Question: Where have all the arcades gone?

[Angel of Death]

Originally Posted by Mega

Fruit/slot machines are a MUCH bigger revenue earner sadly.

Now, see, I don't necessarily agree with this. While your point is true, I don't think the arcade has to be dead. Dave & Busters has revitalized the arcade by providing a full out "fun zone" with bowling, laser tag, and other dying entertainment attempts, but with one trump card: alcohol.

I'm curious why this model isn't more popular.

[Cid]

I was pretty sad when they took the Marvel v.s Streetfighter out of the skating arena near my place... I dumped many a quarter in that machine.

[MrWizard]

There's still a decent arcade at the bowling alley near my house. The big one used to be at the mall, but a few years ago, they gave half the space to the restaurant next door and then eventually closed up altogether.

If you want some arcade action, the Jersey shore is the place to be. You can find an arcade every 50 feet. Alot of the games are ticket games these days, but you can still find pinball, skee ball and video games too.

Its a shame, but with the advent of consoles, nobody wants to go out and spend money somewhere else when they can play at home. Hopefully someone will revitalize the business and make it popular again.

[Angel of Death]

Originally Posted by MrWizard

the Jersey shore is the place to be.

Very true, I haven't been to the Jersey shore in years. I like to go down in the off season, it's like a ghost town, but that's neither here nor there, good tip on the boardwalks tho, thanks!

[Jimmy B]

I guess there's less market for them these days, the 'product' is now available and cheaper at home for most people.

Although there's still a few around, like Fail Whale says they're often dominated by fruit machines now.

I remember endless battles at uni with my best mate as we tried to shave tenths of seconds off each other's best times on Sega Rally. It was a lot of fun seeing times we were certain were practically unbeatable eventually get smashed to pieces. Some years afterwards, it was somewhat less fun to discover my mate drives in RL in much the same manner as the way he drove in Sega Rally

[Stinky]

We took the kids to Skegness the other week.... and spent half a day in the arcades

I was shocked that every game now needs £1 per play and most of them wanted £2 or more.... so we spent our pennies in the 2p shovemachines.... what a collection of fridge magnets i have amassed.



Stinky

[joser]

Just wondering if anyone's watched this full documentary.

[centech]

Haven't visited a real arcade (or seen one for that matter) for years.

There was one in Times Square that served alcoholo but it closed down.

I've actually started a little project building myself a MAME machine with a homebuilt arcade control panel. MAME is an arcade machine emulator for those not familiar, definitely worth checking out.

[Blake Seven]

The most famous one near me, isn't there anymore


They've just started dropping the piles for reconstruction works and plan to have the all singing and dancing replacement open for next summer.

[Raven]

I've spent many hours at the arcade throughout the years

Sadly, certain businesses just don't do as well as they use to..even here in San Francisco. Though, we do have the Sony Metreon which has an arcade..but the selection is slim yet they do have an 'old school' area with older games. The only other big places with decent arcades are large bowling alleys, Dave & Busters, or Gameworks here in the US.