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Ideas for my upcoming commercial arcade.

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DaOld Man:
I say go for it.
We need to bring the arcade back..
I thought about doing the same when I retire from my real job here in a couple of years.
I too would like to know more about those taxes.
(As if we aint paying enough tax as it is.)

SavannahLion:
 :dunno

Whatever floats your boat I guess.

Somehow you need to entice the adult element. Kids are great, but I'm not sure that, if I was an arcade owner, I would enjoy seeing the classic get beat up. Of course, I'm the kind of person that gets really irritated when friends, pizza, and the game console are all in the same room.

Anyhow... looking at a the few successful running arcades I know of.

Forgo coinage entirely. Kids don't seem to get dropping coins through the slot. Teaching the seven year old that four quarters == one dollar is not an easy task. One place here has refillable "credit" cards. A small fee for the card itself plus whatever to fill it up. The kids, especially the young ones, caught on to using the card, fast. They caught on so quick, that most of them figured out how to check card balances on any cabinet. They also burned through the credits faster than I ever did at their age. The system could also allow all day passes ($50 gets you unlimited play for example), discounted memberships (pay for a years worth of membership and get 6 credits for every $1 on the card), etc.

Offer the adults something other than arcades. I believe that despite the fact that the early gamers are now adults, we're very far from the point of every adult playing games. Sell Beer/Wine? Offer daycare? Offer package deals where mom/dad buy junior a game card and mom/dad get a freebie from some store you've partnered with? The Daycare option might work well, but I'm not sure of the logistics of mixing people who are in the daycare and those who aren't.

Consoles. I hate to say it, but consoles seem to be a real cash cow. Tournaments, etc, seem to be how a lot of game related businesses stay afloat. One thing that always irritated me about consoles is how every place seems to have them set up. Long folding tables with TV's, and folding chairs. WTF? That's so 90's. Consoles beg to be played best from a nice squishy couch, beanbag chair, or thick carpet. Toss around some beanbags, enclose your consoles in an acrylic box with a nice TV on top (or on the wall) and security measures for the controllers to prevent theft (deposit for instance). Charge flat rates per hour, game or whatever.

In this day and age, I have a hard time finding a local arcade that doesn't offer food. eg All-you-can-eat pizza.

Singapura:
I love the idea of a classic arcade but unless you have a boatload of money (like Nolan Bushnell),a very solid reputation (like Funspot) or a unique proposition (like being a museum) it will be very difficult operating a commercially viable, dedicated classic arcade.

You might want to think about operating as a restaurant with an arcade on the side or, if you have a collection of mint classic cabs, operate as an arcade museum. I don't think young kids will be your main market group because most of them have Xbox 360's and the like and won't spend a lot of money after the novelty wears off. That leaves the "older" group that will come in because of the atmosphere. You need to recreate that atmosphere as closely as possible to draw in people from further away than a few blocks. An alternative is a "themed" restaurant or bar like Hard Rock cafe but with arcade memorabilia instead of music stuff. How about a sports bar?

Even in the old days the local arcade had to rotate machines and bring in new ones frequently. The new machines nowadays are big and expensive (just look at the cost of a Tekken 6 machine!) and you want to stick to the classics. That leaves you with a dwindling supply. I would suggest talking to the owner of an existing arcade like Funspot.

Off course if you have the money and aren't depending on revenue from your business then go for it  :cheers: Make sure you have a Star wars cockpit  :applaud:

pointdablame:

--- Quote from: Coin_Op on June 24, 2008, 12:04:37 am ---
Wow, I thought bringing back an arcade as a good thing.


--- End quote ---

It's a wonderful idea, but this is not the place to really gauge the reality of it.  We here would LOVE to see it, but realisically, it's not going to work.

The arcade era is dead and its not likely to ever return.  If you're lucky you'd get a nice 6 month to one year span where the novelty of the new arcade will be fresh and you'll do ok, but I'd guess after that it's all downhill.  If you take some of the suggestions above about alcohol or daycare you open yourself up to so much more regulations/taxation/insurance/liability concerns that you'll bury yourself in bills before you even open the door.

You also have to realize that even though a school likely means kids will be in there often, they're not likely to drop $50 in there everyday.  Kids will hang out with their friends and spend a few bucks on games if you're lucky.

I say don't do it -- unless you really enjoy losing money. 

TOK:
The arcade has to be a sideline, it won't support itself. You need to have food or a liquor license to actually make money. If you're lucky the games will be break even proposition. The arcades like Funspot and Ground Kontrol that survive are basically "lightning strikes" type of propositions. You can probably count the amount of those surviving on your fingers.

As much as I'd like to see another successful arcade, the standalone version is one of the least likely to survive that you could pick.
If my area is any indication, open a check cashing and smoke shop. Use the cash that makes to have a huge arcade in your giant house.  ;)

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