If you need to make money: then you need to run a successful bar with some pinball machines in the corner.

If you have cheap rent, no loans, and can afford to break even or lose a little: then you can go for it.

If you buy the building, and don't already have tenants in place: this is a very stressful time for that.

If your main goal is to spread pinball to the masses: operate pins at an existing location. See how well it goes. See how much you like it.

I'm embarrassed I didn't suggest this earlier.

I Airbnb'd out a 200 square foot converted garage in my backyard, with access to your own private pinball arcade: my basement. There were 8-10 machines there at the time. For several years, I was the top Google result for "Airbnb arcade". Occupancy was around 85-90%, but I do live in a destination town with lots of year round visitors. I'd say 1/3 to 1/2 of the bookings we got were *specifically* because of the arcade.

The only reason that I stopped doing it was because given the zoning of my neighborhood, we weren't allowed to have someone sleeping in a detached structure. We didn't know that at the time, and the city didn't realize it either when they had granted us a short term rental license.

Short term rentals are easy money if you own a property in a location that allows them (all states, counties, cities have their own rules, and sometimes they aren't allowed at all, or they may grant a certain number of licenses, or it may be a free for all...and everywhere in between). People want unique experiences and cool spaces - you shouldn't make them a lowest common denominator style/design like mid/low range hotels need to be. If you put the pins in a separate room, you'll still get bookings from normal people who don't care about the arcade aspect.

People will say "yeah, but this is a bad time because COVID"...well, my other short term rental was shut down for 2.5 months this spring, and all bookings were canceled for the rest of the year. When we were allowed to open up again, it was very quickly re-booked and we are back to within 4% of last year's occupancy, with availability remaining in Nov/Dec. (This place doesn't have anything arcade related). People are desperate to get out of their houses right now.

If you want more detailed info, please send me a PM. A short term rental is a much better idea than an arcade - it's very likely you'll make more per day than you will with an arcade, and if you have a reliable cleaner, it's virtually no work. (Though you do need to own property to do it...which is a large investment...although the down payment could be cheaper than 40 nice pinball machines).