Quoted from Humph:Agreed on the $10/hr figure - I would never pay this either.
In the Pacific Northwest, the only time I've paid on a per hour basis was $5/hr at a barcade in Bend, OR that served beer and had 10 or so SS & DMD pins as well as many arcade games. The recent Tacoma, WA pin show charged $25 (11.5 hrs) & $30 (13.5 hrs) of 400+ pin/arcade play for the first two days (that's about $2.25/hr).
Examples of no admission/pay per game with lots of pinball choices are the PHOF in Vegas with 400+ pin/arcade games (0.50-$1 per play, I believe), Blair Alley in Eugene, OR, some 30 pins of all eras & also arcade games (0.25-$1 per play), and Level Up (also in Eugene) with some 25 DMDs all at 0.50/play plus arcade games.
A little more math --
Many newer DMD titles I've seen are $1/play or $2/3 plays -- at these rates, for $10 you can buy 10-15 plays.
Can you squeeze in 10-15 plays in an hour ? (that's one game every 4-6 minutes).
Unless you drain every ball quickly and don't learn from any mistakes, I find this hard to do and thus not worth anywhere near a $10/hour fee.
EM & SS titles are generally 0.25-0.50/per play, so you'd have to squeeze in 20-40 games in 1 hour to equal a $10/hr admission fee - impossible (well, for most).
Hell, I wouldn't even have time to drink a beer and most barcades do serve beer.
Granted, some large pinball museums charge admission fees so one can experience an expectedly huge variety of games, but a small private arcade w/ only EMs (& probably no beer served) at $10/hr -- no way, much better choices out there.
Timeline Arcade York/Hanover: $10/hr, $25/day
Pinball Gallery in Malvern $8/hr, $20/day
Morristown Game Vault: $10/hr $25/5 hours.
This is his competition...the model works here on the east coast. But I doubt he will have many returning pinball customers if all he has are beat EM's.