Why are barcades starting gofundme’s?

I have no desire to pick the bones of a closed barcade for desperation deals, i have enough games and projects. I run an arcade route, so this is affecting me and screwing things up just like everyone else. Every location i have machines in is closed currently. I have no problem with business's/people asking for help, i have personally donated to many gofundme's/kickstarters. I personally however have already started cleaning my shelves of parts i could sale, and starting making a list of what projects/games i would in if i needed to, depending on how long this thing lasts for.

I just don't understand that if these places need money this badly, why aren't other revenue avenues tried before just putting your hand out and saying "please help us, we are poor". Logan's arcade, which i think is one of the biggest/most successful barcades in Chicago area i think was the first one i saw that started a gofundme.

Quarterworld started renting machines to homes for the time being (and to my knowledge have not started a gofundme), some places are running specials like 2 entries for the price of one when they reopen if you buy now and support them while they are closed, and ive seen some other places doing other things.

But the majority of them are just asking for money straight up. One place i saw had a brand new Stern pinball machine delivered Feb 29th, then stated they were closing do the crisis on March 17th, and on March 18th posted their please help us stay open and gofundme trying to raise 10k. This place also boasts that they have over 180 machines in their arcade, 180 but aren't willing to sell a few to keep the business? So i guess my question is, do they actually need the money or more like, gettin while people are in the "we need to help" mentality

All good bro....I get it. My comment earlier was displaced, things are to so edgy right now as it is....plus the damn cabin fever. I gotta stop watching the news. Haha.
 
Desperation.

They're all fucked, as this thing is going to last 5-10 weeks more, at least. And even when things do reopen eventually, the last place people are going to want to go is a filthy arcade bar, where everyone's hands touch everything.

When the quarantine is eventually lifted, people are going to be on high alert when it comes to germs. Paranoid almost. And if I told you to make a place that spread germs most effectively, it would be a place where everyone literally puts their hands on everything in the place.

Might as well rename your barcade 'Get Coronavirus Here'.

So in other words I should keep my eyes open on my local craigslist? Good time for those "in the market".
 
So in other words I should keep my eyes open on my local craigslist? Good time for those "in the market".



It's going to be a good time for anyone in any market to buy anything, starting in a month or so when people need to sell more stuff to pay another round of bills that they're going to fall even further behind on.

That's just the nature of any slowdown in the economy. People aren't working, and money needs to come from somewhere.
 
because they're not wealthy corporations that get bailed out (their debts paid) by the government, so they expect random strangers to bail them out

this is untrue at the moment. The current "bailout" has made many provisions for small business.

Unless your biz is a complete crock of shit the govt will loan you money if you retain staff and or hire new people. The just want people to stay employed and paid.

It will never be any easier to borrow money from the sba... if you get rejected now that pretty much tells you what kind of biz you have.

If you cant get an sba loan now you probably never should have opened.
 
When the quarantine is eventually lifted, people are going to be on high alert when it comes to germs. Paranoid almost.

This is likely and do I think it will be a problem.

Once we get the "all clear", we are going to reopen in stages I think.

Reservation / by appointment only at first... bring the regulars back in.
Then open Friday and Saturday only. Very limited menu. Grilled cheese only or something.
Then add another day and go half menu.
Then back to normal.
Perhaps over a three month period or so.

Kind of ramp things back up and let everyone ease into it... and that way we can measure and adjust as we go. It will be interesting for sure.

This current covid19 situation is crazy. Surreal. Part of me wants to sell everything I own and move to the middle of nowhere. Ahhhh.
 
when Illinois instituted the bar/restaurant closures 2 weeks ago, all the arcades I've serviced collectively closed all at once. (the free plays, I don't do the city barcades) which effectively put me out of work.

the gofundmes are for rents and utilities. they're squatting on their powered down games with the hopes they'll be able to reopen at all. I think everyone I know is pretty liquid, I don't know of any of them running fundraisers at all, but I also don't follow community stuff either.

the place I was working full time posted all their games for sale at astronomical prices. they apparently don't need the money as badly as they claim.

I wish I could be a millionaire and poor at the same time. :eek:
 
Part of me wants to sell everything I own and move to the middle of nowhere. Ahhhh.


Wait, I thought you did that already? Not much further north you can go until you're in another country.

I guess there's always wyoming though....you'd be the biggest thing to happen to that state since they got their 7 story building.

Anyway, Good luck brother.
 
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