The Best Damn Gaming Coins Ever...TWO!

Backers' Choice BillBundle Theme Chosen
over 8 years ago – Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 12:20:33 AM

Survey results are in and the theme for the Backers' Choice BillBundle stretch goal has been chosen.  By an overwhelming margin, get ready for... SCI-FI/SPACE CREDITS!!!  Detailed results are as follows:

• American West Legends  8.1%
• Architectural Wonders  11.9%
• Captains of Industry  6.7% 
• Famous Inventions  5.9% 
• Great Thinkers  6.7% 
• Military Commanders  3.0% 
• Mythic Gods  16.3% 
• Renowned Scientists  10.0% 
• Sci-Fi/Space Credits  30.4% 
• World Leaders  1.1%

Next steps are choosing the five subjects to depict on the various bills.  We're going to suggest a few options below, but ultimately the choices are yours.  Feel free to post your own suggestions in comments or message us directly if you'd prefer.  We do need to be careful of licensing issues though so please don't suggest any famous personalities (alive or recently deceased), characters, ships, shows, etc. unless, of course, you control the rights to them!  Here are some to get you started:

• Space Missions (Sputnik, Apollo, Vostok, Voshkod, ASTP, etc.)
• Astronomical Objects (Orion, Pleiades, Halley's Comet, Alpha Centauri, etc.)
• Writers and Thinkers (Jules Verne, Copernicus, Isaac Newton, H.G. Wells, etc.)

Later this week after we have your feedback, we'll send out another survey with a ton of choices and select your top five for the bills.  Then it's on to the official post-campaign survey where you'll choose your rewards and off to production!

- Team Artana

Gratitude and Moving Forward
over 8 years ago – Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 09:35:40 AM

Wow – what a wild ride this campaign has been! Being a creator is sometimes a lonely business. You toil away, largely in your own bubble, for many months or years. You review, revise, and refine again always asking the same questions. Whether your project is compelling, thematic, artful, fun, good value, high quality, etc. Is it finished? Is it excellent? Then the day comes that you set your creation free to see if it can fly. And fly we did – all of us. Because we don’t succeed alone. We wouldn’t be here without you. So thank you, each and every one of you, for helping our dream soar. We’re delighted to share this journey with you.

Where do we go from here? Well, you all placed your faith in us – now we need to get down to work and get you your best damn stuff!

First steps. We’re going to process the post campaign data early next week and also detox from yesterday’s mad rush! Then we want to quickly settle on the theme and subjects for the final "backers' choice" BillBundle which means it’s survey time. If you have theme suggestions, please post them to comments or send us a message asap. We’ll be posting the theme survey in about a week.

Once we chose a theme for the BillBundle, we’ll also need to pick the subject to go on each bill. Again, we’re open to suggestions and will be posting the subject survey soon after the theme is chosen so please weigh in quickly if you have thoughts.

When the BillBundle is locked, we’ll send out the official post-campaign survey for you all to pick PiecePacks and/or BillBundles. And then we’re off to the factory to get you your best damn stuff!

Along the way, we promise to regularly keep you posted of developments, deal with you fairly, and be unfailingly straight with you. Kickstarter is about trust and we’re determined to always be worthy of yours. As backers and gamers ourselves, one of our guiding principles as a company is to treat you as we’d like to be treated. And we will.

So thank you again and buckle up. We’re just getting started here!

- Team Artana

Final 24 Hours and Remaining Stretch Goals
over 8 years ago – Sun, Oct 11, 2015 at 06:57:28 PM

Greetings all and welcome to the home stretch! We have around 24 hours left in the campaign so thanks everyone for such a strong finish. A number of you have been asking publicly and privately about the $40k stretch goal. We thought we’d take a moment here and tell you about it…

As we’ve mentioned previously, the coin molds are all already created so that we can move quickly into production once the campaign finishes. As such, stretch goals have revolved around the new BillBundles of our paper money which are easier and faster for us to produce with fewer possible complications. The first BillBundle, in response to prior backer requests, was our US presidents theme. We also feel really strongly about inclusivity so our Famous Women of History theme was next to be sure it got unlocked. After that, however, our plan has always been to have some fun with you guys and include you more in the process.

In our last campaign, Tesla vs. Edison, we had a bunch of wild voting goodness with backers selecting fantasy luminaries for us to include in the game. Assuming we hit the $40k stretch goal, we’re going to do the same thing here letting you first pick the theme and then the personalities of the next BillBundle! We’ll also do this for every $10k more raised after the $40k stretch goal for as far as you take us. Here’s how it will work.

Shortly after the campaign closes, we’ll post a survey to let people vote on what theme they want for the next BillBundle from the following:

• Renowned Scientists
• Military Commanders
• World Leaders
• Great Thinkers
• Mythic Gods
• Architectural Wonders
• Famous Inventions 

We’re also always open to suggestions so feel free to post any thoughts you have for other possible themes in the comments section here!  (We do, however, reserve editorial discretion on what themes or subjects we include in the final survey.)

Once the theme is chosen, we’ll then present a list of individual subjects to go on the bills of that theme and also again consider any suggestions you make for these.  After we lock down the subjects, we’ll send out another survey to pick the winning five subjects for the next BillBundle. Our artists will then create a spectacular new BillBundle – chosen by you!

So thank you again for all your support these past weeks. We hope you have a good time with this in the final hours and also after the campaign closes. Bring on the bills! 

 - Team Artana

Famous Women of History Unlocked EARLY
over 8 years ago – Fri, Oct 09, 2015 at 09:14:18 PM

Thanks all for making this an amazing campaign!  We're in the home stretch here and, while we look certain to unlock the famous women of history premium paper money stretch goal, it also looks like this will happen very late in the campaign.   In order to give everyone time to back these and not have some mad scramble at the end, we've decided to unlock them early for you!  Artwork is still being finalized so images may change slightly during final production, but denominations and quantities will be the same as our other BillBundles.  Pictures of the lovely ladies as follows:

 Thank you again for your support.

- Team Artana

Coin Stories Conclude - India, China, and Japan
over 8 years ago – Fri, Oct 09, 2015 at 09:11:22 PM

The final week of the campaign is upon us and this update covers the background of our remaining new themes. Thanks again for your support!

Images of the Indian goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi, often depict a fountain of coins emanating out one of her four hands. While we can't prove that the coins in this set originated from Lakshmi's palm, it's hard to find any evidence to the contrary. Historical reproductions in this set include a coin from a nearly forgotten ancient kingdom, Funan, and a coin dating from the last days of the Sasanian Empire.

Tiny - Ohind
This coin was struck in the Rajput dynasties of Upper India which today comprise parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India. However, the design on this coin outlasted the dynasties themselves - coins with Bull and Horseman design continued to be struck well after their defeat by Muslim conquerors in the 13th century. The bull is thought to have represented piety and virility, while the horsemen symbolized power and wisdom, attributes any ruler would gladly be associated with.

Small - Araken
Little is known about the origins of this coin’s civilization. The Kingdom of Funan was relatively small, founded in the 1st century A.D. on the Mekong Delta in present-day Myanmar, and the only historical accounts of its existence remaining were written by two Chinese diplomats who ventured into Funan in the 3rd century A.D. We do know that Funan was an important coastal trading site, and that its local culture was heavily influenced by Indian beliefs. The face of this coin depicts a rising sun, and on the reverse is a Hindu temple.

Medium - Ashvamedha
The design of this coin dates from the Gupta Era, during the reign of Chandragupta II from 380A.D. to 413AD. Samudragupta expanded his father's empire to the north, conquering the Gujarat, a wealthy coastal territory home to several important seaports. Following this campaign in the north, he celebrated his success with an Ashvamedha, or horse sacrifice. The face of this coin shows a sacrificial horse facing an altar, and on the reverse stands the chief queen on a lotus flower holding a fly whisk, an object associated with the Hindu deity Shiva.

Large - Surendra Vikrama
Minted during the Malla Dynasty in one of the three jointly ruled Nepalese kingdoms, Bhatgaon, this coin, known as a Mohar, was first introduced in the 17th century and only replaced in 1932 by the Nepalese Rupee. On the front of the coin inside the scalloped square one can see the name and title of the ruler of Bhatgaon, King Bhupatindra Malla. On the back of the coin inside the central circle is a trident, or Trishula, the weapon of Shiva, surrounded by ornamental designs.

Jumbo - Sasanid
This coin dates from the era of King Khosrau I, ruler of the Persian Sasanid Empire from 560AD to 628 AD. He struck a deal with the Roman empire that brought peace to his realm and allowed the space to institute several key reforms, including centralizing his government's power by stripping noble families of their privileges. On the face of this coin is a bust of Khosrau I wearing a crown which incorporates symbols of the Zoroastrian religion, a star and moon crescent. The back shows fire altar guarded by two attendants holding spears.

Current evidence suggests that the first coins ever to exist were created in China around 900 BC and were bronze copies of the then dominant unit of currency, snail shells. The coins in this set are of a more familiar form, but no less exciting. They includes replicas of 19th century coins produced to pay Taiwanese rebels and a coin with an engraving of a Chinese emperor plagiarized from of a portrait of Queen Victoria.

Tiny - Dzu Wen
This coin is a replica of one of the first silver coins to be minted in China. Struck in 1853, it was used by Taiwanese rebels to finance their military campaigns. At the time the island (then known as Formosa) had a reputation on the mainland for being unruly, a haven for pirates and criminals. The front of this coin is a vase containing leaves, and on the reverse are two lotus flowers with their stems crossed.

Small - Lian
Designed in Taiwan by the general Tai Chou-chung to fund his rebellion against the mainland Manchu authorities, this Chinese silver dollar was struck at a rebel foundry in 1862. Referring to this time in Taiwanese history, One Chinese Manchu official said "Every three years an uprising, every five years a rebellion."

Medium - Yunnan
Minted in 1908, this coin circulated during a tumultuous time for the Chinese imperial state. Empress Dowager Cixi had just died after 47 years of rule and was succeeded by Hsuan Tung, aged 2, who would be the last monarch to preside over the Chinese Empire. Also, a long fight with Japan over control of Manchuria metastasized into a civil war between the Qing dynasty and Japanese sponsored anti-Qing rebel groups. The front of this coin features the name of the previous Qing emperor, Kuang Hsu, and on the back is the imperial emblem, a flying dragon spitting a fireball.

Large - Tientsin
The design on this Chinese silver dollar replica, created in 1911, was intended to become the new standard for all silver dollars throughout imperial China. However, the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in the Xinhai Revolution prevented its universal adoption, and it first entered circulation via soldiers paid to defend the Chinese empire against the republican insurgents. On one side of this coin is the name of the emperor, five years old at that time, and on the other side is a dragon, a symbol of the imperial Chinese state.

Jumbo - Szechuen
This coin was minted in Szechuen, a province in western China, in reaction to the large number of Indian Rupees circulating in the area. First issued by the East India trading company in 1840, the Indian Rupee featured a portrait of Queen Victoria which was almost copied in its entirety for the portrait of Emperor Hsuan Tung on the Szechuen Rupee. The theory is that because Chinese engravers didn't have any experience creating coins featuring representations of people they used Queen Victoria's image as reference, changing only her royal crown to the Chinese mandarin hat and leaving the rest of her costume - including her string of pearls - in their final design.

Our Japanese theme comprises special coins known as "e-sen", or "picture-sen". Though made of the same metals as ordinary Japanese coins, they were used for mostly ornamental purposes - one might receive an e-sen after joining a new temple, or have a set of e-sen designed to commemorate a special occasion. A perfect gift for the daimyo in your clan!

Tiny - Kame
On both sides of this e-sen coin is a "kame" character: on the front the kame is in cursive script, and on the reverse is a standard kanji character. Kame means tortoise or turtle, which in Japanese folklore is a symbol of long life and good luck. Tortoises were sometimes kept in tanks on the grounds of Buddhist temples. Water plants would grow on their shells creating the appearance of a flowing tail, misapprehension of which gave rise to the legend of the "mino-game", a hairy-tailed tortoise whose life spans ten thousand years.

Small - Ki Tsuch Sha
This coin's design features the hammer of Daikokuten, god of the five cereals. One of the Seven Lucky Gods, Daikokuten is known as the god of prosperity, and is usually depicted with a wooden mallet and a treasure sack. Also known as Shiva in India, Daikokuten was imported to Japan and became associated with kitchen work, often being found on pillars outside kitchens in Tendai temples, which lead to the wives of Tendai priests being referred to, somewhat derogatorily, as "Daikoku-san".

Medium - Kiku
The front of this coin is graced with the presence of the Japanese imperial family's "mon" or crest. An abstracted chrysanthemum, the 16-petal design has been used by Japanese emperors for over a thousand years, though the crest itself was only officially adopted 1869 by the Meiji state, who eventually banned its use by all save the imperial family. The back of this coin reads "kikunogomon" in kanji, which translates to "imperial chysanthemum emblem".

Large - Mitsudome
The swirling shaped on the face of this coin is a mitsudome, a Shinto symbol representing a foundational aspect of the religion, the threefold division between man, earth, and sky. Before it became associated with Shintoism, the mitsudome represented the syncretic diety Hachiman, the god of archery and war, leading many samurai to adopt it as the symbol of their profession. The kanji on the back of this coin read "designs on arm-protector", or alternatively "designs on [an archer's] bracer".

Jumbo - Yottsu Me
The "Four eyes" mon of the Maruni Sumitate is stamped on the face of this coin. Mons were held by ancient Japanese families to signify membership in a clan or organization. Today, Japanese families still have mons, and though their application has greatly changed - they're no longer to be found on battle flags and tents, for example - family mons often make an appearance in weddings and on traditional formal wear, such as kimonos.

Home stretch beautiful backers - famous women bills to come and then on to production!  Stay tuned and thank you for your support.

Team Artana