Dedicated Arcades are coming back?

As most of us X'ers hit our mid life crisis and decide to start our own businesses, there will undoubtedly be a noticeable increase in arcade related locations as we try and relive our youth.

I doubt we'll see very much. Some are doing well, though.
 
Yeah there are actually two arcades here in Austin. Arcade UFO, and Pinballz. As far as I can tell, they're both doing pretty well. And Pinballz is HUGE, to boot!

I hope there's a nice resurgence of Arcades. I miss those times.
 
There used to be a Barcadia here in Houston but it closed. There's still Kung Fu Saloon which has arcade games plus Skee Ball set to free play.
 
Still waiting... Return of real arcades in the Palm Springs area? I doubt there were any here, even during the Golden Age... I might as well be living in Fuckwit-Bumfuck, Idaho! Oh, wait... *SIGH*
 
Yeah there are actually two arcades here in Austin. Arcade UFO, and Pinballz. As far as I can tell, they're both doing pretty well. And Pinballz is HUGE, to boot!

I hope there's a nice resurgence of Arcades. I miss those times.
I love Pinballz. I went there last night for the third time with a friend and I gotta say that Pinballz is definitely the best arcade I've been to since I went to Japan. The prices are kind of pricey but they have such an amazing collection. My only complaint is that they don't have the first Killer Instinct, only Killer Instinct 2.. but they still managed to get like 5 Mortal Kombats. Boo!!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:[/color]<HR>The Ms. Pac-Man decals are not a replacement of the painted on art, but are actually repros of the actual decals used on the last run of Ms. Pac-Man machines. They are 100% accurate with the decals used in 1982 in the final production run.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the information!

I do wish that the stencils were cheaper, however coin-op collecting isn't a cheap obsession.
wink.gif


[ December 18, 2001: Message edited by: pcb-a-holic ]

I've told the manager several times that they need a KI1 cab. Id be there daily if they did.
 
Still waiting... Return of real arcades in the Palm Springs area? I doubt there were any here, even during the Golden Age... I might as well be living in Fuckwit-Bumfuck, Idaho! Oh, wait... *SIGH*

Lotta history in Palm Springs. I wish I was there in the 50-60s. *sigh, snort, hock one*
 
snort, hock one*
I told you to take it easy on those bongers at work... Bri disappointed.:(

Hey, we got Marilyn to come back for a year...

marilyn1.jpg


Actually, I think a retro-cade might work well... In the Downtown/tourist area. But economics/location rent would probably mean a location in Indio, or somethin'
 
Hey now! ;)

Still waiting... Return of real arcades in the Palm Springs area? I doubt there were any here, even during the Golden Age... I might as well be living in Fuckwit-Bumfuck, Idaho! Oh, wait... *SIGH*
 
Ok, so here's my question. If you decided to open an Arcade would you use your own collection? Or would you buy games just to put in the Arcade you open for the general public? Because you know they're going to get damaged in multiple ways either by kids carving on them or general maintanence issues like screen burn etc.

What would YOU do? I'm NOT asking if it would be a "Barcade" or an "Arcade". Let's just say it's an Arcade only intended to allow kids in.
 
Ok, so here's my question. If you decided to open an Arcade would you use your own collection? Or would you buy games just to put in the Arcade you open for the general public? Because you know they're going to get damaged in multiple ways either by kids carving on them or general maintanence issues like screen burn etc.

What would YOU do? I'm NOT asking if it would be a "Barcade" or an "Arcade". Let's just say it's an Arcade only intended to allow kids in.

I've wanted to open a barcade for years and this has crossed my mind on many occasions. I think I would likely want to pick up damaged / cheaper versions of some of my favorite machines for use in the arcade. If the setting is right, you'll have just the right amount of dank anyway and nobody will know the difference. Personally, working controls, monitor, coin slots, etc are more important on a public machine than appearance. I guess it depends a lot on what type of place your arcade is to begin with.
 
I think you are heavily overestimating the amount of kids that would be there in the first place. Only been to a few modern classic arcades but I have never seen a child in one. An arcade only allowing kids in would be out of business way before you could say screen burn or carving. There is a reason Chuck E Cheese is 98 percent redemption and 2 percent "old slagged out deluxe game from 15 years ago".

Most of the machines in all of our collections survived being on location for years during the classic era, often racking up 10,000 plays per year. If that didn't trash them then the light duty of a modern classic arcade isn't going to trash them either.



Ok, so here's my question. If you decided to open an Arcade would you use your own collection? Or would you buy games just to put in the Arcade you open for the general public? Because you know they're going to get damaged in multiple ways either by kids carving on them or general maintanence issues like screen burn etc.

What would YOU do? I'm NOT asking if it would be a "Barcade" or an "Arcade". Let's just say it's an Arcade only intended to allow kids in.
 
Well I just found out about a new arcade that opened in the Chesapeake Square Mall next to Sears in Chesapeake Virginia. I found out about it from a Craigslist ad selling a Centipede Cocktail.
http://norfolk.craigslist.org/sys/3198374104.html
The arcade is called Area 51 Arcade & Family Fun Center and opened about 2 months ago.
They have a facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/area51arcade
5I55G85Ma3Mc3L33N1c8b34a63cdabe721a8c.jpg

I haven't been their yet but plain to check it out soon.
They even have a six lane 1/32 scale slot car track. Also looks like a few pinballs and video games as well as redemption games. Reading their face book page it looks like they got some of their games at the Winston-Salem area, maybe the auction. I really hope it goes well for them but being in a mall I am sure the rent is not cheap.
 
Back
Top Bottom