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Main => Artwork => Topic started by: Santoro on May 13, 2004, 08:09:49 pm

Title: TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Santoro on May 13, 2004, 08:09:49 pm
Silver

(http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Uploads/PHOTOREAL-TOKENS2-nickelstipple.jpg)

Brass
(http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Uploads/PHOTOREAL-TOKENS2.jpg)(http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Uploads/PHOTOREAL-CHRIS2.jpg)
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: TheGatesofBill on May 13, 2004, 09:32:11 pm
I prefer the brass, but really either is fine.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: robbiec on May 13, 2004, 10:17:52 pm
Yeah both are fine - I thought the nickel ones would be alot more that,

Why dont you get 5000 brass and 5000 Nickel,

I think some would even buy both of them!

Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 13, 2004, 10:48:35 pm
NOTE: On the Web site, it says the minimum order for nickel-plated is 10,000 tokens. (See http://www.tokensdirect.com/Page3.html)
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: MinerAl on May 13, 2004, 11:21:20 pm
These are going to be roughly quarter size already, so making them the same color too will greatly increase the time necessary to sort your coin drawer when the pizza guy is on his way and you need an extra $2.50

I vote for brass, because I'm lazy.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: saint on May 13, 2004, 11:55:41 pm
Either one for me :)
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 14, 2004, 12:08:53 am
I personally prefer the brass, mostly because that's mostly what I saw in arcades...
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Pixelhugger on May 14, 2004, 12:32:24 am
Initially I preferred the nickel hands down. After thinking about how easily they would be confused with quarters - by me and my wife, I think brass is probably more practical, unless of course you have a whole lotta those Sacajawea dollar coins kicking around.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Kremmit on May 14, 2004, 12:35:11 am
I'd love some of each ;), but I guess that 10,000 minimum on the silver probably puts the kibosh on that one.  

-Kremmit
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Kremmit on May 14, 2004, 01:31:50 am
So, I got to thinking-

If we need more pre-orders to get both silver AND brass... How about opening this up to other gaming sites?  There must be a ton of people that don't read BYOAC forums regularly, but do check in on other sites.

I'm not saying we should invite them in on the design process or anything- we're too close to start over on that 8).. But after we've got the art finalized, why not notify the rest of the gaming/emulation/arcade collecting scene of our project? Should be good for at least a few more pre-orders, and that's gotta be good for you, Santoro.

Even if we don't go for any silver tokens, I still think it's a good idea.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: froggerman on May 14, 2004, 03:07:41 am
The nickle plated tokens will stay shinny much longer than the brass ones, but you have a very good points about the confusion factor. Most of the tokens that I have seen in the past have been brass. Brass may be the better choice after all.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 14, 2004, 08:50:33 am
So, I got to thinking-

If we need more pre-orders to get both silver AND brass... How about opening this up to other gaming sites?  There must be a ton of people that don't read BYOAC forums regularly, but do check in on other sites.
If they were MAME tokens, we could sell thousands, but since they're BYOAC tokens, I don't think other emulation sites are going to be beating a path to our door on this...

You could do a MAME front die and the "happy guy" back die and do another run, but that gets you back to the original problem.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Santoro on May 14, 2004, 08:50:45 am
I'd love some of each ;), but I guess that 10,000 minimum on the silver probably puts the kibosh on that one.  

{thinking out loud here}

Yeah, if I ordered 10000 silver and 5000 brass, it would take a while to sell those.   I am going to think about it though.    There is considerable interest here, so there might be on ebay and other gaming sites also as mentioned above.  Even though the tokens are clearly BYOAC oriented, they will be by far the coolest general gaming tokens I have seen, ever.

It's a lot of cash to front though.  Maybe a run of Brass to start, then when they are gone,  I could to a pre-order for silver ones if the demand is still showing.

What to do? :-\
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 14, 2004, 09:07:06 am
I'd love some of each ;), but I guess that 10,000 minimum on the silver probably puts the kibosh on that one.  

{thinking out loud here}

Yeah, if I ordered 10000 silver and 5000 brass, it would take a while to sell those.   I am going to think about it though.    There is considerable interest here, so there might be on ebay also.  Even though the tokens are clearly BYOAC oriented, they will be by far the coolest general gaming tokens I have seen, ever.

It's a lot of cash to front though.  Maybe a run of Brass to start, then when they are gone,  I could to a pre-order for silver ones if the demand is still showing.

What to do? :-\

If you must do the silver, I think you should do a MAME die using the atomic logo in brass, sell those to other emulation and on eBay at a slight markup, and use the excess proceeds to help pay for the larger run of BYOAC silver tokens. :)

--Chris
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Santoro on May 14, 2004, 09:18:25 am
A quick check of ebay for completed token sales doesn't look too promising, though there are no nice ones in there either.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 14, 2004, 09:48:18 am
A quick check of ebay for completed token sales doesn't look too promising, though there are no nice ones in there either.
No, but things like MAME sideart and such do go nicely.  We're talking about brand-new custom tokens, not a bag of 20 year old mismatched stuff...

--Chris
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: hulkster on May 14, 2004, 09:52:25 am
personally, id rather have the atomic mame logo on the front...plus i think you would profit tons more because of it.  i know this is probably not about profit, but you would be able to sell them a lot easier if it had mame on the front.  and legal reasons?  bah....its really not going to matter is it?  i know this is discussed elsewhere, so i guess i wont get into it.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Santoro on May 14, 2004, 10:09:26 am
I don't expect to get rich, but I do intend on turning a modest profit to make up for all the financial risk and work coordinating and shipping.

This is especially true if we were to wind up doing two batches with different colors because this would likely require me to purchase many tokens in advance without corresponding pre-sales.  That scenario would require me to mark up the tokens to partially protect myself in case they don't sell.  

{edit} As for the Mame logo, I am very torn on that issue.  They would sell better on ebay for example if Mame was mentioned.  But I think that these tokens are really mostly about BYOAC.

Dave


Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: GadgetGeek on May 14, 2004, 10:17:48 am
Santoro - YOU are the one taking the risk on this, so I say go with your gut feeling.  Also, discuss with others (such as Peale with his black start buttons) the risks associated with a custom run.  If you do a run of Brass AND a run of Nickel, would the per unit cost would drop since the die costs are spread over more tokens?  However, yes, you are assuming a higher upfront cost and you should be compensated for that risk.  If you just stick with the small brass run, you only have to sell 25 lots of 200 (if my math is right) and if half of the people participating in this order, you should be well on your way to having them all sold.  Question then comes up if you do a second run, do those people get a price break since the dies are already paid for?
Kudos for doing this and I'm glad I'm not the one ultimately burdened by these decisions.

Oh, I voted for brass because I think they'd look nicer polished and put in a nice display frame.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Kremmit on May 14, 2004, 10:18:48 am
Quote
If they were MAME tokens, we could sell thousands, but since they're BYOAC tokens, I don't think other emulation sites are going to be beating a path to our door on this...

I'm not saying anybody from the Counterstrike scene is gonna care about these.. I just think there may be some BYOAC type people out there that haven't seen this discussion.. I mean, we've only been talking about it for a week or so, some people don't read the fourms all that regularly.  Even if there aren't that many of 'em, it couldn't hurt Santoro to get a few more pre-orders.  The idea of doing an alternate token with the Atomic MAME logo for sales to other sites sounds promising, too.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Calawala on May 14, 2004, 11:02:46 am
Either works for me (edit: brass or silver).  I would buy both actually if you did 2 runs.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Stingray on May 14, 2004, 11:34:31 am
Santoro, for what it's worth I would buy these tokens regadless of whether you settle on BYOAC or MAME. MAME makes more sense financially for you I think.

Oh and I love the nickle ones and would be willing to pay the extra $3ish for them.

-S
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Oldskool on May 14, 2004, 11:55:15 am
Santoro, for what it's worth I would buy these tokens regadless of whether you settle on BYOAC or MAME. MAME makes more sense financially for you I think.

He'll sell a lot of BYOAC tokens here, but on Ebay.........? Na.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Mr. Dude on May 14, 2004, 12:31:03 pm
I vote for Brass because it's more nostalgic for me.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Generic Eric on May 14, 2004, 12:56:48 pm
I say brass.  I don't ever remember getting silver tokens.


Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: android on May 14, 2004, 02:30:57 pm
I vote for brass. Silver is too comon in US coins. Brass stands out.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Stingray on May 14, 2004, 03:44:23 pm
I would like to point out to everyone that brass dulls fairly quickly, and nickle stays shiny for a good long time.

-S
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: dmsuchy on May 14, 2004, 04:19:07 pm
Silver
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: BASSOFeeSH on May 14, 2004, 04:31:25 pm
Brass
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Santoro on May 14, 2004, 04:36:23 pm
Boy we are nicely divided here aren't we.  

I have worked up a pricing model to do both, but my break-even point would be 62 sets. That is a bit high....   So the question is -

Would you pay $40 for your choice of colors?  

I realize this is getting up there.  Just asking.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: BASSOFeeSH on May 14, 2004, 04:39:42 pm
No, but I will order no matter which color is chosen. :)
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 14, 2004, 04:43:38 pm
If you make the minimum order for silver 400, and have 25 pre-orders for each, you'll be all set for a run of 5000 brass and 10000 silver.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Santoro on May 14, 2004, 04:48:17 pm
If you make the minimum order for silver 400, and have 25 pre-orders for each, you'll be all set for a run of 5000 brass and 10000 silver.

Very true, but I'll bet the price tag of $70 for 400 would drive away a lot of people....
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 14, 2004, 05:03:22 pm
If you make the minimum order for silver 400, and have 25 pre-orders for each, you'll be all set for a run of 5000 brass and 10000 silver.

Very true, but I'll bet the price tag of $70 for 400 would drive away a lot of people....
Yes, but it would weed out the "I really want silver" people from the "Silver would be cool" people...
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Les on May 14, 2004, 05:10:31 pm
HEH

I doubt the actual tokens themsleves will be as visually stuning as the photoshop rendered versions.  But still they should be cool.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: andrewonawall on May 14, 2004, 05:57:02 pm
I don't care abou the confusion with US coins. I voted brass because that is all I ever saw in every arcade that I have been to.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: SirPeale on May 14, 2004, 06:29:02 pm
And brass polishes pretty easily.  I voted for brass too.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: DPsx7 on May 15, 2004, 09:47:20 am
Maybe replace the BYOAC with MAME to give a better chance for these to sell? I'm sure you can keep the URL or name someplace else to customize it for this place and have a mark of where they were designed.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: NiN^_^NiN on May 15, 2004, 10:11:15 pm
I would love to get some of these coins but im in australia and my machines take 20 cent coins :(

I'm curious how all of you guys have coin mechs that take the same kind of coin??

or is that a dumb question?
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Chris on May 15, 2004, 10:21:20 pm
I would love to get some of these coins but im in australia and my machines take 20 cent coins :(

I'm curious how all of you guys have coin mechs that take the same kind of coin??

or is that a dumb question?
We don't.  Those of us who don't already have .984 mechs are probably planning to buy some, or tinker with their quarter mechs to make them take the .984's.
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: Silverwind on May 17, 2004, 02:59:18 pm
I don't care abou the confusion with US coins. I voted brass because that is all I ever saw in every arcade that I have been to.

That is the reasoning for my vote too... almost all arcades that I went to used brass colored tokens...
Title: Re:TOKENS: Brass or Silver?
Post by: taxqueno on May 17, 2004, 04:37:37 pm
silver