Thinking about my own arcade.

[Destrukticor]

Hi all

Not really sure where to post this but here seems as good a place as any...

Tired of the fact there are no good arcades near me (nottingham)
Tired of the ones i have been to Namco etc having broken parts and rubbish screens.
Rather than bitch and moan on a forum about it i am thinking about DOING something about it.
Opening an arcade in the center of Nottingham.

This is going to be a proper arcade..

Not overpriced
Has Shmups
Has beat em ups
Has Competitions
Has a nice atmosphere
Might have a shop selling stuff.

As of right now its been an idea but with a business plan and some luck this will be happening reasonably soon.

Any ideas thoughts support greatly appriciated (specially on the games front )

what would YOU like to see in it, as i hope many of you in the midlands will be patrons at some point....

whose with me???.......

[007]

You'll need some to appeal to the masses aswell, not just the hardcore gaming people. That means you will need some 'normal' cabinets too.

Going to be very expensive to start up, don't you think? Cabinets are damn expensive.

Think it's a cracking idea mind.

[Wil]

I think that's a great idea. Just make sure you've also got your business head on. I've just started up a little business dealing with stuff I love and it's easy to get carried away without really thinking about the money side.

It's going to be a lot of hard work.

Good luck.

Wil

[proactiveenigma]

drugs dont count wil

[FreelancePolice]

top idea, don't go at alone i'm sure people on here would be willing to help with suppliers but maybe someone near you on here would be willing to share the load and help create teh r0x0r arcade ?

i'd be a patron

[007]

What if you had 4 Xboxes and 4 Tvs setup in a special area, probably bolted inside a metal crate to stop anyone thieving them, for some 16 player action?

That'd be new, and kind of cool. You could rent it out and the likes.

[Destrukticor]

the expense thing is a little worry, but am looking into how much 20 or so candy cabs will be etc
by normal cabs i take it you mean dance dance and such like
was wondering whether the "hardcore" would be enough to support it as a business but these are all things that are generally asked within the business plan anyway.
and if anyone wants to start the venture with me your more than welcome....
profit is not at the top of my list.
creating the best arcade is...

[Pij]

If your under 30 theres the princess trust grant or something or other, where they will give you 3k or 6k cannot remember which as a helping start aslong as you have a good business plan.

Although i like your Idea i would think about having a few things in the building minature bowling alley, DDR games, cafe etc, to get normal punters in.

Im guessing you will need atleast 20k to get it started though

Arcade is somthing i intend to do at somepoint but im looking at buying a Pub/s with 3 other guys atm.

If/when we make cash off those ill be intending to do an Arcade.

[D J Kix]

Consider fruit machines too if you plan on getting your money back quickly..

[Yoshimoto]

I'd be more than happy to make the hour long M1 trip down to Nottingham to visit a good arcade on a regular basis, and as such would love to see it happen.

But...

I honestly think you'd be bankrupt within 6 months. You've only got to look around other arcades at the moment. Gangs of chavs sitting about, smoking and not much else. I know you'd be aiming at a completely different type of market, but do you really think that the 'hardcore' market is in anyway big enough to support your venture? You only have to read message boards like this one to see that most of the 'hardcore' crowd are not willing to spend more than a few quid at a time. No where near enough to make your idea worthwhile. The group of gamers that will be happy to spend a decent amount of money on arcade gaming these days is so small and widely spread out that i don't think you could even consider them.

Nice fantasy, but unfortunately i don't think it'd ever work in the real world.

[007]

Something like a Cafe would be good too.

If Nottingham wasn't so far away i'd love to venture into this with you.

There's so many different types of Cabs, you'd need a good mixture to attract everyone in. But at the same time, keeping the cost as low as possible.

[Madbury]

LoL,

Its a lovely idea and one I'm sure a lot of people on here have toyed with time and again. If you are serious and it sounds like you are then you will need to balance the games you have between traditional arcade entertainment and the more modern interactive cabs (ie. those which don't have a joystick and buttons).

I would say that location is absolutely key too. Find out where the local secondary schools and colleges are as these are prime target audience. I'd site somewhere near a town car park, train station or supermarket if possible. Although not necessarily on a high rent main high street.

I like the shop idea, i assume the shop will be selling game related stuff, which could be ace.

Turn on the lights so people can see

[Ravon]

If you need somebody to work in the arcade and kick punter's ass's .. im your man...

I like 007's idea of 16 play xb setup which you could hire out ..

im up for a venture as long as i dont need any cash... im always skint..

[Wil]

drugs dont count wil

I always just say no.

Wil

[Saurian]

Not overpriced
Very important - the reason why even huge arcades with millions thrown at it's operation failed miserably was due to prices. On opening where I was based all staff knew nobody in their right mind would pay ?2.5 a go for Daytona and ?1 a credit for VF for example - except the dicks in operations. Make sure you price each type of game correctly in regards to the way people play them - for example on lightgun games it takes more than one credit for the hook to take hold, idiots here make the mistake of making these games too expensive, people put 1 credit in, die and then give up (give them a little more and that hook takes hold and they HAVE To continue). Beat em ups should be 50p a credit to encourange VS challenges as that's were you are making your money - the idiots at Segaworld where I used to work could not understand the simple fact that people challenging frequently for 50p a credit makes more money than the occasional person sitting at the cab and playing single player a few rounds and not continuing as it's ?1 a time!


Has Shmups
Has beat em ups
That's all well and good but you NEED decent cabs and sticks first - dont go for the ****ty UK/US/EUR cabs with their awful sticks and buttons and ugly design. You really should look in VS City style cabs for all your JAMMA games, this is how they do it in Japan and it works perfectly. You can line these cabs up neatly and sectional, keeping shoot em ups, beat em ups and other VS battle games apart so everything is clear. The mistake operators make here is that there is no uniform look in the arcades, everything is squashed together anyway possible and it looks ridiculous. Beat em ups in VS style back to back and neat rows of shoot em ups looks a hell of a lot more impressive than oddly placed random cabs.

Has Competitions
VERY important to look after the social scene you create - dont make the mistake they make in London by making repeat customers feel like they're being watched like convicts. They dont encourage repeat visits or people chilling in the centres around here - and that stinks. Encourage score attacks and VS challenges and help any local players set up their own leagues - it brings people in who WANT to spend money.

Has a nice atmosphere
The stupidest ****ing thing they do in arcades in the UK is blare out background music over the games - WHY???? It's so unbelievably ****ing stupid, it kills the atmosphere, you have to raise your voice to be heard and you can immerse into what you are playing cos you got Britney ****ing Spears blasting out over you. DONT use ceiling music - it's awful, make sure the sound is set correctly on all your machines instead, that's what people are paying for; imagine going to a cinema and having ****ing Steps blaring out over the film you're watching....it aint on.

Security:
If you dont have an obscene amount of machines it might be worth considering a token vending machine and having no cash used for credits. That way you have a machine you can heavily guard and not have to worry about individual cash boxes inside machines being broken into. Segaworld got rinsed just about every night - it's very easy to break into an arcade machine, the security was so bad there that teefs had time to sort tokens from cash and leave it neatly (while the place was open!). It's easy to configure your coin mechs for tokens only - you should consider it, people here are TEEF!