Backer Poll: Metal Coins – Stonemaier Games

Backer Poll: Metal Coins

sample metal coins from the manufacturer

Why hello there, Kickstarter backers. Last night you saw the new stretch goals, including one in particular that has demanded a lot of attention: the metal coins.

Currently we’re not on pace to reach the $70k necessary for me to financially justify providing the metal coins in every pre-ordered game (you’ll see why in a minute). However, a number of you have asked if you could pay for the coins as an add-on.

The answer: Maybe. That answer is not “yes” because the coins don’t work like the other add-ons. For my manufacturer to make them, they need to order a minimum of 500 sets. However, the answer is also not “no,” because if enough of you are willing to pay for your metal coins, I can run a mini-campaign immediately following the current Kickstarter campaign to reach that tipping point.

The actual 1-lira coins will be bronze.

Expense breakdown: To order 60 coins (30 bronze 1-lira coins, 18 silver 2-lira coins, and 12 gold 5-lira coins) with the 22 different engravings on the back (for the “immortal coin” backers), it costs a one-time tooling fee of $300/tooling (total: $6,600) and then $2.00/set for materials and labor.

Thus for the minimum order of coins ($7,600), it’s a total of $15.20/set. The coins will increase the weight of each game by a pound, so with increase in shipping cost, it’s closer to $17 for domestic shipments, $18 or $19 for international shipments. There’s also the 10% Kickstarter/Amazon processing fee (or 2.9% if we somehow did this on PayPal).

The cost I’ve come up with us $20 for one set, $35 for two sets, or $52 for three sets.  I hope it’s clear that I’m not trying to profit from this. I’m just trying to meet the demand for the coins if the demand is there.

That brings us to the poll. This poll isn’t a commitment, but I’m trying to gauge if it’s worth pursuing. Perhaps it’s only a few of you who would be a willing to pay for the coins and a lot of you who only want them if they’re free, which I totally understand. If the results of this poll add up to close to the $7,600 needed to pull this off, I’ll pursue a mini-campaign immediately after the Viticulture campaign ends. Thanks!

20 Comments on “Backer Poll: Metal Coins

Leave a Reply to BobCancel reply

If you ask a question about a specific card or ability, please type the exact text in your comment to help facilitate a speedy and precise answer.

Your comment may take a few minutes to publish. Antagonistic, rude, or degrading comments will be removed. Thank you.

  1. As an immortal backer I was obviously was excited to have my name on a coin (since I paid at that level) but as a fan of the game I want awesome metal coins. My name on an awesome metal coin would be amazing but since the cost is pretty ridiculous I am happy to support the idea of nameless metal coins and immortal card board coins together in one box. I think that is an elegant solution that both honors the promises made to immortal backers and makes the game as awesome as possible for everyone.

    Thanks Jamey for being so responsive to your backers and for valuing your commitment to us even as things have changed.

    I really hope that all immortal backers will join me in supporting metal coins without our names because they will be awesome for everyone.

    1. I’d add extra money for metal coins if we could keep our names on them. No one will use the cardboard versions if they have the fancier metal ones.

  2. Immortal Coin Backer here. My main reason for the excitement over the metal coins was to see my name on them. They aren’t worth the add-on to me unless the engraving can be carried over to the metal version. Sorry!!! Probably not what you wanted to hear.

    1. Thanks for your response! There is no wrong answer here. After all, you all took a risk early on in the project to pledge $99 towards Viticulture. I hope some other speak up too–anonymity is fine.

    2. I guess I was thinking that if the custom molds didn’t need to be made the level to include them for everyone would be lower than $70k. (By about $6600) So there wouldn’t be an add and every version of the game NOT part of the Kickstarter would have the coins you actually pledged fo with your name on them.

  3. If we don’t hit the 70,000$ mark, I like the idea of offering the coins with a future campaign for the Cheese Expansion. That way the cardboard coins and the metal coins (with new backers for engravings) can both exist in their own right….and the coins might help fund the expansion, or vice-versa. And if the base game is offered again as an option with the same campaign a few months from now,…you’ll likely add a lot of new fans who missed the first campaign.

    1. Gryffynn–I really like that idea. I don’t know if it’ll happen a few months from now (I want to package the expansions together so you all get the best value), but within a year is certainly feasible.

  4. Question: I’m assuming that if the coins are an add-on, the games will all include the standard cardboard coins. And these coins will be printed with the “immortal level” names. So why would the add-on coins need to have those names engraved? No offense intended to the immortals, but it seems like there is no need to duplicate the award in a separate Kickstart. Wouldn’t that drop the tooling cost to $900?

    1. Jeff–Actually, the metal coins would replace the immortal coins in those games (and all other games would get the punchboards). The immortals can speak to this if they want, but if everyone got the metal coins and the punchboard coins, no one would ever use the punchboard coins, which would completely devalue and negate the point of their immortalization.

      1. I totally agree in the case of hitting the $70k stretch goal. I was thinking in terms of a second Kickstart campaign. The difference is $11.40 per set, which is huge. I don’t know what the actual additional cost to add names to cardboard coins is, but it has to be a whole lot less than $300 per name! And considering the immortal pledge was only an additional $36 or $50, it just seems a little strange that should there be a separate campaign to produce metal coins everyone else is now paying considerably more to have 22 people get their names on those coins in addition to the standard cardboard.

        Anyway, I don’t mean to come across argumentative or negative. I just was really surprised to see that the main reason for the high cost (compared to what I expected) was the extra engraving of the names. For $5 a set I’d buy them in a heartbeat. At $20 I need to pass. I’ll put that money toward the cheese expansion when it comes out! :)

        1. Jeff–I completely understand that. I think if I put out a set of 3-4 expansions in a year, that’s when I would include un-immortalized metal coins. It’s just too soon to do that to the immortal coin backers now, in my opinion.

          1. I certainly understand that you don’t want to make any backer feel like you did something to devalue their support. But hey, we still have 20+ hours left to hit $70k. Maybe all this discussion will be pointless this time tomorrow!

      2. I can see trying to be nice and all, but those backers did so under the guise of cardboard coins. They paid $10 for that privellege. (exact same other rewards are at the $89 level) I don’t see how the other 800+ backers should be asked to come up with $6600 to reward them for their $10 and I don’t think you’re cheating anybody by putting thier names on the cardboard tokens and using generic metal ones.

        If it’s THAT big of a deal to them, offer them their $10 back. I bet they would rather they get metal coins AND have their name in every OTHER version. No reasonable person could expect a $300+ reward for a $10 donation. I’m guessing if you reached out to the 22 people you are referring to before the close, you would get their blessing on it.

        1. Bob–You have some good points here, and I think I need the immortal coin backers to speak for themselves. I’ll send them a message to see what they think.

  5. I really like that you did this poll. I imagine in your next game, you will keep the tokens more uniform, just in case… :)

See All Comments

Discover more from Stonemaier Games

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading