Wauwatosa, WI
I wasn't expecting to read this whole thread when I logged in to check my tech questions tonight, but here I am. Fascinating.
I ultimately wish Steven the best, but I strongly suggest a few things to you:
1) Undersell your business, don't oversell it. If people arrive expecting 25 arcade games total and you have 40, they'll be happy. If they arrive expecting 50 and you have 40, they won't be. Seems like you already have disappointed some customers that wanted more and based on what I have seen, it's because you're vastly overselling your location at every move. Those customers won't come back and they won't tell their friends to try it. This goes for other things, like stating you have a "proprietary" system for playing the games. Other places have similar stuff, and so I can understand how people may be angry if they are charged more when leaving when they weren't told it was time.
1A) I actually realized this later, so I'm throwing it in here. If you're taking money at the end, that's... crazy. A customer will most remember the last thing they did. If the last thing is getting charged money, perhaps more than they expected, that isn't great. I'd suggest two things, the first is if you're doing the hourly thing, do a one hour pass for $10, or an all day pass for $20. Charge everyone $20 when they walk in, and refund $10 when they are leaving if they made their time. They are going to feel a lot better about getting $10 back at the end then they will getting charged $10 more than they were expecting.
1B) Along with that, offer something for that $10 to entice them to come back again. Maybe instead of $10, they get a pass for two people for an hour for $10. You can use this to keep the money while enticing more people back in.
2) If you have any games that need to have their credits refilled, find a solution to that immediately and implement the same thing everywhere. Inform people how it works. Running around adding credits sucks. Having a customer feel like they need to drop quarters into certain machines after they have paid a door entry sucks more.
3) Don't delete on social media. For me, I have a rule on social media that I delete almost *nothing* on the pages I manage (including 37k+ for the Midwest Gaming Classic). I will hide messages when people say things that are super out of line after I reply to them. Their friends can still see it, and if you're being nice and owning the failings, the people who read that will respect you more. I have banned a grand total of one person between my two pages who kept posting obscene language, although I warned him twice before it. When people start hearing from their friends about how they got banned, word gets out.
4) Along with the above, if you don't like what someone is saying, put yourself in their shoes and think about why. Some people's complaints will be almost impossible for you to solve - I once had someone tell me their favorite part about pinball machines was the sound, and if we wanted to get them back we needed a way to section off the games to hear individual sound. For a large convention, this is basically impossible. But, that doesn't change the fact that the person was requesting something that they wanted. I told them that unfortunately, it wasn't something we could do, but I hoped they found a place they could enjoy the sounds better and I was sorry we couldn't be that place. It doesn't make them wrong - it is just something that I can't solve for them.
5) Final thing, there are three main ways to compete as a business, being better than other businesses, being cheaper than other businesses, or being different than other businesses. Being better is tough because everyone has different thought of what best is, and you aren't competing with Dave and Busters for newer machines, or whatever. Being cheaper is already not the option you seem to be taking, and it sucks too because it usually means that you're saying you're second class. So, focus on what is different about what you do. From what I've seen, the different thing that you do is focus on a variety of game types and eras. From what I can tell, you have a Skee-Ball, old EM pinballs, bunch of arcade videos, console games, and even a random Buzzy Bee. Focus on how you like covering different genres and lean into that.
If I were you, I would toss a few more oddities in there. I'd suggest a kiddie ride (with free play button), something like an Ice Cold Beer, and maybe a couple other old ticket games that actually challenge skill. An Atari Hoop It Up comes to mind. Maybe an actual basketball game (heck, you could get a decent Pop-A-Shot for like $600!)
...
Based on what I've seen, I doubt much if any of this will be taken, but I figure it's worth a shot. There are lots of people here that would like to help, but feel pretty burned by past actions and based on what I'm seeing, I get it. I know multiple businesses like yours that have opened, and I know what makes them succeed long term and what doesn't. Even if you seem to be having a lot of success right now, don't let that success lull you into a sense of self-righteousness. It only gets harder from here, as going from the novelty of a new place to a place that people want to return to over and over again just keeps getting harder.
