Ever thought of starting your own arcade?

[Armonigann]

Yes, all the freakin' time!

 

Then I wake up ..

[UberArcade]

Not exactly intending to bump this topic, but yeah, I do have some plans to open up an arcade.

With this indie scene popping up, I thought I could be able to let people make the games for my arcade. Sorry, retro arcade fans, there will be no Ms. Pac Man. Just stuff people make.

 

I have some concepts with this arcade of mine:

• High score contests. Within designated times, I may run a contest for the highest score for a certain game. Those that come in a range will win something, those who come within a higher ranger get something better, and the highest score gets the best prize.
• The Ubuntu Linux OS. I save on licensing costs when I use Ubuntu Linux instead of Micro-Soft Windows. Heck, lots of European organizations did! This will also make it somewhat easier.
• Networked High Scores. The machines (using said OS) will be able to send data of the scores and who scored them to a central database. Assisting the high score contests. One could also go to a kiosk in the arcade to check the top one hundred scores to any title.
• Food. An arcade can't be profitable without it. Heck, Flynn's didn't make it without a snack stand.
• New games every-so-often. This is an indie arcade for a reason. Anybody can make a game for it if it's good enough. Copyright laws still go in effect here.

 

The biggest question is: Will it make it in the twenty-first century with features such as this?

 

I don't think this will work too well. Arcades are cool because you can walk in and see familiar games and jump right into playing. I think a place full of unknown games will end up like those movie theatres that cater towards indie movies. Nobody is ever there. The popcorn is stale because nobody ever orders it. Personally I would go to a place like that, but I am weird.

 

The only successful arcades are Chuck E Cheese and D&B. And they probably make most of their money from the food and drinks.

 

There is actually a cool arcade that is operating close to where I live. They opened up a few years ago where an arcade used to be back in the day. Overall they have a good game selection. I doubt they make any money though. Also the condition of most of the games are pretty rough, and for me that kills it. I have put money in machines only to find out the controls don't work right, machines get turned off so the high scores are gone. I set a personal best score on the Robotron there and was all happy to get the top spot. I came back later and the defaults were back up. Arcades are all about nostalgia, and it is hard to recreate the past.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Not exactly intending to bump this topic, but yeah, I do have some plans to open up an arcade.

With this indie scene popping up, I thought I could be able to let people make the games for my arcade. Sorry, retro arcade fans, there will be no Ms. Pac Man. Just stuff people make.

 

I have some concepts with this arcade of mine:

• High score contests. Within designated times, I may run a contest for the highest score for a certain game. Those that come in a range will win something, those who come within a higher ranger get something better, and the highest score gets the best prize.
• The Ubuntu Linux OS. I save on licensing costs when I use Ubuntu Linux instead of Micro-Soft Windows. Heck, lots of European organizations did! This will also make it somewhat easier.
• Networked High Scores. The machines (using said OS) will be able to send data of the scores and who scored them to a central database. Assisting the high score contests. One could also go to a kiosk in the arcade to check the top one hundred scores to any title.
• Food. An arcade can't be profitable without it. Heck, Flynn's didn't make it without a snack stand.
• New games every-so-often. This is an indie arcade for a reason. Anybody can make a game for it if it's good enough. Copyright laws still go in effect here.

 

The biggest question is: Will it make it in the twenty-first century with features such as this?

 

I don't think this will work too well. Arcades are cool because you can walk in and see familiar games and jump right into playing. I think a place full of unknown games will end up like those movie theatres that cater towards indie movies. Nobody is ever there. The popcorn is stale because nobody ever orders it. Personally I would go to a place like that, but I am weird.

 

The only successful arcades are Chuck E Cheese and D&B. And they probably make most of their money from the food and drinks.

 

There is actually a cool arcade that is operating close to where I live. They opened up a few years ago where an arcade used to be back in the day. Overall they have a good game selection. I doubt they make any money though. Also the condition of most of the games are pretty rough, and for me that kills it. I have put money in machines only to find out the controls don't work right, machines get turned off so the high scores are gone. I set a personal best score on the Robotron there and was all happy to get the top spot. I came back later and the defaults were back up. Arcades are all about nostalgia, and it is hard to recreate the past.

 

Actually in the D&B posted earnings reports they said that it's roughly 50/50 in terms of game sales vs. food. And prior to what many in the classic arcade collecting community want to believe, old games really don't pay the bills, it's the new games that will. You might get lucky with a few classics, I certainly do on occasion with my TMNT, CarnEvil and a couple of others but even then they never approach the scale of earnings that a single new game can bring in. My Terminator Salvation Arcade has made more in one day than all of my classics can do in a week. I do wish more people would try the classics but that is one problem with having games which are all familiar - you've played them many times before and you can get most of them just about everywhere, including your phone. Now if we had more modern arcade games try to behave like classic games, that is something I would like to see. When Darius Burst Another Chronicle comes out in the US later this year, I really, really hope it does well but the odds are stacked against it in terms of what your casual arcade goer will play.