Author Topic: Small Business Arcade and Revenues (Read 5624 times)

soslo · « **on:** November 10, 2003, 01:23:41 pm »

I am toying with the idea of starting a small arcade dedicated to non-cutting edge games. The idea is to have the greatest hits from the past instead of the latest and greatest games. Granted, if a new game is a smash-hit, then it would be a contender...but you get the idea.

Basically, there would be games and pins, and perhaps an air hockey table. No ticket redemption games or candy cranes, etc...

Do any of you have info on revenues/expenses for this type of business? I am looking for a low operating cost venture...no snack bar - just vending machines. I'd like to only have one employee at a time. The machines would take tokens to minimize the vandalism/theft. This would also allow token giveaways and extra tokens for $50, 10, 20 bills, etc.

I would act as the serviceman, as well as setup the games and the computer systems (for audio, video, workstations, servers, etc).

Any help would be appreciated. TIA

SirPeale · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2003, 01:28:24 pm »

It's been talked to death over in RGVAC. Concensus is that you would have to have an edge other than just the games, like a restaurant. Or a restaurant with an 80's theme. Just one of 1000s of ideas I've had, that I don't have the capital to try.

shmokes · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2003, 05:05:28 pm »

It won't make any money. Arcades are dead. If you just have a dream of owning a video arcade, fine, but don't expect to make money or even break even. You will run your arcade until you can no longer support it and then you will close up shop, like every other arcade does. It's dead.

soslo · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2003, 05:29:28 pm »

wow - thanks for the brutally honest reply...

its really too bad that arcade are dead...I think they would be alive if the creativity was still alive like it was in the early-mid 80s...

That is why I am focusing on the low operating cost of running an arcade that doesn't require the latest and greatest...thus would only need to bring in X number of coins per day instead of XXX...but I see your point.

Perhaps people aren't ready for an arcade that is more nostalgic..

Apollo · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2003, 05:43:10 pm »

What about a restaurant/bar where all the tables are classic arcade cocktails? Pacman, Galaga, Defender etc

soslo · « **Reply #5 on:** November 10, 2003, 05:51:10 pm »

That would be cool - but I don't have the $$ or the desire for a rest/bar $:-\$ I'd definately eat there tho

As was mentioned above...it seems like an 80s themed place would be popular...after all...those of us that grew up in the 80s are now college grads and making tons of $$ right? We want places with sentimental value!

shmokes · « **Reply #6 on:** November 10, 2003, 05:52:09 pm »

One thing those upscale joints can offer is something that the user can't get at home. Consoles played a big role in killing the Arcade, I think. You'd have to deal with the fact that, not only are these games dated, but all the games you'd be offering are availbable at home (for free even for the enthusiasts that stumble across Mame). Also, your target audience isn't playing games anymore. They're supporting families and waterskiing and changing poopy diapers. It's only us weirdo diehards that won't let go of the classics. Kids these days barely go into arcades at all, and if they do they want Dance Dance Revolution or some other $2/play monstrosity. It's a niche market. If you want to make any money as a classic arcade start a laundry mat. Stick your machines in there and they'll get some playtime. You've got the right demographic in there and their bored as hell.

soslo · « **Reply #7 on:** November 10, 2003, 05:57:07 pm »

My friend - you are brilliant!

THE LAUNDROMAT!!!

These people have the 3 things required for arcade patrons:

Quarters
Time
Interesting Smells

Come to think of it...I always played the pins/video games at the laundromat...

SirPoonga · « **Reply #8 on:** November 10, 2003, 06:56:35 pm »

yeah, the three arcades I goto now are Jillians, Gameworks, and The Arcade(?). I just know the Arcade has a big neon sign that says arcade. The Arcade and Jillians are in the Mall of America. Gameworks is in downtown minnepolis.

Gameworks and Jillians are a Bar, restuarant, arcade, bowling alley. The arcade is 3 different bars, one 80s, one live music, one hip-hop with an arcade.

Ken Layton · « **Reply #9 on:** November 10, 2003, 06:57:01 pm »

Yup, been talked to death at RGVAC for sure.

Some local authorities like city, county, or state (or all three!) have license fees/requirements on amusement games. In fact, you may be required to pay individual "per machine" licenses AND a "master" license just to do business as a machine owner/operator. Here in Washington state we get really screwed by the state. They require us to pay SALES TAX on the income to boot. The feds require all income from the machines to be reported on a 1099 income tax form.

Frostillicus · « **Reply #10 on:** November 10, 2003, 07:14:50 pm »

Yeah I used to play the Comet pin and a really really old space invaders at the laundrymat at my first pad right after college. That's a great place for that kind of thing. But boy were they beat up (not the best neighborhood anyway).

I would go to an 80s arcade, for the sound and ambiance if anything...I miss it

eightbit · « **Reply #11 on:** November 10, 2003, 10:57:21 pm »

Captive audience thats what you need. Any where people have to wait would be a good target. It doesn't even matter what the game is, I'll play it if theres nothing else to do.

Laundry mats, airports, bus/train stations, movie theatres, grocery stores. I used to see games in the entrance to walmart but I don't think they do that anymore. Tire and oil change places, anywhere where people have to wait for a service to be completed. I think the classic arcade is dead. The big arcades now have the $2 per play montrositys. Though I was in a Dave and Busters in Atlanta not that long ago and some of those montrositys are pretty fun, though they are more like amusement park rides than arcade games.

SirPoonga · « **Reply #12 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:32:24 pm »

Yeah, some of the newer stuff is fun. If you can find Turret Tower try it. If you have motion sickness don't try it. You spin very fast.

http://www.namcoarcade.com/nai_gamedisplay.asp?gam=turtow

As you see you sit inside that machine. You control a turret, which spins very fast. You have to wear a seat belt and lock the door in order for the machine to start!

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #13 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:38:03 pm »

Find a college town and put an arcade close to it... it may do well...

Tailgunner · « **Reply #14 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:41:02 pm »

On the other hand, accept that arcades are a loosing proposition and run with that. What you need is an investor that needs the tax right off. With a good location, the arcade wouldn't lose lots of money, but it wouldn't make any either. This could be an attactive proposition to someone who's primary business is quite profitable.

RetroJames · « **Reply #15 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:52:51 pm »

Probably have better luck placing games at locations, bar, laundry, etc. Split the profit, not nearly as much overhead. Lotsa Lifting but you can keep a rotation going in and out of your house

RacerX · « **Reply #16 on:** November 11, 2003, 12:05:06 am »

Quote from: SirPoonga on November 10, 2003, 11:32:24 pm

Yeah, some of the newer stuff is fun. If you can find Turret Tower try it. If you have motion sickness don't try it. You spin very fast.

http://www.namcoarcade.com/nai_gamedisplay.asp?gam=turtow

As you see you sit inside that machine. You control a turret, which spins very fast. You have to wear a seat belt and lock the door in order for the machine to start!

That game is a blast. We have one at Gattitown here in College Station. There is a sticker on the door that says not to play it if you have a heart condition, are pregnant, etc., etc. It's pretty funny seeing that on a video game.

paigeoliver · « **Reply #17 on:** November 11, 2003, 12:49:37 am »

The answer is extremely simple, and has been eluding everyone for years.

Standard pizza buffet, You pay at the door, everyone pays, drink is included in the price.

Games all over the place, all of them on free play.

Almost all the advantages, and few of the disadvantages.

No licensing fees or tax stickers or anything else required on free play games.

You make the money off the food. While the free games are a huge business draw, making you a real hot spot, rather than just a run of the mill restaurant.

vitaflo · « **Reply #18 on:** November 11, 2003, 01:02:33 am »

Honestly, I think it can be done, but the gaming can't be the main revenue stream. There are places I've been too, small bars or coffee shops that have old console games that people can just up and play for free. Most people don't go there to play the games, but a lot of people do go there just to play them in that atmosphere, and they end up going back quite a bit for it.

I always thought it'd be nice to have a small bar or something that had a really nice selection of old games and pins to play. Use it as a feature that makes your place stand out amongst the many others. Like I said, it can't be the main money maker or you'll lose out in the end, but for some people it will be the whole reason they go and those will probably end up being your regulars.

Isometric Bacon · « **Reply #19 on:** November 11, 2003, 06:47:32 am »

If you're going for the restaurant idea, particularly one as paige suggested, why not try for a 80's themed restaurant?

You could still keep all your games, whilst maintaining that 'nostalgic' charm with neon lights, synthesised pop-music, lethal weapon movie posters and retro decor.

Of course, you run the risk of it being overly too "tacky" but it could be something to work from, if you don't overblow it too much.

paigeoliver · « **Reply #20 on:** November 11, 2003, 07:32:43 am »

Another real big plus about going with free games is that you don't have to worry about having the latest and greatest. You could populate your entire place with games for about what one new game would cost you from the distributor.

Figure one of the smaller new driving games would run you $4000. It might very well take you 5 years just to get your $4000 back. At which point your game is now worth $800 and is just now starting to turn a profit (but isn't taking in nearly as much cash because it is old).

Or, spend that same $4000 on 20 older games in good condition (a combination of a good auction, and some RGVAC posts could come up with this easily). You wouldn't have to worry about the games losing value at all. Once a game gets more than about 10 years old it pretty much stops depreciating.

Also, when your games are on free play it really doesn't matter which ones you have. A free gameroom full of "also ran" titles will still be a lot more popular than a pay gameroom full of top titles.

There would of course still be some upkeep expenses, but it really wouldn't be that bad. Figure on having to replace a few games a year. Over time the total upkeep expenses will actually go way down, since you can always strip parts out of the dead games in the back room (it helps to just keep buying the same titles).

The final part of the plan is to actually make money. That part is simple. Just closely examine the nearest (busy) pizza buffet. Match their price and quality, and within a few months you will have all their business. Families will pick your place over the other one every single time because of their kids. Teenagers will pick your place because it gives them something else to do besides just eat. While people in their 20s and 30s are actually old enough to remember playing arcade games, and will pick your place for that reason. People in their 40s and 50s will be coming with their children, and seniors will bring their grandchildren.

One suggestion about pricing. Just have ONE PRICE, and make it equal an exact dollar amount once tax is included. Children might eat less, but they are also the ones more likely to break your games. The kids will drag their parents there anyway, even if your place does cost slightly more for children than the competition.

The reason you want to have it be an exact dollar amount per person is that it will save you a lot on labor costs (you should only need one cashier, even if the place is huge), because every transaction will be a no brainer, "How many people? 5?, Ok, that will be $30. Simple prices also makes it much less likely for your cashier to screw up (can't press the wrong button, cause there is only one button, no fumbling with change, or running out of pennies). If it is a family run business then you won't even need a real cash register (thus saving a bit of cash there).

Ideally you should be able to run the place on 2 or 3 employees. 1 cashier, one pizza cook, and one dining room attendant. Depending on the size of the place you could probably even skip out on the dining room attendant. Of course running that lightly staffed would require making up lots of pizzas in the morning.

One other suggestion that will really make your place stand out from the rest. Don't engage in pizza buffet crapflooding. Every pizza buffet around seems to do this. As soon as they start getting busy they start limiting the pizza toppings to mushrooms, peppers, and olives (or at least making sure every pizza has one of those 3 on it). Cici's isn't so bad about that, but Pizza Hut, Imo's, and about a half dozen privately owned pizza joints I have been to are terrible in this respect.

The reason they do that is because the general public doesn't want those toppings on their pizza, and thus the buffet remains full. Yeah, I know a bunch of you will chime in and say you love those toppings. I am sure you do. But go to a real pizza buffet and watch how it works. Those are the toppings of death. They are always the last ones to go. I personally suggest just having six pizza slots, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, ham, veggie (you can rotate exactly what is on this), and a special slot for requests. And yes, you should do requests, some people pick their pizza buffet based on the fact that the pizza cook will make a ham and onion pizza if they ask for one.

If you REALLY have some guts, then you can open up in the exact same strip mall as your competitor and drive them out of business. But I would only do that if it was a corporately owned place, I wouldn't do it to a family owned business.

Can you tell I have thought about this one a bit?

Frostillicus · « **Reply #21 on:** November 11, 2003, 10:02:57 am »

Now I'm hungry for pizza.

Good luck if it works - get that one place under your belt, then another, soon a franchise and you could be the Benetton of pizza/game joints. Kind of like a chuck e cheese without kiddie hamster tubes and balls.

iwillfearnoevil · « **Reply #22 on:** November 11, 2003, 10:04:54 am »

you're going to need more than 3 employees at a time. you'll probably need at least two attendants especially during lunch and dinner as people make messes and you need to clear the tables. i guess if you have drinks selfserve as well that helps reduce their load. as tack on a dishwasher who i guess could help an attendant bus the tables. people get sick so you need to overschedule workers. i guess there are restaurant management degreese at a lot of even local community colleges, someone so inclined to pursue this option could take a class or two. i always would laugh when i'd go to a pizza buffet and people would like pile on 8 slices on a little plate like the pizza would run out. and the couple of places wouldn't do that flooding like paige described even.

Ken Layton · « **Reply #23 on:** November 11, 2003, 10:22:22 am »

Best to check local regulations even if your games are on free play. Some localities here say even if the machine is now on free play that you need licenses for it if it's located in a business.

SirPeale · « **Reply #24 on:** November 11, 2003, 01:22:37 pm »

Quote from: soslo on November 10, 2003, 05:51:10 pm

...after all...those of us that grew up in the 80s are now college grads and making tons of $$ right?

*drops on the floor, laughing*

I wish. I'm currently not working, mostly by choice. It's either work to pay someone to watch my kids (and acutally lose money doing so) or watch them myself. I've been looking for a second shift job, but they seem to be few and far between around here. I can get a third shift job easily, but then I'd be in the same boat, needing someone to watch the kids while I sleep.

I've been kicking around the idea of opening a computer repair shop - one that has hours from say 6-11pm or something. I've got the know-how (business and otherwise) but no location, and more importantly, no startup capital.

eightbit · « **Reply #25 on:** November 11, 2003, 01:27:47 pm »

Quote from: SirPoonga on November 10, 2003, 11:32:24 pm

Yeah, some of the newer stuff is fun. If you can find Turret Tower try it. If you have motion sickness don't try it. You spin very fast.

http://www.namcoarcade.com/nai_gamedisplay.asp?gam=turtow

As you see you sit inside that machine. You control a turret, which spins very fast. You have to wear a seat belt and lock the door in order for the machine to start!

Thats exactly the game I was thinking of but I couldn't remember what it was called. I played that a bunch of times.

hyiu · « **Reply #26 on:** November 11, 2003, 02:48:34 pm »

kind late to jump in....
but I would like to say my $0.0002...

arcade by itself and mostly classics ??... I don't think you can break even... as a business....

and if you make it with something else... like restaurants... then probably.... but you'll need to know how to cook....
(and the food needs to be decent....) or else... I don't think it'll work either....

I don't know about you.... but most of the computer guys I know... (or guys who spend too much time playing video games or messing with computer...) has no time to learn how to cook good food other than instant noodle....

but if you're up to par in terms of some mechanical skills....
I would say Laundormat could be an ok idea....
(I think you can make $$.... opening a laundormat and have a few classics there....)

especially at places where there're a lot of like 3 family houses... where tenants have to go out and wash clothes... (apartments... some of them have washer / dryer in basement and will take your business...)

also.... laundarmat needs a drop off pick up service....

you'll need to fix the machines (arcade as well as the washer / dryer...) and you'll need to hire 1 person to wash and fold the drop off clothes.... (also give change to machine...)

then you charge them by the pound.... (of clothes..) and you'll add extra on brand name detergent... extra rinse... anti-static paper.... separate load by itself.... etc... etc....

only thing is you'll probably need to open 24 hr some of the days.... (or some bad hours....)

but I think that will work..... but its like a laundormat idea and classic cab just there to let them have something to do while they wait.... (but not the primary business......)

---------------------------------------

I don't think arcade and food are meant to go together...
by the 3rd day... someone is going to spill a super size coke on your machine and you'll be lucky if its just the machine get fried and noone is suing you for getting electrified touching the machine......

also... you'll need to constantly clean up the place... restaurants now have a tight rules to follow or you'll be slapped with summons.....

sadly... but I think classic arcades... as a business by itself... is not likely going to survive by itself..... but hey.... what do I know...

good luck....

RetroJames · « **Reply #27 on:** November 11, 2003, 03:27:01 pm »

Another item to consider. Although arcade machines at a laundry will no doubt bring in SOME $$. You are really running a laundromat. Don't know about you but that kinda sounds nasty to me. Ever seen someone go to war with the guy at the counter over the ink on his/her shirt? Hot, sweaty, nasty...yuk.

Also, who uses the laundromat? I would guess that for the most part it is not children of the 80's who are grown up and for the most part in houses with the W/D so the classic arcades don't really fit your demographic.

I really think someone could make some decent side money as a route operator, and if you have some good ecclectic spots the classic cades might go over real well. Bars, coffee houses, cafeterias, etc, frequested by thirtysomethings and the like.

I toyed around with the idea a bit as well as I know of a pretty good location right next to a bar of that type. I am still going to look into the licensing out of curiosity, but I already found out it would require a "special permit" anywhere in my city. For that you have to go the neighborhood planning units, zoning board, etc and could be shot down anywhere along the line.

The investment isn't really too bad, for the size I was thinking, about 1800 sq ft for 1k a month, and I figured between 10k and 15k to stock it with games and equipment. I am still working out the electric bill estimate and other utilities, but I suspect those and the permit fees would eat up your profit pretty fast. Also, if you are not a solid tech, you need to have one as a partner. The maintenance would kill you otherwise.

I think 20k to get started would be enough, I suspect the monthly costs assumming you had a tech partner and or could do it yourself would be around 1k + Utility (300.00 est) + parts/repairs (300.00 est) + who knows what (400.00 est) say 2k per month. I saw a place called "Reagan Years" in CA. (Now going out of business by the way) that did exactly what you are all talking about. They claimed they took in around 250.00 per day with about 20 games. So after taxes and costs, youmight see about 5625 in "profit" per month. Assuming you did 250 a day for 30 days, which I think is high unless you have a very good crowd and location. Of that 5625 you at least need to pay yourself out of about 67K. Or if a partner you are making 33.5 K each, but of course taxes come out of that... and you will want to keep some in reserve because I have a feeling repairs might get you as time goes by.

Of course if you slept in the back....

tiggertoo · « **Reply #28 on:** November 11, 2003, 03:50:54 pm »

All this talk about '80's nostalgia makes me think about Back to the Future 2- The '80's Cafe. Ronald Reagan as Max Headroom on the the monitors. Yeah!!!!!

But, as a business.... nah! The only places that survive off of people's nostalgia around here are the bars. And those tend to be short lived. Most people live in the here and now. Cell phones, cable tv, game consoles, fast food, surround sound, cineplexes, that's what we want. Really. Sure, a pizza parlor with old games in it would be neat for a family experience, but only for a short while. Children don't have the same attention span these days and like to take in new experiences almost daily.

If I go to an arcade, I want something I can't experience anywhere else. I wanna sit down in a Nascar car and feel like I'm blazing along at 200mph! I don't want to play 4 bit games. Yeeech!

I agree with what others have said. The only way to make cash off the old games is wherever you have a captive audience. But good luck with that. You still have to compete with handhelds and cell phones (that now double as handhelds).

I attended a seminar once on starting a small business (more than one actually, but this one was good). It was about turning a hobby into a business. Two things you can expect: 1) Work long hours - 16 hours a day, 7 days a week; 2) Give up your hobby. And, at first, only about 10% of your gross will be profit, if you are lucky. This means that if you gross $100,000 annually (pretty good for a starting business), you will only make $10,000. I hope your wife has a good job.

And, keep in mind, that you need about 6 months worth of cash on hand to pay the bills and living expenses as part of your starting capital. Otherwise you'll be part of the 7 out of 10 business fail in the first 3 years statistic.

Now, back to dreaming about my first cab..... aaaahmmmmm......

RetroJames · « **Reply #29 on:** November 11, 2003, 05:47:59 pm »

Here is your "big" oppourtunity...wonder why they are selling...hmmmm

CALIFORNIA SKI TOWN ARCADE BUSINESS FOR SALE
Located in Mammoth Lakes - Eastern Sierra

Price: US $209,000.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2358534993&category=15825

Magnet_Eye · « **Reply #30 on:** November 11, 2003, 07:14:47 pm »

About the idea for games on FREE PLAY: that won't work. Think about what's going to happen if you have a bunch of kids all wanting to play the same game...what is going to force the kid playing to get off and let the next kid play? He doesn't care, he is on FREE PLAY. He could play for the next 3 hours.

Screaming kids. crying kids. fighting kids. sounds fun.

You could offer FREE GAMES as part of the price, but just hand out tokens to the kids or something. Maybe they get like 20 FREE tokens with their order, then they can buy more.

who knows. personally i think a bar with an 80's arcade would be better. drunks love to throw away their $$$

vitaflo · « **Reply #31 on:** November 12, 2003, 12:13:19 am »

Quote from: Magnet_Eye on November 11, 2003, 07:14:47 pm

who knows. personally i think a bar with an 80's arcade would be better. drunks love to throw away their $$$

To me this is the only thing that would work, and I would reccommend against the 80's "theme" of the bar, since you're going to pigeon hole yourself. Instead just have a bar that has a bunch of arcade games in it, but instead of putting in Golden Tee's , Big Buck Hunters, etc, like you see in every other bar, put in a good selection of classic games and charge a quarter per play.

So it would need to be bar first, arcade second. But you could push the arcade thing in the bar a bit. For example there are two bars I know of by me that have dart tourniments and foosball tourniments. One of these bars has 10 dart boards, the other has 5 foos tables. They get the best in the city to come in and play, but they're always a bar first and foremost. But if your bar game niche is classic gaming, then you can have classic gaming tournies, and hype up that aspect of it. Soon it will become the hangout for those who enjoy classic gaming, just like the dart and foos bars are in my examples above for those players.

This is different from the Gameworks, Jillians and Dave and Busters of the world, in that they are arcades first, and just happen to serve drinks. Nobody goes to Gameworks just for a couple beers. This wouldn't be the mindset you'd want people to have about your bar. People would need to want to come to your bar to get drinks and chill, just like any good bar. The arcade would just be a bonus.

bluGill · « **Reply #32 on:** November 12, 2003, 11:02:48 pm »

I have to disagree with the one reply: do not target at everyone. Figgure out who you want to target and figgure out what they want. Targeting everyone means you generalize to the point where nobody is targeted. It also means you hesitate to kick someone out, or kick someone out who you should let stay.

Let me put this different: teens have a well deserved reputation for abuse. Most are harmless to others, but old people will still prefer to avoid them. So if you get an old couple complaining about teens getting loud, what do you do? If your target is teens (likely), then you appologize to the old couple, but ignore the teens. If your target is the older crowd you kick the teens out.

If you are targeting 80s, you are looking for people who are about 30-40 now, with a good job (it rarely works to target someone without a good job). They are looking for a safe place to enjoy themselves. You still have two options: target the family (the kids won't care about 80s but mom and dad will - games will draw the kids), or the adults (generally more wild - closer to their teens, so if you target this group expect teens a slight target so long as they are under control).

Pizza and games seems to imply kids, and Chucky-cheese has done this well. Don't step on their turf, you will loose. The Bar idea is better, but you just cut off all the under 21 crowd (at least in the US, other countries are less strict about drinking age). Teens are a big market, as much for a hangout as the games themselves.

Where you locate is important too. You will have better luck in a big crowded city than in a less crowed city. New York Never sleeps, Minneapolis goes to bed early. If you locate in Minneapolis you need to figgure out why someone would bring their family back to the city after work, while if you locate in New York people are already used to going back into the city (perhaps because they live in the city?). Of course the solution in Minneapolis is to target the lunch crown, but that is a whole different model, your games must be fast play, nobody has the time to beat the high score.

Don't consider serving food without understanding restaruant management. Did you know the ice in a fountain drink is the most expensive part of the drink? Did you know that someone needs to take 5 free refils done themselves to pay for 1 free refile filled by the server? Did you know that if food cost + labor is 50% of a restaruants gross income they loose money due to the other overhead? Did you know the above is an estimate and you need to example it yourself after you know something about the buiseness and ran some numbers.

If you are tech head it is extreemly important to get a buisness person to review your plans. Maintaince of old machines could be expensive, but running the other sides of the buisness are too. Your buisness will fail because you fail to count the real costs of running it, not because lack of tech skills. (either way you pay a tech, just a question of if it is you or not)

shmokes · « **Reply #33 on:** November 12, 2003, 11:14:45 pm »

Laundromats can make good money even without arcade machines. And hey...if you ever have a mech break on an arcade machine you can just rig one from one of your washers

Frostillicus · « **Reply #34 on:** November 13, 2003, 04:00:55 pm »

I like the bar idea, but then you have to deal with liquor licenses ($$$) and even more regulation (no love for us lushes on sunday darnnit!). Meh.

If you owned the PCBs to the cab could you have replicas out front with emulators (easy maintainence)? I can't see it being illegal to create replicas and using them out front, even for pay. For example, I'm talking about owning a Kangaroo PCB, building a dedicated Kangaroo cab not a 3000+ game mame cab. You get the sound, look and feel of the original, only without the cig burns! (yet...)

DARRYLICSHON · « **Reply #35 on:** November 13, 2003, 09:40:50 pm »

there is a arcade in orlando fl. that has only old games and you pay by the hour.

jakejake28 · « **Reply #36 on:** November 13, 2003, 10:45:07 pm »

stick it across the street from a high ~~scool~~ school and you'll be fine... mine had one, and we ~~playd~~ played it to death.

edit: it shows


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