mojilove

dictionary jockey

JA→EN translator. Overeducated and unlearned. Writing systems / shmups / nanoloop / lumines / puns / nonsense / memories / banality

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日英翻訳者 / ユダヤ人 / 文学バカせ / 文字マニア / 小並感の塊 / 人間(堕落者)

身体の104%が文字と文字愛でできおり、残りの29%は肉体。STG・PZLとFM音源も好き。

日本語垢: @mojilove-j


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Ryyudo
@Ryyudo

Other Stages

I'm sure many folks who've gone to the family-friendly arcades in the past 10 years have noticed there's a heavy shift away from video arcade games.

There's now a huge emphasis on big, flashy, physical games. Less challenge being presented by a monitor with imagination, but instead, something with a large wheel, targets, or touchscreens with a theme slapped onto it.

A high-angle shot of a Round One Arcade. Nearly all the games seen from the image are ticket or redemption games The, now closed, Round 1 arcade in Taunton, MA

There're a few major reasons. I'd personally say the biggest (in the West) is the shift to home consoles leading to more time- and space-shifting* options being embraced.

  • time/space-shifting is consuming media outside a scheduled time/place. Think of the rise of VCR recording or on-demand streaming for time-shifting, and mobile phones or handheld consoles for space-shifting

I wanted to present some of the other (and honestly very logical) reasons why the remaining arcades have changed in the U.S..

A high-angle shot of an older arcade. It shows many video arcade games, such as Missle Command and Galaga, and pinball machines lined up in rows. An old-school arcade, by comparison, has a lot more video and pinball machines.

But instead of jumping straight in, let me address: why listen to me?

I used to be an arcade tech (2007-2008)

I was an arcade tech for Namco back in 2007 and 2008. Namco rented locations within high foot-traffic spaces to open up arcades, such as malls or Walmarts. My location was within a, now, defunct sports and gambling entertainment center called Red & Jerry's. It was housed inside a large warehouse building that offered ample room for events, including Namco's whole arcade. The subsection claimed by the arcade was bigger than most arcades you'd see in the 90s and 00s when corporations like SEGA and Namco were trying to claim U.S. shares.

The story of how I got into being the arcade tech is one for a different time, but I was effectively left to manage the place by myself. So I have solid, but dated, insight into how the arcade ran from an earnings and repairs angle.

While my memory will be fuzzy in some respects, I hope sharing my experience provides further insight for y'all.

Now you know how I was in the arcade business, let's talk about the arcade.

Biggest earners

We kept records on what machines were earning to best understand priorities. Arcade machines were placed into four categories:

  • Video: Video games and pinball games with no extrinsic reward (except a hi-score.)
  • Redemption: Anything that gave you tickets to go to the prize counter to redeem a prize.
  • Large Prize: Big-win games with prizes won costing over ~$100 to stock. Think of games that show off video game consoles as a prize like (Mega) Stacker, or Prize Locker.
  • Small Prize: Games with prizes valued at sub-$100, and generally will be WELL below it. Think plush and candy prizes, etc.

You may not be surprised to hear that Large Prize games are significantly the biggest earners. After that, it's the Redemption and Small Prize games, then Video.

The % of earnings was along the lines of:

  • Prizes (Large + Small combined): 60% (IIRC around 35% Large, 25% Small)
  • Redemption: 30%
  • Video: 10%

Mega Stacker arcade game with multiple flashing lights on it. There's a PS4 and Nespresso machine available to win within its visible prize doors. Stacker machines makes gangbusters thanks to their huge prize potential.

It's not a surprise that arcades hyper-focus on Prize and Redemption games in modern arcades. Still, some may be surprised to learn that video games only earned ~10% of our arcade's earnings.

When arcade experiences were unique in the 80s and 90s, the newest game had to be played there. Now that consoles have reached parity and beyond in most cases, arcades can only offer a few unique experiences, especially in the video game realm.

There's a few reasons why video arcade games themselves are worse for earnings. I feel the best way to cover all those reasons is by bringing in a unique-experience game that was also our consistent biggest loss... despite its popularity!

Next Stage: Dance Dance Revolution - The Peak and Valley of the Video Arcade.

A from-behind shot of two people playing Dance Dance Revolution Extreme


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in reply to @Ryyudo's post:

Feels unfair that the things I really loved about arcades as a kid (pinball machines and Neo Geo cabinets) have fallen by the wayside just as the technology to make them cheap and easy to maintain has become universal. Having hung around a repairman's shop a bit the difference between what's going on under the hood of an old-timey vintage Bally and something made since the 2000s is really something to behold.

Ohhh you're so lucky. I'd love to see the insides of something much older, and something much more current as well.

Fortunately, pinball seems to be in fairly popular form, though mostly older machines. Most barcades are just lined with them, and I know ones here host state and regional leagues. But yeah, the NeoGeos with the grab bag of ideas for video games will never be replicated in the same way. 😔 When we finally have the money and autonomy to enjoy, everything to enjoy has shifted.

i saw part 2 so i had to look for part 1, and i was like "how did i never know about this?"

it's probably more likely i forgot, but either way it's kind of messing with my head that this all happened before i met you

Yeah, tbf I didn't exactly have a lot of friends at the time. 😅 Most my high school friends were at college and DDR was slowing down a little for me.

But i don't think you forgot. I never really talked about it because it wasn't a great moment in my life with mental health, but also I just didn't think it was something too special. Especially at a time I felt it necessary to hide my nerdy tendencies.

Now I'm looking back like "oh shit, I learned a lot and it was cool." 🤣