Well, I dont own an arcade, but do have a small business that has been opened since 1996. I opened it with out a clue and 5 gees in my pocket.

What I have learned is : Controlled overhead is the key.

What that means is make sure your monthly costs are cheap enough that if things go pear shaped (pear shaped is something the brits say, have no idea what it really means, but I think its something bad), you can still make all of your financial obligations and keep the doors opened each month.

Word of mouth advertising is the best. Paying for advertising is the worst money investment.

If you have a cool product you are selling, location will not matter. They will come. You only get one time to make a first impression.

Don't skimp on insurance.

I have never had a business plan in my life. OK One. But that was a joke to get a loan. I just am good at spotting my trends and hopping on board until they peter out and the next one pops up.

Don't compromise your standards and you will build a great reputation.

You do actually have it easier: You call around to find your location and the monthly rent, guess on your elect and gas monthly. Phone and Internet. Get quotes on insurance.

There you have an idea on how much you need to make each month just to keep doors opened.

Then you can talk some of the anecdotal data here by ops on what a machine will make. Figure how many machines you need.

Then you can figure how many warm bodies you need to walk through the door each week to make those minimums. You can figure the average person will drop X amount with you.

The rest is up to you figuring out the details. Because if it was that easy, everyone would do it.

I do, over 40 years.

Some basics I'd consider - where you want to do this check the zoning ordinances ( most cities don't want arcades, and especially no where near a school or church ) and what licenses you'll all need. ( could be on you, business, and each machine ).

Then you need a years worth of money. To set up, decorate, wire, equipment, rent, utilities, cleaning supplies, salaries ( for you too - you eat ) etc. etc.

Most new businesses fail because they don't have the money. You could have the greatest idea and location, and the city rebuilds a street or bridge near you and people can't get to you - then what do you do.

Really do your home work. I'm not trying to tell you not to do it. Just learn all you can so you have the best chance at success.

LTG : )

Call it a museum, not an arcade.

Set up as a non-profit corp.

Might make it more appealing to the area you're in...

One more thing, the only person that should talk you out of it is you. If you run the numbers and they dont add up etc.

If someone can talk you out of it with out hard data, you were never into that much anyway. ( I have talked my sister out of stuff like this all the time)

I like that idea. I may borrow that one.

I've had the same itch over the last few years. I've personally decided that pins and old vids just ain't gonna pull enough people, but I don't want a Chuck E Cheese either.
I'm thinking of coupling it with another business that pulls in people that just want to hang out. A coffee shop or something like that. Coffee and snacks would probably pull in more money than pinball any day of the week, but at least I would still get the pleasure of having an arcade with some pins and pool tables.

Just my thoughts.

Getting the machines will be the cheapest part of the arcade. What's expensive is rent, employees, insurance and electricity.

Yeah, the name of the place can have a big influence on it getting approved.

There is an "adult day care" near my house, but they call it Senior Center.

You drop Pops off, so you can go to work, a ballgame or whatever without worrying about him putting the cat in the microwave. He plays cards, sleeps in a chair, watches Fox News and gets help in the toilet.

Now if it were a "Day Care" it would need a bunch of licenses, inspections, permits... but because it is a Senior Center, it gets by with just a normal business license (1000x cheaper too).

I swear to god I had no idea that those were really adult day care places. Seriously. Now I know.

Probably not. They'll just pay to loiter.

Maybe if you could work for an arcade, amusement park, casino, something with lots of people. So you get an idea what you are in for.

LTG : )

If it's pay one price, that automatically cuts out a percentage of possible customers. If I want to play pinball for half an hour on my lunch break, I'm not going to pay $10 or more to do it. In the arcade business, loitering is something you want your customers to do.

And unless you're already a member of the city council, expect the city not to open their arms for your business. Arcades, non-profit or otherwise, generate very little sales tax, which is the lifeblood of most cities.

Opening an arcade as a non-profit is weak IMO. Unless you're giving all the money to charity like the PHOF, you're basically cheating to open an arcade. And don't even think about opening a place with only older pins. People don't want to play older pins. Visit any pinball museum and you'll see. I think there's one in Europe somewhere that only has old games, but that's about it. The rest all have to have new games to keep customers coming in.

Sure do:
http://www.lanesandgamesarcade.com/
Take a peek and PM me if you like.

The national pinball museum in Baltimore has pins from mid 90s and prior. They all get a pretty fair shake. Of course Adams family was played a lot but so was black night and black hole. I think people were more into the quality of the game rather than what was newer.
When it's called a pinball museum I think you get people in there that are expecting older games from the get to. Also I think that that gets rid of the loiterers. They also sell day passes or by the hour.
Where in jersey do you want to do it????

No, but if i did I would 100% have the Mario Kart arcade machine.

Available soon.

I suppose if it pays for it's self be it credits, token & entrance fee..Its great business.

Yeah, then you don't have kids and yes adults. Walking around pressing start buttons and checking coin slots for free games. Man I hate that!

That is the nature of the beast.

You need bigger things to worry about.

LTG : )

Lol that's is true

We've all been kids & tried our luck.

that's half the fun of the arcade!

Love, love, love this one.

This was brought up in an article I read recently that the most profitable amusement centers bring the revenue and people in on food or beverage and the games are an ancillary attraction. Examples like Dave and Busters and the recent Barcades. I like the later idea the best, and would enjoy having something like this but it cuts out a segment of your clientele(under 21). But didn't the movie say..."if you serve beer, they will come."

I guess the bars that closed didn't hear that.

LTG : )

Yes, Ive owned and ran about 12 Arcades in my life. Feel free to pm me, if you want we can talk on the phone.. Ive got tons of experience with Landlords, Leases, Electrical, local rules and so on.

How do you plan on enforcing that ? Just curious if someone pays $5 and stays.

LTG : )

Wrist bands with time in or time expires - do a walk around...that's what the Silverball does.

Seems to work out.

Colored Wrist Bands is the best way. Other ways places do it is Card Systems with time play. Time play ends they can't play any more. Doing it this way do increase your labor quite a bit as well. Because you need a person at the door and a person to roam and kick em out.

This is how it was done at a local pool hall years ago. I liked it.

Tactfully I hope so you don't alienate customers.

LTG : )

Yep, thats the hard part. We don't operate that way. We do a nickel Based arcade that charges a flat entry fee, then each game is 1-6 nickels.. we also have 70 free play video games.

Usually if you are not a member, these joints print you a shirt sticker that has your expiration time on it.

Same as the non coin op pool halls, you can finish your game, but then you are out .

"Pay as you Exit"; I like that. What happens when someone loses their wallet though?

Same as when you lose your parking ticket at the airport.

You get to play who can run the fastest.

LTG : )

IM an op and a pinhead!

Pay after play is a good idea but what about people that go out for a smoke? At the nat pin museum. They give you a card and you have a time limit on the card. You swipe the machine you want to play and when your time runs out you can't play

my unerstanding right now is that the bar and or bar/grill business is tight right now. not saying people dont go out and eat and drink still, but not as much.

i know for me i stay home more. 6 pack of stella 8 bucks. bottle of stella at bar 3.50 - 4.00... i did the math.

and i hate playing pinball out. the odds are not in my favor of playing good routed machines.. let alone finding machines period. a shitty machine gets my money once.

If you took non members credit cards and ID when they enter, you could run a "time tab" like you run a tab at the strip bar.

If people are having a good time, they might play longer than if they buy the time up front.

Round up to the 1/4 hour like a parking garage does, so people don't feel cheated.

Let them out to smoke, the clock is still running and you still have their ID and credit card at the desk.

Another option could be to lobby the city to change the license fee. How many arcades are they currently collecting fees from? Many old laws need to be changed.

Malls attract kids. Often with no money in their pockets. If your arcade is next to a high school, the same thing can happen. Regardless of the laws in your area, you also need to use some common sense when selecting a location. You can get very detailed demographic info from real estate folks. You can also learn a lot just by spending time in the area. Somewhat near me, there's a very high end mall. I mean really high end. They used to have pins right out in the open and the few times I went there, I didn't see any kids loitering in that area. Not all malls (locations) are created equal. Do your homework.

Unless you also sell food and/or drinks (or go non-profit), you should assume that you are going to lose money. Can't be done just by the games. In the future, coin op may come back to what it used to be, but it's still got a long, long way to go. Even in the pacific northwest, where pinball is thriving, there are very few stand alone arcades. Profitable and arcade currently don't belong in the same sentence.

We'd all like to open a public arcade. It's not easy, on many levels. Good luck.

I'm not paying anyone to smoke. And I'm not paying to play by the hour.

The other problem with these places is that the games usually suffer when it's not coin drop. Even when they do work 100%, they're often set up so easy, they're no fun. Everybody is a wizard. When the games are on coin drop, games get fixed faster and settings are usually close to normal.

For the record, I usually play on location at least once a week. This week has been good so far. I've played at four different locations in three different cities so far. All on coin drop. And the week's not over yet.

Unless you are working at a gas station and stealing cigarets, or taking them out of your mom's purse, somebody is getting paid.

What do you do when you go to a pool hall?

You pay by the hour (unless you have a membership card), and if you go outside to smoke, they don't give you a free 5 minutes. When you time is up, you are done.

If you are anywhere near NJ, check out Silverball Museum :

http://silverballmuseum.com/

I don't think you will find much to complain about.

Yes?

Funny you should ask. I was at a pool hall last night. Playing pinball on coin drop. I didn't take a smoke break, but if I did, I'd imagine I'd finish my game first, then step outside and have a smoke. Either that or hand the game off to a friend. I played a lot of pool when I was young, but pinball never went away. Pool tables are all alike.

Scary as it is, I'm the kind of customer the original poster wants. A regular location player.