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How much did original arcade machines cost?
idsane:
It seems most games on Craigs in Denver go from 250-500 for ones that weren't superstars of their days. Really all I want is an empty cabinet and maybe some coin doors, but those don't seem to ever pop up much.
mmb:
--- Quote from: idsane on August 25, 2010, 02:31:59 pm ---It seems most games on Craigs in Denver go from 250-500 for ones that weren't superstars of their days. Really all I want is an empty cabinet and maybe some coin doors, but those don't seem to ever pop up much.
--- End quote ---
Ebay the coin door and three sheets of MDF later.....
DrFrag:
I too have heard figures of $2500-$3000 for arcade machines back in the day. My local fish & chip shop said the takings were split 50/50 with the amusement operator.
I bought a generic cab with Karnov in it for AU$300 in the mid 90s. One of those wood veneer laminate jobs with photocopied marquees that seemed to be everywhere in Australia (along with "If you are playing this game outside of Japan you are involved in a crime!" boot screens. I swear, were there any genuine cabs in Australia back then?). The coin counter for the 20c slot was over 175,000. So $35,000 in 10 years or so ... not a bad taking on that one.
bkenobi:
--- Quote from: DrFrag on August 26, 2010, 10:02:11 am ---The coin counter for the 20c slot was over 175,000. So $35,000 in 10 years or so ... not a bad taking on that one.
--- End quote ---
Not to say that $35k isn't a lot of money for a cab to earn, but you may be forgetting something. If the cab cost $2500 originally, then it would have had a real marquee, board set, and controls installed. From your message, that cab had a "reproduction" marquee, so it probably wasn't the original game. In order to get to the 175k game plays, the operator may have had to change the game several times. There's also maintenance for any cab on site that could involve repairing vandalism. I doubt all of this would come close to $35k, so I suspect they did pretty good on that cab!
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