ever rent a game?

yellowstitch

Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
802
Reaction score
12
Location
Mokena, Illinois
the guys next to my shop came over while I was working on a pacman stand up and galaga cocktail and were curious if I would rent them out for a party next month. I said maybe.... anyone ever do this? what do you charge? was it worth it?
 
I would think $50 a game plus a refundable deposit to cover any damages that may happen. Thats just a wild guess tho.
 
I've heard of people doing it, but haven't done it myself.

I would immagine you just have a flat rate per game and set them to free play.

I think it would be worth it, if you can easily move your stuff. Money is always good, and if it's just one party, heck, why not?

And yeah... good idea about the deposit
 
Back in the day I rented Metal Gear for the NES from a local video rental store, I rode home with it in my jacket on my motorcycle, when I got home I couldn't find the game....:(
After searching and not finding it I ended up paying $60 to replace it and to this day I still haven't played that game, but was a dang expensive game to rent....
I know it's not a coin op game but I'm still burnt up about it 20 years later....:p
 
Not the safest thing to do. What happens if the game you rent hurts someone or catches on fire and burns down the persons house?

While it may seem like easy money there are some risks.

I thought about doing this myself but my lawyer said to get special insurance before doing it.
 
Not the safest thing to do. What happens if the game you rent hurts someone or catches on fire and burns down the persons house?

While it may seem like easy money there are some risks.

I thought about doing this myself but my lawyer said to get special insurance before doing it.

this is also something that had concerned me, but I figured when I had him sign the contract (not sure what all I would put in there) I would have some sort of waiver of liability. but if this is something I should get my lawyer involved in im def gonna pass..wanna talk quick money, 15 min phone call will cost me a cool $95 and that just to talk to the paralegal lol
 
I think rentals are usually around $90 a game here per day. Yeah, probably not a great idea unless you're a business with the proper insurance. If something weird happened and a circuit in the house got overloaded and caused a fire you could be stuck with a liability case to fight in court. Not likely but you have to cover your ass with sue happy idiots these days.
 
We've done it before. We have the person sign a document stating that they are responsible for any damages that may occur to the game due to improper use - whether their fault or not - and that we are not liable for any damages to their property which may be cause by such improper use.

We charge a flat rate for the rental, a small fee for pickup and delivery, and require a refundable deposit (in the even the game "disappears") that we return when we pick it up and everything is in the same condition as when we dropped it off.

Games are on free play, and we haven't had any issues.

We've done more rentals for conventions (companies like putting a game in a booth to draw people in) and movie shoots...
 
As everybody already stated about the liability, etc...I think we used to get a hundred or 125 per game to rent out on free play per day. I can tell you from being the actual guy that had to move it all....it sucks. Everybody wants you there in a 10-minute window, you should be able to roll in a pool table, jukebox, 2 video games, and a pinball by yourself through the backyard in July, set it all up, avoid the DJ and the 300 drunk party "guests", everything is going to work 100% the first time, and oh, by the way, you should KNOW where the stuff is going, didn't the lady on the phone TELL you this? Oh, and a nice cold beverage on the way out the door after sweating off your a$$ to make THEIR party better? Not a chance. Oh, yeah, and can you pick it all up at 6:45 tomorrow morning too? (usually this comes as you're dropping off equipment at 10 pm).
Sorry to have the jaded opinion, but I've been there plenty of times. The other problem I've run into is when you get there, the game works fine. You get a phone call at 1 a.m. saying your game isn't working. Now, whether or not it actually is, they want it for free, or they want you to show up and fix it, and then give them a discount. Now, you've done all the work for the grand total of nothing. Yeah, it's happened.
If it's someone you know, sure, go ahead. Otherwise, it may not be worth it. Just my opinion.
 
Ive done rentals several times, for video games its 100 per day per machine, for pinball its 250.00 per day per machine.

There is a 50.00 drop off and a 50.00 pick-up fee (in-town, outside of town is based on mileage). This is not negotiable either. Other people dont handle the machinesthe way that i want them handled.

Those that really want the machines will have no problem paying the fees. Those that bitch about it dont need the machines anyway
 
rentals

I have given it the thought of renting my games out for the weekend.. I got some good ideas reading the previous posts.. its a lot of work but if i was to rent games out for 75 or 100 a piece i would throw in an extra one just in case one decided not to work or a switch failed.. that way their wouldnt be and belly aching or blubbering.
 
Back
Top Bottom