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

[Flake]

While we're talking about buying cabs, does anyone know what an MVS 4 or 6 slot cab should cost, assuming there are not any valuable carts installed?

[zxqdms]

Are there any top fighting game players near you? People that appear regular on tournaments streams. If so, I think you should try to contact them and try to get them to be regulars at your arcade. People would want to come out and to try beating a top player.

[fastbilly1]

What city are you in that this wouldn't work?

It's a very uptight city, and that's putting it lightly.

We haven't had a Rock station stay in this town, because every time one springs up, the religious fundamentalists will do everything in their power to get them to move to another city. Our civic center/stadium has also barred all manner of popular musical performers from showing up short of contemporary Christian. And no - this isn't an exaggeration.

Did John Lithgow outlaw dancing there too?

For learning about how arcade games work, there are a couple books, but I think the best strategy is to ask on BYOAC. Those guys know everything about every arcade game ever made. That or PM Majors, he knows more than anyone I have met personally - and he is a good guy.

As for cheap cabs = auctions. Ive been to a couple where I picked up SF2 cabs for $25-50 in working condition, but with 13 inch monitors and needing new sticks/buttons. I ofcourse swapped out the buttons and sold them for $150-200 but that is a different story.

[the7k]

For learning about how arcade games work, there are a couple books, but I think the best strategy is to ask on BYOAC. Those guys know everything about every arcade game ever made. That or PM Majors, he knows more than anyone I have met personally - and he is a good guy.

As for cheap cabs = auctions. Ive been to a couple where I picked up SF2 cabs for $25-50 in working condition, but with 13 inch monitors and needing new sticks/buttons. I ofcourse swapped out the buttons and sold them for $150-200 but that is a different story.

Yeah, I've got Project Arcade and have been reading a lot. Of course, its about MAME arcades, but you just have to take what you can get. I've also been following Arcade Repair Tips, which has also been a very valuable resource.

Also, I'll definitely be attending some arcade auctions very soon. The Game Heroes did a vid on arcade auctions - apparently, Handsome Tom of ScrewAttack got a fully functional Neo Geo 4-Slot cabinet w/ 4 games already in it for $40. Sweet deal.

[Erik_Twice]

You should ask the people on the Killer List of Videogames. A lot fo posters there own arcades or work on them.

I considered very seriously to open an arcade so I did a lot of research:

FIGHTERS

I recommend against fighters very strongly. They are very expensive machines and you won't make the money back before they release a new version of the game. I doubt you will be able to attract a fanbase since players will prefer to play from home for free and just show up for tournaments, tournaments that you can run on the home versions.


I think the focus should be on being able to spend an afternoon there without spending too much money. Around here no matter how much you love the games, you simply can't stay around for long because there are not enough games or too many similar games. Staying for longuer means more money for you.

Consider that people should be able to sit somewhere if you want them to stay a while.

Dance Machines

Dance Machines are quite profitable and tend to attract a good fanbase if you take care of the machine. I think that just a couple of posts on certain boards and hosting a tournament will give your machine a lot of plays.

There are three choices: Dance Dance Revolution, Pump it Up and In the Groove 2.

DDR is the most well-known and most popular and it's pad layout makes it easy for newbies. The machines are the most expensive of the three costing around 13K if I recall correctly.

PIU is not as well known but is very cheap, probably around a third of what DDR costs and older cabs can be bought for cheap and then upgraded. They are not as good for newbies as they don't have buttons for navigating the menu and the pad layout is not as intuitive but it appeals a lot more to hardcore players with missions and very hard songs.

ITG is a dead franchise and the music is pretty damn bad. Why is it an option then? Well, because it runs on Stepmania and you can add any song you want to the game (Yes, that includes the very own songs on the other two games if you really feel evil). It has a very hardcore following because of that but remember than it's a dead game and it will eventually dissapear once and for all.

Of those three I recommend DDR the most as DDR X2 is a very good mix and the difficulty increased a lot so the difference to PIU is not that huge for most of the players anymore. However you MUST get the latest cab, as it's the only one with good pads. DDR X had horrible pads released in the US and older mixes require you to stomp to play something that leads to broken pads more often and once you get used to DDRX2 pads you don't go back because they are so much better.

If you want more information and see what competition you would have in your arcade check zeniusIvanisher.com and bemanistyle.com

In the end, I think you can win the entire community just by offering some kind of discount for those who come back and by keeping the pads clean. This people are used to being told no when they offer to run tournaments and clean the machine for them so treating them well surely will win you many players.

OTHER MUSIC GAMES

If you want me to be harsh, don't, at least at first. They are expensive and you will need to import them. And the ones that don't are expensive and dead.

RACING GAMES

I think that the biggest mistakes most arcade makes is getting waaay too many racing games. Stick to a big setup (Since the bigger the setup is, the most it attracts people) and a small setup as an alternative. You can get another game that doesn't adhere to the genre conventions like Crazy Taxi, tough.


LIGHT GUN GAMES

I don't know if you hace checked the prices but HotD and Time Crisis are INCREDIBLY expensive. Choose wisely because they can suck all your budget.

CLASSICS

I will be harsh. There are lots of good classic games but if they aren't well known or don't have any feature that attracts non-gamers they will see little play and repairing them is no easy task.

The good side is that for the price of House of the Dead 4 you can fill an entire room.

I recommend you to make a list and ask yourself if they are going to be played. Metal Slug and Galaga will be busy but I can't say the same about Time Pilot or Defender as good as they might be.

In my research I found these are not very good ideas:

Defender
Q*Bert
Missile Command
Qix
Gorf
OutRun
Burgertime
Xevious
Dragon's Lair (nightmare to mantain, tough I heard there was an aniversary release that runs on a hard drive)
Xevious (Too slow)
Vector games except, perhaps, Tempest
Space Invaders (Galaga is better and easier to mantain)

Those are good games that I really didn't consider at first:

Arkanoid (Cheap JAMMA board)
Vs. Super Mario Bros (Yes, that's an arcade version and it's cheap IIRC)
Wizard of Wor (Not well known but I have found that two player games are key and how it plays is very attractive and easy to understand)
Nibbler (Mobile phones brought back this one)

Anyways, good luck. Try to combine your gaming knowledge with a cold, corporate mind.

[the7k]

@Norris
Appreciate the post, glad to see the time and dedication you put into it.

I think avoiding fighters would be a bad idea - avoiding the most recent fighters, on the other hand, yeah, I can feel that. I don't plan to use fighters that are extremely recent (unless I can get a good deal or there's some guarantee that the arcade version will stick around long enough to make the money back before a console version), but instead plan to stick to using evergreen titles. SSF2T, SF3:TS, Garou, Samurai Shodown 2, MVC2, CVS2 - stuff that is old, but not outdated. I've seen just about every single one of those go for less than $500 (some for much less), and they'd keep me stable. Sure, they wouldn't be generating buzz the same way as a TTT2 cabinet, but they also wouldn't even approach being $25k.

One way I plan to have a healthy fighter selection is by having multiple 4-slot Neo Geos. At least three of them. This way, I can have at least one fighter in each cab, but also have plenty of alternatives like Magical Drop, Metal Slug, Twinkle Star Sprites, Bomberman.

Another reason I feel a large number of Neo Geos is necessary is
A) Region Free. Japanese carts are easy and cheap to come by.
B) Neo Geo has a lot of history with my area. Samurai Shodown actually dwarfed Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter in popularity for a while, and a Neo Geo could be found just about anywhere - restaurants, department stores, drug stores - heck, I even remember one in a dentist's office as a kid.
C) We've had a large number of Spanish-speaking residents come into the area (Heck, the most recent arcade was actually founded by a Mexican family), and SNK is very popular with them - something I learned while working at GameStop.

Obviously, I can't go too crazy with them because of how easy they are to emulate, but still, would like to have a decent representation.

I have heard that DDR X2 is the preferred version, and I have been searching for one. Unfortunately, they are pretty expensive. I know I need one, but I'm thinking this is something I'll have to get at an auction. I definitely don't doubt the importance, though.

As for racing games, I'm not sure what to get, honestly. I have no idea what is popular. This is going to require a lot of research, because again, I've gotta go for bang-for-buck before I get caught up in buying the $25k machines.

Light-Gun games are one of those things I feel are essential because it's an experience that can't be (easily) emulated at home. As far as I know, no version of Silent Scope has actually had a rifle to go with it. Heck, a great number of Light-Gun games never even saw a console port. Just, again, I'll go with the a cheap auction-bought Time Crisis 2 before I consider buying the latest HotD directly from Sega.

And yeah, I definitely don't plan to get the retro games that won't get played, unless I can get one of those multi-cades. BMI has an officially licensed cab that has 100+ classics in it (and they aren't all bad - Space Invaders, Kung Fu, and BurgerTime were there) along with the latest Golden Tee. Golden Tee always gets play, so the classic games would just be icing on the cake.

Other than that, I'd also like to get one of Namco's official anniversary multi-cades, as well as at least one Nintendo title, like Donkey Kong or VS Super Mario Bros as you mentioned. Really wish other companies would do the retro multi-cade idea - could you imagine a Capcom CPS1 collection? Would be amazing.

[Erik_Twice]

I think avoiding fighters would be a bad idea - avoiding the most recent fighters, on the other hand, yeah, I can feel that.

Yeah. Those old fighters are always good to have around. You can have SSF2T or CE for very little (Like 50/60€ for the board) and put it inside any random cab.

One way I plan to have a healthy fighter selection is by having multiple 4-slot Neo Geos. At least three of them. This way, I can have at least one fighter in each cab, but also have plenty of alternatives like Magical Drop, Metal Slug, Twinkle Star Sprites, Bomberman.

I didn't know Bomberman was released on Neo Geo

I have heard that DDR X2 is the preferred version, and I have been searching for one. Unfortunately, they are pretty expensive. I know I need one, but I'm thinking this is something I'll have to get at an auction. I definitely don't doubt the importance, though.

As for racing games, I'm not sure what to get, honestly. I have no idea what is popular. This is going to require a lot of research, because again, I've gotta go for bang-for-buck before I get caught up in buying the $25k machines.

The most important thing you should consider is the graphics. If they look bad, they won't be played (Daytona, for example).

I think that when I researched mine I decided for Wangan Tokio Midnight (big setup) and OutRun 2SP (2 players setup).

This allows people to play a big race or duel against a friend without other players around, the two things people tend to look for.

Wangan is expensive but I found it very popular. Having a big setup also means it's likely you can win several races so you can play more. And if your friend wins a race and gets another free play, you will probably play to keep playing with him.

It also has a story mode and stuff that works well to keep people playing on the machine until rivals appear. Machines with people playing in them are more likely to get other players interested.

Just, again, I'll go with the a cheap auction-bought Time Crisis 2 before I consider buying the latest HotD directly from Sega.

A note: HotD III while fun and cheaper than IV while having good graphics by much has feeble shotguns and you will repair them constantly.

And yeah, I definitely don't plan to get the retro games that won't get played, unless I can get one of those multi-cades.

Multis are not without problems: They remove the impulse play of "Hey, look, a Tetris machine" and make everything feel a bit artificial. Around here many arcades have multis with all the good games you can think of (pirate MAME yaargh!) and they see no play because people passing by don't even try to see what that cab contains.

However when the cab gets stuck inside a game, be it Pang or Joust, people are inmediatedly attracted.

I think that maximizing the chances of people being attracted to a game is key because if one plays, the group will probably play something too.

For example, imagine a group of around 6 people of both sexes entering your arcade. What would they do? How would they behave and what would they play?

I tried to get two players as soon as possible because if you get only one, social preassure may lead to just a game being played before they leave. If you get two players busy the group "splits" and the rest of the gang will probably decide to play something else if they take long.

The key is to have different kinds of games at a glance from one another, without having to move. If the girls playing Pang can know with just turning around where their Street Fighter friends are they are more likely to relax and keep playing.

Getting them to stay really makes a difference. Give two credits per coin (Not a credit at half the price), a game not being played doesn't earn you money so why not give the players some extra playing time? No machine other than DDR is going to be so full that you lose money by giving them an extra credit.

People playing work like restaurants, if a restaurant has more people in it, it's more likely more people get in. If people play, more people will start playing. Win-Win.


Also consider that arcade games...are hard. Very hard. Lower the difficulty and give more men. If you don't even make it out of the first stage you won't have fun and if you don't have fun, you won't come back or keep spending money.

along with the latest Golden Tee. Golden Tee always gets play, so the classic games would just be icing on the cake.

I have heard that you Americans are crazy with that game and many operators say that it's a good investment.

Other than that, I'd also like to get one of Namco's official anniversary multi-cades,

The ones that have Galaga/PacMan? Those are nice but you should ask yourself if the hassle of repairing the old classics is worth the price difference (You can get each original cab for around 600$ and the multicades cost 2 or 3K IIRC)

as well as at least one Nintendo title, like Donkey Kong or VS Super Mario Bros as you mentioned.

I would take exactly those two Nintendo titles.

In the end, I think that the best titles for an arcade are:

Pang
Puzzle Bubble
Tetris

Hope it helps! =P

[the7k]

Ya know, I was seriously wondering what you meant by 'Pang'... then I look it up and realize it's Buster Bros. Hell yes, I loved that game. Never understood why it didn't get popular around here, but I loved it.

Ya know, I'd kinda like to get a PlayChoice 10 (especially if I could get Shatterhand, God I love that game), seeing as it's like a Neo Geo except with even more recognizable games... but man, they are so expensive. Maybe I should ask Nathan how he got his. (Too bad they never made Donkey Kong for the PlayChoice.)

The Namco cab I was referring to is one that includes Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Galaga, Galaga '88, Bosconian, Dig Dug, Dragon Spirit, Galaxian, Mappy, Rally X, Rolling Thunder and Xevious. Lack of Ms. Pac-Man is pretty disappointing, but I think Pac-Man, Galaga and Dig Dug would make it worth it.

Yeah, I remember looking at that Wangan set-up before. Looks impressive, for sure. Good idea to limit it to one big set up and a smaller alternative. Although, the 'big' set-up I'd really like to have is this one.

But a dream...

[Erik_Twice]

Ya know, I was seriously wondering what you meant by 'Pang'... then I look it up and realize it's Buster Bros. Hell yes, I loved that game. Never understood why it didn't get popular around here, but I loved it.

Wow, it isn't popular in the US? Around here girls LOVE that game. Mobile phones and that stuff has a lot to do with it.

The Namco cab I was referring to is one that includes Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Galaga, Galaga '88, Bosconian, Dig Dug, Dragon Spirit, Galaxian, Mappy, Rally X, Rolling Thunder and Xevious. Lack of Ms. Pac-Man is pretty disappointing, but I think Pac-Man, Galaga and Dig Dug would make it worth it.

Nah, in the end the people that will play Pac Man will do it because it's well-known not because of the gameplay.

How muh does this cab cost?

Although, the 'big' set-up I'd really like to have is this one.

But a dream...

Are Mario Kart cabs rare in the US? Around here they are very common.

The Play-choice 10 is a SNES in arcade clothing, no?

[AmishSamurai]

I haven't looked through the thread except this last page, but I'd agree with having a few MVS systems and some multicades to cover a lot of ground. I know nothing about DDR, so I can't help you there. However, I'd suggest silent scope 2, as well as crazy taxi.