Old school arcade-gauging interest

[Kjesse]

It would be hard to put a loonie in for a few minutes of Pac Man I think, in part because, its Pac Man. Its just psychological I think.

I think a better method would be, set all the games to freeplay, and you buy time inside the place and get a bracelet or something. If you don't buy a bracelet, you don't get to play, but can still buy food or drinks. If you buy food or drinks (thus taking you away from playing, your time is extended based on your spend.

Something like that.

Start up costs are high for something risky however.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Delgar

It would be hard to put a loonie in for a few minutes of Pac Man I think, in part because, its Pac Man. Its just psychological I think.

I think a better method would be, set all the games to freeplay, and you buy time inside the place and get a bracelet or something. If you don't buy a bracelet, you don't get to play, but can still buy food or drinks. If you buy food or drinks (thus taking you away from playing, your time is extended based on your spend.

Something like that.

Start up costs are high for something risky however.

This is a good idea but I think you need to have a lot of machines to make this work.

You would have some guys hogging all the machines and if there were only a few of the popular ones you'd have some upset customers.

[psyang]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

This is a good idea but I think you need to have a lot of machines to make this work.

You would have some guys hogging all the machines and if there were only a few of the popular ones you'd have some upset customers.

Just have people put quarters on the cabinet to reserve their spot like the old days. Only difference is they don't need to use them to play.

[calgarywinning]

To be honest, I was an avid video game player my whole life and when you go back and play some of the games from the past, the graphics are terrible by today's standards, the games aren't as fun as you remember; it's the nostalgia and memories of youth hanging out in Arcades.

The multiplayer games were amazing and this mostly wasn't possible at home. Then the curve started to change and that's when arcades became obsolete. The NEO: Geo was able to bring the console home. Games like Battlefield connected dozens and dozens of computers together, multiplayer online games bringing thousands of people together..

Game developers spending hundreds of millions on producing state of the art games, surpassing even the movie industry, the evolution of gaming has no space for an arcade except from the historical point of view.

Really opening an arcade alone is like opening a museum. It's nostalgia alone. It can only be a small component of a business and the real revenue would have to be food, alcohol and other attractions.

Even the cabinets and old school heavy screens are all but obsolete. THE CPU power of gaming machines and graphical capabilities are hundreds times more powerful then recent arcade games.

Sorry if I am a debbie downer.

[Kiran403]

I loved arcade games when I was a kid so I've always liked the idea of an arcade in today's era. I went to one in Vancouver last year and it was just a regular arcade with no booze or food. I was there with my brother for about an hour, maybe 90 minutes and it was awesome going head to head on Street Fighter 2. Felt like I was 14 years old again.

However, after going there I probably wouldn't go more than 1-2 times per year at the most and not for more than 30 minutes per visit. I think the only way to really make it successful would be to add the booze/food model which makes you Dave and Busters. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though as you could tweak it to give it your own spin plus nothing like Dave and Busters really exists in Calgary. The closest is Schanks and the arcade games there aren't anywhere as big as the mini golf, bowling etc, sports viewing etc.

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a decent niche for something like this, especially if you were able to provide an atmosphere that people liked with a decent range of games. If you could supplement walk-in traffic with various group/corporate bookings and feature events, it could be successful.

The one thing I would be wary about is the ability to source games as well as have a reliable way to maintain/fix them. Nobody wants to walk into an arcade with a bunch of games out of order. I hated that as a kid and I know I would hate that now.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Kryzsky

Pretty much right on the money. I maintain/operate the 10 pins on location with a partner at the Flames Community Arenas and they take a lot of time, I have a long list of things to get to but just have not had the hours. I do all my own work but there is a pin repair guy who does this as a business, with some googling you can find his site, with the service call rate in mind it would be a hard business model to maintain.

I played in the league there last winter. Thanks for hosting us!!!

The league is even bigger this year. Pinball is definitely picking up stream in Calgary.

A bunch of us just got back from the Vancouver Flip Out which was a blast.

I'm a bit biased, but I think there is definitely a market for a place like this in Calgary.

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

This is a good idea but I think you need to have a lot of machines to make this work.

You would have some guys hogging all the machines and if there were only a few of the popular ones you'd have some upset customers.

Assuming its legal, you get a dozen Jamma 60-in-1's under commercial license built into cabinets. Then you have some of the custom/dedicated machines where you can't get Jamma.

From there you have a Mortal Kombat, a Street Fighter, Simpsons, other non-Jamma games, and go from there.

[Red]

Not sure if already mentioned, but tubby dog on 17th has old arcades (pac-man included) and a pinball machine and get very little use.

[RW99]

Is there still a clothing store on 7th Ave next to the church?

I went to a pinball arcade in NYC that was great, unlimited play per hour. If it had some muchies and drinks it would have been perfect. Never got a chance to see a Barcade though.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

How long ago was that and where was it? I remember always running up to the Radioshack on the top-most floor to play with their Sega Genesis, but I would have definitely preferred an arcade if I knew about it.

I would say mid90s on the 3rd floor where Swarovski Jewelry is now. But my memory is a little hazy.

[zukes]

Here's a link for a place that I went to in Cincy http://www.16-bitbar.com/cincy/. It was a great night out after hitting up this place http://senatepub.com/ for some amazing hot dogs.

The arcade bar was awesome. It only had 5 or 6 pinball machines, over 50 box arcade games and then the end of the bar was set up with every old system where you could sit and play on the TV's behind the bar.

My buddy and I had a great time destroying everyone in the place at Street Fighter. The wives, unfortunately, were not having as much fun so we only got a couple hours in before having to move on.

[Flashpoint]

I'm going Debbie Downer. I apologize.

You are thinking of opening an old school arcade in Calgary, and I think it's a terrible idea. I love games and loved arcades when I was a kid but I would be unlikely to go once, let alone with regularity.

Dave & Busters is sort of the "Big League" version of this in the US... and it's fun kind of like Vegas - once or twice a year. Mostly overpriced crappy food and booze subsidizing machines covered in hand grease that are less interesting than Angry Birds.

Everyone has access to unlimited free or $3 games on their phones. I don't want to drop coins into a machine for just a few minutes of play. In Cgy I'm not driving across town in winter for the privilege.

Even if you did it "right" and created some sort of totally unique time capsule from 1986 with nothing but the best $0.25 games, cheesy rock and roll on the jukebox and were able to fill it with people other than 45 year old manchildren (other than me of course), most folks would find it a cool once off, and not a regular hangout.

Just check out what happened to that dude from "King of Kong"'s arcade. He tried to go all vintage and it was unsustainable.

So - great nostalgia thread for CP, but bad business idea. Wish you the best of luck if you move forward with it regardless.

[Gozer]

I think there is too much emphasis on retro games.

If there were pinball, pacman, and more modern games & multiplayer setups then you could avoid the problems being mentioned.
I'm thinking a birthday party & LAN network for, say, Civilaztion, and players knocked out would go play arcade games. Would hold a captive audience for a few hours of food & drink, gimmicky enough to be unique.

I think the business model would rely on core customers and maybe business travelers, rather than a large base of casual, returning customers.

[The Yen Man]

Yah, I see a ton of challenges for something like this to succeed. The reason why arcades are still doing ok in Japan is because they're close to subway stations, and you have kids drop in after school for a bit to hang out with friends. There's a reason why arcades have for the most part died out everywhere else. The home gaming technology has made it obsolete.

And I agree that the old school gaming thing is definitely mostly nostalgia. Having recently spent an evening or two with a couple buddies playing a bunch of retro games on Mame at home, some games are definitely still fun to play. But a lot of games have not aged well at all, and I can see people playing it once or twice, but not coming back for repeat experiences. I can't see kids getting into a lot of the old games IMO.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

That is why Lounge Burger came to mind for me.

Loungeburger is gone?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Loungeburger is gone?

They closed a month or so ago.

[Hack&Lube]

It's a cool idea and people would be interested in it but you wouldn't be able to generate enough interest and traffic to pay rent at the regular commercial lease rates in Calgary.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

Just check out what happened to that dude from "King of Kong"'s arcade. He tried to go all vintage and it was unsustainable.
.

Doesn't look vintage whatsoever. It was a modern, tiny, Airport arcade like our little flippers corners. Did he try vintage before or after this picture?

[Frequitude]

The biggest obstacle I see is convincing someone why they just shouldn't go to Shanks.

That clincher for me would be convenience. Put it in the 4th & 17th area and I'd go. Put it anywhere else and I probably wouldn't bother. Mind you I live in the area so that criteria probably occurs to any place I'd go for a drink.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Yah, I see a ton of challenges for something like this to succeed. The reason why arcades are still doing ok in Japan is because they're close to subway stations, and you have kids drop in after school for a bit to hang out with friends. There's a reason why arcades have for the most part died out everywhere else. The home gaming technology has made it obsolete.

Arcades are a dying breed in Japan. Hundreds closed last year and hundreds more are closing this year. Companies like Konami who had large arcade divisions have been consolidating their holdings and focusing more on things like gambling (like Pachinko machines) due to the fall of arcade popularity in Japan.