
The surprising, stealth rebirth of the American arcade - iProject
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/the-surprising-stealth-rebirth-of-the-american-arcade/
======
talmand
I disagree, those are not arcades, they are bars and nightclubs that happen to
have retro games spread throughout. I'm not taking my kids to a nightclub to
play arcade games but one or two they mention would be worthy. Although it is
nice to see interest in having arcade machines in some form so maybe it'll
kick off interest in proper arcades.

From my experience, being someone that spent a great deal of time in arcades
as a kid, that the arcade industry practically killed itself. True, consoles
were a big competitor but there was nothing like getting in that line to put
your token on the machine. Consoles is just friends having fun, arcades were
friends and strangers competing. Totally different experience. But the arcades
started dying when somebody had the silly idea that people wanted to play
cockpit games or big interactive games for more than double the price. The
next thing you knew those were the only choices you had. I stopped going at
that point. This interest in the retro games that are classic standup machines
seems to suggest people just wanted what they had in the first place.

~~~
fuzzythinker
I disagree with your arcade death reason by the 2x price. According to [1],
arcades had started costing a $.25 USD since 1966. By standard rate of
inflation of ~3.4% [2], that means it should cost approximately $1.50 USD
today. One argument to this is rather the starting basis of $.25 is the right
price. According to the same source, the golden age of arcade is ~1980. So for
the sake of finding a lower optimal basis, let's assume that $.25 is the
optimal pricing in 1980. Which means arcade games should cost ~$.75 to play
today. Now the question becomes rather games should accept coins other than
quarters so the pricing isn't such a steep step function, or game creators
needed to start making games to justify 2x pricing. I guess they decided on
the latter.

So I totally disagree with this assessment. I would say the consoles offering
an alternative to arcade games at a reasonable price is the main reason. Yes,
I agree with you that it's a totally different experience, but maybe not
enough to stop going to the arcades when one can play for "free" at home or
friends' house. This is the first step in killing the arcades. The second step
is the internet and portable gaming/mobile as an alternate pastime for kids.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_game> [2]
[http://inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/long_term_...](http://inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/long_term_inflation.asp)
(not sure the credibility of the site, but I'm sure the average inflation rate
in US isn't too much different)

~~~
talmand
I'm sure your right in many ways, but I'm talking about the day that I had a
choice between a 50 cent game (up from 25 which I was fine with) to a $1+ game
in the same arcade on the same day, not over time. The $1+ game did not seem
to be twice the fun. Then one day the 50 cent game was gone and all I had to
choose from were the more expensive machines.

At that point I stopped going.

Granted, this is my experience and should be taken as such.

------
mherdeg
A bit sad that a reporter talked to the Insert Coin(s) guy, who's sort of a
newcomer to the space but very successful, and didn't get a chance to chat
with someone who's an expert in a similar space in the same city: visitors
seemed to be coming in at a nice pace on our recent weekend trip to the
Pinball Hall of Fame (<http://www.pinballmuseum.org/>). I don't see how they
make any money, but they've got a great set of hardware and they obviously
love their craft.

It would be awesome to see places like that and, say, Funspot Arcade grow
financially so they could expand their offerings. Can you imagine how much fun
it would be to hang out at the venue from "Hackers" (1995), but in real life?
With a giant Wipeout game and stuff?!

~~~
asmithmd1
I just visited Funspot in Laconia, NH a couple of weeks ago:

<http://www.funspotnh.com/>

It was great. All of the old games are lovingly maintained with a sign above
them telling when they were introduced and how many copies were sold.

I was able to show my 6 and 8 year old daughters the original Pong game that I
played when I was about their age as well as my later obsessions: Battle Zone,
Asteroids, and Tempest. I guess I had a thing for vector graphics

------
jetti
This reminds me of a place near me Galloping Ghost
(<http://gallopingghostarcade.com/>). If you're ever in the Chicagoland area,
check it out. They charge an entry fee of $15 but all their games are on free
play. Better yet, they let you come and go as you please for the entire day
with that one purchase (so 11 hours of potential play time). They find and
restore beat up arcade games as well as have a few PS3 in an arcade box with
newer games (Mortal Kombat as well as Street Fighter). There is nothing like
playing Mortal Kombat II for hours on end with a friend and then going to play
NFL Blitz 99, NBA Jam and then back again. The best (and also worst) part is
that there is no risk to play new games since they are all free (it is bad
because you'll occasionally walk up to a game and have to either wait for the
time to expire in game or just kill the character because somebody walked away
mid game).

------
Kuiper
One phenomena I've observed in some modern video arcades is the advent of
homebrew or "faux" cabinets. An official Street Fighter 4 cabinet costs around
$10,000. However, because the most recent home console version of SF4 is
identical to the arcade version, it's possible to simply buy an Xbox 360, a
display, and a pair of fightsticks (input devices with parts identical to what
you would find in an arcade cabinet) and build a wooden shell to house them.
Total cost? Less than $1000 for parts, plus labor for assembly. Most people
can't tell the difference, and even those who can tell the difference won't
care, because the software and input hardware are identical. This makes it far
more economical for establishments to offer these options--at $1000, you might
not even worry about turning a profit from usage fees, and could offer the
game mainly as a service to patrons.

The other benefit of the homebrew cabinet is that it allows you to run any
console game you please. Marvel vs Cacpom 3, one of the two most popular
fighting games in North America, is actually home console only--there's no
official cabinet, so homebrew is the only way to go if you want an arcade
setup.

~~~
Impossible
In the case of SF4, the official Arcade version of the game is just a PC
running Windows XP embedded
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taito_Type_X2#Taito_Type_X.C2.B...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taito_Type_X2#Taito_Type_X.C2.B2))

------
acgourley
Gaming is huge and growing. There are ways to make arcades work, it's just not
a straight rehash of the 80s arcades.

Take gamecenterarcade.com in san mateo. You might not know it's there but it's
full most days for various game specific meetup/tournaments. Turns out their
niche is giving the community a space to exist. They mostly charge on entry
instead of play, and it seems like most gameplay is done on consoles not coin-
op.

~~~
dyselon
I agree. Personally, the locations that I find really fascinating about the
arcade revival are the ones like GC, Southtown, and Super Arcade that are
primarily focused on being community centers.

------
gaius
Article doesn't mention it, but I think a lot of people were reminded of
Flynn's by Tron 2, and thought to themselves, hmm, what a good idea...

~~~
mindcrime
Watching Tron:Legacy certainly made me want to open an arcade! I just don't
have the capital lying around to do it. But, yeah, it sure seems that with the
right touch, the arcade could be revived as a business model. I sure hope so
anyway, I miss arcades.

I actually found myself wondering if Disney would be willing to license the
"Flynn's" name to somebody... how cool would it be to walk into an actual
_Flynn's_ arcade sometime? :-)

~~~
jlgreco
I think Disney uses "Flynn's" at one of their parks, so I doubt they would
license it.

------
newobj
Don't know how they managed to miss talking about Baby Castles in NY :

<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/nyregion/13joint.html?_r=1>

[http://kotaku.com/5670738/visit-a-place-where-it-is-ok-to-
hu...](http://kotaku.com/5670738/visit-a-place-where-it-is-ok-to-hug-arcade-
machines)

------
tankbot
I worked in an arcade as a young man and must admit that this exact thing is a
back-burner dream of mine. As mentioned in some other HN posts, certain scenes
from the Tron movies only fuel the fire.

Coincidentally, if you ever find yourself in Portland, OR stop by Ground
Kontrol. 4 player Ms. Pacman, good beer, live DJ and the whole upstairs is
wall to wall pinball machines. When I die, this is my idea of heaven.

------
brador
Is this all an American thing or is Europe seeing a similar revival?

~~~
lmm
Funland, in the Trocadero off Picadilly Circus (very much the geekiest place
in London), closed fairly recently. I find it hard to believe there'd be a
better place for an arcade in the UK, possibly anywhere in Europe, so it seems
like a pretty bad sign.

The one big success story here is the namco center, which I think works on a
pay-for-the-day basis; I've only known corporate days out there rather than
people going on their own.

------
helipad
I'd like to think Caine's Arcade has picked up steam.

------
will_work4tears
Hah, we have a place near where I live called Dorky's Bar Arcade. It's no Dave
and Busters, but it is fun.

------
rocky1138
Arcades are cool, but they're too damn expensive. Make each game 5c and I'll
play all the time.

~~~
bryanlarsen
I suspect that one of the major reasons why arcades are still viable in Japan
but not the US is because each play costs 100 yen, well over a dollar.

At 25 cents a play, I suspect that most of these places make the majority of
their profits from beer & food. If you're too cheap to pay 25 cents for a
game, I suspect that you're too cheap to buy your food & drink at the arcade.
If so, the arcades are probably glad they don't have your business.

~~~
evoxed
Maybe I'm just going at all the wrong times, but any Taito Station pretty much
hovers between 1-10% capacity (maybe 20% on weekends). I think they could
certainly benefit from cheaper games, if only to give the kids on the way back
from school a quick thrill with any spare coins they've got. Even making them
50円 would go a long way, since a 100 would get two games. I don't know about
others, but I would never start a game if I only had one shot. Two tries,
especially if a friend could go as well, would be good enough to draw me in to
even the lamest pinball machine.

Note: I'm in Yokohama. I don't frequent arcades much so don't know about
Tokyo, though I'll be in Diver City tomorrow to check out the ROUND1 (I heard
it has a set rate for the facility).

~~~
larsberg
I was just in Tokyo. Even during the daytime, the Taito Stations (at least in
Akiba and Shinjuku) were over 20% capacity. And on weekenights and weekend
evenings, particularly in Sinjuku, it was well over 50% of the machines in
use. It felt more full than that, though, because there are lots of observers
for whatever that 8-on-8 online mech game was and the new Hatsune
Miku/vocaloid rhythm game.

Even the crane games are pretty heavily packed. My only major complaint, as an
American, is that they reeked pretty heavily of cigarettes (though not as
badly as pachinko parlors). It was like being taken back in time 5-10 years,
back before major cities started mandating non-smoking environments.

