so quickly, yet there's such a surplus of previous years / other designs still?  Is it just a matter of how popular the design is?

It's a matter of the minimum orders.. the lowest volume for 'reasonable' pricing is at the 10K or greater level.  When the 2007 tokens are made I will have the option to order a few thousand of the 2006 ones again. When I ordered the 06 tokens I was able to order some more 2005 & Mame tokens.

Another complicating factor is that there is a minimum of 5K for nickel plating.

How about something simple, like a large MAME™ logo on one side, and a nice BYOAC logo on the other? 

I obviously have certain other interests in this configuration  , but the universal appeal of the design might be better than that of some of the previous offerings.

Hmm, this might be possible.. I will send a request to the Mamedevs.  The old MAME tokens were made prior to the current trademark restrictions.  (edit: but I did have permision from Santeri Saarimaa.)

[Havok]

Yeah, I missed out on last year's run -   Which sucks, since it's my favorite design so far...

I'm ready for this year, and I have a slogan ready for when we get to that part.

[MinerAl]

A nice dense plastic would be heavy enough to trip my coin switches...

Then you could have color coordinated tokens to go with your artwork!

Not as cool as brass I'll admit, but worth a look?

[RandyT]

Ok, so why did last years sell out so quickly, yet there's such a surplus of previous years / other designs still?  Is it just a matter of how popular the design is?

It's a matter of the minimum orders.. the lowest volume for 'reasonable' pricing is at the 10K or greater level.  When the 2007 tokens are made I will have the option to order a few thousand of the 2006 ones again. When I ordered the 06 tokens I was able to order some more 2005 & Mame tokens.

Another complicating factor is that there is a minimum of 5K for nickel plating.

Ahh, ok.  Thanks for the explanation.  It makes sense now.  Cool that they allow you to mix and match designs to get higher quantity pricing.

And thanks for looking into the MAME logo thing.  Just a gut feeling, but I would expect the large logo design to go over better than the current one.  I'll be in for a pile of them if you are able to go this route.

RandyT

[Pixelhugger]

As far as demand goes I'm guessing it's been fairly consistent from year to year. It seems like it's driven more by an interest in collecting than in a need for additional tokens. It doesn't surprise me at all that recent orders for existing designs are only trickling in since most people who want the previous years designs for nostalgic purposes or to add to a collection already have them. I'd expect a bit of an increase in existing year orders if a 2007 order goes through, since that'll draw more people/new people into the mix.
Just my random thoughts.

Santoro... have the numbers of preorders been roughly consistent year to year? If so, I'd guess you'd have enough interested people to fill the 10K minimum. The 2006 designs were spectacular. I'd love to see the talent in a design thread this year.



 

[Santoro]

Just got the OK from Aaron to use the MAME logo..  This should open up some options for the designs!

Thanks Aaron.

[Kremmit]

Just got the OK from Aaron to use the MAME logo..  This should open up some options for the designs!

Thanks Aaron.

Cool! 

A thought:  The way the design threads are currently set up, you could concievably end up with a winning MAME design for the front, and another winning MAME design for the back.  Or two BYOAC designs.  Or winners with both themes included on a single side, I suppose.  Do you want to change the design threads to "MAME side" and "BYOAC side" in order to ensure you get one of each?

[Santoro]

Jeez, too many possibilities.. my head hurts.   

I will say I really think BYOAC must be on at least one side.  Maybe the rule is that the front must have a BYOAC reference, and whatever wins for the back wins.

I wouldn't mind hearing other opinons on this.

[Santoro]

So a bump with a bit of bad news. 

The Unitied States Postal Service just overhauled all of its services and pricing.  As a result I will not be able to utilize Global Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes for shipping tokens outside the US.  This is very bad because the next best option is like 14$ USD more expensive.    At least 1/2 of the orders were international and this will probably cut that demand a lot. 

This, combined with the recent price boosts due to brass prices may reduce demand further and make it more difficult to get critical mass for our 07 tokens.  We can certainly try, but at the current prices, an international order for 200 Brass tokens would be like $70 shipped!! 

[Santoro]

Bump again, with a bit of GOOD news.

After a bit of research it seems that the USPS has not eliminated the ability to use flat rate envleopes internationally, they have just changed the rates and type of envleope, and my local post office was unaware.  I have ordered all the proper envelopes recoded the web store to use the new rates.

This is good news for the 2007 tokens.  I was previously worried that the inability to use flat rate envelopes would kill a large chunk of the international demand and make it hard to build critical mass for ordering this year.   That may not be the case.

 

[Havok]

Hey Santoro,

Any chance that you can tack on an order of the 2006 tokens to this year's? I missed out on the initial batch, and I'm sure there are others that would also like a chance to pick some up...

[Santoro]

It's very possible.  As soon as we know for sure that we are ordering '07 tokens, I'll add some '06 on to it.  It will only be brass due to the 10,000 minimunm on nickel plating. (Unless I get lucky again and they let me combine with the 07 tokens to make the 10,000.  They did last year but I sensed they guy was breaking the rules by doing it.)