Arcade viable in this day and age?

[trenog]

Too many idiots bought the home consoles, which killed off the arcade scene here in America.

I'd much rather play a game that I can beat in a couple hours as opposed to something that takes over 80 hours to complete.

For me I'm of the opinion that the moment game consoles could do arcade ports 1:1 you lost part of the crowd, and then even more were lost when you had the rise of FPS as the biggest game genre to play (hard to attract in an arcade setup).

But as for you romeo, I'm glad you lasted as long as you did and I hope you keep at least some of your arcade cabs for your own personal enjoyment. No shame in keeping some of that fun for yourself

 

[romeo11523]

Look at all this, normal for us every week yet they never come!!!!

This week at GAMER:

Monday 5/21:

Sales Special: All Playstation model 1 systems $4.95 with the purchase of a game $19.95 or more!

Hardcore Members: 5% bonus on ALL your benefits

Trade-In Special: 65% bonus trade on all Nintendo handheld hardware!!!!


Tuesday 5/22: (Two for Tuesday)

Arcade: Two for Teusday! Come in and play arcade games, for every credit you buy we will give you a credit for free!!!!

Hardcore Members: 75% Bonus trade in on all Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 game trade ins!

Sales Special: All Nintendo 64 games $19.95 and lower just $4.95 each, buy 8+ games and get $15 off a Nintendo 64 System!!!

Trade-In Special: $75 bonus credit on PS Vita trade-in's!!!


Wednesday 5/23Manager's Day)

Hardcore Members: $50 bonus credit on all system trade-in's

Sales Special: Manager's Day special, scott@gamer will be choosing this one, look for it to be posted the day of!

Trade-In Special: Manager's Day special, scott@gamer will be choosing this one, look for it to be posted the day of!

Thursday 5/24: (DVD Thursday)

Hardcore Members: get 15% off all DVD's in stock!

Sales Special: All Xbox original games 35% off!!!!

Trade-In Special: Get a 100% bonus credit on all DVD trade-in's!!!

Friday 5/25:

Hardcore Members: Free DVD with paid pre-order and 25% off any game purchase!!!!!

Sales Special: All PS2 games 35% off!!!!!

Trade-In Special: Get 50% bonus on all hardware and accessory trade-in's

Saturday 5/26:

Arcade Party & VIP Sale
(The only way to get an invite for the sale is to Text GamerVG to 71441)

 

[tanalos]

Couple places in the northwest doing a decent job and worth checking out are Ground Kontrol in Portland, OR and Gameworks in Seattle, WA. Ground Kontrol makes money because of a bar atmosphere, vintage games, and a decent location. The place isnt huge but it has all the old favorites and still allows kids but only until a certain time when they're sent off and the bar part opens. Gameworks is more family friendly bar/resturant but a far larger type deal with more modern games. Old arcade slurpers are still an option but its a stiff competition with all the hand helds, PCs, and home console platforms.

 

[romeo11523]

Para Para shell is in, now to figure out what to do with it haha!

 

[SSS]

all my sold pins have gone to newly opened arcade operators.

It's like 1991.

 

[DanAdamKOF]

Good luck with that shell, I don't have anything in my bag of tricks to offer you on it :O

 

[tanalos]

Sorry to hear that Samurai.

 

[romeo11523]

33" showcase cab in the store, working on putting something in it and getting ready for the big day tomorrow!

 

[romeo11523]

The last arcade party had quite a turn out, we netted 51 people that paid to get in! I am looking into knocking out a storage room for more arcade room now.

 

[Metus]

Good to hear things are going well romeo.

 

[romeo11523]

Thanks, been a while since I been on here! Still up and running, moving forward!

 

[JAMANTA]

If you have cash + nostalgia + space enough, why not buy an arcade?
However, if you like retrogames, but don't live without your LED TV, wireless controllers and your sofa,
think again...

 

[Paradox0]

Thats great to hear that your arcade is running well romeo. I've actually been thinking of starting an arcade but I want to hear all your opinions in whether you think it will be successful, or even some advice to reaching/maintaining my dream.

Location/demographic
-Leased/rented building, ideally with space around 30'x60'
-In small tightly knitted college town with the college alone having almost 7000 students (I'm not going to tell where for business reasons).
-Town also brings in large amounts of people from the surrounding areas because of a vibrant bar scene.
-Within proximity to a Middle School.
-College also has a gamer's society.
-No other arcade within at least 40 miles.

Operation Costs (prediting based on research of the area)
Lease:At most $2000/month
Electricity: $410 a month (based on assumption that a cabinet is equal to a CRTV, Computer and Large Speakers, as well as lighting and other misc. expenses.

Games/wishlist:
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Mortal Kombat 2 or Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
1 or 2 more fighting games (definitely not SF4 though)
X-men (beatem Up) (or possibly The Simpsons, or Alien Versus Predator)
House of the Dead 2
Rambo (Arcade Shooter)
2 Daytona USA Cabinets (not to sure which would be the best racing game to have; I'm looking for something on the cheaper side though)
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (actually will be stepmania running out of an Extreme Cabinet but with an Extreme skin theme, and will have additional charts to existing songs and 500+ new unlockables outside of the main game it is emulating)
2 Skiball lanes
2 Air Hockey Tables
Possibly Pac-man and-or Galaga

Future Wishlist (if incoming revenue allows):
Speed of Light
Razing Storm
Dirty Driving
House of the Dead 4

Other Ideas:
I'm thinking of having prizes for tickets but I'm thinking of doing something a little different with them. Rather than have a bunch of awesome prizes which are impossible to win, I figured I can take advanate of the fact that this a geographically small community, each ticket will act as a raffle ticket which 3-5 weekly winners can win prizes through this way. they are contacted through an E-mail. Of course I could also have some smaller things for kids to win as well.

So how does this sound to you guys?

 

[romeo11523]

Thats great to hear that your arcade is running well romeo. I've actually been thinking of starting an arcade but I want to hear all your opinions in whether you think it will be successful, or even some advice to reaching/maintaining my dream.

Location/demographic
-Leased/rented building, ideally with space around 30'x60'
-In small tightly knitted college town with the college alone having almost 7000 students (I'm not going to tell where for business reasons).
-Town also brings in large amounts of people from the surrounding areas because of a vibrant bar scene.
-Within proximity to a Middle School.
-College also has a gamer's society.
-No other arcade within at least 40 miles.

Operation Costs (prediting based on research of the area)
Lease:At most $2000/month
Electricity: $410 a month (based on assumption that a cabinet is equal to a CRTV, Computer and Large Speakers, as well as lighting and other misc. expenses.

Games/wishlist:
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Mortal Kombat 2 or Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
1 or 2 more fighting games (definitely not SF4 though)
X-men (beatem Up) (or possibly The Simpsons, or Alien Versus Predator)
House of the Dead 2
Rambo (Arcade Shooter)
2 Daytona USA Cabinets (not to sure which would be the best racing game to have; I'm looking for something on the cheaper side though)
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (actually will be stepmania running out of an Extreme Cabinet but with an Extreme skin theme, and will have additional charts to existing songs and 500+ new unlockables outside of the main game it is emulating)
2 Skiball lanes
2 Air Hockey Tables
Possibly Pac-man and-or Galaga

Future Wishlist (if incoming revenue allows):
Speed of Light
Razing Storm
Dirty Driving
House of the Dead 4

Other Ideas:
I'm thinking of having prizes for tickets but I'm thinking of doing something a little different with them. Rather than have a bunch of awesome prizes which are impossible to win, I figured I can take advanate of the fact that this a geographically small community, each ticket will act as a raffle ticket which 3-5 weekly winners can win prizes through this way. they are contacted through an E-mail. Of course I could also have some smaller things for kids to win as well.

So how does this sound to you guys?

In my opinion and from what my arcade and store have done in the past, DON"T DO IT!!!!!!

Now I can explain the reason for my asnwer!

You have a great variety of games on your list but nothing people travel for or flock to which means unless by popularity where you live they will not make very much. Even if you have the calling you may not get the play after you get it, my Killer Instinct was wanted very badly here and now I have it and it averages about $1.50 in plays per week! If it was not for my Video game store being part of what I have going on then this would have died for me a long time ago. I am also fortunate that I was hooked up with a music guy that had games like technika and such which people do travel for and play religiously. During this writing I have a guy from Michigan here playing as well as a guy from almost 2 hours away from my store in Ohio and they both got hotel rooms just to stay so they could spend their time here playing Technika. Kids and college students don't take much interest in the games unless they are in groups or remember the game they see, younger people are not use to paying to play a game and although most music machines can't be played at home they have the mentality that you shouldn't pay to play a game you can play essentially for free at home. Technika 3 is the only game in my store that makes mad money but if I had gotten it on credit or invested in it then it wouldn't be that great either, the intake is less than the bills. Everything I do here falls on my video game store and in the beginning I was thinking about splitting it until some users and local people talked me out of it, sure glad I listened to that one! I will tell you on the bright side, arcade parties where you charge a fee and everything is set to free play seem to be where it's at but again I don't do those often, if I did then they would go stale and no one would show! In the end it's about what you have in it and how many around you will come for it not only short term but long term! It's a big risk one you get into games like Technika but ultimately your decision!

Edit: I can tell you from experience, DDR players want to play DDR, not ITG or anything else! You can take the 15 machines on your list and divide the credits into what your bills are which will give you a good idea of how many credits per day or per week you need to get on each machine to make the bills, you still have to account for the investment that you put into it and taxes. I know that most leases run 1yr. where I am, so if you do this and your lease is $2k a month and it fails in the first six months you will have all that lease to still pay personally.

Edit 2: I did the math with just your $2400 in your list, comes out to each machine getting 80 plays per week! Every machine has to do this consistantly or another has to make up for it, just to break even. I don't see it happening with those machines personally. You also have to figure your time in upkeep and you need someone there to work it. I see things not on your list like change machine, signs, ticket cost (if you do redemption), prizes and if you work someone or have an open bathroom you will also have water cost.

 

[Jedah Doma]

Yea that's why I see a barcade being the only viable option. Have the machines there for kicks and giggles, make your money off the drinks. You have to have some way to sustain the business other than simply the machines.

 

[romeo11523]

You could almost do it if you had the financial backing to import everything that is popular if you don't have those near you.

 

[romeo11523]

I have a vision for a new building to bring GAMER deeper into the gaming scene! I just people that believe and back me up on it! Anyway, this is my arcade list:

Technika 3 -6x
Pump it up: Fiesta TX
Tank Tank Tank (twins)- 2x
Terminator Salvation DX
Aliens Extermination DX
H2 Overdrive- 2x
Initial D5 (twin)- 2x
POP N' Music 19
Beatmania IIDX 20
Jubeat (Ubeat)
Jubeat Ripples
Jubeat Knit
Jubeat Copious
Taiko No Tatsujin 12
Guitar Freaks XG3
Drum Mania XG3
Muzibox- 2x
Mario Kart GP- 4x
DDR X3
House of the Dead 4 DX
Silent Hill
New Delta 32 Cabinets- 44x
F-zero AX- 2x

What do you guys think about this list?

 

[Electric Grave]

I'm jealous and happy for you all at once. I would love to own an arcade, always wanted to but never really got around it due to work and life but maybe one day I'll make it happen.

If I had the time, I'd open an arcade on a low rent lot and besically just fill it with my stuff and add some stuff as I go. I would use this place to put up all my stuff for sale like video games, comics, statues, figures, posters and so on. I've acumulated so much over the years that right now I own a storage filled with stuff and yet I have quite a bit of stuff at home as well. I would sell everything and then just keep up with the cabs and keep bringing some in to restore and sell. I'd do custom work and maintenance for private owners and even help them get cabs and stuff. It would be real niche but it's the way I would do it. A low rent lot wouldn't hurt so much and then I wouldn't need a storage unit anymore plus I would gain a workshop and keep the arcade community on the go.

 

[-D-]

I also live in Utah, and have been to Game Grid a few times. Nothing quite like playing Darius Burst: Another Chronicle with it's multi-screen and 4 player setup. I have the PSP import of the game; but that's nothing compared to Another Chronicle's full arcade experience.

I also played quite a bit of House of the Dead 4 at Game Grid, before that game finally got a home release on PSN. I need to frequent Game Grid more often..... I just wish they had more shmups that I don't already own, and Shadow over Mystara instead of just Tower of Doom. Saturn version has nothing on the 4 player support the arcade version has!

.

 

[romeo11523]

Well I'm a ways off from having a new facility with all those so I'm going to start building with what I have. We are very popular where we are and I just got some new financing so I'm going to try to do at least one new setup. I have been thinking Espigaludda II but I'll have to see what I can find on the cheap!

 

[romeo11523]

It's been a long time since I have posted and updated this thread. I moved into a new facility 2 weeks ago, from 1,000 sq. ft to almost 5,000 sq. ft. It was a deal I had been planning since January and finally signed for, this facility is step 2 of 3 in my business. I now have 3800 sq. ft. for my arcade and the rest for the video game store, in addition I have also hooked up with a very awesome arcade partner and I have another building me Vewlix cabinets!!! The new move will do a great deal for this business and I look forward to seeing what it does!!! I will post pics as soon as it's done.

 

[romeo11523]

Warhammer Added to the store!

Triforce on the wall behind the counter!

Retro Pepsi machine in the arcade to start the 80's theme!!

Starting to look like an Arcade!

 

[theMot]

Looking good Romeo, good on you for having the balls to give it a go! I wish we had places like this where I live.

 

[Dr Shroom]

Are you really able to get a F-Zero AX cab? I heard they're rare as fuck.

 

[trenog]

Looking good Romeo, good on you for having the balls to give it a go! I wish we had places like this where I live.

Here here! It's all shaping up nicely.