/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.6950239]

What was owning an arcade like you think?
They had to have been profitable because they were all over the place in the early 80's and 90's but I wonder how much the real estate, power, and machines cut into the profits. Considering they get paid in quarters too, how much time it would take to collect from each machine etc.

[Anonymous No.6950267]

>they get paid in quarters
I would think that the quarters, for the most part, are part of a closed system.

[Anonymous No.6950268]

They brought an empty box from the back and replaced the full boxes in the machines then fed quarters through a machine where they were automatically wrapped. I'm pretty sure they had trucks like Brinks come by and pick up the money to be sent to the bank. If the owner knew how to repair machines, I'm sure they cleaned up.

[Anonymous No.6950280]

>>6950268
Sounds like a decent enough job business.
scamming kids out of their allowance money lol

[Anonymous No.6950316]

>>6950280
Pushing little shits who beat on the machines and try to sell drugs to other kids out of the arcade probably got tiring. I'll bet they heard that shit in their sleep too.

[Anonymous No.6950565]

>>6950239
it sucked, people kicked the shit out of our machines and would cause things to break all the time. Fighting game fags were the worse. We had to replace SF2 a couple times because some tranny would beat the shit out of it when he would lose. We didn't make real money until we got the DDR machines and all these weebs would come in everyday and spend hundreds. More than I made in the classic days in the 80s. We would always have a bunch of different things, but SF2 and its players ruined everything in my arcade. Fuck shitcom, it cost us more than it ever made. stupid game

[Anonymous No.6950592]

>>6950268
Why the hell would you take quarters out, instead of pumping them back in as >>6950267

[Anonymous No.6950789]

>>6950565
Assuming this isn't a larp, can you give some more backstory on what games were most profitable besides DDR?
Which games never saw playtime etc.

I really am fascinated by the whole operation

[Anonymous No.6950830]

>>6950565
100% larp

>>6950565
>most profitable
nba jam, daytona usa, sf2ce, mkII

[Anonymous No.6951738]

>>6950239
That's such a broad question it's impossible to give a serious answer. Real estate prices for any random place of any random size in the entire world for two decades. lol.
There were a lot of factors involved in running an arcade but as a general rule having a good venue and the right games were key. One reason so many "arcades" were in bowling alleys, roller rinks or pizza joints was because they were multi purpose and flexible. Having the right games was critical and if you didn't have the latest fightan game in the early 90's your place was probably empty unless you had something else to attract customers.

>>6950565
Can confirm that fightfags were absolute cancer that destroyed everything they touched including nearly the entire arcade industry in many places

[Anonymous No.6951743]

>>6950239

I worked in a few Namco ones. it depended entirely on the population your location was setup in.

middle class suburb? maximum bank.

high class suburb? The rich usually don't have pocket cash on them to give to their snotty kid or are appropriately miserly.

lower class? if the crime was low, you could still earn ok, your worst problem would be truancy. But as soon as you get a slightly higher crime rate, drugs and violence weren't far behind.

Most machines also had auditing tools, so you could know your numbers vs expenses.

[Anonymous No.6953108]

>>6951743
>Most machines also had auditing tools, so you could know your numbers vs expenses.
really? I had no idea but that makes sense for the company to market such capabilities to their customers. It's a business after all.

[Anonymous No.6953130]

>>6950239
for the people itt not larping... how does the business model of old stack up to current barcade business model with free play for all machines for a flat daily fee?

[Anonymous No.6954085]

>>6953130
Which one of the countless business models is "the business model"?

[Anonymous No.6954104]

>>6950239
>all those pinballs
>every single one is a shitty new Stern game

[Anonymous No.6954114]

>>6950239
they were legitimately profitable but they also made excellent fronts for money laundering, or at least that's what people say.

[Anonymous No.6954367]

>>6953130
It's a bar with some machines in it.
Alcohol is the best profit in any restaurant and the reason why so many bars can survive despite shit management and employees.
I'm guessing the markup is enough to keep the free play going.

[Anonymous No.6954375]

>>6954104
it's better than nothing. i don't know why they all have to have that stupid ass button in the middle though

[Anonymous No.6954396]

>>6954367
He said "daily fee", so he's probably talking about the "pay 10 bucks at the door and stay all day" places, not the barcades.

[Anonymous No.6954462]

>>6954396
he literally said "current barcade business model" but yes even with a flat fee I'm assuming they make enough money off concessions and drinks to make it worthwhile.

[Anonymous No.6954530]

>>6954375
Fuck every game that has that button, especially game of thrones.

[Anonymous No.6954568]

>>6950592
At shopping malls, I'm sure they did both.

[Anonymous No.6954579]

Lets do the math.

If they were open a full 8 hours, and had a new player on a machine every two minutes, that would be 240 players on a machine every day. If it's 25 cents a game, that's 60 dollars. At 50 cents a game, it's 120. If a small location with only 30 machines, half a quarter a play and half 50 cents a play, that's $2,700 a day in quarters coming in. Your average arcade machine(not a moving or special machine) tends to use PSU's in the range of 150-200W. So, roughly 50KWH a month or less. At current prices, that's about $5.75 a month in power per machine. So still using the 30 machines number, that's $172.50 a month in power, provided you are turning the machines off overnight. Triple it if not. Get two register monkeys for 40hrs a week at the old federal minimum wage in the 90's at 7.25/hr, and that's $600 a week, or $2,400 a month in employee's minus benefits and whatnot. So in this best-case scenario where you have a constant stream of customers every single day you are open on every single machine you own putting money in every two minutes, you would make enough money in a day to cover your power and employee's wages.

But did you ever see any arcade that was packed and had every machine being used like that? I sure as hell never did. Let's say every machine gets 10 customers all day long. At 25 cents, that's $2.50 a day, or $75 a month per machine. Using the same numbers as above, that would be $3,375 a month for all 30 machines, with the exact same expenses as above, meaning you would be living off of ramen if remaining in business at all.

This is why the slow decline in customers killed arcades so hard. An arcade with decent business is doing well and can afford repairs and new machines to keep money rolling. An arcade on the edge can't afford repairs or new machines, and is just counting the days until the machines that still bring in a customer or two finally die and their business goes with it.

[Anonymous No.6954621]

>>6950239

I think it’s too much fixed cost and overhead. If there was a way to attach services to it (food, drinks and other entertainment) it may have a chance to survive.

Try to think of it like gas stations. You break even on the gas, and make profit on the other services (retail convenience store, car wash, garage and other services).

[Anonymous No.6954937]

>>6954579
>Lets do the math
>Get's math wrong
lmao

[Anonymous No.6955636]

>>6950239
One of my friends wanted to start his own arcade when he got out of college (this was 1994-95). He went to a bunch of arcades and started asking the owners for advice. To a person, they all told him not to do it: the margins were thin & consoles were eating away at their business. Obviously, he didn't start an arcade and most of the ones he went to closed within the next 3-4 years.

[Anonymous No.6955669]

>>6954621
>think it’s too much fixed cost and overhead. If there was a way to attach services to it (food, drinks and other entertainment) it may have a chance to survive.
This. Either you serve beer and have a barcade or have your establishment be something special(ala Galloping Ghost) where people travel from all over just to play the massive amount of games.

[Anonymous No.6955674]

>>6950267
>put a dollar in the change machine
>get 3 tokens back that can only be used in this arcade
>games cost 5 tokens to play
This is why I hate da jooz

[Anonymous No.6955686]

>>6955636
Lucky escape IMO. if wanted to start 5 years earlier he might have made some cash in its heyday but by the time he was considering it, it would have killed him financially

[Anonymous No.6955715]

>>6955669
don't most of these places now also do LAN parties or smash tournaments on slower nights as well?

[Anonymous No.6955719]

>>6950239
Most in my little town of Norwalk, Ohio were pretty short-lived actually. My uncle Jim owned one but it never took off.

[Anonymous No.6955726]

>>6955719
Norwalk is fucking based. i made some really good friends from there at uni. most of them ended up transferring or going to OSU. i hear there are a decent number of barcades in Columbus. is this true?

[Anonymous No.6955734]

>>6955726
God I haven't been back to Ohio since 2006 so I don't know. But yeah Norwalk was based all right. It was never the friendliest place on Earth but if you were gay or a computer need you basically had a bullseye on your back to get your ass kicked.

[Anonymous No.6955739]

>>6955734
Computer nerd that is...

[Anonymous No.6955752]

>>6955669
That's not quite right. There are arcades like Garcade in Milwaukee, Game Underground wherever the fuck it ended up, Boss Stage in Denver, or the original Arcade Legacy in Cincinnati that have a strong enough local community to make it work. Granted, most of them started out as used game stores with arcade machines, then the arcade section slowly expanded until they became arcades that also have a small store attached.

[Anonymous No.6955903]

>>6950239
>What was owning an arcade like you think?
They had to have been profitable because they were
I don't know what it was like owning them, but once blacks found out about them they were ruined.
Nogs bothering people, asking for spare tokens, trying to sell drugs and starting shit because they can't control their mouths or tempers.

[Anonymous No.6955904]

I don't know what it was like owning them, but once ghetto blacks found out about them they were ruined.
Nogs bothering people, asking for spare tokens, trying to sell drugs and starting shit because they can't control their mouths or tempers.

[Anonymous No.6955932]

>>6953130
One big reason for the flat fee is to get around tax laws for coin operated machines. These laws commonly treat arcade machines the same as vending machines. That means you need a yearly tax registration on every individual one you have. You also have to use the audit features of the machines to produce your tax records and keep those up to three years. It’s a logistics nightmare. Also, the tax stamps are usually expensive enough to make it not even worth it.

Putting everything on free play and charging a cover avoids all the hassle and fees.

[Anonymous No.6956007]

>>6955932
That happened in Omaha. They had a huge-ass arcade down there that was the stuff of legends for like 30 years. Then it got raped by the city's new vending tax.

[Anonymous No.6956015]

Fed Minimum Wage in the 90s was 5.25, 7.25 didn't happen until mid 2000s.

[Anonymous No.6956026]

>>6956007
Rest in peace Nickle-a-Play. I'll never forget the time I won enough tickets there to take home a tshirt.

[Anonymous No.6956078]

>>6956026
If you're ever in Colorado, Denver's Nickle-a-Play is still around. It's basically a fossilized arcade from the year 2000-ish.

[Anonymous No.6956108]

>>6954579
you didn't even factor in cost of renting the space dummy

[Anonymous No.6956114]

>>6955752
>Boss Stage in Denver
wtf I had no idea this existed.
>>6956078
shit sounds like Denver is pretty /vr/
I know what I'm doing soon

[Anonymous No.6956175]

>>6956114
Motherfucker, you missed out. There were like three retro arcades that shut down this year. There was a fucking Tilt mall arcade that looked like nobody had actually been in it since 2003 (the DDR machine still had a NEW DDR EXTREME 8TH MIX! sign on it). Pic related. There was a huge place called Hyperspace arcade that was modeled after 80s arcades and had over a hundred machines, including some oddities like the original 3-screen Darius. There was also a small, crappy place called Channel 3 or something that looked like it was in a bait shop. The last one wasn't too interesting.

Also, they're still having trouble getting permission to reopen, but check out 1up in Colfax. It's a barcade, but it's the goddamn barcade to end all barcades. I've even been to the original Barcades in New York and even they didn't hold a candle to this place. Photos don't do it justice due to the weird layout. They've got something like 30 pinball machines alone and even more regular arcade cabinets.

[Anonymous No.6956185]

>>6956175
Oh, and Denver still has a Gameworks. It's super run down, but it's nice if you wanna play something like Starwars pod racer in the full-size machine.

[Anonymous No.6956193]

>>6950565
Was dealing with drug dealers, kids smoking and spilling drinks and shit everywhere a nightmare?

[Anonymous No.6956750]

>>6956175
Will keep this in mind.
I'm too autistic to go to go out but this seems pretty fun when they open back up.

[Anonymous No.6956772]

>>6954579
>not adjusting for inflation
You're an idiot.

[Anonymous No.6956805]

Every small arcade Ive seen over the last 20 years was in a state of inexcusable disrepair.
>Broken gun triggers
>loose joysticks
>ancient CRTs that have lost one of their primary colors
>machines with crackling speakers
Big chain places like dave and busters usually keep thier stuff running well but they tend to lean tword skill games and only have a small selection of classic games

[Anonymous No.6956812]

>>6956193
We didn't give a shit about drugs because it was dude weed, and they kept away during the weekends when families came in, outside food and drink hardly came in as well being in a mall which was nice. It was literally the fighting game fags who were the biggest problem to my machines. They broke shit all the time. Stupid faggots. Fuck shitcom to this day.

[Anonymous No.6956823]

There must be some timeline where arcades are still flourishing and awesome. Multiplayer games in particular benefit from having no lag and an equal playing field - also no cheating. Sitting at home in front of the computer/console all day or only ever seeing the exact same people is not healthy.

I feel like there was a major opportunity before arcades died to do something. A big game computer could have brought out a major competitive game only to arcades and have create local and national ratings and major prizes and so on. People are a lot more willing to piss money away when they're out and don't want to look cheap. It could have made ridiculous money.

[Anonymous No.6956832]

>>6956823
company*

[Anonymous No.6956854]

>>6956812
How many of them were, you know...

[Anonymous No.6956859]

>>6956812
Can you sue clientele for breaking your property?

[Anonymous No.6956979]

>>6956859
not him but I'm guessing they could at the very most ban them from being in the arcade unless the kid deliberately took a hammer to the machines or something.
Playing rough isn't going to hold up at all I'm afraid.

[Anonymous No.6957005]

>>6950239
this was my dream when I was 10
time didn't wait for me

[Anonymous No.6957023]

There's one close to me but its a bar. It has like 20 games and they're all free to play, except you need to pay for drinks.

[Anonymous No.6957025]

>>6957023
what type of arcade games does this pond lad play?

[Anonymous No.6957046]

>>6950239
From what I've heard it just became unprofitable through basic overhead. People would spill shit on the machines so they had to have someone come fix it. Electricity got more costly, and lastly space. You really had to think what machine would be the most profitable and take up space on your floor.

The main reason why arcades were so popular in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s was the fact that there was no internet and home consoles couldn't compete up until about the playstation days. After that, why would you go to an arcade when you can just play at home on a machine that matched or was better than it's arcade counterpart? Arcades simply got edged out by the very technology they spawned.

[Anonymous No.6957048]

>>6957046
Dreamcast is the exact moment Arcades became outclassed. Playstation can't even remotely compete.

[Anonymous No.6957062]

>>6957025
something comfy

[Anonymous No.6957070]

>>6957025
hes a legend at marble madness

[Anonymous No.6957075]

>>6957046
>After that, why would you go to an arcade when you can just play at home on a machine that matched or was better than it's arcade counterpart?
>Why would you go to a bar when you can just drink your own alcohol at home?
>Why would you go to a restaurant when you can get food yourself at home?

I already explained a bunch of reasons why earlier in the thread fagface. Everyone knows that obvious remark that home consoles were almost able to match arcades in terms of technology - they obviously can't be better than them because arcades are supposed to cost a lot more aren't they? The only reason why the home console could ever be better is licencing issues, which means why would licencing be a problem? Your smug answer didn't explain shit.

[Anonymous No.6957104]

>>6957046
That brief period of being able to practice at home on a console version of an arcade game that wasn't shit so you could wreck people in the arcade was pretty great as short as it was.

[Anonymous No.6957113]

>>6950565
DDR nerds were insane. I knew a group that would clean the machine every time they all came in because they need to make sure the inputs were as sensitive as possible. Like full take apart the dance area at times because the dude knew them.

[Anonymous No.6957135]

>>6957113
>DDR nerds were insane.
Not friends but I knew a guy that lost a shit ton of weight just playing DDR. He would show up to the arcade with sweat bands on and a gallon of water.

[Anonymous No.6957156]

>>6957135
kek

[Anonymous No.6957161]

>>6957135
I lost a lot of weight like that, too. I'm fat as fuck again today because I've given up, but I have all mainline DDR console releases in my collection.

[Anonymous No.6957164]

>>6957161
DDR nerds here eventually went to that keyboard ddr game. it as like guitar hero, but with the arrow keys

[Anonymous No.6957168]

>>6957164
Yeah, its called Stepmania, it's pretty cool. Its like MUGEN, completely customizable

[Anonymous No.6957173]

>>6957168
Ya that's it.
That was way back lol. I was busy playing Frets on fire back then

[Anonymous No.6957180]

>>6957113
DDR machines have a serious problem with grime building up in the sensors if they're not cleaned regularly. That's why a lot of them you'll find at theaters and such generally stop working well after a year. We've got one hidden away in an arcade on the west side of town, in a bowling alley few people know about. The machine is one of the most pristine I've ever seen, but the technician has no idea how to clean the sensors so half of the panels hardly work.
>>6957161
X2 on the PS2 is super, super rare nowadays. It's still relatively cheap for how rare it is (only around 70 bucks), just because nobody particularly WANTS it. But it's rare.

[Anonymous No.6957196]

>>6957075
Why so upset new friend? I'll try to answer your question though. The reason was novelty. Once games could be played near as or just as well on a home console, why would you go to an arcade that you might have to scrounge up a ride too? Not only that you had to get quarters and then some how get home. The real final nail in the arcade coffin was the internet. When you could play people online on a console that was now better than the arcade counterpart, why leave the house?

After that it was a simple downhill slide of what games populated arcades. Normal side scrollers and fighters WERE .25, then they crept up to .50. Once people stopped playing those you saw the rise of sit down machines that cost a dollar to play. Once those got edged out it was mostly games that had some sort of hook to them like a vibrating something or other or a sit down machine that blew cold air in your face. Lastly with their dying breath they have giant mobile games that cost a dollar or two, shit like fruit ninja. At that point, real arcades were dead.

That's not to say original arcades aren't making a comeback by riding the nostalgia wave. Beercades/barcades are getting more and more popular. Most of them only charge if they have pinball machines. Booze keeps these places going as their machines take a massive beating.

[Anonymous No.6957205]

>>6956175
1up is cool, went there before COVID

[Anonymous No.6957207]

>>6957180
Yeah, X2 is the only one I don't own. It took me years to even know it came out. It suffered from the 5th mix curse of coming out for a console whose life cycle was done. As far as setlists go, Extreme 1 Japan has the best one by a long shot.

[Anonymous No.6957213]

>>6957048
I remember that, I believe the big deal at the time was soul caliber.

[Anonymous No.6957235]

>>6957213
idk man I played the absolute shit out of the Soul Calibur 2 machine in my local bowling alley.
Even when I bought it on xbox I would still play it there lol

[Anonymous No.6957254]

>>6957205
It's fine if you go on a weekday. Weekend is too packed.

[Anonymous No.6957261]

>>6957207
It took me forever to find a copy, too. When Gamestop was clearing out their PS2 games and they were all like 2 bucks each, I found ONE location on their website in Iowa that happened to have a used copy of it and had them ship it to my local Gamestop. Cost me a grand total of 5 bucks.

[Anonymous No.6957318]

>4000 tickets for a spider ring?
hell yes

[Anonymous No.6957380]

>>6955752

I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. They don’t make any money off the games. They make their money when need attach products or services to those games. The games are a gimmick to bring a customer in to sell them products or services.

For instance, how does a cigar shop make its money? How do they make their revenue? Is it the sales on the cigars? The cigars probably are enough to cover overhead, fixed cost and miscellaneous expenses. What gives them profit is when customers come in buy a cigar, stick around the joint and buy other shit (water, food, coffee, and entertainment). For instance, you can sell water bottles for $1.50 (I know this doesn’t sound like much but you can buy 40 bottles of water at Costco for $3). Think about that.

The only other thing that may work is a subscription model.

[Anonymous No.6957530]

>>6950239
Is that the Arcade Club in Bury, England? It looks an awful lot like the layout of that place, and if any of you people ever get the chance its basically got fuckloads of arcade games on freeplay.

Anyway, I'd imagine it became an absolute nightmare. Who in their right mind actually decided setting up an arcade would be the right career choice?

[Anonymous No.6958837]

>>6950239
Successful Arcades still exist to this day OP! There are two secret code words you need to use though.

1. Pachinko Palour.
2. Casino Slot Machine.

There you go. A successful business model.

[Anonymous No.6959081]

>>6956812
>It was literally the fighting game fags who were the biggest problem to my machines. They broke shit all the time. Stupid faggots. Fuck shitcom to this day.
I used to spit loogies on screens when I lost because I wanted the operator to lower the AI to an easier setting. Why didn't you get the message?
Did giving up on repairing busted cabs lose you less money than having your autists feel good beating the game?
Setting your difficulties to Very Hard is a laundromat tier arcade move and I'm glad you went out of business.

[Anonymous No.6959084]

>>6959081
based

[Anonymous No.6959094]

>>6950239
>What was owning an arcade like you think?
imagine hearing this all day
every day
in your sleep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1WlBBVPMJo

[Anonymous No.6959128]

>>6959094
You’ve just described my own personal heaven

[Anonymous No.6959145]

>>6959128
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt7aoX-QH58
ROLLing STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART

[Anonymous No.6959301]

>>6959094
I worked at a casino arcade in the late 90s. It's this one that's permanently burned into my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4uhRNNN4Oo
Also the Titanic ticket machine, but it's much harder to find a video where you can hear it.

[Anonymous No.6959781]

>>6959301
holy shit I haven't heard that in like 20 years.
whatever that weird pad sound is I've always wanted to know what it is

[Anonymous No.6959835]

>>6950239
>What was owning an arcade like you think?
I can only speak for the years around 09-13
It was a fucking nightmare and the only way to make money in the business anymore is to be a restaurant/bar/general entertainment place that happens to have an arcade.
Pure arcades are dead with a few exceptions (shitshows like Galloping Ghost, etc)
I got out of the industry and left it the fuck behind. I don't miss taking 20lb+ bags of quarters to the bank every week.

[Anonymous No.6959842]

>>6959081
>Setting your difficulties to Very Hard
People would bitch to me about this every now and then and I would go in to the operator menu to show them that it was set to 2/8 or 3/8 already, it would embarrass the shit out of them every time. You're the shitter anon.

[Anonymous No.6960558]

>>6959842
didn't a lot of cabinets show the difficulty at the character select menu anyway??

[Anonymous No.6960578]

>>6960558
Some SNK games will show the difficulty on the title screen on the lower right, but the "Normal" and "Easy" mode selection on Capcom VS games and Alpha 2 are regarding input short cutting (lets you do specials and supers by more or less just spamming buttons, good for little kids to play with), does not effect the difficulty of the AI.