(Topic ID: 203736)

Are you paying $1.00 a game to play pinball in your area?

By dcannan

6 years ago

Topic Stats

184 posts
107 Pinsiders participating
Latest reply 5 years ago by fish1975tx
Topic is favorited by 6 Pinsiders

You

You are not signed in!

Find in topic

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

Topic poll

Sort: Original A-Z Score

“will you pay $1.00 to play one game of pinball”

yes it's worth it 74 votes

54%
yes. but I'll play less 39 votes

28%
wish i could but can't afford it 1 vote

1%
no 23 votes

17%

(Multiple choice - 137 votes by 134 Pinsiders)

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

FC72FAD1-4DB1-49AF-AB5C-BB8020634B9D (resized).png

6697F2B9-B335-4B6E-8359-259A5D504534 (resized).jpeg

SternRepReferralScreenshot (resized).jpg

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider BrianBannon.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Quoted from Xerico:
We are very lucky in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area.
Versus Gameplay (Stern Army location) in Plano, TX has a $10 entry ($20 day pass) and all games are on free play. Right now, seven pinball machines are available. Stern Aerosmith Pro, Stern Meteor, Stern Star Wars Pro, Bally Four Million BC, Bally Paragon, Bally Shadow and Gottlieb Atlantis. Stern Guardians of Galaxy Pro and Bally Future Spa are expected in December.
Nickelrama Arcade (Stern Army Location) in Garland TX has a $3.00 entry fee and $0.20 (twenty cents) per game. They have all of the latest machines, including JJP Dialed In, Hobbit, and WOZ as well as Stern Star Wars, Aerosmith, Batman 66, Ghostbusters, Game Of Thrones, Kiss, Metallica, Walking Dead, Spider-Man VE, Mustang and Star Trek. Guardians Of The Galaxy Pro will be joining the collection in December.
Cidercade in Dallas, TX has a $10.00 entry and all games are on free play. They have LE/premium versions of many of the latest Sterns and JJP games. They also have some 90s DMD games. 26+ Pins in all I believe.
Freeplay Richardson and Arlington has a $10.00 entry all games are on free play. I am not sure of the lineup, but there are at least 6-10 pinball machines at each location I believe.
Cinemark 17 in Dallas, TX has machines on token play. Believe it is 2 tokens per game.
We are definitely blessed in the DFW Area.
Marcus

On the face of it, having barcades and other venues bundling their pinball prices into a door fee or drinks seems advantageous for the player. Yet, these sorts of venues placing games on free play or at nominal prices drives other operators away from pinball. So you might have more destination locations in a metro area, but fewer overall locations of traditionally priced games scattered all over the map. Most operators aren't going to be too keen on placing a $1 pinball machine within an easy drive of these free or cheap play venues.

Quoted from Frax:
Nobody in Dallas gives a crap...and why would we?

I was trying to point out that you might have more pinball in more locations, throughout your metro area, if these barcades weren't charging rock bottom prices for pinball. As it is, it sounds like these locations are terrific places to play, so by all means enjoy the party.

Quoted from Xerico:
I understand your point. But the operators were not putting games out before these places opened their doors. DFW was a strong collector area, but the machines on route were few and far between. And nobody, outside of the Movie Theaters and Nickelrama, were putting games on location once the well known arcades started to fade.
Personally, I enjoy supporting these businesses that decided to invest so much time and money into creating a great pinball experience. And if that means that some other operators will not try to compete with them by placing traditionally priced games throughout the DFW Area, then I'm ok with with that trade off.
My 0.02.
Marcus

Interesting, so traditional operators were turning a blind eye to location pinball and barcades pounced upon the opportunity. Also, I would agree it is better to have only a handful of great venues than spotty coverage or no location coverage.

I just checked pinballmap and I was surprised to see that the DFW metroplex had so few games on location as a proportion to the population, even with the barcades. It sounds like if those barcades were NOT doing so well, that pinball on location would be a real problem in DFW. This seems odd to me because as you said, and I agree, the collector market is very strong with one of the best annual pinball shows in the country. Makes me wonder why operators did not place games? Some regulation/law creating a disadvantage? Distribution not championing location pinball?

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider BrianBannon.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!

Help – Contact – About Pinside – Support Pinside – Top