Where to make money with arcade games now?

Umortal377

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Thinking about getting back into the hobby some. Have been out for a while due to other issues.

Where is the money at now in games? Is there any to make? Any money in routes, reselling, restoring, rentig out, etc?

Been a couple years ago, made the most money in the hobby by reselling the cheap generic games I bought from an auction. Tripled my money that one time. I know most people say routes are dead now, along with arcades.

For me to get back in the hobby, have to resell some to pay for the ones I want to keep. Like most people do on here. Plus the kids loved it when I had the games.
 
BW or rare titles still pull in fair money, but only from other collectors.

Jamma junk can still sell on CL, but not for much more than $200-$300 these days.

60-in-1 multicades can still garner $500-$800 all day long to the john doe public.

Routes suck, but the new money is in high-end barcades. Drink beer, play games. Catering solely to the 21 and over crowd.
 
Indeed, Nintendo has a Disney-like following, just like hardcore Disney fans, hardcore Nintendo fans will spend a LOT of money to get quality stuff. It's almost a cult.
 
Indeed, Nintendo has a Disney-like following, just like hardcore Disney fans, hardcore Nintendo fans will spend a LOT of money to get quality stuff. It's almost a cult.

This is true. As a dedicated Nintendo fan, I can confirm that if there is something exceedingly rare, and missing from my collection I will probably pay a premium do it so I don't miss out on it.
 
Apparently, the thing to do now is build your own arcade or add on to your existing console game store and build an arcade :)
 
I agree with this for the most part, but in order to keep my hobby self-funded (i.e. not using the family budget) I have to do repairs and buy/sells to fund it.

Thats me. The only way I can rationalize getting games for myself if to use games to fund it. For instance if I go to an auction, pick up one game for myself, and then 4 or 5 cheap games to resell to cover the cost of the game I want to keep.


Having all these kids makes having money for myself a little hard to come by. lol
 
$ $ $ Chop up and part out perfectly good working games. $ $ $

I think I have only parted out one game ever. And it was in rough shape. I would rather sell it all together and loose out on a little money then part a game out.
 
darkcat1's corollary: Chop up 60-1 and Mame a few perfectly good working games. try to sell them for 1-2K each...

I have done one or two multicade cabinets a couple years ago. But I usually find generic jamma cabs when I did it. No destroying of classics or anything.

I would like a multicade again, but I want one in a Nintendo Cab. However I wont take one apart to make one. Would rather find one someone has already converted to jamma or something so I am not jacking up somelike like a Mario Bros or Donkey Kong.
 
Number of auctions is way down in recent years and they are so hit or miss. And personally I think the whole multigame thing has destroyed the market for Jamma junk.

Thats me. The only way I can rationalize getting games for myself if to use games to fund it. For instance if I go to an auction, pick up one game for myself, and then 4 or 5 cheap games to resell to cover the cost of the game I want to keep.


Having all these kids makes having money for myself a little hard to come by. lol
 
If I was going to open a game store in this environment I would split the store fairly evenly between console stuff and tabletop stuff (Warhammer, Magic cards, etc) along with a few open tables to play the tabletop stuff, a soda machine, a snack machine and a couple arcade games. I would also take used tabletop gaming stuff on trade in as well.

The used game store is definitely viable now, but the switch to digital distribution on consoles is going to kill the used video game store well before I would be ready to retire and I would certainly want to be able to dial it back gradually as time goes by.


well then that's me being a sucker later. If I did that I'd start small with 3-5 games out in front and see how it goes but mostly I'd try to sell consoles and retro consoles.
 
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