RF Generation Message Board

The last time I saw one was at a mall in either Texas or Georgia, and it had everything from skee ball to The Fast and the Furious. Don't remember seeing any Pac-Mans or Galaga though.

When I was very young, there was an arcade at my local mall and it was nothing but stand-up video games. it was very dark in there and pretty intimidating for me at the time. it went out of business a few years later though.

that scene did not last very long. I think there was a bit of a resurgence once DDR came out but that fad died off pretty quickly.

I went to MAG Fest a couple years ago and they had all the stand ups you could ever think of- and they were all set for free play.

If you go to my local mall's arcade now, I believe there is one light gun game (Terminator Salvation?) and the rest of the place is filled up with those crane games. it's pretty pathetic

All I know is the Barcade is alive and well. Anytime I've been to my local arcade that sells beer, its been packed and people are playing all sorts of old school games and having a great time. They have to make bank.

agreed arcades are pretty dead, at least from a commercial standpoint. they're still a ton of fun if you can find one, but all my town has to offer are a couple movie theatres with limited selection (better than your mall though from the sounds of it) and a game store with a handful of machines.

all I've seen in bars was Golden Tee, although I think I saw a sit-down cabinet at one not long ago. cant remember the game

and yeah movie theaters are probably the best place to find arcade cabinets.

I remember seeing an Outrun 2 cabinet at a bowling alley in Florida. that's my favorite arcade game.

We had a great place in my city in the early 90's. It was in a part of my city called Spruceland, and was called: The Spruceland Family Fun Center. Place was pretty cool. Had a huge floorspace filled with Arcade machines (Including a nice row of Pinball), Skeeball, and the entire basement was a Mini Golf course which I played once. They must have closed in 94 or 95. That was the last of any kind of Arcade I would see, until I moved to Edmonton in 2000-01. The West Edmonton Mall had a Playdium arcade, that closed in 2004.

 

I live about a fifteen minute walk from a Nickel City arcade, which opened about twenty years ago, and has managed to stick around to this very day. I haven't ventured inside for a few years, but the last time I was there it had a decent array of electronic distractions. Its free-play area is dark and a bit "divey," which in my opinion is the perfect atmosphere for that particular section.

http://www.nickelcitysanjoseca.com/about-us.html

There used to be some pretty decent arcades here in my state around the golden age of that type of stuff. I'm pretty sure since the mid 90's though there was a huge decline of them and I only know two that are around today. One in a theater and one in the mall with a p' cool Namco collection machine. That's about it. The theater has a Street Fighter 2 machine but I'm sure that's biting the dust at this point.

Much like gbpxl's situation, the last real arcade here in Cape Girardeau, called The Tilt, is still technically around, but it's now almost all crane games, with I believe 3 actual games, which are a Cabela's hunting game, an Area 51, and some Cruisin' USA rip-off I forget the name of.  It's a similar situation with our local Wehrenberg Theater, the Cape West 14 Cine, with has a small game section that's mostly games of chance, "chicken egg" machines, and another Area 51 machine.  Only one local Walmart now has what could be considered games, but it's pretty much like the theater but also with a sit-down Plants Vs. Zombies game.  There's only a select few places that have anything that's an actual arcade machine or pinball, with most of those places being bars having maybe a couple of crappy and usually rundown pinball machines, and one Mexican restaurant called Burrito-ville having a Twilight Zone pinball and a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga combo cocktail cabinet.

There are still a bunch around in Michigan, but pretty much none in South East Michigan.  Pinball Pete's in Ann Arbor is still here (or was six months ago), but that place it too depressing to visit.  It's like the owners are trying to make a statement about the "Arcade Age" by letting the machines goes to crap.  The last continents of hope in my area (Mainstreet Arcade, LaserTron, Red Baron's, Insert Coin) are dead and buried.  Only small islands remain.  For anyone out and about in Canton, there is a functioning Tron in Destiny Games, as well as scattered multi-cabs in pizza joints (Mancino's and Slice of the 80's) and some racing games here and there.  Nothing high maintenance, so forget about seeing a Tempest or Frenzy machine.  It's kind of sad, but to think that in the late 80's there were arcade machines in nearly every convenience store, grocery store, and pizzeria in the area.  I distinctly remember lines of kids waiting to get into the nearest 7-11 on Friday and Saturday evening to play the newest arcade cabs.  A single rumor that a game could be cheated (using a penny 100 times to produce a credit, for example), would drive the 10-12 year-old kids in the area to a frenzy.

However, if you find yourself in Flint (during the warmer season) you can hang at Playland Park, which still has (or had) a decent collection of classics.  A better place is in Gobles, MI, which is in the extreme south-west corner of the state.  Here you can pay the $5 cover fee and be pretty much guaranteed to be aurally assaulted by classics stuck at a high volume (specifically, Defender). I've never been there, but I read there is an awesome place in Brighton called The Arcade which is supposed to be pretty rad.  When I hear they get a Victory Road I'll be up there the next day.

There is such a overdose of "crane game" arcades around here and in hotels that I truly believe that this view of an arcade continually threatens the memory of the old.  I mean, in twenty years when a lot of the kids who played crane and redemption games at Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, OH think about the old days that will likely be their only experience in an arcade.

Anyway, if anyone wants to have a look in their area, I suggest Aurcade (http://www.aurcade.com/), which has a great arcade search engine.  It relies heavily on the contributions of its members for information, but for the most part many of them are fairly accurate.

We got a few up in the Seattle area. We got a Gameworks which is corporate barcade, that is a multilevel arcade. Another Castle a local game store has an arcade with a bunch of old arcade and pinball machines. Seattle also has a pinball museum where you can play the machines. There are a few others here and there throughout the area. It's not like the 80s where there was one in almost every town but they are still around due to local business owners who are passionate about the business.

What I'm talking about is something I've seen pop up in metro areas, Omaha has one and I know Des Moines Iowa.

http://www.thebeercade.com/


It's basically your normal bar. But then there is a huge row of pinbll machines, and then in the back there are tons of great arcade games. Mine currently has a playchoice 10, Simpsons, Tengen Tetris, SFII Championship edition and a bunch more. It's totally awesome.

(I was not a paid endorser, I just like the place.) :)

Here's my take on that and you can tell me how far off or how dead on I am: The reason the stand alone arcade is dead is due to inflation. The arcade you're talking about is being subsidized with the sale of alcohol and they are likely losing money on the games themselves (I didn't see if they were free play or not but even if they charge 50 cents, they're still losing money)

Most of the cabinets that are from the 80s and early 90s would only charge 25 or 50 cents I would assume. Well 50 cents in 1991 is equal to 87 cents in 2014. the machines are still set up to only accept 2 quarters but the electricity costs to have that machine run, the maintenance costs, the costs to have someone empty the machine, the rent for the store that houses the cabinet have all gone up as well, the heating or A/C for that store has gone up, while the cabinet is still only generating 50 cents a play.

if they were to modify these cabinets to accept something that will actually make profit- 1 dollar or more, people are not likely to want to pay it because they'll think they shouldn't have to pay more for a game that 20 years ago, they only paid 25 cents for.

Your statement about "subsidizing" reminded me: the Nickel City arcade charges $2.00 admission. Weird thing is, the admission fee's been the same since the place opened a couple decades ago.

Well... arcades are still more alive than video stores... even if only barely.
I can still find a couple down here in South Australia... as for video stores... yeah.

I wouldn't say the arcade is "officially" dead, but they have been on life support since the late 80s.  Hopefully they'll never truly go away, but you never know...


Good point, unfortunately.  Most places, if they're serious about trying to make a buck, would just give you a flat fee to pay up front and then most machines would be on free play as it is.

Anyway, if anyone's looking to preserve the memory of long-gone (or even current) arcades, do look here: http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=14834.0

Currently several dozen arcades have been preserved in three states here in the U. S., along with Canada and England, and it looks like Australia is soon to be next :)

Uhhhhhhhh...... on my lunch break today, I helped my friend move a few of his 12 additional candy cabs into his store. He has around 30 now.  On the east coast, I might add.

if anyone cares, I set the record for the OutRun 2 cab at Magfest 2013. I'm sure it's been beaten by now but at the time I had dumped quite a few hours into that beast.

there is a pretty neat place here in St. Louis with a lot of vintage arcade machines.  I haven't been there yet, but I have really wanted to go check it out.

My friend and I are actually looking into opening a retro barcade in Metro Detroit.  Commercial spaces are dirt cheap around here, so we just need to make the numbers work and figure out our business plan.  I've been a lot more conservative about dates and everything.  He really wants to get everything set up and ready to go for an October opening date where as I'm more comfortable just using this year to research and make sure we aren't getting ourselves into a financial nightmare.

But there's a reason he drives a Jaguar and I drive a G6.  Dude knows how to make money.  All that really matters right now is I need to learn every possible thing I can about arcade repair.

My opinion on barcade for what it's worth...

There are two types of people that play arcade cabs/pinball machines- there's your standard joe who probably grew up on them and will play them 1 or 2 times a year, but never competitively; those are your bar types, the type of person who is more likely to spend money on a beer than on a Pac-Man machine.

Your other type of arcade goer is the nerd. This is the guy that is extremely competitive and is willing to dump tons of cash into a cab, just to get his initials on the board. I don't see these types of people wanting to go downtown to the "bar scene" to try and get the high score.

You are also missing out on a key demographic when you go with a barcade- children. Maybe I'm not around children enough to give a fully rounded opinion, but I don't believe every kid out there is a shut-in who only wants to play Minecraft and Call of Duty. I do believe there is an interest in retro games among youth and that's gonna be less money going into your pockets if you incorporate a bar into your arcade.

If I had the option, I would go with a stand alone arcade and just put in a lot of things there that you know will make you money- skeeball, crane games, etc. But I just think when you have alcohol as part of the equation, you are limiting your customer base to "dude bro's"

 Some barcades do allow children, they just can't be in the bar area.

Plus places like barcades make a lot of bank from the demographic you refer to as "dude bros". This demographic of people are more likely to spend money willy nilly than someone going to an arcade with their kids.

But how many parents know that or are going to let their children go to an arcade that is directly connected to it?

(I'm sure it depends, since I know a lot of bowling alleys have bars in em)

In my head I am just envisioning an arcade that is in the heart of my local bar/club district where there's a fight pretty much every week.

My parents wouldn't have minded, as long as the place was somewhat safe, plus I got into a lot more trouble and tried dangerous stuff because I didn't have places like this.  No sane bar owner or bartender is going to put his business at risk by serving underaged teens booze.

I am not an expert in this area, so I am not totally sure about how many fights occur at Barcades, I have never seen them. I guess unless Sauza is building a bar that will be like the one from the movie Roadhouse, it should be minimal

Btw, I apologize gbpxl, if at any time I sound like I am being a jerk to you, I am merely just giving my thoughts on this topic and have no ill will toward you or your thoughts.  I am always up for good discussion on a good topic such as this one.

 :)

I have a friend who has an arcade and I've looked into spaces with another guy myself. You CANNOT survive on machines alone, they don't make a lot at all. The arcade is cool and will draw people, but you have to have a main product to make money. In your case alcohol. :) I was looking into ice cream and coffee, since they are both seasonal specific products.

don't let the no friends topic fool you. I am the last person to get "offended."

😊
:)

anyways, I can definately see why a stand alone arcade wouldn't make enough money to keep it running. the amount of money you would need to turn a profit is just more than what people would be willing to pay. unless there were just tons of people that would line up at the arcade to play, there's really just not going to be enough people to keep business afloat. you'd have to charge an upfront all-day fee like someone said, or charge like $3-5 a play.

My buddy charges $5 a person for the day and all games are set to free play. $7 on weekends. Better profit and you don't have to deal with all of those damn quarters.

that seems low. I think people would be willing to pay more than that. I could see myself spending $30.

There is a bar-cade sorta in my area.
I think it was 7$s for unlimited play when i went.

Drinks and food were both rather fair on pricing too.

A bar-cade is a completely different environment from a dive bar that happens to also have arcade cabs in it.
It is also likely to be staffed completely by people who also share and love the hobby and have a vested interest in not having their establishment turn into a dive bar.

Oh.

Most people only hang out for an hour or so maximum. Not everyone is the type that will stay there all day and even those people aren't going to pay $30 daily if they are return customers. Also, no one is going to pay $30 to play the amount of machines that are at most bars. Where I play, there are about 20 or more candy cabs, 4 pins, and 6 or so stand alone cabs. The place also sells monthly and yearly passes.

Where i was it was ONLY cabs and pins.
None of that other crane/claw games of chance junk :P

http://hadleyquarters.com/our-games/

Looks like they keep 25 machines out at any given time due to limited floor space.
When i was there last Asteroids was displayed in that page and available for play.

As for Drinks it looks like those prices have gone up and are now more in line with prices of other places that serve alcohol. I remember it being a little cheaper... But it turns out it was 5$s for unlimited play when i went.

As for bringing in the family:
"Saturday morning cartoons are back! Every Saturday morning from 10am-2pm, pay $10 ($8 for kids!) and get unlimited cereal, cartoons on the projector and unlimited tokens to play games! For grown-ups, we’ve got mimosas, bloody marys, and more!"

Arcades are dead in the way that Drive-In movie theaters are dead.  

Sure, there are still a few around, nowhere near as many as there used to be, but the ones that are still around are pretty cool.

My wife and I go to Buffalo once a year to visit her family and every time we go to the Transit Drive In Lockport.  It's my favorite movie theater.  We turn the car backwards, pull out the lawn chairs, blankets, and snacks, and watch a triple feature.  The most recent trip featured Elysium, The Wolverine, and Pacific Rim.  It's a magical place unlike any other and I cherish the memories of each trip to the Transit Drive In.  

At the end of the day, though, Drive In movie theaters are pretty much gone.  I feel the same way about arcades. There are still a few here and there, but they aren't what they used to be.

That sounds like an awesome triple feature Bil! We actually live very close to a Drive in (like 10 minutes from our house) so we typically go a couple times a year. Last year we went with my wife's cousin who was visiting and she sat with her cousin in her car and my son and I stayed in ours. The movies weren't great, but we had fun talking through them and the food at the concession here is fantastic (although you probably don't want to be stuck in a car with me after having their chili......).

I'm slowly trying to revive the arcade scene in my neck of the woods. Currently shopping around for a bigger space for my store and have a lot of Pinball parts incoming for some repairs. Should be fun!

I grew up with the benefit of having a drive-in 10 mins away from my hometown. That's what we did throughout our teenage years...pile a truckload of people in, haul ass up to the drive-in, hop in the bed of the truck and cuddle up with our lady of choice for that particular week...I sat through many more movies than I ever actually watched at that drive-in (both because of said ladies and because we did more goofing around than movie-watchinh)...good times.


Not to mention that admission was $6.00 per car...so packing 6-8 people into the vehicle meant super cheap dates for everyone.

My parent's neighbors still own a Drive-In that is still going pretty strong. It is about a mile from where I grew up. Great memories.

The said thing is that with the new digital conversion, most of these places can't afford to upgrade their projection. Sadly, we're going to see many more of these die out. :(

I didn't know that, Rich, that's awesome that it's still going strong.  Are they also the operators?  Did you ever work there?

Well..... I went to the drive-in's FB page to post a link. And I hate what I found............... well, that's a big downer to the day...   :'(     :'(      :'(       :'(

http://www.myfoxcarolinas.com/story/26407345/bessemer-city-kings-mountain-drive-in-to-close

Super sad.  You are always welcome to take a trip to the Transit Drive in with me.  It's just a short 12 hour drive for you.