When did fifty cents become the norm?

back in the day at my local arcade i can remember only a few games at 50 cents.

#1- Dragons Lair
#2- Adams Family Pinball
#3- Chase HQ
 
My Turbo has 50 cent coin labels on it. I remember it being that much occasionally in the arcades, but not always.

Deptford mall also had Pac-Man playable on those old school front-projection TV's, that was a dollar.
 
The first time I saw a pin for 50 was Cyclone. Sitting next to a bank of pins priced at 25 it was largely passed over.

Like everyone else DL was the first time I saw a vid at 50.

Worth mentioning - I used to put 50 in Stargate for the extra ships at start. I thing a couple other games did that but it never caught on.
 
Dragon's Lair was the first $.50 game at the local Family Fun Center. Then it seemed they'd price the cockpits at $.50 from then out. At one point there was a Star Wars cockput at $.50 but an upright at $.25... I'd always play the upright. You could get twice the game for the same price.

I remember they priced M.A.C.H. 3 at $.50... same with the deluxe Outrun they had as well as just about any "deluxe" game that came down the pike... Afterburner, etc...
 
In my local arcades around me in 1980-1981 the only games that were 50 cents to play were pinball machines (Black Knight & Black Hole). The first videogame that I remember to be more than 25 cents was in 1983 (Dragon's Lair).

Starting in 1983-1984 arcades were disappearing/closing. In 1984 I got a drivers license, a job and a girlfriend so videogames were no longer that important to me. So I never saw the widespread trend of 50 cent games.
 
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Black Knight 2000 was the first pinball game that Williams suggested be priced at 50 cents. if any games before it were priced at that, that was the operator's call.

the first video game that my grandpa got new that was priced at 50 cents was Final Fight. and he was adamant about not charging that much to play, so he knocked it down to 25. it was still a resounding success, in its goofy Qbert cabinet conversion glory.

I think Rad Mobile was the first driver they got that cost that much. when Street Fighter 2 hit it was the accepted norm in my family's arcade.
 

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