CoinTalk Members Play 'Follow The Leader,' Posting Coins That Share a Theme
On the CoinTalk forum, member lordmarcovan started a themed posting game called "Follow The Leader." Each player posts a coin, token or medal that fits the theme set by the person before, and a player who matches the theme may post a second item to set a new one.
Correction (Oct 13, 2026): We shortened and rewrote the headline, summary and body to match the source, a CoinTalk forum thread. We removed unsupported claims (that the game is reshaping collecting culture or the market, its effects on knowledge sharing and price discovery, background on gold prices, grading services and coins as investments, and market outlooks), and described only the rules and the first posts, as stated by the forum members. The previous headline was "'Follow The Leader': How a Themed Posting Game Reshapes Coin Collecting Culture."
This article is based only on a thread on CoinTalk, an online forum for coin collectors. The source does not show the dates of the posts. What follows is how the posters described their items; the items have not been checked for authenticity or value.
On CoinTalk, a member named lordmarcovan started a themed posting game called "Follow The Leader." Each player posts an item that fits the theme set by the person before.
How the game works
Any coin, token or medal can be used, "ancient or modern, dated or not." If someone posts a coin with a bird on it and declares the theme to be "birds," the next person has to post a coin, medal or token with a bird on it. A player who posts an item that fits the theme may then post a second item to start a new theme.
lordmarcovan asked players to keep the themes simple, giving examples such as "birds," "animals," "aircraft," "lions," "mythical beasts," "coins with holes in the middle" and "non-round coins."
If nobody follows a theme within 24 hours, anyone may post a new theme. A rule added later says that if a player follows the leader but does not choose a new theme, the game continues with the same theme.
The first posts
To show how the game works, lordmarcovan posted a recent purchase, described in the post as a silver "Lion & Sun" dirham of Kaykhusraw II of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum, AH 638 (1240-1241 AD), and set the theme as "lions." As an example of following that theme, lordmarcovan then posted a silver half-thaler of Zurich, Switzerland, dated 1739. Next, lordmarcovan posted a bronze Civil War token of the "Our Little Monitor" type, dated 1863, and set the next theme as "ships."
Other members joined. According to their posts, the themes continued as follows:
- Collect89 followed "ships" with the Bluenose ship and set the next theme as eagles. - lordmarcovan followed "eagles" with a gold 5-dollar half-eagle, Liberty Head type, 1842-D, then posted an 1847 Liberia copper cent and set the next theme as trees. - Volante followed "trees" with a 1963 Canada Voyageur Dollar, then posted an 1882 Italy 20 Lire and set the next theme as mustaches.
The theme later moved to holes and then flowers. After flowers, Steve66 named a theme written as "Loins," and Hiddendragon followed with lions. The theme then moved to rhinos and large cats. In the last post in the source, Dave M posted a "Uruguay Panther" and named chickens as the next theme.
Source: CoinTalk, "'Follow The Leader' coin thread BY THEME (for ALL types of coins, tokens, and medals)".
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