How Do Arcade Operators Decide What To Buy? 5 points

[@JohnshiBRPG]

Glad for you to speak out about arcade operation with video game arcade since it is rarely discussed compared to other consumer game mediums. I appreciate the exclusivity element, which is the biggest draw above all else.

[@stevemac6707]

Much respect to you, I was in my teens in the 80's in the UK. I remember Space Invaders at our local shop & the massive queue to play it. Then the arcades springing up & becoming a big part of my youth. I think it's great you keep the nostalgia & feel of those old arcades still going. Much respect from Scotland 👍

[@MrPollitogatito]

This is a topic that really called my attention. I’m not an operator myself, at least not in the traditional sense (I have some games in my apartment and that’s about it), but I always like to try and see things from their point of view. Games I liked that were in places I used to frequent were taken out and I did have some resentment for a little bit, but after some time I started to adopt their perspective and I gained more knowledge of how the industry works. It’s not hard to understand why redemption games are so popular with operators, because they can easily make a ROI and then some, even for some of the bigger ones, which could arguably do even better. I think that if a game doesn’t demand much skill from the player, it’s likely to do well. A lot of people play those basketball games, sure, but I could never get good at them. It’s more likely that it will attract people who just want to have some competitive fun. I will also admit that that Tomb Raider pic with the ceiling tiles removed did give me a chuckle. But at the same time I am aware that it’s a real problem for some locations. Unless you’re a Dave & Buster’s or a Round 1, or basically any FEC with high ceilings, the height of games is indeed an issue, and it does seem like bigger games attract more people just because of their size. The licenses are another thing too. It seems like games based on original IP’s are mostly a thing of the past at this point. Even games that are still being made today like Big Buck are based on original IP’s that have existed for years or even decades. It seems like most manufacturers play it safe nowadays when it comes to licensing (not saying this as criticism, just an observation). Exclusivity is another thing too. I think games can exist in both a home format and commercially as long as there is something you can’t get at home. Bringing back Big Buck, you can buy a cabinet for your home and put it online and get all the perks (they even have a plan specifically for such units), but you couldn’t qualify for the World Championship from home up until recently. Before that change happened, I was still going to locations where I could put my scores in, despite the fact that I have my own personal machine, as it was restricted to commercial locations at the time. I do still go out to qualify occasionally but I only do it if it’s with other people. So all of these factors really come into play and I personally believe that if you are trying to attract people to an arcade, personal preference should be as little of a factor as possible.

[@andysodyssey8174]

I think as a vendor what I’ve been contemplating. Is to literally put the information people need to see right in front of them. Signage that will explain where to research the internet for game tutorials and find the community’s on social media that engage with pinball enthusiasts. So we can point people who are confused in any way on any aspect of pinball on how to play well and understand that there is an actual game with modes that need beat in order to progress and win plus unlock those big point scores you can’t get by just randomly flipping .

[@di380]

Great video, I always wondered since I was a child how arcade operators ever made any money at all since arcade cabinets where so expensive 😢

[@iancampbell912]

Thanks for making these videos, they’re great. I’ve been touring local arcades the last few months and wondering these exact questions, it’s really cool and rare to have them answered so comprehensively!

[@adamminter29]

Thanks for the vid Adam. Just a note, when it comes to exclusivity I don't think any operator would ever say all games should release on all platforms. What I think makes most operators mad when it comes to exclusivity is the fact that some company's (D&B) are given exclusive rights to operate a game first. By the time the smaller operators can actually purchase a game it's already been at the D&Bs around the corner, making it not as exciting of a piece.

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

Excellent point! It is frustrating that we small fries can't get our hands on the big pieces first at times as like you say, it diminished the impact and makes it tougher for ROI. I should clarify that I wasn't meaning operators were saying that all games should be exclusive but that I've heard that from gamers. They make a fair point that many live in places with no arcade nearby so they should be able to enjoy those games too, but a point I should have made is that a balance needs to be found - no console ports at least for the first couple/few years (definitely not while the game is in production) to give us a chance to make something off it.

[@Arc8deFever]

Hey Adam, can you maybe talk more about how operators do/don't cultivate a local following to specific games at their arcade, especially when you don't play to the least common denominator (ticket redemption) to increase earnings? Its a shame the local Street Fighter community dropped out on you after SFIV console release, but I wonder if you've had more regular tournaments and older SF versions available to keep the community happy with competitive play in a real arcade vs home. I know the pandemic would have had a chilling effect on this past two years.

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

That is one I'd definitely need to get some feedback from other ops on - we did get some support from the local community for about a year afterwards so that was fine. But, any time I have tried to do a tournament, I get little to no support. If someone within one of these communities organizes it, things work out really well. Currently, we see monthly action from pinball. But it could be an interesting discussion to get into

[@strangbndr]

You are my Arcade owner/operator hero!

[@georgewindsor2667]

very helpful. really helping me realize that my bias might not be someone elses.

[@RetroRalph]

Awesome video and super insightful. I had a hunch the retro titles were more filler than top earners these days. However, I never had the data to back that up. Although I love them, if I was opening a location, I would keep the retro titles to a minimum. You need to pay the bills, right? Thank you for this video! Do you still have the friction kit? If so, how does it earn now? I have a friction project I have had on hold for a while. Anyhow, that’s again for the video and I hope we get a chance to meet at some point.

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

Thanks! The only way I see retro as sustainable is with the Galloping Ghost model but even then that's a bit of challenge for maintenance as you recently saw; Also getting your hands on that many games is easier said than done as everybody wants this game or that, but the remaining supply is extremely low. I may do a video showing retro game performance (or lack thereof :P ) On Friction, I do have it but it hasn't worked in the longest time. Right now the issue is the CRT monitor (I think). It's really too bad as in its heyday, Friction sometimes outearned the House of the Dead 4 DX I had. It didn't have a name but people really loved it.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Agreed, good to see you Ralph.

[@alannori2476]

Great video, thank you for sharing this! Could you make a seperate video about how to pick profitable games that have good ROI?

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

Sure, no harm in expanding that section :)

[@jg5529]

Thank you for being so open and sharing your insight.

[@GameplayandTalk]

I love insights like these into the business and decision making side of things. Regarding pinball, I could see low earnings totally being the case. A lot of the folks in my area routing them have them in breweries or bars, because alchol definitely feeds the play. That said, it's to my understanding that they still don't make a lot of money, certainly not enough for it to be a full time gig for the operators (which are usually hobbyists/enthusiasts that work full time jobs and route pinball on the side). Tournaments and regular weekly leagues help too, like you mentioned.

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

Yep, that is exactly the case. I'll have a video up soon (maybe Monday) where I get into that subject

[@vilmosmatyi9644]

Keep making these kind of videos! Really interesting!

[@NHSUKFan909]

Great video, I do like the arcade content keep up the good work.

[@jbalien20]

Do you have a membership deal? It could probably help keep the regulars and motivate them to bring a guest.

[@mathew3267]

I got a game called "Deadly Force" coming soon, its going to blow you away.

[@brandonhiggs88]

Id be curious to see a comparison older pinball machines versus new ones, I search out arcades for games like white water, Adams family, the getaway 2, medevil madness, attack from Mars etc. My local arcade has a limited edition stern mustang and Ghostbusters pinball. I do like them but my tokens always gravitate to 90s pinball machines

[@davidcarper5411]

The 90s was a pinball heyday

[@colemangreen4191]

Arcades are an interesting business. When I go I play pinball and give my kids $15. So you could have the best newest racing game on the market but that’s not going to make me spend more money. And the pinball machines aren’t earning much but I would never take the kids if you didn’t have pinball. Haha. I live in Orem and love Nickelmania but will definitely stop by Arcade Galactic some time.

[@surrealbrain4227]

This is a very interesting video indeed. I do think this is something to think about when suggesting games to the local areas; I have certain arcade games I'd LIKE to see, but I sincerely doubt they'd be very profitable, if at all, so I don't suggest those.

[@kurtdominik1155]

Adam, would you mind giving us some names of vendors/game publishers/etc who you have enjoyed working with and why? I would appreciate knowing what is fair to expect from them and what is "on my own". Thanks!

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

I've worked well with pretty much everyone I've bought a game from, although sometimes I've had an issue with tech support over at Bandai Namco & Sega (was still able to get it resolved though). On distributors, I've had good & bad experiences with all of them I've worked with (Betson, PrimeTime Amusements, Central Distributing, Shaffer), where pretty much all of them (this depends on the sales person) can have issues in providing proper expectations on when to expect your game will ship after it's paid for. That's an annoyance but not a major issue - you just have to be on top of it. The biggest headache I've had comes from shipping - Estes once really screwed me over, telling me to expect delivery on a certain day between a certain time, then they never showed up, didn't call - I had to call them to find out but no one seemed to know anything. They are one I just don't want to deal with after that although I've been hearing from many others that few shipping companies are "great" anymore.

[@dragongamer2670]

Can't say because mine is a Secret but I will say this.. "Good Luck" You'll Need it!

[@warzardtheboredtimelord2865]

Great video and thanks for keeping arcades alive. I always wanted to open an arcade. Question: I don't have any games, I don't have a place, but I do have some cash and good credit. Ballpark how much cost it would be to get started?

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

Welcome! That's a little tough to answer as costs will vary from place to place but just on equipment, $50k would be a decent starter ballpark (assuming you use much of that to get used equipment). If all brand new then you might need 2x that just due to new game costs. I would also recommend having at least a few months worth of rent set aside (if not 6), to help in case it is slow to take off. If that's all too high then a good way to start is by becoming a route operator. Just buy a few pieces that you can afford and find a place where you can put them on a split. A lot of people start this way, building up a collection slowly until they have enough to open a full blown location. Hope that helps!

[@warzardtheboredtimelord2865]

@@arcadeheroes_coinop Thanks! I figured that you would say something in that range. I worked in an arcade a couple summers when I was in college. Do you have an opinion on barcades?

[@tonymcneil]

MARIO KART ARCADE GP DX HAS COVID-19!

[@wutony7672]

Cousin blast is awesome

[@kylenorthrop2398]

Having been a repair tech for a FEC, collector since 2005, operator currently, 80's kid, etc. Arcades make money on redemption. At the FEC I worked at the best earner was "reel big fish". The poorest earner was skee ball. Tempest didn't fail because it was too bright. It had a lot of HV section issues. If you think pins don't earn money you are doing something wrong man. My pins make great money.

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

Thanks for the comment - as I mentioned though in two other pinball-specific videos, I've tried everything short of running a bar (and in one vid I lay out why that's not a great idea for me) - they don't make money, not like other games do. It's not just me - I posted another video where I got numbers from other ops all over the world and ones who have them in bars - same story. :/ I would like to find out about these locations where pinball allegedly makes great money - where are they, what do they do? What are you doing right that I'm not and how do you define "great?" Not being facetious, genuine questions. Interesting that you see skeeball perform the as I've never heard of that doing poorly (excepting a machine being dirty & broken) - perhaps you're doing something wrong there? ;) I've had a lot of pinball fans pops up in comments on those other videos where they think it and wish it to be true that it's this mega-money-earner because they like it or they see crowds. It's not the reality of the earnings week-in, week-out, even with tournaments and like you said - arcades make money on redemption. I'm willing to bet that in any location where you have redemption & pins, it's not the pins bringing in the best haul.

[@deaddy9796]

Do you know of any legal issues with modification of a game's cabinet or controls?

[@darrellhuggins9901]

I noticed you said tokens, I have always wonder why take that extra step to setup for tokens, why not just take real cash?

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

We did try quarters early on and it was a bigger hassle than tokens as we were constantly running out. We still take cash for tokens but tokens are better because: -Can brand all the tokens -They are cheaper than quarters -Security. Quarters inside of the machines makes it enticing to break into them

[@JonToyCars]

What fighting game is that at the bottom, middle of you intro, last part please?!

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

It's Chaos Code EXA, the final director's cut of the Chaos Code series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZomQgmSVhs-cmas

[@JonToyCars]

@@arcadeheroes_coinop Thanks!

[@justimagine2403]

Oh, you are still using Coin mech... I heard card swipers cost like $90,000 to retrofit a whole arcade with card swipers.

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

It depends on a few things - the size of the arcade mostly but also which brand of card system that you go with. I've been shopping for one but unfortunately I can't afford even the cheapest one at the moment.

[@tristanwegner]

interesting

[@xxthomasxx9059]

Wait is there 6rr in your country? I mean you install 6 first so you can transfer data, because 5dx+ cant be transferred to 6rr if you didnt transfer to 6 first

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

North America is never getting 6 as an official release, licensing cost reasons. When MT7 comes along, then we probably will

[@xxthomasxx9059]

@@arcadeheroes_coinop but you might not transfer your data in mt7

[@EQOAnostalgia]

He's right about tickets... same with mobile gaming, i mean we can get pissed all we want at the devs, the people are driving the sales of that trash. Backstreet Boys and Nsync got big because that's your normie market... think about how many terrible groups/bands have become larger than life...sucks, truly does because it ends up costing the more hardcore audience in the end. But this is why the term "filthy casual" exists lol. Casuals... you stand accused of messing up our arcades, gaming in general, and getting crappy songs like MMMbop and Mocarena stuck in the heads of millions of people! What say ye?!

[@RalphBarbagallo]

Is there a general monthly $ per sqft figure you try to hit for larger games to compare against having several smaller games in the same area?

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

I haven't done the math on it (I probably should) so it's been more of a "feel" that I've developed over time, but looking at the numbers, 1 game like Jurassic Park, which takes up the same space as say 4 80s/90s upright cabinets, makes more in a week than all of my retro games do combined. I would like to see more small form factor cabs that can earn though, like standard versions of Halo: Fireteam Raven and so on. Those would likely help close the gap.

[@chestercopperpot9294]

Do customers still try and gain free credits by nefarious means such as an emp coil in the slot?

[@arcadeheroes_coinop]

Ha, not in that regard - most I see are tokens from other sites than our own but thanks to most places ditching tokens in favor of cards, that's become less common.

[@davidcarper5411]

Redemption became king about 12 to 14 years ago, the rest is novelty and filler games. Actual skill means very little to most people today.