So, I'm thinking about opening an arcade...

[Erik_Twice]

Where is this arcade going to be located?
And will you pay for my living expenses so I can come work for you?

Living expenses? Are you one of those inferior beings that can't survive only on videogames? What a shame....

[brunoafh]

Decided to take a trip to the closest arcade around here, to basically scope out the competition. While an hour and thirty minutes is a long time to drive to me, it's actually what a lot of the arcade gamers around here have to do.

So, I finally got to play a lot of the games that I've only heard about until now. Got to play Terminator Salvation - and honestly, found it really disappointing. Maybe it gets better later on, but at $1.25 per play, I wasn't willing to spend more cash to find out. It was especially disappointing compared to Namco's Razing Storm, which basically did everything Salvation tried to do except 10x better.

In fact, after trying out a ton of the games there, I came to realize something: Namco owns the arcade. Between Razing Storm, Dead Heat and Tank! Tank! Tank!, I feel fairly confident that I could look to Namco for the majority of my modern arcade consoles and it would work out pretty damn well.

As for the diversity of genres... well, there wasn't any. It was nothing but Driving games, Shooting games, and Redemption games. Of course, I realize this is what makes money now, but it was just a real shame there wasn't anything else to choose from. Not even a multi-cade.

Yeah, Terminator: Salvation is pretty much shit if you ask me. I tried it out a few times and quickly went back to the Time Crisis 3 cab.

There's actually an arcade/game store local to me that has only retro-game cabs and does pretty damn well considering. It's a pretty awesome place to go.

I know what you mean though, for the most part, every arcade I walk into is nothing but driving and shooting games. It sucks.

[the7k]

Para: No where close to Canada, I'm afraid.

brunoafh: This retro-arcade - is there any sort of gimmick that you know of that's helping pull people in? How do they charge? Do you know what machines tend to always have people on them, or what machines really stick out? What's their name?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I try to find out everything about the success stories. Getting information from the owners is like pulling teeth, but if they have a website or contact information, that's worth a shot, too.

And yeah, I'm really disappointed by Terminator Salvation. I can't believe that's one of the best earning games out there right now. I guess it's just the license, but I thought Terminator lost a lot of its power over the years.

[brunoafh]

brunoafh: This retro-arcade - is there any sort of gimmick that you know of that's helping pull people in? How do they charge? Do you know what machines tend to always have people on them, or what machines really stick out? What's their name?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I try to find out everything about the success stories. Getting information from the owners is like pulling teeth, but if they have a website or contact information, that's worth a shot, too.

And yeah, I'm really disappointed by Terminator Salvation. I can't believe that's one of the best earning games out there right now. I guess it's just the license, but I thought Terminator lost a lot of its power over the years.

Well, they just recently turned into this arcade-type place. Before they were just a trading card/retro game store (they sell old systems, and games PS2-era and under). I walked in one day and noticed they had a Play-Choice 10 cab and a Galaga cab. They've slowly amassed more since. The Play-Choice 10 one is being used pretty often, that's probably their stand out one at the time.

I think the success factor is that they already have an installed customer base. Like 5 or 6 years ago this place was an anime/manga store, but they always held gaming tournaments and had a little gaming room with DDR and a few consoles hooked up to TVs. Then it changed to a game place outright, with the whole trading card game thing going on. Now, according to the site, the cabs are doing well enough to warrant buying more, and getting rid of the trading card tables in place of more cabs. This is the place's site: http://robotcitygames.com/blog/

As for the financial side of things, I'm sure they make a lot of money off their game trades/sales. It's not only an arcade. They only charge 25 cents a pop though, which is the real cool part.

I think a big part of why Terminator: Salvation is doing so well is that the machine is huge and really flashy looking, and the guns are pretty damn big. That kind of thing just... appeals to people, real attention grabber. People might have nostalgia for the old-school Terminator 2 game too.

[the7k]

I'm so happy to finally have X-Men vs Street Fighter home. Works great, too. Unfortunately, it turns out the van rental + gas was just as expensive as it was to just ship the machine by freight, so I'm thinking I'm not going to be doing that again.

Now I just need to pick up Gauntlet: Dark Legacy.

[Hobie-wan]

Unfortunately, it turns out the van rental + gas was just as expensive as it was to just ship the machine by freight, so I'm thinking I'm not going to be doing that again.

Well, depending on the time it took you, you weren't waiting around for someone else to deliver it and you didn't have to trust that someone else would carefully ship it and not drive like a maniac.

[the7k]

Unfortunately, it turns out the van rental + gas was just as expensive as it was to just ship the machine by freight, so I'm thinking I'm not going to be doing that again.

Well, depending on the time it took you, you weren't waiting around for someone else to deliver it and you didn't have to trust that someone else would carefully ship it and not drive like a maniac.

Yeah, I guess that's true. And really, it would have cost less if whoever rented the van before me had filled it up after dropping it off like they were supposed to. Ended up spending $75 on gas before I even got on the highway.

[thatdanGguy]

check out this guys site:
http://arcadeheroes.com/

He reports on new games and trade shows in the industry as well as his own trials and tribulations of running an arcade. It's fun to hear him talk about getting new cabs and setting them up, like a SSFAE and some new gun game, but also sad, as even though he himself likes retro games, he laments that they aren't the best earners.

Also another thing to watch out for and I don't know if others have mentioned this is local regulations on your hours of operation. I know a local Pasadena arcade was shut down/driven out of business by the city due to restrictions placed on their hours of business. ie they could not be open later than 10pm. They said it attracted trouble makers and gang members, but anyone that actually was there knows that is far from the truth. You also need certain licenses/permits to operate coin-op machinery once it goes over 5 machines or so (at least in so-cal, from what I've heard). Good luck man, I hope you are still trying to do this, it is also a dream of mine!

btw, I have almost that same xmen vs street fighter cab. hehe. love that machine. although i've since added in a naomi 2 mobo and a STV.

[the7k]

Yeah, I've actually been going to arcadeheroes a good bit. Shaggy has been more helpful than anyone else when it comes to the arcade business.

The whole reason I'm planning to do a 'pay-by-the-minute' set-up is to avoid the absurd licensing fees for machines in this state. Basically, I don't have to pay the fees so long as the machines are on freeplay - so, set the machines on freeplay and charge by the minute instead (like most gaming cafes have been doing), and I'll be in the clear. (At least, that's what my Department of Revenue rep told me.) Doing this would also allow me to easily integrate consoles and gaming PCs into the mix, without it getting complicated.

Speaking of consoles, I wonder if I can get console kiosks in a much easier fashion that just hoping to find one on eBay at a decent price.

[eSPy]

Speaking of consoles, I wonder if I can get console kiosks in a much easier fashion that just hoping to find one on eBay at a decent price.

i suppose the DIY approach is always an option, or have someone make one for you
this one is pretty sweet:
http://digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106386

and this site is great for all the DIY arcade goodness
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm