Other Stages
- Stage 1: Arcades Today - Earnings & Introduction
- Stage 2: Dance Dance Revolution - The Peak and Valley of the Arcade.
- (You Are Here) Stage 3: Big Prize Games, Big Money Gains. I Love It!
Video arcade games aren't hit earners anymore. How do arcades today stay alive?
Most arcades now offer services around the arcade such as snacks or food, alcohol, karaoke, bowling, or entire game stores, offering unique experiences to drive foot traffic.
That said, any place that relies on the arcade to carry its own weight needs to include games that are high-earners—providing significantly higher returns than what's invested.
And honestly? Arcades effectively becoming a gambling din for youngins is not off the bingo card for these companies.
Today, we talk about Redemption and Prize games' Earnings & Upkeep and Inner Workings.
My Round 1 location had a Space Invaders Frenzy that was misconfigured and unpatched, and it bled tickets. Players who got good enough (about intermediate level by STG Guy standards) could win close to 100% of the time, and the ticket value of winning was greater than the cash value of a credit. You could cash out in the prize room with PSN or Xbox or Itunes gift cards.
The only rate limiter was that after a win, the game would display an unskippable and intentionally long "YOU WIN!" fanfare animation that ran longer than the actual game took to play. This made you the You Win Guy for every passer-by and their kid.
I'd show up at low-traffic times and grind out games for half an hour at a time, go take a break, come back, grind some more. I didn't want to draw attention as "the guy parked on the machine", even as my ticket balance told the story. Nor did I want to completely crash the ticket economy of my R1: I knew that if a lot of players went too hard too fast, even this place would fix the game.
On that note, you didn't wanna show up after 5, because there was a whole crew of guys who weren't worried about drawing attention at all and took turns mercilessly milking the game all night. Those were probably the dudes who really cashed out.
I expected to profit for three weeks: instead it was more like four months. It took much longer than it should have for the R1 to patch the machine-- it was something patched out years before, this location just didn't update anything-- but they eventually did and the party ended.
Not coincidentally-- and this is my warning to you, dear reader-- that Round 1 immediately stopped getting good prizes, and the prize room there sucks ass to this day.
Anyways, it wasn't exactly big bucks; I cashed out into PSN cards, sold one or two, and paid for my PS4 games for the rest of the year. I also scored a standard Hori PS4 stick. But it wasn't really about making a huge profit; it was about seeing if it worked, you know? Sheer curiosity and a lack of anything better to do.
