Hey guys, I was just browsing around on sleeze bay, and being from NH and also a fan of video games I thought...hmm maybe I'll grab one of those innovation dollars from NH. I saw a slabbed one and checked it out, my first thought was....wow why is this slabbed like that, is this even genuine. Then I checked a couple more...same thing. It's hideous IMO, is there a reason? I get having the reverse facing forward but why sideways? Example - https://www.ebay.com/itm/373935291113?hash=item571047bae9:g:dy0AAOSw56FhnYON It's both NGC and PCGS, although I did find 1 PCGS listed as an MS70 POP that was oriented differently - https://www.ebay.com/itm/125118626236?hash=item1d21a6b9bc:g:dmQAAOSwy1th8JfM
Confounded whippersnappers, not remembering how Pong worked. I think we can all agree "which way is up" for the Liberty obverse of these coins. Flip the coin over along its horizontal axis, and the reverse is right-side-up, by definition -- unless, of course, there's a rotated die. I guess someone could argue that all of these have a 90-degree rotation, but I say that's an error at the design table, not the production line.
Oh I remember pong, I had it on my Atari 2600. I guess I can buy that as the reason for it. It's not visually appealing to me that way only because it puts the text at a 90 deg. angle. I agree though, design flaw on this....but everyone has an opinion I suppose. edit - after taking another look, I stand by my original statement. It looks to me like the "pong" section is only in the top half and in this orientation it's currently being played vertically based on the position of the ball and paddles. Side note - there's an aracade in NH about an hours drive from me...largest in the world (not sure if it's largest overall or largest classic games). Anyway they have an original stand alone pong unit there encased musuem style. They hold tournaments regularly and many world records have been broken there. I get there usually about once a year for some fun with the kiddies.
Don't know about gaming coins, but would ask the same for everyday U.S. coins. Far too many seem to dis-oriented...not plumb...turned too much right or left of the straight-up plumb line...this changes both sides in most cases, and can have more dramatic (negative) effects depending on the coin. It means little to some, but a lot to others...but why not get it straight for all...? Has to be something with quality control at the TPG, during holdering and final inspection...not aware of how much it means to have straight, or what's straight and what isn't, etc...I dunno. Some say it happens during transit(s), but having cracked a few out I know how secure the retaining rings/prongs are...no way.
Ya I've seen alot like that, almost like they didn't really take thier time getting the coins in there. For the price you pay for grading/slabbing you'd think the coins would be straight. I have a slabbed 1981 Dime I picked up for like $5 and it's slightly off in the holder.
The game being commemorated is NOT Pong. It's correctly oriented on the coin. The 2nd slab above (PCGS) is correct. The why has to do with the mysteries of the NTSC video signal.
Those almost always rotated in the holder when you see it just off especially just off both sides. You can tap the corner of the slab and get it to straighten back up
I've not given it any thought to this matter, but do TPG have a standard that dictates the orientation of coins? I've seen some where the reverse is shown, due to the design being the main focus, while others still display the obverse, no matter what the design. As to the game Pong™, I still have the original, stand alone, Pong game, and it still works! Wonder if I should be protecting it due to possible value? LOL
They do. Any submitter can request they do it the other way, but it is standardized what issues get shown normal and what get show with the reverse forward
You are absolutely correct - it's Video Tennis I think it was called. The mention of Pong up above got it stuck in my head. The display at Funspot is of the game you shared the video of, which thanks for sharing...I've never seen that. I still say it's oriented incorrectly. The "halves" of the coin aren't the halves of the screen on the game. The Paddles circled in red represent the 2 players as shown in the video...1 on the left side of the screen and 1 on the right. The ball circled in blue of courses bounces back and forth. Obviously there's some reason they decided to slab it this way and perhaps this was indeed the designers intent...just in my opinion it makes no sense and is visually unappealing to me. When I get mine, it'll go in the holder 90 degrees from this for sure OH, and the game system he invented was called The Odyssey.
My 2 cents: the lettering needs to be upright in a slabbed coin, so you can read it as it is intended.
A horse is a horse a horse of course unless your Mister TPG then your just an A.. Thanks for the opportunity to give my opinion only!
I said it back then, saying it now again, the design is terrible for all the reasons listed. using 2 different fonts doesn't help either. if they put the lettering upright, the statue of liberty would be sideways if flipped over, it's a no win situation however it's done, and if there is a sight rotation to it, it looks dumb no matter what you do it won't be straight. just a bad design. and it won't be the last of them from the innovation dollars.
Right, totally agree. I'll get one just because the idea is cool and it's my state, etc etc. But I think it's the ONLY one I'll get. I'm not a fan of the golden dollar thing anyway. I have very few presidential dollars and no Sacs
