What Is A Good Payout For An Arcade?

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Antioch, California
I'm toying with the idea of trying to put a few games into service locally, but am weighing the pros/cons of the extra income vs the guaranteed graffiti. I know that every game seems to earn a little bit differently depending on the location and title and that some games just won't play at all with the public, but whats the min that you think someone needs to earn on a game before it's worth the time, effort and risk to put it in public? Is there a base threshold you should have, before yanking a game from service if it doesn't prove to be popular at a location?
 
You would literally be lucky to earn back the money you spent on the tax sticker with most games in most locations. Much less your time or any damage to the machine.

Any locations with any remote chance of being profitable will already have machines in place, probably owned by an operator on the verge of bankruptcy.

Operating video games out in public is a business model that stopped working 10 years ago.
 
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I don't doubt that most games won't earn a lick of salt, but there are always local bars and restaurants who aren't being helped. I guess I'm thinking of it less as a business model and more as a little bit of easy money for delivering one of my games down the street. If I could get a free pizza once a week, I think I'd be happy. I don't think we have tax stamps in Antioch, but sounds like I would need to look into it.
 
Lets keep one thing in mind before we abondon the idea or the possibility based on what happened 10 years ago, Location! If you're in a large city it may not be worth the hassle or the damage to the games but, if you're in a small town area where there's nothing there to do at all you might do well? But I personaly would plan on opening a location where I was there during business hours to discourage damage. Opening a location would require more games to offset the cost of a lease,liability insurance, power,water etc. every so often old becomes new again! Just look at some of the clothes kids are wearing today. Look at the goods and comercials stores are pushing that are just recycled from the 1960's. so don't tell me it can't be done!
 
To the OP, I get your idea I think what your saying is you know the guy that runs the local pizza joint and you thought it would be cool to put a machine in there for exchange for some free food and maybe a few quarters,right? Ive had that thought before but it never worked out,I offered to put one in our local comic book shop on free play for the customers in exchange for $20 worth of free comics a month but the manager didnt want kids coming from the theatre next door clogging his store so it didnt work out.I also tried putting one in a mexican restaurant we have been going to for 10 years but they insisted on a tax sticker and i didnt want to bother.Maybe you like the idea of having one of your games "on location" I did,but it didnt work out.
 
To the OP, I get your idea I think what your saying is you know the guy that runs the local pizza joint and you thought it would be cool to put a machine in there for exchange for some free food and maybe a few quarters,right? Ive had that thought before but it never worked out,I offered to put one in our local comic book shop on free play for the customers in exchange for $20 worth of free comics a month but the manager didnt want kids coming from the theatre next door clogging his store so it didnt work out.I also tried putting one in a mexican restaurant we have been going to for 10 years but they insisted on a tax sticker and i didnt want to bother.Maybe you like the idea of having one of your games "on location" I did,but it didnt work out.

This is exactly the type of thing I'm talking about. I think there can be a strong argument for free play on machines that might not payout well otherwise. Take a look at McDonald's, they are putting in free Gamecubes at all of their kids locations. If you're across the street from them and see all your customers leaving, it makes sense to strike back with a free retro arcade. The goodwill you get from a freeplay machine seems worth paying something for to me. You could even set it up token style, so that customers don't care if you wait. Sounds like the extra traffic also creates problems. Let's just take your Mexican restaurant example, if you didn't need a tax sticker and they would have said OK, how much per month would you have been happy earning each month before abandoning the location and/or game ?
 
This is exactly the type of thing I'm talking about. I think there can be a strong argument for free play on machines that might not payout well otherwise. Take a look at McDonald's, they are putting in free Gamecubes at all of their kids locations. If you're across the street from them and see all your customers leaving, it makes sense to strike back with a free retro arcade. The goodwill you get from a freeplay machine seems worth paying something for to me. You could even set it up token style, so that customers don't care if you wait. Sounds like the extra traffic also creates problems. Let's just take your Mexican restaurant example, if you didn't need a tax sticker and they would have said OK, how much per month would you have been happy earning each month before abandoning the location and/or game ?

The mexican joint would not have been free play but i was going to let them have 100% of the profits in exchange for 1 free diner a month(for the family about $40bucks) we go there every friday night.It really wasnt for profit but for there customers as they already have a machine they own in the entry way.I dont think it would bring in $40 dollars a month however I know them rather well and like i said it would have been more for the customers.
 
60 in 1 placed in a laundromat = captive customers with quarters in hand. BTW, I can't find any information on any legal/tax requirements to placing games in Montana. I think it's still a free for all here.
 
I don't doubt that most games won't earn a lick of salt, but there are always local bars and restaurants who aren't being helped. I guess I'm thinking of it less as a business model and more as a little bit of easy money for delivering one of my games down the street. If I could get a free pizza once a week, I think I'd be happy. I don't think we have tax stamps in Antioch, but sounds like I would need to look into it.

Check with the license division at the city hall in the town you want to operate. You may need a license on you, your business, location, and each game. You can check zoning ordinances there to about if and where you can operate.

Don't forget insurance. Get it yourself, don't depend on others. It might be a one in a million shot that some one gets hurt, but if it happens all you have will be gone in seconds. Your name will be first in any lawsuits.

LTG :)
 
I've recently tried this at a local bar down the street from me. I put a very clean 60-1 and a dedicated Area51, the owner specifically wanted this game, about 6 weeks ago. I just went in yesterday and collected a whopping $37 out of the two machines combined. My cut was $18.50. :(

Now my games haven't received any damage yet at this spot, but they do leave them on 24/7. Even after I've asked them several times to shut them down at night.

I'll probably be pulling them out soon.
 
I've recently tried this at a local bar down the street from me. I put a very clean 60-1 and a dedicated Area51, the owner specifically wanted this game, about 6 weeks ago. I just went in yesterday and collected a whopping $37 out of the two machines combined. My cut was $18.50. :(

Now my games haven't received any damage yet at this spot, but they do leave them on 24/7. Even after I've asked them several times to shut them down at night.

I'll probably be pulling them out soon.

Exactly, $18.50 for two machines in 6 weeks. $80 bucks a year per machine, not counting any expenses or valuing your labor at anything.
 
I think you'd be better off renting a 60-in-1 for birthday parties, or hook up with a jump house operator. $50 for a day. Been toying with this myself 'cause there ain't nothin' else to do around here.
 
My wife works at a place that sells and rents party equipment and they don't have any games and she says no one ever asks for them.

I think you'd be better off renting a 60-in-1 for birthday parties, or hook up with a jump house operator. $50 for a day. Been toying with this myself 'cause there ain't nothin' else to do around here.
 
Maybe because nobody is trying to sell them. People spend money on stuff they didn't anticipate every day. I'm sure there are parents out there that would pay for the add-on if they knew about it. Ever been to one of there bounce house parties? It's excruciating for half of the parents.
 
That could indeed be true.

Maybe because nobody is trying to sell them. People spend money on stuff they didn't anticipate every day. I'm sure there are parents out there that would pay for the add-on if they knew about it. Ever been to one of there bounce house parties? It's excruciating for half of the parents.
 
60 in 1 placed in a laundromat = captive customers with quarters in hand. BTW, I can't find any information on any legal/tax requirements to placing games in Montana. I think it's still a free for all here.

The problem with laundromats is your game fills up with lint inside the cab. any running fans get clogged too. One random spark and it goes up in flames very quickly!
 
Tax stamps aren't always a state thing, pretty sure they can be local too. All our coin op equipment at the hotel had local license stickers on them.

Smart phones are destroying the whole captive audience thing, making locations like laundrymats not as good as they used to be.

The problem with laundromats is your game fills up with lint inside the cab. any running fans get clogged too. One random spark and it goes up in flames very quickly!
 
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