Do you use coins or tokens to operate coin-op games you own?

Do you use coins or tokens to operate coin-op games you own?


  • Total voters
    273

mclemore

Administrator
Staff member

Donor 15 years: 2010-2024
Joined
Apr 3, 2001
Messages
5,360
Reaction score
1,940
Location
Pasadena, California
We'll currently considering moving some of games to token play, and currently struggling with the tradeoffs between .900" and .984" tokens. That's a topic for another day. It did get us wondering how many people choose one size vs the other. While we are doing a survey, we might ask about all types of payments in general.
 
The only games I have that operate on quarters are the ones I haven't come up with a Freeplay hack for yet.
 
I enjoy the coin drop, and I think guests do too. I typically leave a bin of quarters around my workshop for anybody who's there to play whatever's around.

I also have a couple of machines out in the world, accepting quarters.

While I understand the rationale for free play, pay-one-price, and card readers... I just don't like them. They lessen the arcade experience as a whole.
 
I assume they're still available, but another option worth a mention, that some folks may not be aware of is the AnyCoin mech. (I think these are made by @Arcadenut?)

They're a plastic mech that basically doesn't discriminate, and will route any round, coin-like object to the coin switch. So you get the benefits of dropping a coin, without the downsides of mechs.



To answer the OP's question, most of my games are freeplay, mainly out of laziness. However, my Sea Wolf is set up for .984 tokens, because tokens are cool, and for whatever reason it just feels especially good to drop a coin in that particular game to start it.
 
I didn't see an option for both so I chose 'other' but the truth is that I have most all setup for both.

Most of the time I use an EasyCoinUp installed on the outside of the coin door or a similar device that's only wired to a microswitch contact so even when installed if you do drop real quarters in the game? It still works, and to make this possible, I make sure all my games are fully populated with coin mechs.

I have a smaller dollar bill change machine loaded with quarters on a stand so anytime I'd like to have the full coin drop experience? I change out some bills and take the quarters to the machines.

PS: I do like some Free Play mods but if it takes the Attract mode away from a game? I usually don't install it or wait for a better version to be available that doesn't have a stagnant screen and still allows free play without taking out the attract mode.
 
I run all my games on 0.9" tokens and I have a countertop change machine with a free dispense button. Why 0.9"? I bought old tokens from my childhood/hometown arcades that are now closed (or went to card readers) and they all ran 0.9" brass tokens :)
 
Dropping quarters is part of the experience. There, I said it. :)
This exactly. Free play is too easy to hit the button. Walk in the room with $3 in quarters just like when you were a kid. This also makes quarter munching games much more challenging.

Yea I could go get more quarters… and that's part of the experience too!


Edit typo
 
Last edited:
This exactly. Free play is too easy to hit the button. Walk in the room with $3 in quarters just like when you were a kid. This also makes quarter munching games much more challenging.

Yea I could go get more quarters… sans that's part of the experience too!
Often during the day I'll take a break from work and just grab $1 worth of quarters on the way into the arcade for a 15 minute break to clear my head.

There's also something authentic about watching the continue timer count down and realizing you're out of quarters and dashing over to the changer to try to get another quarter in time! Even guests appreciate that!

Maybe most importantly, my home arcade has turned out to be the first coin-op game experience for a surprising number of kids and teens that have visited. Sometimes they stare at a machine unsure of how to start their game until I remind them they have to insert a coin. To me part of the preservation of these games is preserving the experience of not just the game, but the machine as well — walking up to a machine, watching the attract, and starting your game. Maybe that's my biggest argument against free play.
 
To me, fully functional coin doors is an important part of the experience. I originally went with .984" tokens because my favorite arcade haunt BITD was Malibu Grand Prix, and that's the size of their tokens. I was able to snag some of their tokens at one point, so it was a personal high to be able to use the tokens that I desired so badly as a kid. That said, using .984" tokens has a few drawbacks:

1. The vast majority of mechs out there are sized for a quarter. Some can be converted to .984" but it takes time and they are finicky IMO.
2. Dedicated/OEM .984" tokens can be found but they are much less common, and frequently go for a good deal more ($10-$15/mech). I've run into a couple of good deals over the years, but only a couple.
3. Some coin chutes require further modification. Many Midway games (eg Pac Man) have slots that are OEM too narrow for .984" tokens. You can file the edges of the slots, takes a few minutes with a good file, which isn't a huge deal but should be factored in. Other mechs like Nintendo style can be even more finicky. In short, you learn a lot about the details of how the whole process works.


After years of experience, if I had it to do over again, I would go with quarter-sized tokens.
 
I assume they're still available, but another option worth a mention, that some folks may not be aware of is the AnyCoin mech. (I think these are made by @Arcadenut?)

They're a plastic mech that basically doesn't discriminate, and will route any round, coin-like object to the coin switch. So you get the benefits of dropping a coin, without the downsides of mechs.



To answer the OP's question, most of my games are freeplay, mainly out of laziness. However, my Sea Wolf is set up for .984 tokens, because tokens are cool, and for whatever reason it just feels especially good to drop a coin in that particular game to start it.
I'd be interested to see exactly how these work, I was unaware of their existence
 
I just put all my stuff on free play, get a mod if the game doesn't have an attract mode when in freeplay. Though as an alternative I have seen coin reject buttons turned into credit switches which seems like a good spot to put it.
 
I feel like for collectors the token vs quarter debate is mainly about nostalgia. The arcades I went to as a kid (Supercade in Plymouth Meeting Mall and the 7th Street Arcade on the OCNJ boardwalk) ran quarters so the feel and sound and smell of a handful of quarters is what takes me back to those days. If I had been someone that went to Aladdin's Castle or something, then tokens would be the magic.
 
... I originally went with .984" tokens because my favorite arcade haunt BITD was Malibu Grand Prix, and that's the size of their tokens. I was able to snag some of their tokens at one point, so it was a personal high to be able to use the tokens that I desired so badly as a kid. That said, using .984" tokens has a few drawbacks:

...

After years of experience, if I had it to do over again, I would go with quarter-sized tokens.

the industry doesn't make tokens that are quarter sized. The closest one in width is the .984, which is larger, but the thinnest of the choices, likely so the weight doesn't approach that of a quarter. So the one you are using .984 -is- the (almost) quarter sized token.

.882 (22mm)
.900 (22.9mm) x .068 @ 5.1g (1.7mm)
.955 (24.26mm) x 0.69 @ 5.6g – US Quarter
.984 (25mm) x .061 @5.3g (1.5mm) (some vendors go .984 x .060 instead)

@gregafree - so if you had to do it over again, you would go with what?
 
I know that Cobra Arcade Bar uses .984 because they will take either tokens or a real quarter. (He buys the Imonex brand or something like that, they're all plastic and black in color, and apparently the gamechanger when it comes to non-jamming coin mechs.)

For my at-home arcade though, either freeplay hacks or Easy CoinUps.
 
Back
Top Bottom