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Decline of the arcade
Gray_Area:
--- Quote from: sandheaver on April 25, 2013, 09:18:11 pm ---people everywhere get greedy and optimize for the short term gain all the time... It is very hard to see the long term loss when the short term gain is so high, and virtually every product and service offered today is optimized for short term gain, which is much, much smaller than a long-term gain would be...These older games will never really get old...
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I think all this is a bit philosophical...... Main point is: do you enjoy them? Yes? Good, play 'em. ---fudgesicle--- everyone else.
--- Quote from: mcseforsale on April 25, 2013, 02:12:54 pm --- And the beer's cheap.
AJ
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Hopefully just cheap-ER.
rcosner:
--- Quote from: thefox on April 22, 2013, 11:39:17 pm --- I've always said that if I were a multi millionaire I would open an arcade somewhere & fill it with old school games. I would charge a fixed entry fee in return for a bunch of tokens. Maybe it wouldn't guarantee a young, cool crowd, but I think people of a certain age would flock to it, and bring their kids.
Whether I would make any money out of it is questionable. But I can't think of a better way to blow my fortune !
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I have the same goal... unfortunately it requires wining the lottery.
sandheaver:
--- Quote from: rcosner on April 29, 2013, 04:00:51 pm ---
--- Quote from: thefox on April 22, 2013, 11:39:17 pm --- I've always said that if I were a multi millionaire I would open an arcade somewhere & fill it with old school games. I would charge a fixed entry fee in return for a bunch of tokens. Maybe it wouldn't guarantee a young, cool crowd, but I think people of a certain age would flock to it, and bring their kids.
Whether I would make any money out of it is questionable. But I can't think of a better way to blow my fortune !
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I have the same goal... unfortunately it requires wining the lottery.
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There's an arcade just like this in Chicagoland. $15 gets you in for a day, and all machines are set to free play. 384 games currently available for play.
http://gallopingghostarcade.com/
mgb:
Are you saying that the arcade is now declining? I thought that happened back in the later 80s and 90s
--- Quote from: paigeoliver on April 25, 2013, 04:44:43 pm ---
--- Quote from: mamenewb100 on April 21, 2013, 01:09:45 pm ---
--- Quote from: Fursphere on April 21, 2013, 11:07:15 am ---Ticket redemption games make countless times more money than straight coin-op video games.
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That hits the nail on the head. It's not so much that people aren't interested in playing coin-up games anymore, it's that greed and simplicity has taken precedence over innovation. The game operators figure why put a Pacman in my game room that makes 100 dollars a day and gives people more play time per play, when I can put the "skill" claw games in that give players only a few seconds per play and makes 10 times more money. It's not all on the game operators though. They are almost forced to go for the highest profits possible in todays economy just to stay in business.
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More like why put a Pac-Man in the game room that makes $3 a day.
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Very true Paige although I think the $3 a day is still a bit generous of a number.
point is, the arcades day has been long gone / evolved.
Things come and go. its not really a question of greed, its business. When Nolan Bushnell first placed that test Pong in a Sunnyvale pub, it was business and when "Insert your favorite arcade name here" closed their doors, it was business (or lack there of).
Roller skating is still fun but you don't see many roller skating rinks staying in business either.
whether we like it or not, things change.
I for one love classic games (though I suck at them) and I continue to play at home and every year I get up to my favorite classic arcade, The Funspot in New Hampshire
thefox:
Ah yes, mtb, but the fact that the funspot exists in New Hampshire and that people like you travel to go there, probably proves that there IS still a customer base for classic arcades.
You are lucky - at least you have such a place to visit. Here in the uk (as in many other parts of the world), we have no classic arcades left at all. Having arcade cabs at home is still not the same as the social atmosphere provided by the true arcades.
Things change. But sometimes things also go in cycles. There was a time when everyone turned our backs on arcades because of the rise of home gaming. Yet now, if for no other reason than nostalgia and retro-trends, I can't help but think a classic arcade could, over time, pay for itself.