Observations at my last party

fuko

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Had a few friends over on Sunday to celebrate my wife's birthday, mostly 30- to 40-somethings... so, people who remember playing in arcades as kids, but haven't played in years. Not the collector scene by any stretch. I had a few games and pins turned on, not everything (a lot are in storage while we renovate the garage for more space), but I tried to have the crowd favorites available. Anyway, here are my very unscientific observations of which games got the most play. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised:

Zero Plays (not even one):
- Star Castle
- Black Widow
- Major Havoc
- Quantum (the vectors just bombed, basically)
- Defender
- Berzerk
- Banzai Run (I was very surprised by this. Thought the vertical playfield would get a few people to try it)
- Pinbot

Handful of plays (less than 5 all night):
- Tempest (!)
- Ms Pac (!!!)
- Dodonpatchi DFK (intense Cave shooter. Very colorful. People love to credit feed and play forever :/ )
- Twilight Zone (not surprised. It's a hard game)

Lots of plays:
- Galaga (a BIG favorite)
- Donkey Kong (everyone played at least once)
- Space Wars (once folks figured out how to coin it up, everyone had a great time playing and watching this one. I heard laughing and cheering)
- Funhouse
- Joust pinball (lot's of people playing head-to-head. No single plays)

Most played (someone was playing pretty much all night)
- Medieval Madness (everyone loves this game)
- Transformers (new pin from Stern. Just got it. Everyone had to play it :) )

So there you go. A couple of observations:
- For the most part, people just did not connect with the vectors. I guess they found them intimidating... or at least don't remember playing them as kids
- pins are popular with the older crowd
- 2 player games rock
- You can't go wrong with Galaga or Donkey Kong. Everyone has a memory of playing those games

Anyway, just thought I'd share and see what your experience has been.

Here are a couple of pics I snapped of the night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gloogun/sets/72157628898232355/with/6709062945/
 
Over Thanksgiving and Christmas, both my wife's family (Thanksgiving) and my family (Christmas) were over. All the games got tried out by the kids, but the most popular was Q*Bert by a long shot. In fact, several told me that if I ever got another one, they wanted it (I hear the same thing from my arcade buddies). Tempest and Karate Champ got a lot of play, and one of my younger nieces spent over an hour on Space Invaders....
 
Very nice place, and a great selection of games.

As for the games people play, I think most people play the games they know and avoid the ones they don't. The average person has never heard of Black Widow, Quantum or Major Havoc. Even Star Castle, which was a popular game 30+ years ago is not all that familar to the average person.

I've said this in other threads but the game that gets the most play, by far, of all the games I own during parties/events is Jurassic Park Lost World. It's constantly being played. Kids love the dino theme and adults like the simplicity.
 
Thanks for posting the pictures... looks like a fun time! :beerchug:

And your results don't really surprise me... except maybe the Ms. Pac-Man...:dunno:

When "normal" people come over to play games, the pins get 90% of the action. Of the vids... I'd say only Galaga, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Centipede get any serious play. The rest just sit there and look pretty(which I like them doing btw). :)
 
Yeah, a little strange but not completely surprising. You said it yourself: "people who remember playing in arcades as kids, but haven't played in years. Not the collector scene by any stretch." I think many of your results were predictable given a crowd like that. Space Wars is the big surprise, in my opinion. Why try that one and not the other vectors? Maybe because of its obvious vintage age and obscurity?

Your results would have been skewed if I'd been there. You probably would have had to pry me off of Black Widow. But I would have spent some time on Berzerk (love this one) and Major Havoc (which I've never really played but I'm intrigued by) as well. Defender I almost always steer clear of because I've never wanted to put in the time for the controls to be second nature, but I should some day because friends tell me that's when it becomes really awesome.

Your Quantum I would have ignored, not because I don't like it but because I own one myself. :) Same with Tempest.

I'm not big on pinball generally but Banzai Run is fun. Twilight Zone -- their loss. Great pin.

I would have given Star Castle a few plays just because I love the sound effects so much. Ms. Pac-Man I can't believe didn't get more play. Is it the original stock speed version? If so, too hard for the average Joe, and many people remember only the "turbo" version.

Not at all surprised about Galaga, Donkey Kong, Medieval Madness, and Funhouse getting a lot of play. But Joust pinball is overrated in my opinion. It's fun to try once with a friend but its game play design is flawed; it's not a head-to-head competitive game, but rather more a game of keep away.

Looking at your VAPS profile, Omega Race, 2-player Armor Attack, and 2-play Rip Off would have just sweetened the pot, for me anyway.

Great pics!
 
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My recent arcade party I realized that I something was missing...

...friends.

:(

;)

I also have a hard time finding people interested in playing these games. I only have 1-2 parties a year and they are kid related. So there is a captive (mostly the dads) audience for the games. People that were into playing these games 30 years age are not always interested in playing them now. Arcade games were for many a fad that ended rather quickly.
 
I'm surprised Ms. Pac got so few plays. Usually that one is a real favorite. What was your male/female ratio at the party? Usually when I have a lot of couples over, the women gravitate towards Ms. Pac, Frogger and Q*bert.

I have noticed that the rarer vectors don't tend to do well with your average party goer. The more popular ones tend to be Tempest and Asteroids.
 
It sounds like you need some new people to hang with.

Here is an observation of mine:
Defender was awesome back in the day. It was pretty intimidating, but those who got into it REALLY got into it.
In the heyday of RGVAC, everybody who was anybody either had or wanted a Defender.

Now, with this current crew, it gets little respect.

Or maybe it is just freaking FEARED.

K
 
It sounds like you need some new people to hang with.

Here is an observation of mine:
Defender was awesome back in the day. It was pretty intimidating, but those who got into it REALLY got into it.
In the heyday of RGVAC, everybody who was anybody either had or wanted a Defender.

Now, with this current crew, it gets little respect.

Or maybe it is just freaking FEARED.

K

I think from a modern perspective, of continues, the game is just too damn hard for most to play long enough to even get the control scheme. I tried to show my brother in law Stargate and he just said it was hard and wasn't interested.
 
Interesting observations on your party thanks for sharing. It just a sign that even tho there are some of use who love the vector games. It is not a universal appeal to everyone.
 
It sounds like you need some new people to hang with.

Here is an observation of mine:
Defender was awesome back in the day. It was pretty intimidating, but those who got into it REALLY got into it.
In the heyday of RGVAC, everybody who was anybody either had or wanted a Defender.

Now, with this current crew, it gets little respect.

Or maybe it is just freaking FEARED.

K

Defender is to me the greatest game ever made. It was the 1st game I went out looking for and my 1st collected. Until you learn how to use the controls you can't appreciate Defender, it's hard and that keeps me coming back, since I was 11 at Scandia!
 
Your results would have been skewed if I'd been there. You probably would have had to pry me off of Black Widow.

This would have been the case if I'd been there too. Once I get space again Black Widow's going right to the top of the must-own list.
 
Now you know what it's like to be a DJ.

You spend all of your time digging out the best of the best and when you go to play it all anyone wants to hear is "The Thong Song" or "YMCA".

The lesson is, people are ignorant as hell and only want to reinforce their ignorance by doing things they are already familiar with.

Thong tha, thong thong thong . . .
 
Party

I can relate,

Had a NewYears Eve gig, and the game with the most plays. Coors Light bowling?

Two people played Multi Williams, few played 60-1. Pins got a few players

Nobody touched BabyPac? Centipede had the ladies playing
 
Dazzling collection, love the head to head Joust and the MM, incredible games, both.

My thoughts and fuzzy memories are that back in the day Defender was king, and either you knew how to play it or you didn't, if you didn't know how to play you just stood there and watched the dudes that knew what they were doing, deepest game of its day.
 
You have a wonderful arcade/bar. A really, really nice selection of games!

Your friends are stupid. Get new friends. JK, not really.

If they can't appreciate the opportunity to play Space Duel, Quantum, and Major Havoc, they might be to stupid to live.
 
Defender was a mind blowing game when it came out. The sounds, the heads up radar screen, the controls, and the freedom of movement were all ground breaking at the time. That game made a ton of money for operators. I played it quite a bit but not anywhere near enough to be very good.

I actually prefer Stargate (which I own). It's a harder game for sure. The challenge of the Stargate, the added invisio button, and the Firebomber Showdown and Yllabian Dogfight rounds were worthy enhancements.
 
At the few parties i've had, two player simultaneous games seem to be the most popular. Mario Brothers, Joust and Toobin' get quite a bit of play. Seems like people like the games where they have an opportunity to interact with another player. At first, they are in there to try to keep each other alive. But then soon someone accidental kills the other person, then it gets nasty pretty quick.

Centipede is right up there too. People seem to be compelled to improve their score on that one.

A game that get's a surprising amount of play is Sega Turbo mini. It's my only real driving game set up at the moment. I think people who aren't game heads can get into and appreciate driving games very easily.

DK and DKjr usually get a game or two, but not much. The comment i here often, is they are a lot harder then they remember.

Don't see much love of Time pilot or moon patrol. Maybe that's because the wife is usually hogging them.
 
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