@mcsjsanders "significantly" is subjective here, as most of us in the arcade industry are used to real fighting games with a deep level of control (Street Fighter, Tekken, King of Fighters, etc.). Yes this is better than IJ but It's laughable to claim or insinuate that it is anywhere close to those when it most certainly is not.

Pins themselves just haven't been great earners for a long time, although lately everything has been slow. Despite what the media says, the economy is slow for Main St. type business. But also it wouldn't surprise me - there's just no way to sustain prices on equipment like this at these levels forever. While most go to homes, I've noticed that values on some machines just hasn't been great either, not really fulfilling the whole "well you'll make your money back when you resell it!" trope. I think the market has pretended that *everything* is going to hold the value of an Addams Family or Twilight Zone, when that isn't the case.

​@@arcadeheroes_coinop - It's interesting that you say that Pinball machines aren't great earners. I've mentioned that fact to some Pinball fans and enthusiasts and they seem to get offended at the statement. Yes the Pinball fanbase is hardcore. But they don't seem to understand that these machines require maintenance (which eat ups profits), and that not every customer is interested in playing Pinball. Overall, the Pinball fanbase seems to "overestimate" how popular pinball actually is in arcades. Meanwhile many customers love video games like Jurassic Park, racing games like Cruisin' Blast, etc.

Ouch, I do forget about the exchange rates - just makes it truly brutal

Sorry to hear that, but higher minimum wage means higher price for everything. 😢

@@sungleong yeah, mainly the crazy shipping and import tax being we’re so far away

This is dependent upon a lot of factors - local economy (median incomes, local competition, currents of consumer spending, local boosts such as an anchor store that brings people into an area, etc), how well the concept is performing, the exact location, costs, and so on. Generally if a concept is so sound that it will make money in a similar area, then you can expand. It requires some good market research to help determine all that - and a lot of capital investment. I was in a pretty good spot thanks to how well the arcade did from 2017-2019, which is what helped me open a place in 2020. It might have worked to do the 2nd location where I did it had covid not completely changed consumer retail behavior, but I also might have made the wrong picks for game selection, which were not as appealing to the locals in the area as I had assumed they would be.

No worries for myself, as I have no restrooms ;) But I hear ya there - if a place has restrooms, it becomes a bit awkward to figure out placement since there's a good chance the patrons don't wash their hands (a location should obsessively clean the controls of games near them, but that's hardly a guarantee)