I vote for free play.
No way. Part of the arcade experience (for me anyway) is when you've got 3 frantic seconds to fetch another quarter to continue your game. Hitting a free-play button changes that dynamic completely.
I also need the sound of the coin traversing the mech and plink-plunking into the coin box.
I had free-play buttons on CP originally, but they came off for the reasons above.
Mozee: I use a plastic casino coin bucket full of quarters and tokens and it sits next to the cabinet. I don't ask guests to pay out of their pocket. Sometimes you have to dive for the bucket when Warrior needs food badly...
Agreed. Not that a cab can't still be fun and amazing with or without currency, but c'mon, the quarters/tokens/credits, "survival" and scoring element was an inseparable part of the arcade experience for me. Letting people play with no sort of limited credits on the line takes away one of the most important parts of the arcades. Where's the fun and challenge if people can just keep continuing with nothing to lose? It's playing Poker with no chips.
Especially if you plan on putting your cab in a guest room environment with house parties and things in mind like I have planned, free credits is just asking for trouble. No doubt some people will abuse it and just won't get up lol. Just the thought of some idiot punchin in 100 credits, playing from start to finish with unlimited lives, and making a complete joke out of some of my favorite and most challenging games makes me cringe.
And hey, of course just the sound of the coin traveling through the mech, clicking the switch, and dropping into the box. Jingling and shuffling your coins waiting for your turn at the cab. The rush you get trying to get as far as you can with just two or four coins in your pocket. Desperately digging in your coat, jacket, jeans for another credit while the continue screen starts counting down. The motivation of doing better next time when you run out of your coins.
Aaaaah the joy of the arcades. You can't recreate that with a free credit button lol. Once again, it's like Poker with a nice deck of chips in front you. Even if its purely aesthetic, there's just no substitute. It doesn't feel right without it.