Freeplay - kills it

That's why I have my mom drive me around the block and drop me off at my house before I play my games and pins. She's always late picking me up too so I installed a pay phone that I use the paperclip trick to call her on to remind her.

Gotta keep it authentic.

My games and pins are on free play. I ain't got time for that.
 
Gotcha.

We had a private party once that insisted on the games being set to freeplay. So, we put a bunch of credits on all the games... I repeatedly saw people walk away in the middle of a game because they had no vested interest in it.

The quarter drop is an investment that creates a vested interest which in turn makes the game itself more engaging.

So I agree with the OP, freeplay kills it... at least in public venue IMHO... of course it might be different in a home arcade setting.

Yah this is the worst thing about freeplay.

Especially with pinball.

Every pinball show I have been to 50% of the time when you walk up to a game some dickhead has started a game played one ball and just walked away.
 
That's why I have my mom drive me around the block and drop me off at my house before I play my games and pins. She's always late picking me up too so I installed a pay phone that I use the paperclip trick to call her on to remind her.

Must say, I lol'd. : )
 
Gotcha.

We had a private party once that insisted on the games being set to freeplay. So, we put a bunch of credits on all the games... I repeatedly saw people walk away in the middle of a game because they had no vested interest in it.

The quarter drop is an investment that creates a vested interest which in turn makes the game itself more engaging.

So I agree with the OP, freeplay kills it... at least in public venue IMHO... of course it might be different in a home arcade setting.

This, in a nutshell.

I was in a retro arcade just yesterday. Their model is free play, which makes sense for a business. I was there for 2-3 hours and never felt invested in the games. I didn't have the sense of tension. It wasn't the same. I die, I hit start again. It was fun but I grew bored way quicker than I should have.

I have 36 games that have been in storage for the past 3 years. Prior to them being in storage, they were in a game room I built from the ground up. I installed a change machine in the wall and had a couple hundred dollars of quarters in it. I used Chuck E. Cheese cups to put them in. When people came over, they loved the novelty of going through that ritual. Having the cups removes the problem of quarters ending up in pockets.

I don't understand what people are talking about with mechs getting stuck. Don't you keep them clean? I didn't find it to be a problem but I cleaned the mechs. I went so far as to clean the quarters, so they wouldn't muck up the mechs.
 
This, in a nutshell.

I was in a retro arcade just yesterday. Their model is free play, which makes sense for a business. I was there for 2-3 hours and never felt invested in the games. I didn't have the sense of tension. It wasn't the same. I die, I hit start again. It was fun but I grew bored way quicker than I should have.

I have 36 games that have been in storage for the past 3 years. Prior to them being in storage, they were in a game room I built from the ground up. I installed a change machine in the wall and had a couple hundred dollars of quarters in it. I used Chuck E. Cheese cups to put them in. When people came over, they loved the novelty of going through that ritual. Having the cups removes the problem of quarters ending up in pockets.

I don't understand what people are talking about with mechs getting stuck. Don't you keep them clean? I didn't find it to be a problem but I cleaned the mechs. I went so far as to clean the quarters, so they wouldn't muck up the mechs.

I'm coming to your house in cargo shorts for more pockets to put those quarters in!




;)
Sounds like a great setup!
 
I noticed this when I picked up a Neo Geo this summer. It was on Freeplay. I just kept hitting continue.... While Metal Slug is cool and all, if you're just going to keep continuing you should be on a console, not an arcade. Continue really defeats the idea of seeing how far you can go on one quarter. Sure, you can get the high score. But how much do you want to pay for it? Lame.

I see this as a problem with the gamer, not the game. If you really want to get better at it, you play it from the beginning or at least set a continue limit for yourself.

What is the difference between hitting the Start button or dropping a token from a pile and hitting the Start button? It's the player, you're not going out and cutting another lawn to get tokens for your continues.
 
Gotcha.

A while back we considered opening up a smaller arcade arcade across town.

Based on empirical data gathered during our time in business (game revenue + guest feedback) we would definitely be using quarters again even in the absence of the "gimmicks".

We had a private party once that insisted on the games being set to freeplay. So, we put a bunch of credits on all the games... I repeatedly saw people walk away in the middle of a game because they had no vested interest in it.

The quarter drop is an investment that creates a vested interest which in turn makes the game itself more engaging.

So I agree with the OP, freeplay kills it... at least in public venue IMHO... of course it might be different in a home arcade setting.

If you have a stand alone arcade you will have people come in, spend $1-1.50, and walk out. The typical average spent at an arcade is $5, and it takes time to actually see that in the machines. When you add in the coin mech/ maintenance, licensing for coin op that varies by city/state, as well as extra labor involved collecting/meters, etc, there is no way I would say that makes more sense than someone walking in the door, handing me a $10 bill, and doing whatever they want to do. They paid the admission fee, they can come and go as they please, and I have their $10 already.

You are right, most people will walk away from games, that has to do with low attention spans and "free money" given to kids anyway these days more than earned allowances. This essentially is why the "ticket" option has always worked for redemption as a gimmick for prizes.

Of course customers would rather have games on quarters, lol. That is a no brainer. I would too. I'm good enough to sit there and get replays on pinballs all day and have 30 min-4 hour+ games on various classics.

We have done quarters in the past. Inside a mall and outside a mall before I went to the Free Play option. I will say that Free Play saved our business. We had LESS customers when we started Free Play and MORE revenue. The place outside the mall on quarters GROSSED $350 the first month. Second month was $300. Closed up and that was it. That was the ONLY time we have ever closed because the business failed. Inside the mall with 60 games on my side and 30 on someone else's side the place had around $3500-5500 a month in quarters. Since we had a game store as well this was about half the gross....as soon as we did that Free Play, it just all made sense.

We've been on Free Play since June 2012 and I have been open since Nov 2008. Saved the business and I will never go back.
 
This, in a nutshell.

I was in a retro arcade just yesterday. Their model is free play, which makes sense for a business. I was there for 2-3 hours and never felt invested in the games. I didn't have the sense of tension. It wasn't the same. I die, I hit start again. It was fun but I grew bored way quicker than I should have.

I have 36 games that have been in storage for the past 3 years. Prior to them being in storage, they were in a game room I built from the ground up. I installed a change machine in the wall and had a couple hundred dollars of quarters in it. I used Chuck E. Cheese cups to put them in. When people came over, they loved the novelty of going through that ritual. Having the cups removes the problem of quarters ending up in pockets.

I don't understand what people are talking about with mechs getting stuck. Don't you keep them clean? I didn't find it to be a problem but I cleaned the mechs. I went so far as to clean the quarters, so they wouldn't muck up the mechs.

You haven't had games on location much then. Little kids stick pennies, dimes, stacking other things in them. Every single week I go to the laundromat and collect my games have issues. 22 games, 6 of them have mech issues at least. It is a nuisance. Not even going to talk about the issues we had at the mall when we had 90 games on quarters then.
 
So I guess what is said is that the "Free Play" kills the arcade for customers like you guys, who only will spend a few bucks in there, but is a necessity to survive now in a stand alone business unless you are attached to bar/food/etc.

Everytime I travel somewhere I spend very little money in an arcade designed from 1983. I mean, you guys think we should have nickel jukeboxes still?
 
I have my machines (all 4 of them at the moment) set for tokens. But can see where people would leave them on freeplay. I had my two nephews (11yo and 9yo) over earlier today. They pretty much played the games non stop. But what I found is the 9yo loves just putting tokens in. Enough that he jams the coin chute something terrible. Next time they show up I'll just set everything on freeplay and save myself the headache.

But for adults I do have a token machine dispense the tokens. A little homemade job using a cube hopper, an old Mars bill acceptor (only accepts dollar bills now-a-days) and some other random bits and bobs. Mainly use it like a piggy bank for myself. Guests get a button on the side that spits out 4 tokens per press.
 
pizza_time_theatre.jpg


I want bucket of these lol
 
I have heard this a lot over the years, but I have never felt it. I spent most of the 80s in arcades. Some of my favorite times were playing at a restaurant that my friend's parents owned. We could just grab quarters out of the register and play as much as we wanted. Putting the quarters in was a necessary evil to play the games, but not something that created positive memories for me.

I can see the argument for games that let you continue, but a little self restraint would solve that. I don't think any of my current games offer continues.

I do wish pinballs required a long button press to add extra players. It is too easy for people to accidentally start multiplayer games.
 
You haven't had games on location much then. Little kids stick pennies, dimes, stacking other things in them. Every single week I go to the laundromat and collect my games have issues. 22 games, 6 of them have mech issues at least. It is a nuisance. Not even going to talk about the issues we had at the mall when we had 90 games on quarters then.

No, never. On location is entirely different.

I'm selective about who plays my games though. Actually, I usually ask people to wash their hands. I don't want nasty CPOs, etc.
 
I originally left mine where you have to coin up on all the games. After a few times of my kids having a bunch of friends over, I switched them to free play. I got tired of having to unjam the coin mecs on many of the games. They seem to be able to jam them up with quarters where they might work fine for me. I wish all of my coin mecs were like new and the coins slid through like butter, but those old timers have had a lot of use in there day and have seen many a coin pass by. I suppose I could go about restoring the coin mecs on all of my games. I just haven't found the time or enough motivation to do it.
 
Freeplay pinball attracts chimp flipping.

This is the first response that reminded me of something that bothers me about freeplay. Every person that starts a pin jackhammers the start button and begins a 4 player game.

I don't like them sitting abandoned in the middle of a 4 player game, so I either have to kill the game off or reset the machine.
 
Same for me! I added a button to my change machine, and it spits out 4 tokens with every push. Its fun to watch the kids run to the token machine to continue their game before the timer runs out! LOL!


That's why I made mine all run tokens... Then hacked a old Rowe change machine to spit tokens freeplay style. Like it matters nowadays but was awesome
 
if i wanted a TRULY authentic arcade experience, i'd hire a unkempt guy that's like 25 years older than all the patrons in the arcade, smells like old onions, and pay him to randomly grope me while i'm occupied playing a game.
 
No one wants to fiddle with paper and tape. If someone makes one of those, sign me up for 50x!
It's not that hard to make, it's one piece of cardboard scored and folded with one tape seam. They take about 5 minutes including installation and I've yet to have a jamming problem, even with my three year old going token crazy.
 
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