How Viable Are Retro Arcades For A Business In 2022? 

Yeah, sadly operating highly collectible games is a huge risk. You have to find the absolute perfect spot to operate in and gain a loyal fanbase. But that is easier said than done, even with a big name game. Anytime I have had to pay more than $1000 for a classic game I cringe as I know that the only time I'll really pay it off is when I resell it sometime later.

you can emulate these games with raspberry pi

Where is this if you don't mind me asking? Always on the look out for arcades in the UK!

We're down in Exeter in the Southwest. Called Boneyard.

I would love to open an arcade business but wouldn’t know where to begin…. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, will be sure to pop down to the boneyard for a visit 👍🏻 thank you kindly

Best of luck! While I'm sure your market is a bit different than what I experience here, there should be some things that translate over :) LMK if you have more questions!

Some places care about how it looks, some don't. next level pinball museum doesn't care how their lcds look. meanwhile ground kontrol does.

Best of luck - let me know when you open so I can mention it on the blog :) I do wish at times that I had 4 MT5s due to demand, although having some variety is also a good thing especially with drivers. I'd consider either Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Cruis'n Blast or perhaps Jet Blaster although I have not heard how JB does while MK and CB are surefire hits. On shooting games, any one of those you mention are going to do well although Halo and Jurassic Park are going to be a best performer. I've been hearing that Halo has been doing as well as JP although I can't personally attest to that since I don't have it (don't have the space for it since I already have TWD/JP/House of the Dead/Luigis). I hope that helps!

Yeah, bar/arcades in particular were devastated by the pandemic. Here's hoping that they make a come back over the next few years.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop The key is to offer more than just "old video games." I did a beer/wine license, was about to offer a bar food menu. Live entertainment, trivia nights, corporate and birthday parties, etc proved popular. It's the overall atmosphere and vibe of the place that people really remember.

@@arcadegamer9546 If I ever had to leave the mall, I'd offer a cafe of some kind. We do offer parties in our other location, although it's been a slow burn on that one so far. Tournaments certainly go a long way, if you can get people out to attend them.

I opened an arcade DURING the pandemic... 2 years later, I'm still in business 😀

@@hellokittybot7032 Congrats! What is it called? If I didn't cover it already on ArcadeHeroes.com, I'd love to make sure it gets a mention.

It's on my mind, although it'll probably be at the end of the summer - I'd like to get my hands on Samurai Shodown V to see how a big, recognizable name fares on the platform compared to more relatively unknown titles.

That is waht I was thinking but is this fully true?

Thanks! I haven't talked about them yet but have been wanting to bring on another op who recently switched from tokens to cards to see how it's going for him. Just a matter of matching schedules...

I have two cabinets with OG Pac-man - but they have other games in them too (one is Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2; The Other is Pac-Man 25th Anniversary Edition). I do have an OG Ms. Pac-Man machine but then that 25th AE cab has Ms. Pac-Man on it too. I'd have to check the bookkeeping but Ms. Pac-man has always been one of my top retro games.

Thanks! While I'm not an expert on PCB repair, my best guess on that would be an issue with the ROMs. There are a couple of places I've heard of (but not used; the last time I sent in a PCB for repair it was a Sega Chihiro and I sent it to Ken at ifixsega although not sure if he does boards like Ikari) that you can check out : www.arcadeservices.com/pcb-repair.html and www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?action=url&page=pcbrepair.html Hope one of those works!

I completely agree.

That was always dependent upon the location. Some places could charge more if their clientele would tolerate it, while others couldn't get away with more than 25c

90s games depends on the game - if it's a driver/gun game, then it can do pretty well for its age, but most joystick games you're looking at $5-$20/wk (the latter is an "at-best" scenario). CarnEvil when I had it and it worked did extremely well; I haven't had Time crisis 2 here in a while, but it did all right. Had the Cruis'n games before, they did do ok, but couldn't hold a candle to the new stuff. The saddest case was the X-Men 6-player, dual screen that I had for several years. It usually worked but still struggled to earn more than $5~7/wk. NBA Jam, TMNT and Simpsons also do/did about that much, sometimes less. Worst performing 90s game was Capcom's Knights of the Round, usually averaging 75¢ wk

@@arcadeheroes_coinop ​​⁠I can’t see Knights of the Round being a big earner at any point during its existence when there were better games in the genre. What about Punisher, Battletoads, Final Fight, etc Or do most beat’em ups not earn? 1944, 19xx series?

@@Drummer8282 I had Final Fight for a while, but it was about the same as most games from that time - a few bucks a week, nothing special. Sadly it does seem like beat 'em ups in general don't do all that great. I've had 1942, and two of the Strikers games. They've also worked like that - ok, nothing special (as in, don't make more than Ms. Pac-Man or SF2). But, I look at all of my classics more in the view of indirect income - they doesn't earn great, but they help bring people in who spend maybe a little on retro, then more on the newer stuff.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop thanks for the info. Pretty neat to hear that pinball tables don’t really earn or many of the retro games either. If you notice your Cruis’n Blast play through video has a large bump in viewership lately, that’s my 5-year old daughter. She loves watching that video. 🤣 I’m actively looking for linked Cruis’n USAs for our game room since she seems to like Cruis’n games. 😝 Wishing you well with your arcade and looking forward to watching more of your video uploads. 🍻

Funny you bring that up - I used to have the Star Wars game and did for a few years. Unfortunately after the Last Jedi came along, people just stopped playing Star Wars games like they used to (even though the game itself had nothing to do with TLJ). It was a massively expensive game and stopped making enough to cover it's monthly payments so I eventually sold it off :/ It was really cool though - here's a video of us unboxing it back when it was brand new: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-djzsggKDaP4.html

@@arcadeheroes_coinop reallly..wow. I mean that game was just such a great expericece. I think in the future arcades are gonna need these types of games to compete with what we can play at home. Sorry that happend. I didnt care for the last jedi too but I still play any star wars game out in the wild. Crazy.

@@pauleckert4321 Part of the problem was the game itself relied solely on the cool cabinet for replay value and that wasn't enough. It had a score system, but the leaderboard never appeared during attract mode so nobody could track it. It had a camera but didn't use it. If you were victorious on a level, there was no reward, it made you pay again. Had they fixed those little things I think it would have fared better but as it was, I saw most people who did play only play once then not a second time :/

@@arcadeheroes_coinop I remember that. I still played it though just becausse it felt like i was in a starship. Maybe they need to do a newer version with more options and modes.

Lately due to inflation/costs skyrocketing on everything, our weekdays at both locations have been down (there is also a slowdown in April every year, but the recent factors have made things slower than usual). Weekends have been all right - my best guess is that people are being more careful about their disposable entertainment income through the week and save up for the weekend. That said, the opening weekend that Sonic 2 came out was one of the busiest we've seen this year so it did help. Our best performance days always coincides with the release of family films.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop i agree with that theory 100% Thats fantastic to hear. Yeah, ever since Sonic 2 movie dropped, sales for his catalog of games across multiple platforms have seen a huge upsurge at work. I took a gamble that it would, so work agreed and made a sizable order of everything we could get our hands on regarding Sonic. And it paid off, we're almost sold out of everything we got.

I do but I will be saving that for a different video. The problem is that pinball really isn't a good earner in most places (despite all the hype), but it does require some explanation as to why

Not necessarily, aside from those being technically illegal (sure, enforcement isn't really there), emulation can be hit or miss depending on the game. True it would save costs on certain games but retro makes so little in general that it's not something I would find worth the trouble. All the retro games I have use OG hardware/parts and excepting things like Asteroids & Toobin, I've not had issues there for the most part.

For the first few years - no. I made just enough to scrape by. I eventually reached a point where it became profitable and I have two employees and two locations at the moment. But with inflation getting out of control and seeing a big slowdown in business lately, I am a bit on edge as to how things will continue to go.

Well, keep in mind that Space Invaders and Galaxian were both the worst because they weren't working for most of the year. But I did mention how Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man do for me - they're fine for 40 year old games but over the course of an entire year, they don't hold a candle to my new stuff. I used to have a Joust but it struggled to make more than $3-5/wk so I ended up selling it back to the guy I bought it from after a year when he wanted it again. I've had a Centipede for 7-8 years now and it also averages about $3-5/wk. Really just enough to cover the electricity it uses, maybe. But was SI and Galaxian in the bottom 5 in 1982? No way. I once came across a handwritten earnings report from 1982 that was found in the bottom of an old Cinematronics Rip Off cab. Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep the paper (wasn't my cab) but I remember looking it over and being amazed at how many of the games did. Obscure stuff with no name (like Rip Off) was hauling in $120/wk while name stuff could bring in $800-2000/wk. Sure, the games you mention would have been at the top of the list, but people weren't completely passing up stuff like still liked either - probably because when their favorite was being hogged by other players, they'd go and play the old favorites.

As long as I can process viable currency at my POS, then I'll be fine. I don't use quarters but tokens; As for the industry at large, they've all gone to card systems so I think it'll be an easy switch although I'm not sure how all of those work with POS'

Anything specific about them that you'd like to have discussed?

@@arcadeheroes_coinop the transition from 2D to 3D graphics

There have been a few of those in recent times - but they had to do the giant LED billboard display (and co-op play) to warrant that. That game costs in the realm of $12,000 so that's another reason they charge that much. If I charged a dollar on the original Ms. Pac-man though, no one would play it. Perhaps I should project it on a giant screen and then could get away with it ;)

This is not an easy question to answer as it depends on a lot of factors - where you are wanting to open, what business model you want to use, how big the arcade will be, if you're opening in an existing building or starting from scratch, if you will have other attractions around, if you want to do old/new games or both, if you'll serve food, etc. A typical Chuck E. Cheeses location can take $4-6 million to start, while something like a Dave & Busters will easily go over $10m. That said, you can start an arcade small, under $50,000, but again it depends on a lot of things. The best thing for you to do would be to contact a distributor (shop around and talk to several) and let the sales person know what you plan on doing and they can help guide you through much of the process.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop yea my plan is to start small with a mixture of retro and modern games , and have like a snack bar , I hav done some research and 50,000 i hav seen to save ,

I'm going to do a follow-up video today where it's focused on pinball but I'll take a look at the 2019 numbers and let you know. IIRC, they weren't that different in terms of top/bottom 5 performance but I haven't looked at it in a while.

That's a lot to unpack so I'll just parse a few things: Creativity & risk - I would like to see some fresh new things but this is extremely difficult to pull off as it's like coming up with a new genre or a chart topping song. If it were easy then everyone would do it. Whether or not such a concept will actually earn on location is also unknown as it depends on various factors (making such things high risk - all of my indie games are unusual & unique but most are earnings duds) but hopefully you can pull off these concepts you have talked about! 2Spicy generally comes to mind. It was a fantastic game and very unique concept. But no one played it, so no one bought it and it was a bit of a disaster for Sega. Big companies might be able to absorb a couple of bombs but not a bunch of them, so I understand why they rely on safe bets. Rare games - I used to be all-in on rare games and I have a few - but after years of watching most of them make very little (just barely above the bottom 5), the allure has cooled for me. Sometimes games are rare because they just aren't good or something doesn't catch the 'normie' attention. I love games like Deathstalker but it's exceedingly rare that it ever makes even $5/wk, as the game plays more like a console game than an arcade. A game like that just doesn't fly in the biz and it doesn't really bring people in like I had hoped :/ Air hockey or basketball will on a daily basis but a rare game might bring someone in once or twice a year. Location is important - as I mentioned, some games perform better at one location over the other but a great location with lousy games will fail the same as a poor location with the best games. Overall in all of my experience, new games are what pay the bills, no amount of rearranging classics really changes that. A lot of people have copied GGA's model but as the pandemic showed, it's precarious; No one else has been able to emulate what they do in grabbing the sheer number of games that they have. I know several who were trying to follow that model and they ended up shutting down as the margins were razor thin, so when things went south, they did too. I love what they do but GGA is an exception to the rule. The problem with that model is: 1) Great/good games end up contributing the same to the business's bottom line as a turd that never gets played at all, since the games don't perform on their own merits, but as a collective. If you only got $10 out of someone entering the door, you've limited that when they might have spent $20+ in a regular arcade. Granted, it has the advantage of getting money out of everyone that walks into the arcade, while I get plenty of lurkers but it forces the location to try and increase appeal by becoming larger and grabbing more games. Problem is, not everyone can operate in a 6-10,000sq.ft. space or expand like GGA can. 2) Supply is unfortunately too limited to meet demand. One example is Tapper. Every bar/arcade wants one but GL finding one. GGA also has extremely rare prototypes, some you just can't get so emulating that becomes impossible 3) The bigger you get, the more of a nightmare the maintenance becomes - as do your other operating costs (rent, wages, electricity, insurance, etc).

@@arcadeheroes_coinop yep very true. Then I wonder how they do it. Especially each week adding another game, eventually they will run out sadly.

@@dragongamer2670 It's safe = sustainable. Given where game development costs are ($3-5 million for a major title), it's not a cheap nor easy endeavor to keep a company like Raw Thrills or Sega afloat. While I'm not privy to know the exact operational costs of these companies, I know that things are precarious enough that one or two high risk duds could end up bankrupting a company but the same applies to operators - I can't afford to constantly throw money away after duds like street Fighter IV. What saved my business in that instance when the players all disappeared were the safe, 'boring' games - Terminator Salvation, Pac-Man Battle Royale, Tokyo Drift, etc. I certainly would like to see some more creative things in the biz, but they have to prove themselves good earners on test and in the real world. If not, then no one will buy them because no one will play it.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop Interesting well for me the best Arcade VR experience I had was Super Mario Kart VR - if a company focused on making something like that. It would do amazingly well. Again just Bandai Namco kinda being dumb with not pushing that out more and making that game available. What I would do to drive people to the Arcades - like digital cards. If you play and do certain task on the Arcade versions you can unlock characters which you can bring home to the console/PC version of the game. Both a Win for the Arcade operators. I would make games which bring people back to the Arcades. Again I have some good concepts. Otherwise I wouldn't waste my time and no they wouldn't cost 1-5 million to make.

@@dragongamer2670 VR really isn't the savior of the industry like it's been made out to be. It's an attraction like laser tag or bowling, just more versatile than those kinds of attractions. But is VR going to replace the standard arcade? Not where the pricing and footprint are at; Recall that those are two important components of what determines what operators will buy. When you can drop $100k on a VR arena or $100k on 8-10 standard video arcade games, it's not difficult to see which one will end up earning more in the long run. That and the number of compelling "I have to have this" ideas in VR are far outnumbered by the boring shovelware. Mario Kart VR was a great setup but where it isn't available to buy, it's kind of moot. All the other VR racing games just seem to be duds (Overdrive VR, Ultra Moto VR, etc) The only other mover & shaker we've seen was Beat Saber Arcade, but Facebook/Meta axed that too. Your digital card idea sounds like a modern version of NFL Blitz's N64 card transfer idea, where it would be interesting to see how that could be implemented with today's tech. Otherwise, there are elements of that being implemented in some ways by certain games - Maximum Tune 5DX+, Outnumbered and Stern's Insider Connected system. I have all three at one of my locations but so far the only one generating a little more revenue from that is MaxiTune. It has the benefit of that dedicated fanbase but there's no home port that it connects with. I would like to see it tried, I just don't know if it would make a huge difference in terms of earnings based on what I've seen so far (not seeing any change on Stern Pinball earnings with Insider Connected, which is a big disappointment). Also, don't underestimate the cost of implementing these systems/developing these ideas. I've talked with several indies who were very shocked by how much it costs to produce equipment for the biz. If you're just talking the card system then perhaps that can be done on the cheap but producing a game with a cabinet and making enough for the market is a very expensive endeavor. If you do find a way to do it for much less though, that could be a lucrative and revolutionary operation as costs are a bit outrageous at the moment and I'd love to see more low-cost solutions. For now, exA-Arcadia are the only ones in that position.

That's kind of arbitrary, kind of like defining what "retro" is, but many cities out there say you need to have at least 6 games to be taxed as an arcade (some may put it at less, some more, but that's probably a good average). The cities I work in didn't have any number, though they also don't have a "game room" tax...just consider it to be an arcade.

I've wanted to add Contra but finding one has been a major pain. I do have a game that's much like it called Blazing Chrome AC but few people know what that is. :.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop Have you seen the game Huntdown - amazing 2D action game. They made an Arcade version I hear just haven't seen it out in the wild.

@@dragongamer2670 I had not heard of that nor an arcade version of it. Thanks for the heads-up

@@arcadeheroes_coinop Yeah I was at Joypolis in Tokyo Japan around 2018 in August - played many amazing VR games which I think would do amazing if they were here. From Dinosaur Horror games to Anime - like playing a VR version of Evangelion. The experience was simply amazing. Again for under 1 million you could make some killer VR games. Just need the right team and hardware to do it. Again Mario Kart VR was the best gaming experience I ever had since Night Striker back in 1989 (I have that game now and don't know of many Arcades which have that sit down game) - that blew my mind when I was 10-11 years old.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop No problem one of my favorite 2D games this year. I would give it a 2D game of the year award.

I didn't mention other pinball earnings as I may do that in another video. IT's too different. Overall though, unless you're in a specific kind of venue (like a bar/arcade), it works just like you say - they only make their money back when you sell them off.

They might, but customers in my area are very big penny pinchers. I've heard many whine loudly that "25¢ a token is too expensive" as there are a few nickel arcades in the state (no, people don't consider the entry fee+nickels, they just think nickels) and I have a giant arcade down the hall with bowling/laser tag/alcohol/tickets that I have to compete with, so offering some cheap alternatives is to my benefit. That said, there are some games where I have increased the price lately but it's been newer stuff like air hockey and Cosmotrons.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop Im from sweden, and the arcades here charge between 20-40 SEK thats like 2-4 dollars per game. So hearing 25 cents is like so crazy for me.

@@alannori2476 There are a lot of places here that are charging in that range too, including Dave & Busters and Round1USA, although the lowest they'll charge is maybe $1. As an independent arcade, having a lower price does help me compete - I have had instances where people don't like that they go to a big multimillion $$$ arcade like those mentioned and when they spend $50 it's gone in 5-10 minutes. There is also a place called "Nickelcade" (5¢ charged, although they do have an entry fee and most of their games are old) just a few blocks away from me so I have to find a balance to compete :)

@@arcadeheroes_coinop i see, thanks for the valuable insight. Its interesting to follow your page and journey. I myself want to open an arcade here in Sweden but as you know it's quite expensive so I'm looking for Investors. But it's very helpful to learn from your experience. Thank you so much 🌹🌹

I really see people of all ages - as I type this, I have five guys from their 20s-50s playing pinball; three teenagers playing the racing games and a dad with his young daughter (2 or 3?) playing a racing game together. That's fairly typical, although the video games do tend to attract the younger crowd while pinball the older one.

Interesting idea, although not one I'd want to risk on trying to operate. What's the hook in that case? Could 30/40 year old games that people can play on their phone, at home on a PC/console, an Arcade 1up, a MAME box, or in their mancave on OG hardware really generate enough to sustain a business month-to-month? Maybe on a free play model (in the right place and the right game mix) but I have deep doubts they could using the old school per quarter/token model. In my case, I ready have them separated out in their own sections (Donkey Kong is between Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede). But let's say that my mix is offending classic gamers. How am I supposed to know which games games make them balk and which ones don't? If customers are that stodgy that they freak out over hearing another game while they're playing their fav, are they going to be a loyal customer in any other case than offering a custom arcade that only appeals to them? Probably not and not something I'd want to take a huge risk on. To that point, if I had a pure "Golden Age" arcade, what's the guarantee that someone like yourself would frequent it on a weekly basis? Perhaps it is that all the guys who would frequent hate having new stuff around but otherwise, most customers only visit a few times a year; Regulars are hard to come by. I also wonder where that would leave the more lucrative family market? Most kids don't want to play the games that their parents grew up on, the magic of nostalgia just isn't there for them and you can't force that, so if they think it sucks or is boring, they'll go to the arcade elsewhere that has the flashy new stuff. Of course on the flipside, there are successful retrocades like Galloping Ghost and ACAM. But those seem to be very far and few between, certainly are not the norm. But perhaps they could be, it's just the indicators aren't there that every arcade out there can be a success by being a Golden Age Arcade (in my opinion)

@@arcadeheroes_coinop I agree that different factors would have to be involved. Some locations have tourism coming in and lots of foot traffic where something strictly vintage and niche could be attempted. If I were to open a place, I’d mix in pool tables and air hockey, foosball etc to balance it out with a few other hooks. Vibe and atmosphere can go a long way.

@@wanghotangho5803 Factors is certainly the key word - e.g. I've heard of some places where pool does fantastic but then at others it does horribly. Bringing those up however, they do show how some games just do great no matter what or where they are - you mentioned air hockey which is one; Foosball does all right but basketball crushes it. Redemption, to my personal chagrin, also is a top earner, as are similar things like claw machines (regardless of location/vibe). Video games have a shelf life, vibe or not, they will eventually reach a point where they just don't do well, as in making hundreds or thousands a week, anymore. I wish that weren't the case but I have seen that be so beyond my own situation. They might be out there, but I haven't met an operator who exclusively runs an arcade like it was 1984 and manages to operate it without any other source of income (another business, food/drink, other attractions like laser tag/bowling/etc). I've heard of several closing down over the years though - Grinkers in ID, the Retro Arcade Museum in MN, Atomic Arcade in UT, Insert Coins LV in NV...it's really not easy to make it work :/

@@arcadeheroes_coinop part of my plan was alcohol, exclusive food items that aren’t found around town, classic MTV videos/concert footage from the era and earlier, vintage posters, vintage soda/beer clocks but keep the vids to about 20 or 25, maybe 4 or 5 pins, and the rest filled out with air hockey and pool, making it just a glorified bar and paring down the “arcade” aspect with tons of games. More a bar with a good number of games. Nothing but coin-ops and not much else does sound tough. I meet people that go to bars exclusively for their food. Carnival type food could be a good exclusive.

@@wanghotangho5803 Best of luck to your endeavor! For a bar/arcade, the mix you're looking has proven successful - in the right location. You'll likely see most profits come from drinks and pinball, by what I've found from other bar/arcade operators but as long as you can keep the overhead low, you'll be in a great spot!

Sega's AfterBurner II (upright)

@@arcadeheroes_coinop thanks

No, it was quite a bit higher than that with the two combined - I didn't provide all of my numbers. About time to do another one of these vids although I only have one location now

They've been pals for a while now. Luigi's is no longer in production but they are currently making Mario & Sonic At The 2020 Olympics Arcade: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EtyVpBbWUqU.html

@@arcadeheroes_coinop I know, I just grew up in a very different era, and to hear Sega making a Mario game just has that instinctive "wait, what?" reaction. My console gaming days ended with the Sega Genesis, and after that I moved purely to computer gaming, starting with the Amiga 500, then moving on to the PC.

@@Seriously_Unserious I had a similar path - I can remember hearing or getting pointless arguments about bits back during elementary school. All the kids on my street growing up had the NES, although one friend had that plus a Master System and Genesis. Good times.

@@arcadeheroes_coinop Yup, definitely a lot of nostalgia behind those times, for sure.

They're viable in specific settings, such as a large retro arcade (look up the Galloping Ghost Arcade, their model has been copied by many) - but apart from a select few big names, most don't bring home the bacon when using the traditional arcade business model that I use. Most of the customers I see are younger and they gravitate towards the new stuff - old timers don't really enjoy most of the new stuff, but new games tend to have some sort of unique hook via the controller to draw attention. New joystick games tend to struggle to stand out, since the joystick/button combo that was huge in the 80s/90s doesn't hold up as well. :/