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.

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.