POLL How much would you pay for unlimited play.

$20 all day long, no kids. 18+ only plz. serve pizza. serve beer (21+)

$20 is cheap. a stripper dance minimum costs $20 these days, and that only lasts 5 minutes. NO TOUCHING! :p
 
$10. As much as I love playing arcade games, I'm not going to spend more than an hour or two in an arcade. At a quarter a play I can get good value out of ten bucks in 2-3 hours, but any more than that and I'd feel like I probably wasn't getting my money's worth unless I stayed there all day long.

And if you want me coming back a second time, there's probably no way I'm paying $15 or $20 to play games I've already played at your place before.
 
$10. As much as I love playing arcade games, I'm not going to spend more than an hour or two in an arcade. At a quarter a play I can get good value out of ten bucks in 2-3 hours, but any more than that and I'd feel like I probably wasn't getting my money's worth unless I stayed there all day long.

And if you want me coming back a second time, there's probably no way I'm paying $15 or $20 to play games I've already played at your place before.

Agreed. As soon as playing a few arcade games starts costing more than a movie ticket...then something is wrong.
 
$10. As much as I love playing arcade games, I'm not going to spend more than an hour or two in an arcade. At a quarter a play I can get good value out of ten bucks in 2-3 hours, but any more than that and I'd feel like I probably wasn't getting my money's worth unless I stayed there all day long.

Same. I'm not going to be there more than that. Though I will probably drink and eat more than anything, though I do like barcade's setup in philly with the stands next to each game for drinks.
 
Compute total hourly overhead, (and I mean complete, rent, insurance, wierd local taxes, power, employees. I would at least times that number by 2.

Dudes like me will play 20 no problem. I look at it like a donation. However, if I brought my teenagers who do play, suddenly that shits expensive. Maybe 10 or 5 a kid? This is all of course thinking you will make scratch maybe on a few Quarter pushers or snacks etc something.

Or if you're going pure classics make more money hosting pin league nights. Throw in the vids for a $2 per person per night up charge.


I work in banking I do find people will pay for a quality product and atmosphere.

Otherwise make it like a club with membership. With a daily fee option.
 
Playport in Erie is just like that, they have some claw machines and a couple redemption that operate on quarters but nothing obstructive or anything like that, and some people like those games so they fit right in. They also have pool tables, skeeball, ball bowlers, Glow golf and a lot of classics and some modern games too, they have a lot of games that most places charge 1$ each to play so for the $10 admission you get your money's worth pretty quickly. They have a huge variety of games when you count everything and have expanded, I would say 80+ machines easy. Its a great place and I never have enough time to do it all hah!
 
Same. I'm not going to be there more than that. Though I will probably drink and eat more than anything, though I do like barcade's setup in philly with the stands next to each game for drinks.

Same with me. $10 is about right; $15 is pushing it.

http://www.gamepreservehouston.com/membership.html

http://www.1984arcade.com

1984 used to be $5 I think, now up to $7.50.

You want to capture the people like me that will be there for 2 hours with my daughter and then leave. $40 or more is too much for that.
 
This is great feedback, thanks for everyone taking the time to reply with more than just a dollar amount.

I know I have over simplified the question as economics are very influenced by the location. Obviously a Manhattan arcade will have different economics to one in a small Montana town.
 
$10. As much as I love playing arcade games, I'm not going to spend more than an hour or two in an arcade. At a quarter a play I can get good value out of ten bucks in 2-3 hours, but any more than that and I'd feel like I probably wasn't getting my money's worth unless I stayed there all day long.

And if you want me coming back a second time, there's probably no way I'm paying $15 or $20 to play games I've already played at your place before.

This ^^^^^^
 
Has anyone ever tried the Club membership model? Basically it'd be like a gym membership, where the entrance is via member cardkey, and it's an un-staffed clubhouse arcade, where you pay a monthly membership fee of like 25 bucks. Come and go as much as you'd like. Everything is free play, with collective responsibility for maintanence and up keep of premises and games.
 
I'd pay $20 and be happy to support it. But I wouldn't go very often (at any price), unless there were some great games that I didn't have.

I do love the multi-visit option, too. Like buy a 5 visit punch card for $75 and let groups of 5 kids use the whole card together. You're just encouraging bigger groups.

Or buy a 1 week membership for $35. It's cheaper than going 2 days, so a bunch of kids on school breaks might go for it.
 
$20 for unlimited play seems like a no brainer.

Some places do a weekly and monthly rate as well.

Might even do a deal on a family pack if you aiming for that market.
 
I would say start high and then you can have "special" days where you reduce the price or add a free drink and snack or whatever.
 
$20 is to much. I mean, it's good for guys like us who want to support a local arcade....or because we have a pure love the games.

But, you want to attract people as well who are just passing by, or may be coming with friends, etc (the far majority)...who will want to come back. The $20 price point will put a lot of people off in my opinion....especially when there's Xbox waiting at home. I really think $12-15 is where you are going to want to be living to hit all demographics.

My opinion. Regardless, I will be visiting when I'm in San Diego and look forward to it!
 
Treat it like a business, not a hobby. Most places have cheap rates for weekly evenings. Say 10. And it's 20 for fri say Sunday.

You have to balance kid friendly with budgets and keeping riff raff out. You could go the token route. Let the people pay what they want.
 
$20 is to much. I mean, it's good for guys like us who want to support a local arcade....or because we have a pure love the games.

But, you want to attract people as well who are just passing by, or may be coming with friends, etc (the far majority)...who will want to come back. The $20 price point will put a lot of people off in my opinion....especially when there's Xbox waiting at home. I really think $12-15 is where you are going to want to be living to hit all demographics.

My opinion. Regardless, I will be visiting when I'm in San Diego and look forward to it!

Exactly. You're going to get a skewed response here on KLOV. Wait till a dad comes by with his 2 kids and is asked to pay $60 to get in. The average Joe isn't going to do that and you will never, ever come close to surviving on KLOV foot traffic.

And once you've driven them away with too high of a price they'll never be back.
 
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