If you were to open an arcade, how would you go about doing it??

Say you wanted to open your own arcade here in america, how would you go about doing it?? Where would you open your arcade? What games would you have? How much would you charge, stuff like that. I have been giving this question some thought recently and I wanted to see what people here on the forums would do if they had the chance to open their own arcade.

Personally I would try and open an arcade in either a large college town or a mall. Specifically (Since I like in the Pennsylvania area) either the King of Prussia mall (they used to have an arcade there that was packed all the time, but it closed when Time Out went out of business) or here is Newark, Delaware home of the University of Delaware.

When it comes to what arcade cabs I would like to have, they would be:

2 4 slot neo cabs (some slugs, last blade, mark of the wolves, and a KoF or 2)
CVS 2
Street Fighter 3: TS
Street Fighter 2
MVC 2
Guilty Gear XX

and some of the better beat'em ups that have come out over the years. And while I make not like them, DDR machienes are always getting played no matter what arcade I go to, so I would also have to get one of them.

As far as employees go, I would only want to hire people who love games and who would take care of the machienes as if they were their own. I would hate to have some snot nosed punk who could not care less about the games and is only worried about the paycheck. I know this would be hard to find, but I think I could do it.

I just wish I could figure out a way to finace all of this, beause I would absolutely LOVE to open my own arcade one day.

Well, one of the main things is I wouldn't have any $1 and up machines. That's rediculous to pay that much for one credit. I think a lot of the classics would be in order (Mercs, Metal Slugs, NES playchoice, things like that) and a few interesting pinball machines. You must have a good selection of SNK, Capcom and Namco fighters.
There used to be a nice arcade in the Newark Shopping Center, and Q-Stix used to have a nice selection of games, but alas......

Ive always wanted to do this, and have tried many times to talk my dad into it, but its just waaaayyyyy too expensive.

I wouldnt want to lease cabs from anyone, so buying all of them would cost a bundle, a building to house them all would cost alot, the electric bill would be insane, plus all the other furnishing.

If I had like 300,000 bucks I would, but shit, nobody has that kind of money.

bluedevil said:

Well, one of the main things is I wouldn't have any $1 and up machines. That's rediculous to pay that much for one credit. I think a lot of the classics would be in order (Mercs, Metal Slugs, NES playchoice, things like that) and a few interesting pinball machines. You must have a good selection of SNK, Capcom and Namco fighters.
There used to be a nice arcade in the Newark Shopping Center, and Q-Stix used to have a nice selection of games, but alas......

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Ya, that is kinda where I got the idea from. I was always complaining about how there was no arcade here in a Newark(especially after the Hen Zone got rid of thier games {they had a neo geo cab with Kof 2000 and Shock Troopers 2}), but then my girlfriend told me that there used to be one and that is when I began to think about it.

Ya, I would only charge 50 cents for new stuff and 25 for older stuff. I am not sure how much I would charge for DDR though, never really game it much thought.

2 ways to do this imo. One is the family oriented route ala Chucky Cheese's and the other is the bar room approach, ala pool room.

Chucky cheese's is a semi successful chain so i'd probably borrow some of their ideas, minus the retard mascot.

The poolroom is a good idea as well if you could swing a liquor liscense.

Most importantly, you'd need strong local culture to pull it through. It would need to be localized to the community you're located in so as to make people feel at home.

Plenty of Mame cabs.

The first thing to do would be to know how to work on machines, the easiest way to get cheap machines is to get non-working ones. I just started buying cocktail tables and I got one for $100 and another for $200, which is pretty good considering that when they are restored they go for around a thousand dollars. Not only will you be able to get games cheaper then, but you will kinow how to fix em when something goes wrong, because something wilol always go wrong.

The arcade that is expnding near me has a $2.00 cover and all the machines run on nickels. Some machines will take up to 5 or 6 nickels, but those are the ones that usually cost 50 cents to play anyway, so it's all good.

Also, people always seem to play shooting games, i know i do! The house of the dead games are always fun.....

broken said:

Plenty of Mame cabs.

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Only problem with that is you'd have to have the machine out of commision for a bit ever time windows 98 crashes.

Ya Light gun games are a great way to go. Even though I love fighting games, when I go to an arcade I always spend most of my cash on House of the Dead style games.

For fighting games to be sucessful, I think you need a good local crowd that is good at the game, so people feel the urge to go the arcade and play them, instead of staying at home and playing. You need to find a way to get people out of their homes, where they play for free, and into your arcade where the pay to play. That I think is the trickest part.

a line of pinball games

a small section dedicated to the 80s

a nice area of fighting games, which I'd hold contests in order to encourage people to come

a bar

some pool tables

air hockey

Some action games (Metal Slug for sure)

And Daytona USA (although I might have to compensate for something newer)

I like the idea of a cover charge, but I always thought the one thing that you really need to make an arcade work the social experience.

Remember Bowling? When people stopped bowling on a whim, bowling lanes formed lauges, and alas, bowling in America was saved...or, well, it helped.

I think the idea of forming clans, and giving those clans special privilages, arranging tournaments, ect.. would be absolutly nesseccary. They can get the game at home, but you can only be a part of something if you go out and meet people.

I've thought about doing it where the sit-down racers have a 'Racing Circut', the beat-em ups have thier own clan, and we keep score on a web-site. So the clans can make bets with one another, and have bragging rights.

Also, in State College, making it a 'barcade' would probably help as well.

As for machines? Eh, by the time I got the plan into action, the machines I list here would be obsolete. I'd have all the classics, plenty of SNK love, and then whatever the kids are into.

first off, I'd put in pinball machines

Medieval Madness
Addams Family
Attack from Mars
and the last Elvira machine from Bally Williams.

Then I'd have the following games:
Radiant Silvergun
Samurai Shodown II
Asura Zanmaden
Metal Slug 3
Blazing Star
19XX
This one puzzle game from Fabtek/Seibu called battle balls or some shit
Super Puzzle Gem Fighter
Vampire Savior
Super Street Fighter II X
Street Fighter Alpha 3
And Street Fighter 2 Rainbow edition (with the multiple fireballs on screen)

This would basically be my own kick ass arcade. Cost would be roughly $15 K for all the pinball machines and 12 x $500 + freight shipping for the candy cabs (no american style cabs because they suck for small children), and $1200 + shipping for all the pcbs I'd need.

I'd want to place it in a local downtown area where there are a lot of young people, and young adults. Not on a college campus, though that's good too, but maybe next to or on the loft part of a coffee house. Rent would probably be a grand, with utilities. And I wouldn't make a dime off it.

I'd have to go with at least one of these....

EvilWasabi said:

first off, I'd put in pinball machines

Medieval Madness
Addams Family
Attack from Mars
and the last Elvira machine from Bally Williams.

Then I'd have the following games:
Radiant Silvergun
Samurai Shodown II
Asura Zanmaden
Metal Slug 3
Blazing Star
19XX
This one puzzle game from Fabtek/Seibu called battle balls or some shit
Super Puzzle Gem Fighter
Vampire Savior
Super Street Fighter II X
Street Fighter Alpha 3
And Street Fighter 2 Rainbow edition (with the multiple fireballs on screen)

This would basically be my own kick ass arcade. Cost would be roughly $15 K for all the pinball machines and 12 x $500 + freight shipping for the candy cabs (no american style cabs because they suck for small children), and $1200 + shipping for all the pcbs I'd need.

I'd want to place it in a local downtown area where there are a lot of young people, and young adults. Not on a college campus, though that's good too, but maybe next to or on the loft part of a coffee house. Rent would probably be a grand, with utilities. And I wouldn't make a dime off it.

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Looks like someone has actually put a decent amount of thought into this idea.

the roker said:

a line of pinball games

a small section dedicated to the 80s

a nice area of fighting games, which I'd hold contests in order to encourage people to come

a bar

some pool tables

air hockey

Some action games (Metal Slug for sure)

And Daytona USA (although I might have to compensate for something newer)

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Sounds like a nice setup, I've considered it myself, but not now... maybe later in life when life is less hectic.

I'd do the classic section, the newer games, some simulator type games (but a handful), some pool/airhockey/skeeball type machines and of course some cool redemption machines (those bring in big bucks!). Serve booze at night, and cater to the kids in the day... could be a nice place.

-Nick

I'd love to put an arcade in the downtown of Northville, MI. There is absolutely nothing for the kids to do there.

m_bish0p said:

Remember Bowling? When people stopped bowling on a whim, bowling lanes formed lauges, and alas, bowling in America was saved...or, well, it helped.

I think the idea of forming clans, and giving those clans special privilages, arranging tournaments, ect.. would be absolutly nesseccary. They can get the game at home, but you can only be a part of something if you go out and meet people.

I've thought about doing it where the sit-down racers have a 'Racing Circut', the beat-em ups have thier own clan, and we keep score on a web-site. So the clans can make bets with one another, and have bragging rights.

Click to expand...

Sounds like Twin Galaxies

I know that when I retire I will own an arcade. Granted that this is like another 15 - 20 years down the road. But I could imagine myself just sitting at an arcade from like 3pm (right after school gets out) till like 11pm serving beer after 9pm. That would be retirement... ahhh a guy can dream cant he?

OK, here are my ideas for ATMOSPHERE.

My ideal arcade would appeal to a variety of tastes. I'd have about 3-4 TVs in it, one hooked to a DVD player showing subbed anime (it'd have to be subbed as it's loud in there), another on cable with ESPN (with captions, remember the noise), another with some movies (maybe some HK flicks) (subs on), and one with TechTV or maybe G4 (with captions).

You'd want more than that though. Music. Try a mix (you'd need a good CD changer, a 7 CD changer would work well) of some J-pop (maybe), anime and game OSTs, some rock, and the latest hits. Also, some posters on the walls (high enough so they can't be messed with) of anime, games, and some sports teams (local ones preferably).

Now this should mostly apply to the older crowd: FOOD. See, you can't count on a sign that says "Please throw out food and drinks when you're finished" to ward off people spilling stuff. You're gonna need stuff that's easy to clean: tile. So, you'd offer some junk food, and some health food for the vegiterian punks and goths (believe me there's a lot, and these types would like an arcade). You'd need it to be reasonably priced, overcharge and only the desperately hungry will buy. Your menu should be like this:
Junk:
Pizza
Hot Dogs
Nachos
Chips and Candy

Health:
Salad
Smoothie
Celery and Carrots w/ dip
Pasta

As for misc. stuff... ok take location for instance. A mall would be good, in my opinion. It's highly trafficed and is a good hangout spot for teens. Lighting... you don't want it too light or dark. Too dark, and the glare of a thousand monitors will hurt patrons' eyes. Too bright, and the outside light might wash out the monitors too much. For furniture anbd stuff, maybe a place off to the side (esp. a separate room) that's quiet and near the food court might serve as a good hangout spot, and you should have some easy-to-clean stuff there (that's still comfy). A suggestions box would be good, it would be a nice way to find out "Machine X's P1 joystick won't work well" or "Game Y just came out, you should buy it." Keep your stuff well maintained, and if someone complains about something not working, go over and test it, and if he's right, refund the money and fix the machine.

Also, try to hold tournaments. Popular games like CVS2, Tekken 4, VF4, Initial D, and MVC2 would fetch a decent turnout. And give good prizes, too.

Just my $.02

I live in a ski resort, so the idea of a arcade would do ok, but only during parts of the year. It would be great in the winter as long as I droped the cash for a liquor license (theres no limit to them here) but I would end up tanking in the summer, the only people that come here in the summer are bikers who have no cash, and familys that cant afford to come here in the winter (ok ok, so some people do have money, but most dont) any way, I'd have to more or less switch the whole place out in the summer just to keep from going under....its a great idea, but I dont think I could pull it off here with out alot of back up, and I'm useing that for my snowboard shop in three years (and yes I really am doing it!)

I'd be sure to throw in a dedicated Typing of the Dead cab just for shits and grins. I'm sure it would be great to see a bunch of drunk guys trying to play it at a barcade. Plus Typing of the Dead owns.

Arcades in mall's are great for traffic, but they suck for rent... also you have to consider that at a mall you are mostly a hangout for broke kids trying to scam quarters off of everyone.

Personally, I'd open an arcade in a busy neighborhood, right on the main track, in a stripmall or such.. in the general area of the local 'marginally depressed constituancy' those areas tend to generate the best revinue for arcades nowadays....I wouldn't be IN that area, but reasonably reachable FROM that area.

I am personally partial to the Nickel Arcade concept, the psychology behind it is very sound, after all, they are just nickels, right? Not only that, but you can use older bill changers that haven't been updated, since you are only going to be taking ones anyhow, thereby saving yourself a @#$$load of "dead revinue". bill changers are very expensive, and don't make you money!

Now, as to the Games...
I'm setting up a nickel arcade, so I don't need to blow my wad on a whole bunch of new (expensive) games.

I cannot stress enough the value of the Midway 25" MK-style cabinet. I would have as many of those as possible, with different games in them all.

Multiple Neogeo Cabs of Course, pehaps one dedicated to the Metal slug series, one to the Samurai Showdown Series, one to the KOF series, etc

A LARGE 80's section, with many of the oddball classics (Wizard of Wor, Roadblasters, S.T.U.N Runner, Gauntlet.. etc)

The only expensive prospect to such an arcade is the driving games, but I guess they are a necessary evil.

a Jukebox, a little neon, a few blacklights and PRESTO! Instant local midget mecca!

Have Fun All,
-Daniel

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the 80's are long gone.

If you really want to open an arcade here are some things to consider for reality shock:

1. You need to attend a City Council meeting to propose you idea of opening an arcade. It is up for the City Council to decide if they will approve such business. And even if you own the building, the City Council can still deny your request.

2. You need a very good insurance because you will never now when a fire will destroy your arcade at 3:00 AM. Also if someone dies electrocuted by one of your machines (Yes, it does happen), the surviving family will make sure to sue you and take everything that you own.

3. Be prepare to work hard, like 22 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Because if a machine breaks, you will have to fix-it now. And you will always have 1-2 employee(s) that will not show up for work.
And on top of that, you will have to make time to sleep, eat, take care or your girlfriend/wife, and kids.

4. Having classics is good, but about 90% of your games should be the latest and the greatest. The few people who actually bother to go into the arcade want to play the lastest game out there before its released on a PS2.

These are some harsh facts. So if you still want to pursue it, then I recommend you to quit your job and work for an arcade to get a feeling of how things work.

Trust me you will go back crawling to your old job in less than a week.

So if you want to own some arcade games, you better do it as a hobby. You will have more fun and more money in the long run.

I would have a next-gen paradise. Remember , it's not what YOU enjoy , it's what your customers enjoy and will pay money for. Take this situation for example :

Early 20's PS2 owning male walks into an arcade looking for a good game. Does he :

A) Say "Oh yeah !" When he spies a samurai shodown 2 cab or
B) Walk over to the Soul Calibur II machine and pop in a bunch of quarters.

I would not have anime and shit like that splattered everywhere , because almost nobody likes anime , and it would almost certainly be labeled as a nerd hangout.

I would want to have an arcade where the mainstream is comfortable and will spend their money there.

And WTF is with everyone saying "Oh yeah well you see in my arcade there would be :

Fighter A , B , C , D , E , F , G , H , I , J , K , L , M , N , O , P , Q , R ,S , T , U , V , W , X , Y , and Z
Shmup X
Driving game Y"

You can't make an arcade off of 99.9% fighters.

My arcade structure would be as follows :

Tekken 4/VF4 Evo/SC2 , etc.
Some ride-on motorcycle/pedal and wheel racing games (Next-Gen , of course)
HOTD style light-gun games scattered around the place
And maybe some of the top 2D Shmups (Viper Phase 1 , Raiden Fighters Jet)
A LAN setup with something like Halflife 2/Doom 3 for the PC junkies.

Another idea i have in the back of my head , it's kind of stupid though , is to have a room with a bunch of GCs , PS2s , and XBOXs hooked up to some fairly large TV's playing all the latest hits , and it would be say a few bucks per hour/half hour to play in there. Of course i'd probably have to set up some sort of timing system.

As for atmosphere , i would have a darkish arcade , not too bright , and it would be nice and open. I mean like 40 foot ceilings if i could , and it would have a techno motif , with techno music playing and neon lights.

I would have some food like the bins of 10 cent candies that you see at convenience stores and the standard hot dogs , pizza , nachos type food.

Of course this is assuming i had the funds to do so.

Believe it or not , your arcade will not survive on scads of MVS cabinets with old-ass games in them that only you and maybe some of your friends will play. Sorry.

This reply also reminds me that you will probably have to locate in a building that you can have multiple circuit breakers installed to properly run all that electricity through everything and have the number of plugs that you will need.

There is also a pretty new system (I think its called AFCI) that works like a GFCI outlet, only it detects if a cord/plug that is in the socket is damaged or not. If it is, it will shut off that outlet, stopping a potential fire.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the 80's are long gone.

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hmm, agreed the 80's are gone, but I doubt your that sorry.

1. You need to attend a City Council meeting to propose you idea of opening an arcade. It is up for the City Council to decide if they will approve such business. And even if you own the building, the City Council can still deny your request.

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This is true, but is rarely a problem in large cities, and if you are in an established strip mall, it is even less of a problem.

2. You need a very good insurance because you will never now when a fire will destroy your arcade at 3:00 AM. Also if someone dies electrocuted by one of your machines (Yes, it does happen), the surviving family will make sure to sue you and take everything that you own.

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Yes it does happen, however if your machines are factory new, or wired to the UL Approved Standards, (grounded properly) the insurance companies will give you a lower rate. hire an inspector, it's worth it.

3. Be prepare to work hard, like 22 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Because if a machine breaks, you will have to fix-it now. And you will always have 1-2 employee(s) that will not show up for work.
And on top of that, you will have to make time to sleep, eat, take care or your girlfriend/wife, and kids.

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just a regular ray of sunshine, ain't he?

4. Having classics is good, but about 90% of your games should be the latest and the greatest. The few people who actually bother to go into the arcade want to play the lastest game out there before its released on a PS2.

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Sure, if you want to go broke in a big way, go ahead, buy new games. At an average cost of $4000.00 a piece your arcade will have what, a whopping what, 6-15 games? I can just see the kids lining up around the block for that.

These are some harsh facts. So if you still want to pursue it, then I recommend you to quit your job and work for an arcade to get a feeling of how things work.

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Well, Harsh anyway....still I do agree, don't try it unless you have worked for an arcade for at least 6 months, as it is not for everyone.

Trust me you will go back crawling to your old job in less than a week.

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hmm, lessee here...I worked for an arcade for 2 1/2 years, and I now work for a local operator with a personal responsability to over 40 locations....I must be a masochist =)