Starting an arcade

[Dragonmaw]

If you go to the beginning of the thread, you can see the selection we have to start.

Spelunky is definitely an option, although we need to get a developer to rework it a bit (Derek is busy with the XBLA port). Cactus has agreed to put his games in (Clean Asia), as has Charlie Knight (Bullet Candy, Scoregasm, etc). Others include Streemerz, Canabalt, N, Cephalopod Cottage Defense, Rescue the Beagles, Super Crate Box, and much more.

Ideally, I'd like to start with between 6-10 indie cabs, and then whatever Bobby decides to include. If the arcade brings in enough money, I'll be making more cabinets and contacting more developers. I'd love to get Castle Crashers, for example. Or Hydorah (which has to be a freeplay cabinet).

[RNGmaster]

Whoa, I didn't know this was so huge! Spelunky would be incredible in arcade format, and I can't believe Cactus has allowed us to use Clean Asia. It looks like you guys have been going really far with this. I'm going to step out and pretend I never said anything. It looks like you guys are handling things perfectly.

Send Bobby my apologies. I never claimed I was trying to speak for him, but looking back on my posts I think I went a bit too far.

[the2bears]

Hey guys! I've actually already been talking to Bobby about this for a while. Before I went to the shmupmeet, even. If you read the TIGsource thread in full, it details some of my thoughts, but I'll paraphrase them here:

The arcade will be two things primarily: cafe and arcade. The cafe portion will probably not serve booze, at least initially, but we will have a consumption license (you can bring booze in with you). If there is a significant enough demand for booze, we'll probably set it up as a late night thing: come in after 6 PM, for example, and booze will be available.

The arcade portion, assuming Bobby agrees to go co-owner, will be a glorious amalgamation of arcade games. I'm fairly well-versed in arcade lore, although not nearly as much as Bobby, and I adore games of all different genres. The arcade portion will not be segregated by game or developer, and will be coin-op due to how ridiculously expensive Seattle's licensing laws are.

Besides those, there will ideally be a small venue for alternative and chiptune artists to come and play, if they want, and quite possibly internet as well.

The goal is to create a place that people will want to go to. A geek and indie culture place, where indie games and classics sit side-by-side in a venue where you can hear all sorts of awesome music, get drinks, and relax. A place that, personally, I want to go to. Friendly, fun, and filled with all sorts of cool games and people. And we are going to aggressively promote it as such. Ads in the Stranger and Weekly, fliers, contests, booked artists, you name it, I've planned for it. This is a place that I want to be SUCCESSFUL because, well, it's a place I want to go to!

I'll read this thread, but I recommend you post and misgivings or suggestions in the indie arcade thread. I read it more. Keep in mind that I have been discussing plans with Bobby for quite some time, though, so please don't speak for him. I'm perfectly capable of getting a hold of him myself

Damn this sounds pretty awesome!

Bill

[Drum]

Suggestion for classic game:

Reactor.

http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=reacto ... il&id=2185

Released in July 1982.

First called 'Ram-It', then 'Expander', Reactor was Skelly's first game design upon going independent. Skelly was one of the first independent game designers. He designed a number of games for Gottlieb (none of which were released) before taking an extended break in which he watched horror movies, drank margaritas and wrote a screenplay!

Approximately 1,000 units were produced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactor_%28video_game%29

I mean, come on.

(It's a fun game too!)

EDIT: Now that I think about it, the stage layout for Reactor would make a good arcade/cafe layout too. Serendipitous!

EDIT 2: Reactor is a good name for an arcade too! (if a little generic)

[burgerkingdiamond]

I was hanging out with some friends in Richmond last weekend and I saw this little place called STRANGE MATTER. It's a Bar/Restaurant/Arcade. It was awesome. Most of the games work, I didn't try them all, but I did lose 1 quarter on a game that didn't work. But the good thing is that all the games are only a quarter. This is not a Dave and Busters. If you know anything about Richmond, you'll probably know what to expect. The place is kind of a dive, with a lot of hipsters covered in tattoos and what not, but the food was good. I had a Monte Cristo and a PBR.

If you live in, or anywhere near Richmond, VA you need to go check this place out. Go get a few beers, a nice meal and play some games.

BTW, I took some pics with my camera phone. I'll post them up later. The list of games on the website is mosly correct, but it's missing a few games. The only one I can think of right now that isn't on the list is a pretty nice condition TAPPER. There's also a Ninja Gaiden upright that I was drooling over. I didn't even know they existed, but I'm a huge fan of the series for the NES. If I was more outgoing I would have really tried to talk the owner into selling it to me. It doesn' even have the NG board in it though. It's like a NEO GEO 100 in 1 board, that took my quarter.

http://www.strangematterrva.com/index2.htm

The above was copied and pasted from a post I made last month in another forum. This place didn't have any candy cabs or anything, or any shmups for that matter. But it was pretty fuckin cool. BEER, FOOD, ARCADE CABS.

[bobbyconover]

Reactor.

Reactor rocks, no question! The only problem is that it's also one of the big, big coveted rarities in the classic coin-op collecting world, and would set me back around $2-3k that it would never even remotely come close to making back, so there's basically no way I could ever justify it financially. That is, unless I happen to find one for $50 on Craigslist. (Stranger things have happened!)

Sadly, classics overall are very poor earners these days. I had several of them in my last arcade and for the most part they didn't even make enough money to pay for the electricity used to keep them running.

BTW, I'd just like to clarify that I haven't committed to anything and that nothing is even remotely certain at this point, so I really don't want anyone getting excited one way or another about what I might be doing with my games next. I've been talking to dragonmaw about the indie-cade idea for some time, but as of now my involvement in that is just one possibility. I have lots of others as well and I'm totally, completely undecided on what I'd like to pursue. All I can say is everyone please chill out and let me try to figure things out, since there are many many factors to consider!

[Drum]

Reactor.

Reactor rocks, no question! The only problem is that it's also one of the big, big coveted rarities in the classic coin-op collecting world, and would set me back around $2-3k that it would never even remotely come close to making back, so there's basically no way I could ever justify it financially. That is, unless I happen to find one for $50 on Craigslist. (Stranger things have happened!)

Sadly, classics overall are very poor earners these days. I had several of them in my last arcade and for the most part they didn't even make enough money to pay for the electricity used to keep them running.

This is hugely disappointing, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. To be honest, if I saw Reactor or Kram or Jump Bug or whatever in an arcade and didn't know better, I'd skip them and head straight for Aliens vs Predator too (well, I'd still play Aliens vs Predator as well but yeah). Out of interest, what cabs do you have? (if you don't have a list in digital form you can cut and paste, don't worry about it) Just kind of interested in what makes up a modern arcade.

EDIT: Did a search on what games are going for these days and, yikes, Reactor is insane - Major Havoc is even worse (I, Robot is nuts too but I figured it would be more - huh). otoh, Toki is very cheap and Night Stocker is pretty reasonable too, so that gives me hope that one day I might own a cab. Shipping to New Zealand I expect is very expensive though http://www.arcade-classics.com/price_guide.html

[Estebang]

Just open up a store purely with those Japanese photo booth things. Cha-ching~

Except that even in Japan, the ubiquity of camera phones has put the purikura industry into serious trouble.

There was an awesome Japanese-style arcade around here a couple years back with Espgaluda, a huge Bemani/rhythm game section, and pretty much every popular fighter. I was playing Street Fighter IV there months before the console version. The owner even gave Japanese lessons, and was planning to get DDP:DFK when it came out. Unfortunately, a lot of the cabs were damaged in a flood, and the place simply wasn't able to turn enough of a profit to keep itself afloat, or cover the $10000+ cost for those four SFIV machines. The rural, middle-of-nowhere location didn't help (only place with enough rent he could afford.) After they went bankrupt, everything was auctioned off and the owner and his wife moved to Japan.

Another arcade in the area with at least a 20-year history was demolished to make way for an Ikea that never got built.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Just open up a store purely with those Japanese photo booth things. Cha-ching~

Except that even in Japan, the ubiquity of camera phones has put the purikura industry into serious trouble.

There was an awesome Japanese-style arcade around here a couple years back with Espgaluda, a huge Bemani/rhythm game section, and pretty much every popular fighter. I was playing Street Fighter IV there months before the console version. The owner even gave Japanese lessons, and was planning to get DDP:DFK when it came out. Unfortunately, a lot of the cabs were damaged in a flood, and the place simply wasn't able to turn enough of a profit to keep itself afloat, or cover the $10000+ cost for those four SFIV machines. The rural, middle-of-nowhere location didn't help (only place with enough rent he could afford.) After they went bankrupt, everything was auctioned off and the owner and his wife moved to Japan.

Another arcade in the area with at least a 20-year history was demolished to make way for an Ikea that never got built.

fuck dude, that's seriously a sad story. At least you got to be there for part of the time.

[Estebang]

fuck dude, that's seriously a sad story. At least you got to be there for part of the time.

Truly, it was a low point in my life when they closed. I wish I had known about it for longer than three months, they had been operating for a couple years before.

Here's the site on archive.org.

It wasn't a total loss, as a local independent game store snagged a Neo-Geo MVS cab and a couple Bemani games in the auction, which they've kept in operation. Espgaluda apparently went to some farmer in his 60s; the hired auctioneer convinced him it would be a great investment! Wonder where it is now.