Opening a local Arcade

[Corey]

Wasn't sure if this was GG or not so I stuck it here. Looking for some suggestions and whatnot is all.

We (My dad and I) decided to open an arcade and I'll be managing it and such since the current store is doing shit.
At first I was pretty psyched about having control of what goes in it and such, but I have no idea what to actually put in there.
I was thinking as far as a theme goes was just do a blacklight type arcade with a bunch of vibrant colors and UV shit. I've already decided on putting in two UV Air Hockey Tables which are fucking cool,
and was thinking of doing some UV Pool Tables as well.

Question is: Is the UV theme lame or not?

Another problem I'm having is what games should I put in?
My first thought was House of the Dead, Ghosts and Goblins, Street Fighter, etc... And then realized all of my tastes are outdated.

Anyone who plays at a modern arcade I'd really appreciate some suggestions and advice on themes and such.

[Andy_Jerk]

My first thought was Mame cabinets, but that's probably not legal to have in a business...although I know some Bourgeoisie specialty shops sell cabinets with limited game selections for exorbitant fees so maybe there's a way around it with older titles.

But all in all that does sound awesome. There were some good arcades out here in the Midwest but they all closed down long ago.

[Grouch]

sounds awesome. I'd lovve to spend a day at a real arcade too bad all thats left in the nearby city is a chuckee cheese and craigs cruisers. As for game suggestions light gun games like silent scope lethal enforcers ect. Racing games, ddr and of course fighting games also shumps can't forget those. I don't really think age of the games matters much.

[Nemkoon]

You have to have house of the dead. Get 3 or 4, though. Get one of the Time crisis games in there too. And don't forget NEOGEO FIGHTERS.

I always play the light gun games whenever I go to my city's arcade.

[Littledood]

sounds awesome. I'd lovve to spend a day at a real arcade too bad all thats left in the nearby city is a chuckee cheese and craigs cruisers. As for game suggestions light gun games like silent scope lethal enforcers ect. Racing games, ddr and of course fighting games also shumps can't forget those. I don't really think age of the games matters much.

Same here, except we have 1 arcade/club place downtown. It's always packed with noobs though.

[luffy4]

around here there are no arcades, but i would suggest getting games which ARENT available on console like house of dead 4

[crimsonedge]

The reason arcades died out is nobody wants to pay $1 to play a game they can just play on their X box 360. Arcades used to actually offer better quality types of games than you can find on consoles, but its not really the case anymore. When a brand new SF4 cab cost nearly 20k, its gonna take a long time before you even make your money back on it.

I don't see any real profit to be made in running an arcade these days.

[Zaladane]

sorry dude but I think this is a bad idea as well. If your city has a nice sized population and the location is good then who knows, maybe you could make it work. Pretty risky venture though.



If you're gonna spend all that money on cabinets, you may as well just open up a video game store instead

[Knightshade]

sorry dude but I think this is a bad idea as well. If your city has a nice sized population and the location is good then who knows, maybe you could make it work. Pretty risky venture though.



If you're gonna spend all that money on cabinets, you may as well just open up a video game store instead

^this^

hey also if you open a video store you can check local laws a
bout putting a couple of cabinets in and
have like a quarter to play(much more likely to make more money than the $1 machines mentioned above) try before you buy system in place. the only thing is you would probably have to time limit some games/genres because you would have people standing there playing for 25 cents instead of buying the game of course that also depends on the gamers skill level as well

[Drageuth]

I kind of agree that it's an extremely risky venture. If there's a demand for it in your city, than by all means go for it, but where I live I've seen nothing but arcades closing over the last decade.

If the arcade is kind of a "side-business" attached to another one, though, then it would definitely be a worthwhile venture. I just wouldn't recommend it as the primary source of income, unless there actually is high demand for an arcade in your town/city/village.

Still, it sounds pretty awesome.

[Corey]

To all the concern about it closing I know all too well how poorly arcades do nowadays and I appreciate the heads up.

Fortunately like Drageuth said, we own the (grocery store) in Cut N Shoot and our store is where all the kids who get home from school wait for their parents and hang out afterschool and such.
It's looking pretty promising for the most part.

As for the suggestions I appreciate them as well, I had mostly older games in mind, nothing too modern before I thought it would be a bad idea to just go oldschool from my preferences.
I know I'm getting House of the Dead 2 because I can get it for $600 in the box from a buddy.
I wasn't sure what fighters to get, but NEOGEO sounds like a good idea, they do have quite a few good ones.
MAME never even occurred to me, and I'll look into the legality of them. There are tons of those Multi game cabinets with like 300 70's era games that I think I could find a way.

What are your thoughts on the blacklight theme anyone? I found some UV Pool Tables and Air Hockey tables for a reasonable price and was wondering how you viewed those.

Again, thanks for all the replies.

[Drageuth]

This definitely sounds more and more exciting.

As for the blacklight theme... I've personally never been a big fan of it. I don't really have any particular reason why, just that I've always kind of felt uncomfortable with blacklights around.

However, I think as long as they are done tastefully (ie, don't overdo it), it can look kind of cool.

[Nemkoon]

To all the concern about it closing I know all too well how poorly arcades do nowadays and I appreciate the heads up.

Fortunately like Drageuth said, we own the (grocery store) in Cut N Shoot and our store is where all the kids who get home from school wait for their parents and hang out afterschool and such.
It's looking pretty promising for the most part.

As for the suggestions I appreciate them as well, I had mostly older games in mind, nothing too modern before I thought it would be a bad idea to just go oldschool from my preferences.
I know I'm getting House of the Dead 2 because I can get it for $600 in the box from a buddy.
I wasn't sure what fighters to get, but NEOGEO sounds like a good idea, they do have quite a few good ones.
MAME never even occurred to me, and I'll look into the legality of them. There are tons of those Multi game cabinets with like 300 70's era games that I think I could find a way.

What are your thoughts on the blacklight theme anyone? I found some UV Pool Tables and Air Hockey tables for a reasonable price and was wondering how you viewed those.

Again, thanks for all the replies.

It would also be cool if you could obtain some arcade games that are Jap only, although they would probably be to expensive and you might need(not entirely sure) a plug converter or something because of different voltages. But this sounds like a really good idea.
PS. I beat HotD2 after spending 18 bucks on it at the arcade.

[Corey]

This definitely sounds more and more exciting.

As for the blacklight theme... I've personally never been a big fan of it. I don't really have any particular reason why, just that I've always kind of felt uncomfortable with blacklights around.

However, I think as long as they are done tastefully (ie, don't overdo it), it can look kind of cool.

Yeah I agree you can overdo, I've seen some overdone ones, but also some really sleek arcades done in blacklight.
(granted I was about 5 years younger)
I think I will see how the floorplan plays out before deciding on that, but the UV airhockey tables look sweet so I'm definitely leaning towards that theme. I can't imagine a UV pool table though which is my main concern.

It would also be cool if you could obtain some arcade games that are Jap only, although they would probably be to expensive and you might need(not entirely sure) a plug converter or something because of different voltages. But this sounds like a really good idea.
PS. I beat HotD2 after spending 18 bucks on it at the arcade.

Certainly a no for the Jap cabinets. Simply because that isn't my projected consumer group. We don't have many around here interested in Jap....anything. :p
Off topic, I beat HoTD2 at an arcade in town for maybe 3 bucks playing with my girlfriend. One of the few arcade games I'm badass at. I draw crowds playing that game.
On topic however, I am in the process of hunting down a Metal Slug arcade. Doesn't matter which Metal Slug, I'd prefer 2 or 3, but I just want Metal Slug in my arcade. I can't find any cheap Metal Slugs cabs online.

[Nemkoon]

My 18 bucks were well spent though. It was a solo play for me.
I drew crowds playing another light gun game, was really good at it, but I don't remember the name.
Metal Slug is good, get some KoF too.
If I was local, I would totally come play at your arcade.
Other recommendations: Simpsons Arcade, SFA3, Time Crisis 4, Every light gun game in the world, Tekken machines, and Soul Edge.