So Many Arcade Ideas, Not enough $$

It has been three weeks since I originally thought up my idea of the classic arcade and still my mind is racing with new ideas. Literally thousands of things popping through my head. Quarters, Tokens or entry-fee? Prices for everything, general feel of the establishment, what kinds of food to have. Then I move on to how I do every little bitty thing. Where do I start it, I do have it narrowed down to three key areas, but it is mostly a matter of where has the available space.

The biggest thing I face though is funding. I think with the results of the survey and the extremely detailed business plan, I can convince a bank to fund my arcade. But I also feel like to guarantee this sort of loan, I also need to get started in some way before I actually open up shop. I actually need to buy an arcade machine, fix it up, and put it out there for people to play.

The reason for this is largely for experience sake. I need the experience of buying and fixing these arcades if I want to go ahead and buy the 30-40 it will take to open the shop initially. The best way to prove that I can is to go out and do it with a couple. Even more important though, I need to prove that if I put an old arcade out there, that not only will people play it, but it can be profitable.

This is tricky though. Because it is likely that in fact such an endeavor won’t be profitable. This is because part of the reason why the arcade will work is because it is an arcade. People will go to the arcade solely for the feel of the arcade, to revisit their youth. Also, they may want to play one of a few games they remember as a youth, and the chances of being able to have that game with just one is substantially lower than if you have 30.

There are two keys to doing this correctly.

First, I need the right location. I think I have this. I want to put a machine in a friend’s restaurant. He just started the restaurant and the hope would be that the machine would help get people to come in from time to time that might have been visiting the local gaming store. Also, if they have to wait for food, they might stop and drop a few quarters in a game. It also by the gaming store and in a location that I’d like to be around with the arcade anyway. All these are good, and I don’t think the friend would charge me at all for placing the arcade either (it also could grow into a really good partnership if both businesses work out).

The other key would be to pick the right game. The game can’t be just any old game. It has to be one that people can readily pick up and relate to. This doesn’t mean that it has to be one of the big classics like Donkey Kong or Pac-Man, though that wouldn’t hurt. But it does have to be a format that people can get easily. I have been playing a bunch of old arcade games to research this. I tried one game called Bomb Jack, and while I don’t doubt that the game is worth playing, it is a very difficult game to really understand. This game would not do well on its own but might do fine in a group. This is a game people would give a try after they’ve played their favorites already, it is a sustainer, not an attractor.

Also, the game can’t be too difficult. Games with weird control styles are great in an arcade, but again, it has to be accessible to everyone to make money. I think of Centipede. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a classic game but it is also extremely difficult. The problem isn’t that people wouldn’t try it. I actually think this type of game would get a fair number of initial plays, but not much repetition.

A game like 1942 or Smash TV or POW I think would do really well. Not quite as recognizable as the upper echelon. But not unknown. People can look at them and understand how to play, and can get really into them to keep on dropping quarters into it. The games can stand on their own and don’t really need the help of other games to bring people in.

But then we are back to funding. This plan means I am buying a few machines on my own without the help of a loan. This is far more difficult for me right now than it normally would be. I don’t really want to spend more than $400-$500 dollars on an arcade, and that is my high range for the top games. Yet, even if I could find a real bargain at $100, I would be hard up to find that kind of cash in my budget, even though I think that kind of money could be made back within a month very easily.

I have been contemplating asking my mom for a small loan of $500 to be able to do this, and paying it back at $25 a month. I think I could get it paid back in a bout a year and a half at the minimum, and realistically I think i could do it much faster. But this is kind of hard to do too as my mom isn’t exactly doing great either.

First things first, I need to still find the right game. And I need to get permission to place the cabinet in my friend’s restaurant. Probably couldn’t hurt to find someone with a trick and who can help me move a 300 pound arcade while I am at it.