What's the highest play count you've ever seen on a game?

[Jeff AMN]

Back in the glory days of the arcade scene, it was pretty common for certain games to bring in $15,000 or so before being retired, but I'm sure some must have made significantly more. Many of us here are always on the lookout for some older machines and get the chance to see what kind of money they've raked in over the years.

So, what's the highest count you've ever seen on a coin mech?

I haven't had the chance to check out many machines, but I've seen a Donkey Kong that had over 80,000.

[ChadTower]

Most of the older games I've seen had very unreliable looking counters.

[Jeff AMN]

Yeah, the counts might not be entirely accurate, but it's still probably interesting to know how many quarters a Pac-Man machine in a high traffic area might have crunched.

[horseboy]

I have a Pro Monaco GP with 88,000 on the counter.

[Wade]

One of my VR Twins has almost 200,000 on each coin meter.

Wade

[RayB]

Most of the counters I've seen in old classics had too few digits and probably had rolled over...

Ken Layton's been in this business long enough he can probably give a reliable insight into this... (most operators keep logs for each machine on location)

[horseboy]

One of my VR Twins has almost 200,000 on each coin meter.

Wade

How much was it per play?

[ChadTower]

Most of the classics I've seen had already cut the counter leads off at some point.  It's fairly rare now to get a classic now hasn't had some type of use between being on route and being in your hands.

[Wade]

One of my VR Twins has almost 200,000 on each coin meter.

Wade

How much was it per play?

I have no way of knowing.  Could have been as high as a dollar/play at some point, but I kinda doubt it (early 90's game).  I figure it was probably at $0.50/pay most of its life, maybe $0.75 for part of it.

Wade

[Wade]

Most of the classics I've seen had already cut the counter leads off at some point.  It's fairly rare now to get a classic now hasn't had some type of use between being on route and being in your hands.

FWIW... most of my classics have what appears to be the original coin door and coin counter.  Some, I'm convinced are the original doors/counters because it would be *extremely* difficult to change them (such as on my two VR Twins).

Some are 5 digit, so there's no way to know if it's been rolled over.  I think that with the exception of the very popular, top-10 type of games, most probably didn't roll over.

Wade

[ChadTower]

If it helps, I don't consider anything close to 1992 a classic, and Virtua Racing is a 1992 game.

Most games still have their original coin doors.  What does that have to do with the counter? 

[Wade]

If it helps, I don't consider anything close to 1992 a classic, and Virtua Racing is a 1992 game.

The topic is high counts on a coin meter.  I also mentioned most of my classics have what appear to be original coin doors.  I never said anything about whether or not VR is a classic.    I have several games that aren't classics by anyone's definition.  It just so happens that one of my VR's has much higher numbers than any of my other games, that's why it's mentioned.

Most games still have their original coin doors.  What does that have to do with the counter? 

To be more specific...  When a game appears to be entirely original, the coin door appears never to have been removed, all the original wiring is intact, to remove or disable the coin meter would require disassembling large amounts of the coin door to do it cleanly, and there are no hacks/splices/solder joints...then the assumption would be the coin counter is also original.

If the coin counter is original, it is probably reasonably accurate.  As accurate as possible, given that there's no way to be absolutely certain how many coins really passed through a game, nor whether the counter has rolled over if it's only 5 digits.

Wade

[Fozzy The Bear]

Lets put it this way..... On a modern arcade machine costing between $10,000USD and $100,000 USD (converted from UK Pounds) we expect to break even in a period between 1 and 2 years. they're usually in the arcade for about 3 to 7 years.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[deadkenndys1105]

My millipede has 20,861 plays when I got it.  As far as I know when I got it was the first time it was ever one free play.

[horseboy]

Lets put it this way..... On a modern arcade machine costing between $10,000USD and $100,000 USD (converted from UK Pounds) we expect to break even in a period between 1 and 2 years. they're usually in the arcade for about 3 to 7 years.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

What the hell game cost $100,000?

[Jeff AMN]

Lets put it this way..... On a modern arcade machine costing between $10,000USD and $100,000 USD (converted from UK Pounds) we expect to break even in a period between 1 and 2 years. they're usually in the arcade for about 3 to 7 years.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

What the hell game cost $100,000?

Yeah, if there's not an extra two zeroes there, it's no longer a mystery why the arcades died out.

[RayB]

I think it's a safe bet that if you have a classic, that hasn't been modded in any way, then the coin counter is probably also original and untouched.

BY the way, I did some math and now I think it's unlikely a counter would roll over. A 5 digit counter MAAYYYBE once.

[Hawk Daddy]

My Galaga has a little over 56,000 plays.

Hawk

[danny_galaga]

Lets put it this way..... On a modern arcade machine costing between $10,000USD and $100,000 USD (converted from UK Pounds) we expect to break even in a period between 1 and 2 years. they're usually in the arcade for about 3 to 7 years.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

What the hell game cost $100,000?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wOCmoYU6h1Q

 

[Wade]

I think it's a safe bet that if you have a classic, that hasn't been modded in any way, then the coin counter is probably also original and untouched.

BY the way, I did some math and now I think it's unlikely a counter would roll over. A 5 digit counter MAAYYYBE once.

I tend to agree on the rollover part.  Most of my classics show between 25-50k plays.  I tend to think they're probably pretty accurate.  And I'm guessing they would have switched to a 6 digit counter sooner if many games were rolling them over.

Wade