Did Arcades Bring About Their Own Demise?

[ZedClampet]

A quarter for a couple minutes of play? Sure, I did that all the time. $2 for a couple minutes of play? That's the worst entertainment per dollar ratio of anything I can think of except for that time in Atlantic City when my buddy saw this cute girl...um...anyway, even in a casino you can find quarter slot machines and maybe even nickel slots. And those pay out a percentage of what you put in! That nickel slot really is only costing you a penny or less. And, arguably, the excitement of possibly winning a jackpot is probably better than anything an arcade put out there.

Some people blame consoles for the downfall, but consoles were around before the first arcade opened. Was it maybe the quality of the console? Was it the SNES that did it?

But consider this. There are still a few arcades around, and they are doing well. Chuck E Cheese isn't just a place for birthday parties. People go there year round. Each game costs less than a quarter since they give you extra tokens when you buy them. Is that proof that it's mostly about price? Or does this simply say that, sure, there's enough demand to support one arcade, but no more?

Dave and Buster's is a bit harder to understand. The games cost from $1 to $1.50--except for maybe VR games--but you can buy a 90 minute unlimited pass for $19.99 (I think that is with your meal), which means that if you are really bad at the games, you could get a lower price than at Chuck E. Cheese (although I might feel a little neurotic trying to get the most out of my $20).

But that's just two places, and most towns don't have either a CEC or D&B, but most towns did have an arcade or two.

For me, nothing outweighed the ridiculous cost that no one in their right minds would have spent, but I'm a unique snowflake. Maybe it was something else for others. Thoughts?

 

[DXCHASE]

I dont know if its just 1 reason to blame entirely on 1 party. But consoles getting better and games looking better regardless if console playing was around before arcades, is absolutely the biggest offender here imo.

Arcades also became more and more expensive to maintain for companies as more and more people stayed home and played games on consoles. The price to replace transistors and lights and so on in Arcades, and especially, pinball machines skyrocketed because the demand to fix em fell dramatically.

So it makes sense that going to a proper arcade now at a D&B or something, there a lot more than just .25 cents (usd). Those places have awful selections of games too. Thats my biggest reason for not going to arcades nowadays. When i went to arcades i was never a ticket arcade guy, so if its spittin out tickets, im probably not playing it.

I used to live next to a guy that worked at ICE and he tried getting me a job there one time. The pay was terrible, they were short staffed all the time and all day people were just kinda fixing little boards and making wires etc. for arcade repairs to be made. Not fun work. This was roughly 10 years ago and i can only see the prices going up because im sure workers there are paid more now and that some of the products cost more to get. (lets see where some prices go with these new tariffs because almost all parts for arcades are foreign made).

Also, nowadays, its super easy to emulate hundreds of arcades on 1 arcade machine (i know, ive done this lol). So theres even less of a reason for arcade die-hards like me to even go spend money anywhere.

I went a little crazy buying Arcade1up's at one point, so even the games i really loved in arcades back in the day, i have a replica arcade here to help with my nostalgia, so i dont really need arcades to be anywhere else.

 

[February's Ghost]

I think home consoles, specifically starting with the NES, killed the original incarnation of a video game arcade. Arcades made a comeback when tied in with another business, such a Dave & Busters and Chuck E Cheese who also serve food.

We have several facilities with lots of arcade games, but they have much more including food, go carts, putt putt, bowling, axe throwing, batting cages, lazer tag and one even has a rope course for climbing over the arcade itself. So arcades aren't dead, they're just different.

I am not sure of just an arcade (games only) can survive outside of big cities and college towns. There is only one place in my town that has just games, and it's mostly pinball with a few classic arcade games. I think about 18 machines in all and it's a five minute walk from the main campus.

 

[Johnway]

i would say that the improvement in technology had certainly played a bigger part in the arcades downfall. One of the biggest advantages was the arcades offered the best games because none of the home tech could match it, but once home consoles could match and surpass it, the game was quite literally up.

But the costs and the amount of money needed to play them certainly contributed a significant amount to its downfall. They take a lot of power and the base cost is high. its unlikely that you'll make your money back quickly and with prices at £1+ a play kills it off entirely. Seaside arcades are different arcades games like penny pushers or ones that spit out tokens.

 

[ZedClampet]

I think home consoles, specifically starting with the NES, killed the original incarnation of a video game arcade. Arcades made a comeback when tied in with another business, such a Dave & Busters and Chuck E Cheese who also serve food.

We have several facilities with lots of arcade games, but they have much more including food, go carts, putt putt, bowling, axe throwing, batting cages, lazer tag and one even has a rope course for climbing over the arcade itself. So arcades aren't dead, they're just different.

I am not sure of just an arcade (games only) can survive outside of big cities and college towns. There is only one place in my town that has just games, and it's mostly pinball with a few classic arcade games. I think about 18 machines in all and it's a five minute walk from the main campus.

We have two of those sort of all-in-one facilities with go carts and such. I forgot about them. I'm not sure about on campus. I haven't been over there in years. There used to be one there where I played a lot of pinball. I think by that time I'd stopped playing regular arcade games for some reason. I need to get a full-size box that you can load up different machines on.

 

[ZedClampet]

What was your favorite arcade game?

Mine would have been Tempest. I used to put a lot of money in those, and me and a friend always had the high score in the Sears arcade (there was another, bigger arcade in that mall, but the Sears arcade had more games that we liked).

I just checked Steam and it doesn't look like there are any Tempest games

 

[DXCHASE]

What was your favorite arcade game?

Mine would have been Tempest. I used to put a lot of money in those, and me and a friend always had the high score in the Sears arcade (there was another, bigger arcade in that mall, but the Sears arcade had more games that we liked).

I just checked Steam and it doesn't look like there are any Tempest games

Mine was Mortal Kombat 2 because of how brutal it was and that you can do fatalities and i liked showing off my skills at the arcade. Now they are releasing fortnite mortal kombat skins.

 

[ZedClampet]

Mine was Mortal Kombat 2 because of how brutal it was and that you can do fatalities and i liked showing off my skills at the arcade. Now they are releasing fortnite mortal kombat skins.

I honestly am not sure if I've played a fighting game since I was in an arcade in the 80s. I heard some years ago about one that was easier to pick up and had, I guess, simpler combos, but I never tried it out. It's not really a matter of me not liking the games, but of my strange dislike of controllers. It's only been the last year that I could find the X-Y and A-B buttons without looking at the controller

 

[Johnway]

quite a couple

What was your favorite arcade game?

Mine would have been Tempest. I used to put a lot of money in those, and me and a friend always had the high score in the Sears arcade (there was another, bigger arcade in that mall, but the Sears arcade had more games that we liked).

I just checked Steam and it doesn't look like there are any Tempest games

Quite a couple, but the most memorable was Xmen arcade, Alien vs predator and Time crisis.

But There are absolutely loads. Like the T2 arcade machine, silent scope, commando, final fight among many, many more.

 

[February's Ghost]

What was your favorite arcade game?

My favorite was Dragon's Lair, but a lot of people wouldn't count that as a game.

So after that it would be Ms. Pac-Man.

Other notables I dropped a lot of quarters in would be...well, too many to list. I came up with over a dozen just off the top of my head.

 

[February's Ghost]

I just checked Steam and it doesn't look like there are any Tempest games

Tempest 4000. Cheap, but mixed reviews.

 

[BeardyHat]

My favorites were always Cruisin' USA and Area 51

Couldn't give you an intelligent answer as to why they fell out of fashion. Too expensive, I suppose and by the 90's, we were essentially having arcade like experiences in our homes. Plus nothing like 90's PC gaming ever existed in the arcade; you could never expect an experience like Quake out of a standing cabinet with a joystick and ever moreso when you throw in multiplayer.

By '96, my friend and I were online all the time, blowing the hell out of each other in Quake, Half-Life and Counter-Strike. Later, MMO's hit the scene and there was no reason to leave the house anymore.

 

[Pifanjr]

I think I've only been to one arcade once and it was nothing more than a fun curiosity. Nothing I could see myself coming back for.

 

[ZedClampet]

I think I've only been to one arcade once and it was nothing more than a fun curiosity. Nothing I could see myself coming back for.

If your only gaming system was an Atari, I think you'd be more impressed.

 

[ZedClampet]

Tempest 4000. Cheap, but mixed reviews.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have support for spinner controllers, and I would just get frustrated. I would almost consider it if it had mouse support. At least I could move the mouse as fast as I wanted, but it doesn't have mouse support either, so you are left with slowly moving left and right with either keys or a gamepad stick, and I would probably play it once, get frustrated and never play it again. The speed of the game on later levels was one of the things that I loved about it.

 

[February's Ghost]

Unfortunately, it doesn't have support for spinner controllers, and I would just get frustrated. I would almost consider it if it had mouse support. At least I could move the mouse as fast as I wanted, but it doesn't have mouse support either, so you are left with slowly moving left and right with either keys or a gamepad stick, and I would probably play it once, get frustrated and never play it again. The speed of the game on later levels was one of the things that I loved about it.

I never claimed it was good, just that it exists.

 

[ZedClampet]

I never claimed it was good, just that it exists.

I never claimed you said it was good, just that it was bad.

Shame, though. Would have taken so little extra work to make it good.

 

[Colif]

Some people blame consoles for the downfall, but consoles were around before the first arcade opened.

so computer space was made in 1971 but weren't there any arcades there full of pinball machines?

Coin-Op Century: A Brief History of the American Arcade - The Strong National Museum of Play

For those of us who grew up during the so-called “golden age” of arcade games (late 1970s through the middle 1980s), the word “arcade” conjures up images of carpeted walls, smoke-filled rooms, black lights, and row after row of brightly colored video game cabinets. For some, the thought of these...

www.museumofplay.org

The first console was 1973 so its about 40 years late.

Why they went away mostly:

I think it was the fact you could buy a cartridge for a console and play it as much as you like without paying money per play. Much easier to stay at home and play than to hope the arcade you going to has the machine you want to play, its working, and that another kid doesn't have a stack of coins on it, or is a champion at it and you be waiting hours to play. (the good old days before we returned to paid dlc, microtransactions and essentially renting games - damn it)

Now as for fav video game... um, probably spent most time playing Galaxian... we could clock Gyruss and Galaga (by glitching it). Bank Panic was fun but hardly graphically amazing