I am advising a well-established owner of multiple sports bars about the best pin titles for a new barcade that he's opening. He's interested in a mix of late 80s titles and above--games that would look good and be decent earners in a college town (State College, PA, home to Penn State) that brings in a lot of students and alumni, especially on football weekends. Lots of alcohol flow. A local vendor would be buying and operating the games.

What would be, say, your top 5-10 titles? I'm not looking for analysis or debate--just title suggestions that I will pass on to the barcade owner. He's looking for upright video games too, so feel free to throw in some ideas for those as well.

Here are my top 20 ideas:

NFL (Steelers backglass)
NBA
WCS
SS
MB
AFM
RFM
Star Trek (Stern)
Wizard of Oz
LOTR
POTC
Pinbot
BoP
TWD
Getaway:HS2
SPP
Iron Man
NGG
TAF
Taxi

#2 7 years ago

ZAM

Pinballomatic

Jersey Jack Pinball

Kermit, WV

7y 74,150 2,183 37

Harley Davidson

#3 7 years ago

NRC

JLebowski

Pinside member

Holland, MI

7y 38,550 87 5

I would skip Wizard of Oz. Good game, but not a great bar theme.

Ghostbusters would be good for that crowd.
Simpsons Pinball Party
Family Guy
Star Trek TNG
Metallica
EBD or Breakshot
Nascar
Indy 500

#4 7 years ago

eh97ac

Pinside member

Toronto, ON

12y 47,800 896 3

Need to know the crowd. Is it more of a college crowd or alum, if alum you need to know average age. I say this since the older crowd would be into SS games.

#5 7 years ago

MAT

snyper2099

Cincinnati Pinball

16y 103K 7,645

Metallica Pro and Star Trek Pro are both VERY good earners, from my experience. Also, to my surprise, Big Buck Hunters is a very good earner. Game of Thrones and TWD are both very good as well.

#6 7 years ago

WOW

GotAQuestion

Inactive member

7y 47,800 641

Top 5-10 for earnings and drawing people in a bar environment I would say...

AC/DC
Game of Thrones
Medieval Madness
Metallica
Big Buck Hunter (Buck Hunter anything does well in a bar)
Iron Man
Walking Dead
Family Guy or Simpsons Pinball Party
LOTR or The Hobbit are supposedly doing very well despite long ball times. Someone is always always on them and you can charge higher, no wasted time.
Maybe something like IJ or TAF

Edit: For upright games, maybe consider a multi-cab like those made by Paradox Arcade Systems.

#7 7 years ago

GAB

pinnyheadhead

Pinside+ Frequent

Dunwoody, GA

11y 119K 5,040 8 40

South Park

#8 7 years ago

SRC

Mfsrc791

Inactive member

Norwood, MA

7y 77,550 1,400 1 17

Got would be popular with the crowd and is a very bright attractive playfield that will act like a mosquitto magnet to drunk college kids. ( yes this happened to me lol)

#9 7 years ago

mswhat

Pinside member

9y 53,400 313

Creature From the Black Lagoon
Guns n Roses

#10 7 years ago

CWG

Chrizg

dsmpinball

Des Moines, IA

12y 93,550 2,084 5

IM
GB
TAF
MM
MET
TWD

#11 7 years ago

TIM

Tuna_Delight

Pinside+ Frequent

14y 178K 7,263 1

PBR Can Crusher

#12 7 years ago

DAV

InfiniteLives

Pinside member

10y 125K 4,556 283

South Park and Jurassic Park kill on location. They aren't the greatest games but people play the shit outta em

#13 7 years ago

LSG

King_Jelly

Little Shop Of Games

9y 83,350 143 207 1

Quoted from InfiniteLives:
South Park and Jurassic Park kill on location. They aren't the greatest games but people play the shit outta em

I have a Jurassic Park on location at lowryparcade in Tampa that does great. Flashy game and who doesn't want to see a dinosaur eat a pinball???

#14 7 years ago

ASS

guyincognito

Inactive member

11y 61,800 1,353

Do you expect inebriated college sports fans to meander over to them and stick dollar bills in them or are they just background dressing?

#15 7 years ago

PWN

jahbarron

Pinside member

You Bet, CA

12y 69,050 1,464 8

Advisor seeks advice. Sounds like a well thought out business. Best of luck!

#16 7 years ago

PJK

Philk

Inactive member

Frackville, PA

10y 51,650 425

Met, AC/DC, TAF, Scared Stiff, Champion Pub, TWD

#17 7 years ago

DPW

PinSinner

Pinside member

7y 71,550 789 13

+ 1 for SouthPark. It's a great game for a bar. I'd also put a Funhouse in there for Nostalgia.

#18 7 years ago

N_W

Neal_W

Pinside member

9y 99,550 3,442

Eight Ball Deluxe gets my vote for the 80s pin I like on location.

#19 7 years ago

???

Circus_Animal

Inactive member

Unknown

9y 47,900 676 2 32

Quoted from King_Jelly:
I have a Jurassic Park on location at lowryparcade in Tampa that does great. Flashy game and who doesn't want to see a dinosaur eat a pinball???

I'd rather see it eat a lawyer.

#20 7 years ago

YOS

Yoski

Pinside member

Sebring, FL

9y 88,150 456 17 133

I would stick with titles that are easy to maintain.
In:
Iron man
AFM
Getaway
Acdc
EBD

.. and stay away from higher maintainance machines like MB, LOTR

#21 7 years ago

BUD

BudManPinFan

Pinside member

7y 71,050 1,335 3

One point to consider is how much you'll be charging per game on the machines. You might want to stay away from expensive machines like WOZ in a sports bar where you have to charge $1.00 per game (at least everywhere I've seen it that's what it's been set to) and go for cheaper games where you can charge $.50 per game.

Edit: So I saw that this is actually for a barcade and not a sports bar, but I've seen a lot of people balk at the $1.00 per game price at the barcade and go play something else.

Post last edited 7 years ago: “Can't read”

#22 7 years ago

JAM

TxJay

Pinside+ Frequent

Allen, TX

9y 61,300 926 10

Quoted from JLebowski:
I would skip Wizard of Oz. Good game, but not a great bar theme.

This would be incorrect. WOZ is one of the best money makers out there. I have seen it at several college barcades and it is a great earner. You don't personally have to like the title yourself. It's not about that. It is about earning potential.

#23 7 years ago

BRH

Brian541

The Gameworks

Klamath Falls, OR

8y 49,400 204 10

Metallica pro
Southpark
Party zone
Harley davidson 2nd edition
Playboy
Spiderman vault
Are the highest earning pins I've personally ran in my bar locations,If I had to pick one it would be my met pro!Waiting for my Rob zombie and suspect it will do well in the same environs.I don't have an acdc but would consider it also.Just my 2 cents,Flip on!

#24 7 years ago

JOE

JOESCHALL

Pinside+ Frequent

State College, PA

12y 76,650 1,368 12

Just to wrap up this thread and thank you all for your great suggestions, below is the top 20 wish list I have passed on to the barcade owner. This list takes into account some of the owner's personal choices as well, and accommodates the fact that certain titles could already be available for sale locally. Also, just to clarify, this will be a two-floor set-up also attached to a sports bar and restaurant, with a bar on both floors and including pool tables, video games, jukebox, etc. It will attract college students and their visiting alumni parents, in an already well-established "sports bar" town. I used "barcade" for this thread loosely--I'm sure others would define "barcade" differently.

Your input really did help me decide on some titles I hadn't already considered, so thanks for that. Here is the list:

Pinbot
Taxi
The Machine: Bride of Pinbot
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Party Zone
Fish Tales
The Addams Family
Getaway: High Speed II
Jurassic Park
Attack from Mars
Scared Stiff
South Park
Revenge from Mars
Lord of the Rings
NBA
Bick Buck Hunter
X-Men
Metallica
Wizard of Oz, Emerald City Limited Edition
Medieval Madness

They hope to route 10 titles at a time. We'll see how this all works out. If it works out well, I'll be playing there for sure.

#25 7 years ago

WFC

Billc479

Pinside+ Frequent

Pleasant Plains, IL

9y 79,800 3,138 15

See if you can add an Ice Cold Beer - it's addicting, and once someone starts playing, it becomes a crowd pleaser.

1 month later

#26 7 years ago

TLP

SinistarX

Inactive member

7y 27,650 28 3

I missed this post last month. All I'm going to say is that if they put in a Metallica Pro, they better turn the volume up on it. After playing it nearly silently at Chronic Town locally, I was amazed at how much more fun it was with the sound turned up when I played it at Pinhead Amusements.

I live in the same town as Joe, so whatever he convinces the barcade to buy, I get to play.

3 weeks later

#27 7 years ago

JOE

JOESCHALL

Pinside+ Frequent

State College, PA

12y 76,650 1,368 12

Here are the titles that ended up at the barcade:

Eight Ball
Scared Stiff
Lethal Weapon 3
Rescue 911
Medieval Madness (remake)
Getaway, High Speed II
Hook
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Royal Rumble
Harley Davidson
South Park
Revenge from Mars

. . . and more to come . . .

pins (resized).jpg

#28 7 years ago

DOG

Whysnow

Pinside member

12y 187K 35,339 30 1

fun line up!

#29 7 years ago

JOE

JOESCHALL

Pinside+ Frequent

State College, PA

12y 76,650 1,368 12

And so far, the students really gravitate to South Park, Royal Rumble, and Rescue 911.

Still coming: Fish Tales, Addams Family, Stargate, AC/DC, and Theatre of Magic.

Also a dozen vids and eight pool tables.

#30 7 years ago

SRC

Mfsrc791

Inactive member

Norwood, MA

7y 77,550 1,400 1 17

OP
Quoted from JOESCHALL:
And so far, the students really gravitate to South Park, Royal Rumble, and Rescue 911.
Still coming: Fish Tales, Addams Family, Stargate, AC/DC, and Theatre of Magic.
Also a dozen vids and eight pool tables.

Dam i wish you were closer. Sounds fun! Roxys arc4de opened up in boston recently so thats my next destination. Good luck!

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