NEW 1st Killer Queen in TEXAS!

But the latest software release allows drones to collect the berries and return them to the hive, so if you are one or two short on your side, not as big of a deal as before.

That's a great addition. When I was playing it, we always had to have an even number of players on each side to be fair.

The game-play reminds a little of Joust and I love Joust.

Definitely a cool game.
 
So, from what I gather:

1. Cost per play is for entire team (blue or gold), often $1 or more.
2. There is no individual cost to each player.
3. There is no continue feature / lives / timer.
4. All players play until a team victory results.

This seems like nobody put the coin-op formula to task
when designing the game. It's clearly fun to play in
groups, but that is not always going to happen. And to
be successful, it needs additional coin drop.

Over and over I see some really neat games emerge
but it's clear nobody is consulting with experienced
game operators to understand the business.

There are some really awesome games out there that
never did well in the cashbox and are therefore considered failures.

*BUT this game will clearly succeed in TIMED environments ("museums").
However I doubt such establishments will pony up that kind of dough.
 
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-Cost per game is $1-$2 nationally per the Chicago KQ group lead
-When the game ended and a group is going, every player is happy to alternate chipping in for another round
-Games last 3 min or less

I asked the game dev about card readers and this was his response:

"Card readers are not ideal since then a single person has to pay for the whole game, wheres with tokens, everybody can chip one or two in. But ultimately, the more options, the better.

We've found that the game does best if it's set to either $1 or $2 per game. Anything less than $1 doesn't increase the amount of play, and above $2 feels too expensive.

I recommend starting it at $2/game but giving out a lot of free plays early on to help build community, plus putting it on freeplay for special events like tournaments, etc."
 
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Wish they had one at the pinballz in Buda...the traffic getting to the one in Austin from here means its a long commute for me :(
 
They talked about it but feel the open bar area by the classic games at Lake Creek is the best shot

Join the FB Group and we can coordinate a meetup: www.facebook.com/groups/killerqueenatx

Come on a busy FRI or SAT and we'll make the drive worth your while, get you setup on a team and pull in challengers. The night will fly by. Tell all your friends!
 
Hey everyone, I'm one of the designers of Killer Queen. We've made a lot of games in the past but this was our first arcade game (though certainly not our last!) When we first designed it, we envisioned it as a one-off festival piece. However, there was so much interest, that 23 pairs of cabinets later Nik and I realized we couldn't handle the demand ourselves. So that's why we partnered with Raw Thrills who has taken it to the next level and started building better and more rugged cabinets, which are just starting to ship right now through Betson. We're very excited to see how the community will grow now that we're shipping more cabinets again.

To answer Yaggy's question, yes in fact Killer Queen is all about replay. It has a very different life cycle than most arcade games. It starts slow and builds and sustains very well. Logan Arcade was the first venue to have a Killer Queen on test, in July of 2014 and it is going strong as ever there, over two years later. The game builds an incredibly strong community. Most arcades host a weekly Killer Queen league night, and monthly tournaments. A lot of the active players play 2 or 3 times a week. The game also brings its own audience so it doesn't cannibalize other games.

We don't have any collections reports posted publicly, but I can share them if you just email me at [email protected]. I'm happy to answer any other questions about the game too!

Josh
 
I showed my 8 year old boy this thread, adn I think he called it Wasp Warrior? Was he wrong or was this possibly the original name?
 
Do you guys have a league night?

The community is growing fast. Working out the details with the Pinballz staff. League Night and Local Tournament Details are coming SOON!

Follow us on Facebook for the latest! Some guy already posted the link twice already in this thread. Sheesh.
 
Anything that gets people to the arcade is a good thing.

10 player sounds cool too.
 
You send an email to [email protected] apparently.
Pro level stuff.

No distributors.
No published collection reports.
No clear support channels.

If they had proper distro channels, it might
even have had a chance.

Yeah, that email gets no reply. I had requested information on getting a pair of cabinets for the Game Preserve in Houston a month or so ago and never received any response. Too bad the price is so steep on these.
 
I went and had a blast. 3 hours went by really fast.

My only complaint was the machine was set to $2 earlier in the week but is now set to $3

Not to bad when 10 kick in but may make it hard to get newer players.
 
Yeah, that email gets no reply. I had requested information on getting a pair of cabinets for the Game Preserve in Houston a month or so ago and never received any response. Too bad the price is so steep on these.

Josh DeBonis is following up with Betson on this
 
I went and had a blast. 3 hours went by really fast.

My only complaint was the machine was set to $2 earlier in the week but is now set to $3

Not to bad when 10 kick in but may make it hard to get newer players.

Thanks for coming! We had a blast.

However due to this weeks price bump we are now officially the most expensive per game KQ in the country.

Austin Pinballz - $3
Chicago Logan - $2
KC - $2
Minneapolis - $2
PDX - $2
Chicago Uptown - $1
Charlotte - $1
San Francisco - $1
Columbus - $1
Phoenix - $1
 
Smooth operator.

$1.50 a side, eh? One dollar and two quarters each seems time consuming.
 
Smooth operator.

$1.50 a side, eh? One dollar and two quarters each seems time consuming.

Yeah the FB Group lit up when I posted about this also.

Per KQ ATX FB Group:

"8 tokens in KC, tokens are normally 25 cents each. Six coins per side doesn't make sense, given there are five players. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

"KQC 1 buck. League nights are not free for us, however. The $1, I feel, keeps more people on for longer. It's all about getting a crowd going. More people around = more people interested = more people playing = more return players = more money in the long term."

"$3 is crazy given how fast play generally is and I don't see how a competitive scene can grow around that... people won't come to play for five or six hours but that regularly happens at $1.

If they don't nurture a competitive scene they won't attract as many players."

"If this game was $3 I'd never play it. Make money off of the alcohol sales of people addicted to a cheap, fun game... not the actual machines themselves. Unless you don't have booze. In which case, :( Then there's more argument for always having the machine close to capacity. $3 is steep as hell for a game that looks stupid from the outside and is hard to "get" until you've played 10 times."

"Also longer play encourages more alcohol sales and more people to stick around. The high price burns the regulars much more than the casual player who plays on"

"The city of Charlotte (which has the #1 scene) is $1. we also have a sick 3rd TV settup that I want to mention for no reason.

To add to jason and billy's points, the low price allows us to start games with less players (2v2 or 3v3) and invite confused new players in. We got 4 people hooked yesterday and they only stopped to get drinks and come back. They were also cheering loudly when they were winning and it felt good to see people have fun and was a good vibe overall.

$3 is an overkill. No way your scene will take off with a price like that. Best of luck."

"If the logic is $3 since it's new, I'd point out that it being new means this is when you want to get people hooked and $3 may turn them away."

This is feedback from other long standing and thriving Killer Queen scenes, I might add.
 
$1 is too cheap in a busy location as people will never leave and new players are intimidated by a large group of screaming idiots. Some folks come in with their own group of 10 and want to play but never get a chance to get on because at 10 cents a player, who wants to leave :) Cheap thrills!

$3 is just such a weird price. $2.50 (a quarter per player) would seem to be the logical ceiling on pricing.
 
$1 is too cheap in a busy location as people will never leave and new players are intimidated by a large group of screaming idiots. Some folks come in with their own group of 10 and want to play but never get a chance to get on because at 10 cents a player, who wants to leave :) Cheap thrills!

$3 is just such a weird price. $2.50 (a quarter per player) would seem to be the logical ceiling on pricing.

Would love to have the aforementioned $1 pricing and crowd control "problem."

Free or cheap League nights during a slow time of the week would be the next step.

Game draws a crowd when we are there to get things started and there are always opportunities to hook in spectators, even on the busy nights we've seen, one side or the other ends up 1 or 2 short and 1 free game for a spectator is all you need to get them hooked :)
 
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