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The Modern Arcade
Ohio
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm not sure exactly if this warrants its own thread or not but I thought this was really cool and you all might like to hear about it.
I was out with my wife and young daughter this past Saturday. We stopped at Half Price Books because my daughter loves books and always wants more. I like books too but I had a long enough backlog right now that I decided I'd go to the used CD store next to HPB and kill some time. When we pulled up I noticed that they're just opened what looked like a used game store. I figured, "Okay, they're completed the used-books-used-CDs-used-games trifecta here." I decide to check out the game store instead.
When I walk in, it doesn't look like any game store I've ever been to. There are a few racks of used games but really the place looks really empty. Immediately a dude says, "Welcome, have you ever been to (can't remember the name) before?" I say no and he proceeds to explain what this place actually is.
He calls it a "modern arcade." There are 30 flat screen TVs (and they weren't small - I'm estimating 50 inch screens), in rows of 5 or 6. Each TV has its own chair, but they're those chairs with the speakers built in. He explains that this is so every person gets their own sound and no one's fighting over whose game is louder (more on that later). He says, "We have every game. We have Xbox 360s, PS3s, and Wiis. You pick whatever game you want and pay by the hour to play it. The best part? It's only $2.50 an hour which I thought was extremely affordable. Or you could do $6 for 3 hours, or $15 for the day. On Fridays and Saturdays they're open until 2am and they have tournaments every Friday night on various games. Street Fighter IV was the example he gave. If you win the Friday night tournament, you come back and play for free the next Friday.
Every Xbox there has Xbox live gold which the customer uses for free. You can recover your own gold account, and he said they even encourage people to bring their own hard drives or USB drives with their own save games. The number of Xboxs did outnumber the PS3s by probably 2-1.
As he's explaining, I'm thinking this place is awesome. Now I'm 31, have a big TV at home and a 360 so I didn't really need a place like this. But still, if I were younger? I'd be there all summer.
I went over to HPB and started telling my wife about it. She could tell how cool I thought the idea was, so she said "Just go back over and do it for an hour. We'll get groceries" (There's a Kroger next door.) I felt a little lame as a 31 year-old going in there alone but I'm at the point in my life that I really don't care anymore. Of course I didn't have my 360 hard drive with me so my choices for what to play were limited. I decided I'd just go for an hour, recover my gamertag, and play some MW2. Now admittedly I could have done all this at home, for free. But I just wanted to try this place out.
The dude is real excited that I came back. The place was pretty dead but he said usually it's packed. (A local theme park had just opened that day and he said that's why no one was there.) Anyway, I pay my $2.50 and he sits me down in a chair. The chair has rumble, bass, and treble settings. I was totally unimpressed by the chair and eventually turned the volume way down and the rumble all the way down, but I did at least have my own settings to control. I played about 6 games of team deathmatch and did well. The whole experience was quite impressive. By the time I was done, more people had come.
In the back of the place, they had huge projection screens where you can play Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which in fact were both happening at the same time. The whole place turned into a fesitval of noise which I could see getting old.
Only two annoying parts:
Overall I say again, this place was awesome and I'm looking for an excuse to go back. When you're playing MW2 with a dude on your left playing Dirt2 and the dude on your right playing Bad Company 2, and everyone's having fun, all I could think was "These are my people." None of my friends would have been as into it as I was.
And they did, in fact, have many copies of any popular game you could name. Twenty copies of MW2, a dozen Borderlands, etc. It didn't look like they'd run out.
They also had tons of drinks to buy, and nice big tables and chairs (I assume for table-top games).
So yeah, the modern arcade. I don't know how they afforded to buy all that stuff, and I don't know how they afford to keep it open with those rates. I hope they succeed.
I was out with my wife and young daughter this past Saturday. We stopped at Half Price Books because my daughter loves books and always wants more. I like books too but I had a long enough backlog right now that I decided I'd go to the used CD store next to HPB and kill some time. When we pulled up I noticed that they're just opened what looked like a used game store. I figured, "Okay, they're completed the used-books-used-CDs-used-games trifecta here." I decide to check out the game store instead.
When I walk in, it doesn't look like any game store I've ever been to. There are a few racks of used games but really the place looks really empty. Immediately a dude says, "Welcome, have you ever been to (can't remember the name) before?" I say no and he proceeds to explain what this place actually is.
He calls it a "modern arcade." There are 30 flat screen TVs (and they weren't small - I'm estimating 50 inch screens), in rows of 5 or 6. Each TV has its own chair, but they're those chairs with the speakers built in. He explains that this is so every person gets their own sound and no one's fighting over whose game is louder (more on that later). He says, "We have every game. We have Xbox 360s, PS3s, and Wiis. You pick whatever game you want and pay by the hour to play it. The best part? It's only $2.50 an hour which I thought was extremely affordable. Or you could do $6 for 3 hours, or $15 for the day. On Fridays and Saturdays they're open until 2am and they have tournaments every Friday night on various games. Street Fighter IV was the example he gave. If you win the Friday night tournament, you come back and play for free the next Friday.
Every Xbox there has Xbox live gold which the customer uses for free. You can recover your own gold account, and he said they even encourage people to bring their own hard drives or USB drives with their own save games. The number of Xboxs did outnumber the PS3s by probably 2-1.
As he's explaining, I'm thinking this place is awesome. Now I'm 31, have a big TV at home and a 360 so I didn't really need a place like this. But still, if I were younger? I'd be there all summer.
I went over to HPB and started telling my wife about it. She could tell how cool I thought the idea was, so she said "Just go back over and do it for an hour. We'll get groceries" (There's a Kroger next door.) I felt a little lame as a 31 year-old going in there alone but I'm at the point in my life that I really don't care anymore. Of course I didn't have my 360 hard drive with me so my choices for what to play were limited. I decided I'd just go for an hour, recover my gamertag, and play some MW2. Now admittedly I could have done all this at home, for free. But I just wanted to try this place out.
The dude is real excited that I came back. The place was pretty dead but he said usually it's packed. (A local theme park had just opened that day and he said that's why no one was there.) Anyway, I pay my $2.50 and he sits me down in a chair. The chair has rumble, bass, and treble settings. I was totally unimpressed by the chair and eventually turned the volume way down and the rumble all the way down, but I did at least have my own settings to control. I played about 6 games of team deathmatch and did well. The whole experience was quite impressive. By the time I was done, more people had come.
In the back of the place, they had huge projection screens where you can play Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which in fact were both happening at the same time. The whole place turned into a fesitval of noise which I could see getting old.
Only two annoying parts:
- The young kid telling me I should be using a red dot sight on my ACR instead of the ACOG scope (and maybe he's right but I don't care)
- You can play any game you want, so there were these kids who would ask for a new game every 10 minutes. It got annoying just to watch so I can imagine how annoying it was for the employee who had to continually change the kid's game.
Overall I say again, this place was awesome and I'm looking for an excuse to go back. When you're playing MW2 with a dude on your left playing Dirt2 and the dude on your right playing Bad Company 2, and everyone's having fun, all I could think was "These are my people." None of my friends would have been as into it as I was.
And they did, in fact, have many copies of any popular game you could name. Twenty copies of MW2, a dozen Borderlands, etc. It didn't look like they'd run out.
They also had tons of drinks to buy, and nice big tables and chairs (I assume for table-top games).
So yeah, the modern arcade. I don't know how they afforded to buy all that stuff, and I don't know how they afford to keep it open with those rates. I hope they succeed.
Ohio on
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When I lived in Asheville, NC there was a place similar to this but with computers. It was a building with 15 or so computers hooked up to the network, all with many games installed. We played CS, StarCraft, WarCraft, etc... It was amazing.
Enjoy it the short while the store exists.
Steam
XBOX
To me, this "modern arcade" you describe is just a reaction to the fact that gamers are once again realizing that it's more fun with other people involved, and that yes, we do sometimes want to make actual human contact. Despite owning all three major consoles and a very high end PC, I would still go to a place like this if one existed in my area (and it might, I live in a huge city), because you get the social aspect of it.
Now, if you REALLY want to bat 1.000 and have a winner, theme it more towards adults, get a liquor license, and serve booze. No, seriously. Imagine a place where 20 and 30 somethings could go in, get a beer and some hot wings, then sit down in rumble chairs and blast each other in Bad Company 2. You could charge a pittance for game time, because the booze and kitchen would make your profits.
And this right here is one of my "hair brained" ideas I have a basic buisiness plan drawn up about that I have never pursued. Biggest issue I see with it is getting the initial crowd interested. but once going I think a Barcade is a hell of an idea.
Also bars need women in them as well and the geeky nature of the place might not bring many in.
30 flat screen TVs, expensive sound system chairs (which would get ruined quickly by kids), dozens and dozens of wireless controllers and batteries (which would get ruined quickly by kids), thousands of dollars in video games, Xbox live Gold x 20 or so every year... and the fucking electricity bill? Christ.
I mean, it sounds really awesome, but I imagine it will close down sooner or later because they aren't covering their operating costs, let alone making a profit. It attracts young kids, and young kids don't buy any more than they have to (so you're making a few bucks a head per day).
The problem is that while you're charging a "pittance" for game time, that's what most people are going to spend. Most people won't bother buying drinks and food. They're there for the video games, and aside from maybe a soft drink while they're there, why spend a ton of money?
Most movie theaters will do this during the day. I've always wanted to do this, but I can't think of more than 4 or 5 people who would even be interested.
Could always do it along the lines of buy a bucket of beer, get 2 hours gaming free.
Maybe. I don't think you could do that here though, the laws on how you promote and discount alcohol are pretty strict in Ontario.
Edit; And I would totally go to one of these places. I'm 26 and have my own system, games, and 50" flat screen at home in my man cave, but to get out of the house for a while, drink some beers, and play some video games? I'd love that. No financee to tell me to stop playing video games.
that doesn't happen often enough to stay afloat for long.
edit: Unsane I'll come to your bar at least once or twice and send some cash your way, but Philly isn't super convienent. Get Carcillo from the Flyers to show up as a promotion too. Fight Carcillo and win and get lifetime service there for free! <bonus is nobody will win in a fight against him>
Steam
XBOX
... ?
http://www.daveandbusters.com/
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Yes, establishments targeted at 15-20 year olds have this problem. Which is why I said, you need to target it to 25-35 year old's, with income (who like booze). Walk in to any of these "new arcades", and just look at the decor. It's Modern Warfare and XBox posters, it's rumble chairs and candy stands and soft drinks. Basically, it's made for 15 year old's. The very ambiance of the establishment detours from the audience you really want: people with income that like video games.
For a "barcade" to work, you would need to build an upscale bar/club setting FIRST, then augment the experience with video game stations (preferably group based stations, with U style booths, so groups can sit down and play a Wii game together, or Modern Warfare). You need wait staff to take drink orders from people playing games, you need attractive bar tenders, etc.
My friends and I never buy much booze when we go bowling, which is rare anyway. For like $30 bucks an hour for shoes and a lane for four people though? That's where the money is.
Sad, but I guess that's the reality for these kinds of places. Surely they must be successful somewhere if people keep opening them!
My Backloggery
Have you ever been to a real arcade dude? Every single game has the volume cranked up in an attempt to allure players. The most egregious (-ly awesome) offender was Crazy Taxi. You could be thirty feet away from that thing and you'd still here the "HEY KIDS, IT'S TIME TO PLAY SOME CRAAAAAAZY TAXI! YA YA YA YA YA!"
There is a place like this in my hometown that seems like it's just barely staying in the black, but it's also a used game/movie sales/rental store, so they've got different income streams as opposed to just renting console time.
To be honest, I like actual arcades better. During their golden years most home consoles weren't powerful enough to convey a true "arcade experience", but now with a PS3/360 and a decent high def TV you can get an experience that is indistinguishable from the arcade cab that costs $6,000 and needs a huge amount of space. That's awesome on one hand, but it sucks on the other - I'm sick of having to go to Chuck E. Cheese or an "arcade" (which is nowadays nothing more than a few redemption games and some fighters circled around the DDR machine) every time I want to play an actual arcade game.
The light side? The death of arcades means that it'll be easier for me to find some actual cheap cabs that I can buy once I can throw some money together, and as for places that rent console time, $2.50 for an hour isn't a bad deal at all - you can use places like that to demo a few games before you drop $60 a piece on them.
I still say it wouldn't sell much. The 25-35 year olds may like booze and have income, but that doesn't mean they're going to drop loads of cash on it in your "barcade." They would be there to play video games, not to have several drinks (which is where you would see the money come in).
And I imagine drunken gamers with expensive equipment isn't an ideal situation for a profitable business.
Overseas. The reason they keep failing here is that no one caters to actual adult American tastes when they build them. See my comments above about decor and ambiance. The people with money (20 and 30 somethings) don't want to go hang out in Pokemon-ville for two hours to play a game. No beer, no decent food, no good looking women. They can stay at home if they just want to geek out. You need to give them a reason to go out. Booze, women and socializing are generally those reasons. My entire idea is to not really change the booze and women part, but to make the socializing part gravitate around video games in a social setting.
A local bar near me had a "Wii Sports Night", where the owner setup some Wii's and had Wii sports tournaments. He made a fucking killing, said it was one of his best nights of profit in a while. Blew away the Super Bowl, playoffs, etc.
It can work, and I think it would work, but everyone keeps trying to build these places for 15 year olds than wondering why no one spends any money.
e: Also, I think you are grossly misinformed about the 25-35 crowd and their alcohol consumption. What you're basically saying is that guys go to sports bars just to watch sports, and never buy booze. That's total bullocks and you know it.
My other problem now is they did this already at an established bar/rest. down town. http://www.chickiesandpetes.com/play2/
I remember a couple arcades in my area in the early 90's who had some no-frills console play (SNES/Genesis) and I'm sure they charged more than that. Not very popular from what I remember either.
Cyber cafes (usually called nef cafes here) are somewhat common in Denmark, but some of the ones I've been to didn't make sure that the games worked or set the options to something suitable for the computers. I guess focusing on console gaming avoids those problems completely.
Lots of people go to sports bars and never buy booze. You need to try being a server at one to see how right I am. Yes, some groups of guys will rack up a bill in the few hundreds, but that's rare.
And the type of guy who goes to a sports bar and spends $200 on booze with his buddies is not the same guy who would go to a bar to play video games.
So a strip club with Wiis installed
I went to this bar in downtown Houston a few weeks back. Now it's not modern games, obviously, but you can pay $10 and play arcade games, pinball, air hockey, etc. all night. They have the bar in one room and the arcade off to the side in two huge rooms. Pretty much every arcade game imaginable. I got hammered and played the shit out of Moonwalker. One thing I liked was that being the bar is separate, you didn't have the noise or anything to deal with if you just wanted to hang out and have a few drinks. Also, they have bands and shit there.
It's not exactly what you guys are talking about, but man was it fun.
You must hang around a completely different crowd than me then, because the same goes I go to a sports bar with are exactly the same guys who come to my house to take shots and play Wii, and are exactly the same guys who would absolutely go out to bar and buy a round of beers and play video games. Again, this isn't some pie in the sky idea. It's worked in Philly, and it's worked around me locally with the local bars Wii Night (which was so successful, he's made it a weekly, and it continues to bring in customers).
The trick is, and will continue to be, to not present the establishment as a video game arcade. It's a bar, where the entertainment happens to be video games instead of sports TV, karaoke, darts, slot machines, <insert standard bar entertainment here>.
If they have real pinball machines there, I'm there. Any real pinball machine that I see I play, which is getting more and more rare these days.
I think the Barcade could really be a hit.
I've watched a couple of these Modern Arcades fail in my hometown. They were always empty. A lot of my friends are gamers and they all scoff at the idea of going out to pay to play a console they own at home. I don't think any of them served liquor though.
That said, staying at home and drinking with a bunch of friends while playing games isn't always the easiest of tasks. There's various problems when you have more than 4 people over. For those of us with enough space in our entertainment rooms to actually facilitate having a party, the room can get really hot, really fast. Not to mention seating is almost always a problem.
I could easily see a place like this being the friday/saturday night destination, at least in my crowd of friends. I love fighting games, so a place like this would be amazing just for finding new competition. The events that a place like this could potentially run would be a ton of fun.
I never mentioned titties or lap dances. You do that, and you shot way, way past your intended audience.
I'm not basing my comments on the people I hang around. I'm basing my comments on the people I serve in a bar. The same 25-35 year olds you seem to be talking about.