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| mcdo15:
this is a great topic.. i think the main reason why arcades are on the way out is the home console and online genere... i remember when i was young and going to the mall late night, you have to wait on a line to play your favorite game (every game no matter what game was being used)..now i can walk into blockbuster and rent it or EBGAMES, trade in and old game and get somthing newer. |
| Hoagie_one:
the arcades that used to work had tourneys and special crap going on all the time. They'd get clowns and ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- on the weekends for the kiddies and a pizza place inside, so people can eat. They also had a pool hall \ Bar next door which had a connecting door. Bar is big cash cow when mixed with an amusment area. Sadly, its not about video games as much as its about ticket games. Sigh |
| Lilwolf:
I personally think that an arcade near a mall could do well with 'free' games. IE, a parent checks in their kids. And they get free games until the check them out. So parents can pay for their kids to be entertained while their parents shop. But this would require a bunch of older cheap games... Maybe make some games take quarters... some just have buttons or tokens. And tokens are given away if they are in there by hour. Or something to make it more then just an Arcade. PoolHalls... but they are expensive. Bar... another can of worms. Skiball... paying someone to give away crap. laundrymat? I like the idea... but it would depend on the area. Online Console games perhour? Great way to play some games. Coffee house? Probably not... Massage / Whore house? I would go... Especially if you have classic games... I don't know... I would like to see |
| RayB:
My advice... Listen to what Xiaou2 and D-Zoot posted. They seem to speak from experience. And what I would come away with from that is find a different business otherwise you're in for a world of pain. Like ANY business, you need to research and write up a business plan. A business plan isn't an optimistic list of reasons why you'll succeed. A business plan is a realistic document that outlines all the realities of what you're going to face and get out of it. If you do your homework right, I bet you'll find out that it's a really risky venture fraught with more obstacles than not. Here in Toronto (biggest city in Canada, or 2nd biggest?) Sega had opened up a "Playdium" amusement center right smack downtown. It was right in the middle of the "club district", so it had the adult audience right at its door. It was also right on the same block as the Paramount movieplex, so it had the movie-goers as its audience too. They had a bar in the top floor, motion games, traditional games, multiplayer linked up games and some traditional games. Air hockey, pool tables too. No redemption games though (that I remember?). You'd think it was ideally suited to succeed. Well guess what? It lasted maybe 2 years. People used to go to the arcade as something to do. Now, people don't. Just remember that. Classics can be played at home. The best 3D games can be played at home. People go out for things they can't get at home, and that's food, movies on the big screen, drinking, socializing, sports activities, etc. The fact that you'd be in a low-income area is a problem too. Games are something people are supposed to spend disposable income on. Setting yourself up in an area where no one has disposable income is going to A. make no money and B. invite theft and other undesirable elements. You mentioned upper-class goes to the mall there. But do you think they will feel right leaving the mall to go next door, when the neighborhood isn't so hot? I doubt it. People with money to spend like to feel safe. Other things I'd research are local and state laws about amusement devices. I know in most cities (Toronto especially) there were so many laws, restrictions and permits required that it made it impossible to open new arcades, and eventually it squeezed out the existing ones. I only know of 1 left and I haven't even set foot in there in the last 4 years. Good luck, and let us know what you decide. ~Ray B. |
| fredster:
I dabble in the arcade business. I have a few machines out. It's seasonal, and it's been really bad for a while. There are more and more people getting out of the business because of various reasons. Getting sued because of faulty equipment, destruction and theft, and plain expense of keeping the equipment running. There are very few manufacturers of arcade machines in the world now. IT games are still poplular, but otherwise, the market is dying. However they still survive in Movie Theaters, some gas stations, and spots here and there in laundrymats. But as far as I can tell, you can't make a good living at it anymore. Too many Xboxes. The new model is the cybercafe type atmosphere/coffee house and the chuckie cheeses type model. They still make money. In the cyber cafe model you have computers that can play licenced games. There's one in Paducka Kentucky. You pay a $3.00 an hour fee to play. The other is the token model like Chuckie Cheeses. Sell package deals with tokens. People don't let their kids run about like they did 20 years ago. Kids are a lot meaner than they were 20 years ago too. They have all the games they want at home. 20 years ago you didn't have home video games. So it has to be flashy for the kids now. For kids to pay to play the game must be very interesting. For adults, it had to be nostalgic or cards and gambling. Consider this, there are probably lots of good economic reasons there isn't more arcades. Likely for the same reason there are very few full service gas stations that pump the gas and clean your windshield too. They don't make as much money as they used to. |
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