What games are crowd pleasers in your home arcade?

jcar302

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When i say crowd pleasers, i don't mean what you like.
I mean when people come over what do people that aren't into the hobby play?

I know the games i'm personally interested in, but would like to get some that regular people like. I'm drawn to games with steering wheels, but that's me.

So far i've had requests to get:
Moon patrol (i never played it)
qbert (seems to be popular, but may be more than i want to spend on a single game).
donkey kong
Pacman (i'm currently interested in pacman or ms pacman)
galaga

I'm 36, the social groups i'm around are usually in the 34-40 age category.

What else are normal people into?

Thanks,
Joe
 
Centipede or Millipede
Star Wars
Warlords
a decent pinball machine
a 2P driving game (not necessarily a Rush game, maybe something old school like Champ Sprint)

Just an aside, but people generally want to play Donkey Kong right up until they actually get to play it and realize how difficult it was in the arcade.
 
When I have non-arcade people over, here's what they play:

Warlords cocktail (after I coax them into trying it)
Star Wars Trilogy
The House of the Dead 2
The Addams Family
 
For a non-gamer type party, the 2 pins get the most play - especially from the ladies.

The 2 Rush the Rocks also get lots of play.
And there is usually peeps waiting to play the 60-1. (Galaga, DK, Ms.Pac)
Smash TV usually gets a little love, but Robotron gets none.

And I haven't had a gathering since I have added Missile Command, Toobin' and Big Buck Hunter. I used to have an Area 51/Max Force duo that got some play, so I'd Imagine that BBH will get some action at the next gathering.
 
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  • Rush the Rock Alcatraz Edition (have 2 of them linked)
  • Out Run 2
  • Donkey Kong
  • Ms Pac
  • The Simpsons Pinball Party
  • Galaga

Probably in that order
 
Its a bit funny to think about but people love the Monaco GP cockpit. Funny in the sense that its very old what round 80' and yet people still love it...Great.
 
Everyone likes the T2, they love to shoot all the crap on the screen and the sound effects are great with Arnold
 
Skeeball always gets the most play at my place.

Do you need two of them? I've always wanted skeeball, but must have the 100's in the corners. I live by the shore and skeeball is popular. My house is a ranch with a pretty big basement, but two of them may soak up alot of room.

Alot of other good suggestions here, some i have been ignoring when seen for sale, been on my demo derby hunt and now i have it so i can concentrate on other machines.

I particulary like the ice cold beer or tapper ideas.

Sit down driving pairs are plentiful around here, but the idea of bringing two monsters into my basement scares the hell out of me.

Keep the ideas coming, glad i asked.
 
I will start off by saying I am 39 and a classic gamer. I did start off getting all the classic games that I liked or had memories for me. I went down the same path, watching game days, seeing what others liked, etc. The classic games will always hold some charm for both young and old, and will get some play. Super Mario, Ms Pacman and Galaga are favorites. At some point I picked up a Megatouch for my wife. No matter who is over, it gets constant play by both young and old. So much play, that I bought a second Megatouch to flip and when I found out both machines would get simultaneous play I kept it.

Next surprise was when I got my first "modern" driver, Rush the Rock. Again, constant play by kids and adults. I eventually started to add drivers 1 more at a time, and my driver row now consists of 8 machines. It is not uncommon when I have large groups over to have the entire row filled up. Out of my drivers I have a pair of Vapor TRX's linked. I wish I had 2 Rush's, but it just ended up like that. The linked game definitely gets the most play.

Last surprise, was the Simpsons machine I bought for myself. I am a Simpson fan, seen one for sale at a mall (with a high price tag) as a late teenager and vowed i would someday own before I ever even got into collecting. Well, anytime I have 16years and below kids over THAT one will have 2 to 3 players on it the whole time. Simpsons, go figure.
 
When i say crowd pleasers, i don't mean what you like. I mean when people come over what do people that aren't into the hobby play?

Quantum and Mad Planets get the most attention when I have people over, but I never have people over who aren't into the hobby; they're all fellow collectors and/or classic arcade gamers.
 
A lot of my friends enjoy my sammy sports shotting usa game. It gets played more then my die hard arcade machine(which is the one game I really had to have personally). It also gets played pretty much as much as my neo geo or sometimes more.

It is a fun game overall but I think it is more that it is different. I think any shooting game that is a least half good will draw attention because it isn't something most will be able to do at home. I'd say the same goes for a driving game. I don't have any driving games but if I even get the room I can see them being popular. Something about making a drinking game out of a racing game gets my attention.

Edit: I think the same would go with pinball.
 
Do you need two of them? I've always wanted skeeball, but must have the 100's in the corners. I live by the shore and skeeball is popular. My house is a ranch with a pretty big basement, but two of them may soak up alot of room.


Nope, don't need two. But it is pretty fun having both being played at the same time. They are space hogs, and both are in the garage right now. Getting ready to get rid of one very soon...
 
Superchexx bubble hockey gets absolutely constant play. Then comes the Mame and ArcadeSD games. Then Star Wars or Trap Shoot Classic maybe. Tempest. Asteroids Deluxe. Haven't had a lot of people over since I got Rip Off working so don't know where that falls. Black Widow gets very little play but once you show someone how it works you can't get them to stop.
 
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Q*Bert, Galaga, Spy Hunter are probably the top players in my gameroom. Joust gets a lot of cooperative play too.

LeChuck
 
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