I'm thinking about selling Tempest...

morbidboy

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Believe it or not Tempest makes almost no $$$ for us at the arcade. I'm going to move it around to see if it does better at a different location in the arcade but if gameplay doesn't improve, I'm going to have to sell it and replace it with another $$$ maker (Mr. Do if I could get it)

I was curious whats the going price for one? It's in pretty decent shape (7.5-8.5 out of 10, Monitor has been recently rebuilt). If I had to pick a $$$ amount to sell it for, I would say $700 but don't know if that's too much.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I personally think a working Tempest is worth $750 in good condition.

Oh, and moving it around won't improve the gameplay. It will still have the same roms in it... :)
 
Unless you're familiar, it looks like nothing you've ever seen or played and the basic strategy isn't intuitive, so I can understand why Tempest gets no play in this day and age.

It's not a MN thing; I operated one in a sci-fi store in the Mall Of America about 15 years ago, it would make ~$30 in a good week.. Star Wars and ESB would make ~$200 each every week.
 
Sounds like its not worth it to keep working. I would say $500+ it all depends on the market in your area.

If you want to boost its exposure, maybe do a game of the week on free play.
 
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Unless you're familiar, it looks like nothing you've ever seen or played and the basic strategy isn't intuitive, so I can understand why Tempest gets no play in this day and age.

It's not a MN thing; I operated one in a sci-fi store in the Mall Of America about 15 years ago, it would make ~$30 in a good week.. Star Wars and ESB would make ~$200 each every week.

If it was me i would put a TV ontop of the game or above the game i guess and have a loop playing of the game on how to play it. I agree with the above statement, it's like nothing most have ever seen or ever played. BUT once they have played it and understand it you will suck their quarters out of their pockets, imo.
 
Hate to be Mr. Reality... but if Tempest hasn't "made it's mark" in the 33 years it's been around, I doubt a video demonstrating gameplay is going to help.
 
Run the video for Rush's Subdivisions on a loop behind it.

Seriously though, I'm sorry to hear this. I've played your Tempest and it is a solid machine. When I have friends over I'm always surprised what gets played and what doesn't. Some days Tempest is a hit and others it doesn't get touched.
 
If you got Clay's multi-kit you could play Tempest Tubes and Breakout on it. That might not help sales, but it couldn't hurt. There is also a ROM hack that allows you to start on much later levels in the game. There might be a dip switch setting for the game that starts you off with more than 3 lives. Maybe people die too quickly and feel there is not enough value there. Back in the day I never totally understood how to play this machine and never played it much. It seemed too hard.

When you think about it, the fact that anyone puts money in any of these old machines is pretty amazing.
 
$1.50 a day?? WTF, you could put a Skittles vendor there and make three times that much.

Kick that thing to the curb.

You need a decent Sammy shooter.
 
Cocktails in general are worth less. And which one is worth more? It all depends on what the buyer wants more. I would rather have a full size cab. Cabarets are cool because they are small. But no art.

Is the cocktail worth more? I know the cabaret is.
 
FWIW, I remember an operator telling me BITD that his Tempests (that he operated) did much better in more affluent, more "educated" areas of the country.

I guess that that's related to it not being an immediately "intuitive" game...i.e. not as easy to understand the gameplay as say for PacMan or for Galaga. That's pretty much what doomed I, Robot almost from the get-go (a later Dave Theurer game).

Still, Tempest is the greatest video game ever, IMHO, though ;) ...so sad that it may have to exit your arcade.

Jon
 
A buddy of mine and his girlfriend come over each week to have some drinks and BS. One day I made them play my Tempest against each other, but they didn't quite "get it". So I made them play more. It was fun because they were competing against each other, so the score didn't matter as long as they beat each other. As they learned how to play though, I found them playing it more and more. Now when they come over, the first thing they want to do it play Tempest, either against each other, or just by themselves. The girl is really hooked. I use quarters in my arcade and have them for the games, but I was joking around with her and said I was out of quarters. So she went to her purse and got her own quarter. Cha-Ching! :D

I would say KEEP this classic Atari Color Vector in your arcade, and have a free giveaway each week to the highest score on Tempest. Each week a new winner.

I know that I would have never played an Armor Attack cocktail with my buddy back in the day as much as we did if there wasn't a contest on it. Yeah, we won the Doubles Compitition and took home $10 ($5 each!). They were smart to give us kids cold hard cash, in the form of quarters no less, than something real like a hotdog and a coke. They knew would just put them back into the machines. Which we did.

Create some excitement around Tempest and get people to play it. Tell them how lucky they are to be playing a real color vector. Make sure they can see the side art as well. Once they're hooked, they will pay and play it alot. Maybe put 10 free credits on it everyday for a week. Or just put it on free play for a whole day.

There is a reason Tempest was a money maker for OP's back in the day, even though only a select few were even playing it. Because they were hooked.

Another reason Tempest may not be as "popular" is because alot of the time they were "out of order".

Every real arcade needs a Tempest. :)
 
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I'm amused by these posts where people say they knew people who didn't "get" Tempest. What's there to get? You spin in a circle and shoot the stuff coming at you. Clear the board. Repeat.

I love Tempest. Fortunately, so does my wife.
 
I'm usually one of the last people to suggest moving out a classic, but if this is your business, and you want to keep people interested in your arcade, you have to constantly move product in and out. If it's not making money, out it goes. Would you continue to stock a vending machine with product if it only made you $1.50 a day?

It may go against the advice of others here, but if I were you, I'd opt to sell it.

Remember, this is not your home arcade where you can keep something in there that nobody plays because it gives you good nostalgic feelings. This is your business, and Tempest has way more attraction to people like us who cherish the classics and know what they bring to the table. KLOV is not your customer. Your customer wants to see fun, easy to pick up and and play games.

How many JAMMA cabs do you have in there? Both vertical and horizontal? Think of the many boards you can switch out all the time, without moving out the actual machine. Buy and sell new boards and take requests from customers. Nostalgia doesn't pay your bills; your customers do.
 
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I'm amused by these posts where people say they knew people who didn't "get" Tempest.

I didn't get it at first. I thought I was supposed to be moving forward through the "tunnel" and that my shooter thingy was supposed to "catch' stuff coming towards me instead. Of course, I didn't bother reading the instructions. :D
 
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