one flat price = unlimited play for hr or all day

I agree...flat price for free game play ...maybe $10-$20 a night...maybe consider monthly memberships?

I have seen all types of "models" work for something like this but the one that seems to make the most sense to me is $15 entrance fee good for all day. Maybe a wrist band (or what ever). I think once you get over $15 you will limit the number of people coming through the door greatly but under $15 you likely will not make enough to cover your overhead.

Three other things I have seen work well from people I have talked to about this are: Party Nights - rent the space for private parties nights you do not want to be open for the general public. League Nights - get a local league started. Machines for sale (at slightly higher prices) - not that you want to or will sell a lot of machines but that helps keep things fresh and gives you another revenue stream beyond just admission. (Not all machines for sale - just a few here & their).

Hourly just seems like too much of a PITA and most people will not end up staying over a couple hours anyway so I think all day for a price just makes more sense all around.

Chuck over at www.cppinball.com has a pretty good system in place.

One last thing is people tend to draw people so a slightly lower entrance fee with several people hanging around playing machines or talking pinball will tend to make people passing by curious and might draw them in. Kind of like a busy parking lot at a diner!

$10- $15 all day unlimited play. All machines on free play is easy on you. No coins or tokens to worry about. There is a small local arcade nearby called Uptown Pinball in Martinsville VA that charges $12 for all day free play with a wriatband. They have about 25pins and additional driving games/ arcades. Seems to work well. I like the ability to play ever pin in the shop for one price

I would have grand opening prices - Maybe some people will think 15-20$ is a lot to pay since they are used to playing a few games. Once they get into the variety of games they will be back. Maybe you can have guest lectures on strategy or history of pinball.

I love places that just charge a flat fee. I'll usually just pay the longest rate (all day). That grants me the freedom to go grab some dinner or something and not think about it.

If the games stink, I won't come back. If they are good, I'll make the trip once in a while.

last post got me to thinking, as I think they nailed it. Pricing is almost an insignificant issue for me. Obviously, I am not going to pay 30 or 50 a day, but I would not think twice about paying 5-10-15 or whatever and happily repeat, if the games play well- that's to get another addict in the door- if it's a cool environment and a fun experience I am going to tell all my family and friends and your business opens up a bit. If it's a bunch of games on concrete in a dark room, I will tell the two or three other people I know that love pinball and that's about it.

The point for me- If they don't play well I will not come back even if you pay me. I think success hinges on good quality working games in a cool environment- price is secondary- and this is probably doubly true for the general public- pretty games playing well ina fun environment are fun for anyone, fun is worth a lot of money. Start there- and if you have enough population and a decent location I think you will be OK!

Spend some time to make the location cool- good museums are not really so much about what's in them (duh. That's important) as much as the environment and how that impacts the display and the experience of being there. Make every effort to make it a cool spot, lighting, art, decorations, music, whatever. To me your calling it a museum means your not opening an arcade and hoping to make money on quarters from the local addicts, your targeting everyone so it's more than just a bunch of games in a room. Sounds cool and good luck!

Up in a shore point town around here, there's an arcade called Yestercades. They price on an hourly basis at a rate of $8.75 per hour, with a minimum of one hour. After the first hour time is broken down into 15 minute intervals and rounded down.

For example: If you spend an hour and 41 minutes you will only be charged for an hour and a half.

All day costs $25.

They have late hours, closing at 2am on fridays and saturdays, they allow BYOB after 9 pm or later, with no one under 21 allowed on certain weekends. It draws an incredible crowd. Always packed.

Good luck!

Keep it simple - flat fee for sure. If you want to tier it, base it on time of day or something simple. For example the last 2 or 3 hours is only $10 vs $15 for all day.

Keep it 'inexpensive' - Anyone here would pay you $25 to play all day. You aren't going to survive on Pinsiders or Pin heads alone. You need to attract walk ins or party people too.

Start low - as a corollary to the above point, start lower than your target price and raise it after you see some trends. If you start high, you will chase people away and never get them back. You want to optimize your pricing and starting low and adjusting upwards is the way to get there.

Create demand - weekly league nights and regular tournaments are a must.

Swag - go to a local T shirt place and get some t-shirts made up. Visiting pinheads love pinball shirts, and they make great advertising.

I'm actually going to go against the popular vote here and say not having games on Free Play. Anytime I go to those places or go to shows, if I want to play a game, I have to spend time draining the balls of abandoned games before I can play my own game. That is less likely to happen if someone dropped quarters in.

That's a good point actually. Even in my basement with 6 games this is a problem while having a party with people that don't know pinball well. I can't even count the number of times a single person has started a 4 player game and walked after a couple of balls.

I personally feel the games should be on free play but it is a legitimate problem that should be addressed. Obviously on newer titles you can set them to auto launch but older titles not so much.

Sell booze

Maybe a 4 to 5 minute video before you can enter that tells people how to play and pinball etiquette. Just like a safety video you have to watch before touring a factory. I'm only half kidding.

If you sell/allow drinks have cup holders and make people aware what the cup holders are for. Many people are so dumb that they can't figure out on their own that a drink set on the angled glass will tip over and spill into the machine.

Coin drop creates too many issues for the owner of a hobby business.

The biggest being state taxes and licensing. Not sure what it's like in VA, but GA stinks. Then you have to provide change, have jams and complaints, etc.

Just put the DMDs on fast start and you can always get out of a game. EMS and early SS will always start over too. Videos before going in? He's trying to attract people not scare them away.

I don't know your tax situation there, but here in Illinois, if it's coin operated, you need to buy $75 license (Last time I looked) for each machine. If set on free play, no license required. Some cities also have a coin operated device tax.

I can say 100% that flat fee is a broken model unless you are only trying to target to casuals that will come 1 or 2x per year.

Coins are of course a PITA but once you get your coin mechs working well it is not too bad and reality is that the $15 flat fee model will scare off lots of your regulars. There is a local place that many folks used to drop in for lunch or just an hour after work and the flat fee just does not work for that. Reality is that most players will only spend about $5-7 in an hour of play so the flat fee model only works for them if they are going to spend 2 plus hours at our place.

The other thing that happens with flat fee is that people tend to not respect the games and it will be nearly impossible to maintain quality. Even just a quarter and things change.

I personally suggest some sort of hybrid model. $5-7 (maybe $5 on weekdays and $7 on weekends) to get in the door and then all games on .25 is a better model IMHO. You could also put more desireable stuff or brand new games at .50 then. It is good to have percieved price levels and lets people moderate their play. It is amazing how just a small fee per game and people will treat them better.

You could always add a monthly membership option as well.

This discussion is kind of pointless without talking about the location and demographics.

Assuming your pinside location is the same area you are talking about.. This isn't a tourist town with lots of walkups, it's not a metroplex, you may not even have much coin-op competition at all. Such debates needs to account for your area, your actual location, what kind of customers you aim to draw, etc.

I'd define your demographic you aim to draw, and then work from there.

I think even what type of street you are on will play into things some. But regardless of location it seems for the math to work $10 for all day wouldn't be enough and $20 will likely scare people away.

I still like the $15 for "all day" the best but maybe something like $8 or $10 for the last hour or two each night?

Also membership is a GREAT idea. If you could get enough monthly or annual members that might cover your rent alone. Maybe something like $50 a month or $300 a year would get you a good repeat business with recurring revenue stream. You could even do annual with monthly payment paid a month in advance is you want to deal with the bookkeeping on all of that. Doing things that way someone that wants to come often would basically only be paying what it would cost others to come in 3 to 4 times and be able to come all month. That is a great idea for the guy that wants to stop by an hour after work a couple days a week or something!

Bottom line is things have to be cheap enough to get as many people as possible in the door but at the same time high enough to be sure you are covering your expenses.

All I know is every time I take my kids to Dave & Busters, or Chuck E Cheese's, it costs a hell of a lot more than $15.

From a business stand point all-you-can-play seems like a loser. I realize pinball shows NEED to do it, because of all the machines coming in from different sources and no coin mechs, etc. but for an actual business I think pay-per-game works well and also removes the barrier of entry.

I really like how the Silverball Museum in Asbury Park, NJ was setup. 15.00 half a day or 25.00 all day. Great place too. . . right on the Boardwalk

Even at home I don't like my games on Free Play. It takes away the sense of achievement when you score a "free" game. And there are no consequences for draining a ball. Just the act of putting coins in makes the individual game more significant.

I'd opt for tokens personally. Have a ton in circulation so cleaning out tokens regularly will be less of a chore. Then people can just pay with whatever payment you want to get tokens and you have offer bonus deals for spending more.

I like basic token = 50c model. Then the games seem like a deal advertised at only one token.

Man, that sucks!

I would look at coin drop if there is not a huge licence fee, it works for Tim Arnold and he arguably has the most successful pinball operation in the world (please correct me if I'm wrong...I can't think of any others that are bigger and turn over $1m plus a year)

rd

Big difference on D&B/CEC spending costs and time. Many games at D&B are 4 to 8 credits. Many coin games at CEC take only seconds to play (not sure what they are charging now that they are on Tap Play/Card System). Very easy to drop a load of $$$ in a short period of time.

Unless you are charging a $1 a play on pinball and 3 ball play, it can be rather hard for a semi-decent pinball player to try to spend more than $5/$10 bucks an hour. And you are probably going to see more "Decent players" than beginners if all you offer is Pinball in your establishment.

And yes, Free Play can be really hard on games and also can mean others never get to play something they want to if its tied up by a game hog. However, the Free Play model can work well if you plan on Party sales as a big part of your income (which you should in this day and age). You Can't flip a whole arcade of games in and out of free play/coin play for each hour's rental.

It will be hard to pay the rent at 25 cents per play which many seem to think is still the proper cost per play on older machines. They think the games should be priced at what they remember paying back in the 70's, 80's or 90's. So I suggest you charge a premium if your games are in good condition and play well. Consider Token dispensers but not set to 4/$1. Consider 3/$1 or even 2/$1 to get 33 cents or 50 cents per play. Offer bonuses for higher purchases ($5/$10/$20). This way, you get that $15/$20 up front anyway like you would if charging for All you can Play and not alienate your regulars that want to only spend an hour or so a few days a week. Fewer coins per $1 also means handling fewer tokens in each machine. Buy cheap junk tokens off the internet and don't worry if people bring in their own for a while, they will eventually run out and they are increasing your Brass inventory that you would otherwise have to pay for. Tokens will walk out which is fine since the customer paid more for them than you will.

Token play still works with Party Packages. Offer a set number of tokens per patron, and either up-sell larger amounts or they can also purchase more at the changer (just like a Birthday Party at CEC).

Of course, the biggest deterrent could be a Per Game Business tax if operated on coins as others have mentioned. That's probably the most important thing to research NOW before you go any further in your pursuit. The Main up front cost is the cost of Changers (Cheap at Auctions) and Token Mechs. But you can start out with only 1 slot per game if on a budget. And Lloyd will tell you: "Get Insurance" which can also be very costly to protect yourself financially.

Where I go most is $15 a day and $10 on Sunday because the hours are shorter.I would also do a discount price for the last hour or 2.

3 issues with coin drop beyond the tax issue if that is a problem in your area. First off you need change machine - all coin mechs must work, etc. Second you have to go around every night and empty machines to keep people from breaking into the place to steal a few quarters. And lastly a few people might just walk in a drop a few quarters and walk out.

On the flip side flat rate might keep some people from coming in at all so both models have issues.

To me the answer is - keep it simple! When you first open have price set starting at a specific date but offer a great rate for first few weeks to get people into the place. Say if you are going to charge $10 to $15 for all day give every paying customer a coupon for free entrance next time in or do $5 a night for first month or what ever.

As far as drinks & stuff do a lounge area with seating - no drinks in playing area just in the lounge. So use front 20% of the place as the lounge then have counter with ticket check etc to get into the gameroom. Don't let anyone just walk passed with a drink - keep that in separate area. It might not be popular but it will make it much easier to keep the place nice & clean. People don't need a drink in their hand when playing pinball!

coin mechs are honestly not that bad. New mechs are pretty cheap in bulk from happ or pblife or other arcade spots. A new mech will run you $10-15 and last for years without adjustment.

I'm not sure I understand what's in this "museum" aside from games to play. Is it going to have exhibits that relate to pinball as well as games? Or is it just a pinball arcade? Are you going to have background information on all of the machines so that someone can learn the history of each machine? (ie: Terminator 2 doesn't have the T1000 because it was a secret). What makes this a museum vs. an arcade?

Or is there both a museum section and then a "play" area at the end? If so, I would expect some sort of gift shop but not sure what you're selling.

Maybe I'm overthinking the terminology...

Off-topic, but: on my FREE PLAY home machines, I've moved the SLAM TILT switch behind one of the coin returns, so that pressing the coin return resets the game. Makes it easy to restart a machine after a game is abandoned.

If you don't want to reinvent the wheel you should contact TC DiBella, the owner of the Asheville Pinball Museum.

http://ashevillepinball.com/

He has a very successful business, started out as a sideline like you are describing.
So successful that after a few years he moved down the block to a much larger space.
On weekends in particular after the first couple of hours you can't even get in, it's always busy.
He has a phenominal collection of video games and pins, all are well maintained.
On the web site you can see his prices and hours.

If you are really serious you should consider making a site visit and getting some advice from him.
He's a very nice guy.

As far as "lounge area" goes it really wouldn't have to be big. Something like a couple small tables with 2 or 3 chairs at each would do. But in 1300 sq ft every sq ft counts for sure!

Ahhh, that makes more sense, thanks for the clarification and good luck on the endeavor!

Maybe lounge area upstairs? Depending on size of that area maybe some cocktail arcades and lounge area with TV or something?

CARD SYSTEM!!
My suggestion would be intergrate a card system onto the games like all Modern game rooms. With this system you will be able to time play or set the amount of credits an individual can play. Also you can incorporate special promotions. You will be able to track each game letting you know very usefull information. What gets played the most when a game is or is not working. Also you will be able to put games in and out of service. Loyalty programs free entry promos extra credit promos. the options goes on and on. Most of all my locations have these systems. If you need more information send me a PM.
Good Luck and Congratulations

Put out ad on nearby college campus for hot young flirtatious coeds to make extra cash playing games. Place will be packed.

Fernandina Pinball Museum charges $14 for all day or $10 an hour. The owner mentioned he has to put prices on some games, since I guess as far as the city is concerned, it's a sales showroom.

I think they have a big table and some chairs in the back for parties.

Your hours seem kind of short. Longer hours are more attractive to me when I'm driving any distance. Leagues and tournaments are a definite draw.

I was in Charlottesville this past May for my SIL's graduation and had a bit of time to kill, so I went to a few of the venues listed on the pin map. I was a bit disappointed at the three venues I stopped by Firefly, the place across the street from Firefly (Holly's?), and Kohr Brothers. Judging from the number of games visible in the photo, you would easily be doubling the number of pins in C-ville and have nearly triple the number of pins as the next largest venue. Firefly had the most pins (four), but they were in the worst condition. Holly's had a Roller Games (that I was looking forward to playing) listed on the pin map, but it was gone/moved at the time of my visit. Kohr's (ice cream shop) had two nice pins in smaller venue that I felt weird hanging out and playing. I think you would be doing a great service in opening up a venue locally and would say consider scaling back, so as not to need a larger space, save some rent money, and be able to rotate titles. In my opinion if you're going to be offering food and drinks make it a flat rate-otherwise coin drop. I would also say, depending on the final location-consider the lunch crowd!