people offer lessons/cold cuts/shasta on Craigslist from time to time. Keep your eyes open.

If you have Shasta soda I'm in.

Just talking this through...

Any business can give away free samples, and people are happy to accept, but the challenge is how to convert those people to paying customers.

If the Pretzel franchise was giving away free pretzels, there would be a lineup out the door. But how many pretzels would they sell the day after that?

Sometimes this can be seen as a negative, because the actual product has been devalued, and people don't want to pay "retail" for it again.

I'm sure this will be a success, but the question is what happens the day after it?

These aren't meant to be negative questions, I know you are trying things, I'm just talking it out.

This almost falls back to a question that business owners need to ask themselves:

Is there a need in the market for your product?

If you have to give it away, this almost sounds like the question is answered.

This is kind of a cool idea. It would be interesting to have 'pod' like things with table & chairs, 2 or 3 games from different eras or thematically similar or whatever, that you rent for a time period. The hard part would be balancing the pods well enough that there weren't just a few that everyone wanted to use. With bowling, every 'lane' is essentially the same.

Have you thought about a novice league or tournament? For people that have never been in a league or tournament. Might be worth looking into. Pin a go go has a novice division at the pin golf tournament every year. My 1st tournament was that. It was fun.

For me, at least, this is how you'd get me to stop by. I'm not into the competitive side of pinball in the least. Hell, I hardly play to begin with. I do, however, love to hang out with pinball buddies, drink beer and talk about anything pinball. I'd be more than happy to give you the $10 for a free beer, knowing it's helping you keep the games in public.

So I didn't even think about Reddit, but sure enough there is an r/Tucson section. There is a recurring "what is there to do in town" thread that gets redone every month. I think I'm going to start working on a "Pinball is fun" event night. Maybe once a month where I will be there several hours to answer questions, see if the bar will give do a simple special for players, and just see how it goes. No tournament of any kind. If some players want to get into that part of things, I'm sure they will find out what to do.

Psh, raising money for new machines is pretty much line one of my mission statement for my hobby pinball route LLC.

I agree that the rationale behind competitive pinball does on face value seem absurd particularly given the overall userbase in Australia compared to our European and North American counterparts, but keep in mind that open public pinball meets (whether competitive or not) are one of the few remaining avenues we have here in Australia to expand the existing userbase beyond its limited clique group since neither of our domestic forums are genuinely interested in expanding the userbase and encouraging new members to participate.

What I would like to see here in Australia is a reduction in the number of private residence selective invite only competitive meets with the same attendees and whose organisers make zero effort in allowing new players to enter subsequently being refused IFPA endorsement. These types of meets essentially do nothing in terms of growing the pinball hobby in Australia and it is actually ridiculous to grant approval to what is in essence a private meet rather than an open competition/league IFPA endorsement.

Competitive pinball does have a place in the overall pinball hobby structure in Australia but the competitions themselves have to be held for openly virtuous and not private self serving motives.

Open pinball competitions held at public locations with the ability for anyone to sign up and play on the night is the best short term outcome for growing location pinball at least in Australia in my view. This can be enhanced by advertising these comps on impartial online websites such as pinside or posted to a facebook feed and have word of mouth encourage new people to enter the hobby.

Longer term outcomes for growth require far more complex and coordinated solutions which would involve change at a manufacturer level both in terms of price points, choice of themes and strategic targeted marketing at what seems to be in pinball an increasingly ignored youth demographic.

Yeah, what he said^^^. AND...pick a good location.

Ive been thinking about this more and more lately; routing my games (and picking up a few more of them to boot). There are a TON of bars/pizza joints around here and NONE of them have arcades/pinballs/jukeboxes anymore. I love the suggestions you guys have about drumming up business. But, id like a little input on how to get my foot in the door. Do i just approach the managers and ask if they'd be interested?

Basically, im tired of my job and would like something to look forward to in the evenings. I realize its not going to pay my mortgage but i need something to look forward to at the end of the day and id love to go check-in on my games, do repairs, organize events, etc.

Well if you don't, what do you think will happen ?

LTG : )

LOL, i guess i meant what do i need to know before approaching them? Things i should be thinking about? Obviously i should be thinking about what percent i want to split to make it worth my while. Do i need to make a guarantee of how often theyll be checked?

Hello ( what ever the person's name is - if you don't know it, find out ) my name is Lurch, here is my card.

Have you ever considered a pinball machine or two, to compliment your business ? Interest in pinball is growing, and this could really benefit your business and customers.

Wait for reply. First person that talks loses.

Then say "I can make that happen".

As far as need to know. Do your homework first on zoning ordinances, licenses, and your own insurance. Have your crap together when you approach them.

LTG : )

Uggg..... zoning, thats something i didnt think about. I saw the insurance recommendation earlier in this post, ill ask my neighbor who is a state farm agent what he thinks would be appropriate.

Yeah, i was thinking it could be sold as a draw to bring customers in and keep them for a while. But i like your straight forward approach.

Thank you very much!

I pester pizza shop guys all the time, "Hey man, I could shove a pinball machine over there between the wall and the Pepsi cooler. You wouldn't mind if I sent my people over here to play pinball? They're fat like me, probably eat you out of house and home." Flirt a little, get 'em to laugh. Ya don't dance if ya don't ask.

That's how I started my arcade company.

In fact I landed my first account before I even started the business. Began speaking to the manager of a local pizza buffet that I frequented, told him I was interested in starting a new business, worked out some terms, and the rest is history.

Just saw this thread. I've been to a few of the Madison monthlies though it's been a while now. For me the biggest turn off (and one of the reasons I haven't come back) is the barrier to doing well. I show up and have to play a game I've probably never touched, or played very little. That means I have no idea how to score well, and end up doing amazingly bad because I don't know what to do. One of the times I came Sean helped me out on TAF after I mentioned I didn't like the machine cause I can't ever build points. I then actually had a good game on it after he gave a few hints. Another reason is I'm on the west side, and Saturday sucks for a day for me (though I totally understand why you have one on Saturday).

That being said, I still go out to schwoeglers when I have a chance to help support you guys. The variety of pins available in our area is awesome. Thanks to you guys for the hard work.

Well, there's only one way to get better at games you don't know, and not playing them isn't it!

This is an awesome thread and I'm sad I have missed it until now. We are always trying new things and while lots of operators would disagree with our social approach it has been huge for us. We advertise on Facebook. We typically spend around 500-800 per month advertising our specific events and promotions we run. We give a ton of games away but thats easy with PayRange. I can set a schedule or create a code good for whatever I want and roll with it.
GIVE AWAY FREE GAMES seems like a counter productive plan but the plan is simple. If I give a code away on Facebook with 3400 followers, I will get maybe 30-40 people coming in that day to take advantage of 2 FREE GAMES but those 2 FREE GAMES turns into them staying an hour or 2 and I made 10-16 bucks on the 2 free. Sure, a couple people come in, play 2 free games and leave but its worth the gamble. I also always give kids free games whenever I am there. I also approve Andrew (My Cleaning guy) permission to give kids some games or anyone playing when he's there. GIVE BACK TO YOUR CUSTOMER!
One thing that has seriously increased revenue has been the Super League. We advertise, we promote on Facebook. I push it constantly and it leads to more quarters or mobile payments. Even if its 30 players, it 30X5 games and they never just play 5 games! I also kick in FREE PIZZA and $25 for every 4 players to promote this is more casual than competitive. Every group has the same amount of money to fight for.
Another thing I do being in a bowling alley is at the beginning of the bowling season, I give the bowling manager a code to include for their welcome packet and its good for 5 FREE GAMES. It was a major success! That one I made it 5 FREE GAMES Wirth a funded account meaning they had to fund the account to retrieve the 5 free because I was worried about giving away 5 FREE GAMES to 2500 bowlers.
PayRange- I know I beat this like a dead horse but It has been the biggest increase in my business hands down. If you see what I have done to increase business, its all about promotions with social media. Im not at my location everyday. I mean Im there several times a week but I can't be there everyday adjusting prices on games. I can schedule this up on Sunday for the week, schedule on Facebook so everything is done and I can focus on my day job.
While Pinball has been thriving in our city and our location has been great, I can also say it has made me rethink what a good game is. I no longer look at the top 100 or even what I personally think is a good game. I have been proven wrong so many times, it hurts ha! Listen to your customers. You can do this with surveys or simply looking at the cash box! South Park has been a success and literally paid for itself 9 times over in a few years. It has funded new in box Sterns and honestly a great beginner machine for newbies. Don't get stuck on what YOU think is a great game!
Passion- I have had heath issues since I started this ordeal and one thing that suffered the month of December was my games condition. I have tried really hard to keep up on things and I think I'm back to where I was before my Stroke. One thing I have learned from all my heath scares is to enjoy life more. I was so burned out of pinball and I was frustrated with constant issues, pressure of growing Tournaments and Leagues that I forgot to enjoy myself and my love of Pinball. I'll never be a great player because I'm the guy who plays a game and will see something wrong or a piece of dirt or a ball trail and become obsessed. I gotta keep Andrew on his toes!
Summer is approaching and my normal weekly income will drop as the bowlers take the summer off. We also break our Leagues in the summer as well. Its nice in Minnesota in the summer and we too wanna be outside enjoying it! I am going to start a promotion with 30 games for 20 bucks with a free East Side Pinball draw string backpack, continue my social media, do a weekly $10, all games on FREE PLAY for the evening, and do some casual meet ups. We aren't even calling them tournaments.
If anyone is ever looking for input or advice, reach out. I love chatting!

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Pretty interesting topic. Big thing one needs to consider is who do they want to cater to. That will help drive your decisions.

In the early to mid 90s when I was a teen, my family owned a big baseball card/comic store/arcade. For the arcade, we had about 5000 sq feet with 28 pool tables, about a hundred games, snack bar, etc. At the beginning, we had a wide spectrum of people coming in but after a while we noticed that it became teens and hardcore pool players. As part of this, we saw revenues going down. Teens did not spend money and caused issues while the hardcore pool players focused on shooting pool, gambling, and not spending money. We were not getting families (who spend money) and our reputation started taking a hit.

So, we shifted focus. We switched from quarters to tokens (best thing we ever did) and shifted focus from trying to be hip (I was a teen, so that was important to me) to becoming more family friendly. Because of our size, we setup an area for the hardcore pool players away from others and limited the tournaments for the high end to certain occasions. We started doing tournaments that brought in more people such as coed (guy and his girlfriend) or dad/kid. Catering to different groups at different times helped us to expand our base.

Now that I am about to hit 40, I enjoy going to places to play pinball and arcades but will not go to a tournament because it does not appeal to me and frankly, some of the people turn me off. Some of the places are nice, others are a little sketchy. It is hard when you do not own your own location, but if you can put your games into places that are nicer that will help bring in more people. It is an investment, but work with your location owner to do some food/drink promos. As mentioned above, unlimited play with a beer can help get people in for both pinball and food. Depending upon the locality, if you can allow kids in that is great, but overwhelmingly, make it an environment where people feel comfortable bringing their wife/girlfriend/daughter with them. That doubles your audience right there. If you do a league or something for the hardcores, pick a night. But, do other goofy promotions (Coed tournament for example) another night. That way, you are appealing to a variety of folks.

People laugh about Dave and Buster's but you never go in there and they are never not busy. You will also notice that it is groups of people, not single dudes. That is a key to help expand the base. I know that because it is an inviting area, I have no problem taking my nine year daughter there. Last time we were there, we dropped over a hundred, and my daughter asks when she can go back.

True, but that's a 25 minute drive to that side of town. Making time to do a monthly is bad enough (I have a lot going on all the time). I was just explaining why I don't come anymore. It's not fun always being at the bottom just because I don't know what to do for a decent score. I'm also semi introverted, so going to a meet up and not knowing anyone is tough. Not making excuses, just mentioning what my situation is. I'm sure there are others like me.

What are some ways that a location could cater to players like you?

I always thought pinball would do well in the food truck strategy. A mobile trailer with a generator taken to the 'hot spots' around the city seems like a way to bring new interest to the permanent locations. Would also think event circuit could be a good place to attract players, while they wait for or take breaks from events.

I hosted an event for coworkers the other day at a well known D.C. Pinball friendly place. All of them had fun, but all of them explained they thought you were Just supposed to bash the ball around and not drain, but didn't understand strategy or how to use the flippers for catches and such.

I played a game projected on the tv screen in front of everybody (the place has a camera on .. Avatar, I think) and suddenly the light bulb went off. IMO quarters were a huge detriment to the "next game" - every time they had to stop and grab quarters, make change, event just put them in the game, they were this close to stopping. Those cards they use at Dave And Busters are genius because you don't really know how much you have on there. Somehow we gotta get credit cards in the mix.

Alternately, free play for an hour works REALLY well. There's a place near Tampa we go to that's $10 for all you can play. Kids become pinball fans there because they have time to learn. I've seen it happen with our friends' kids (my son doesn't count since we have 4 games at home)

Last thing - somebody mentioned comic con. I played Ghostbusters at a comic con a couple years ago, which started this whole mess. Put a themed game somewhere unexpected, like a comic book shop or record store. It will be a hassle but you will catch your most likely audience there, and they may come check out your other locations.

Free play for an hour is a great idea, and would probably be an excellent thing to do before a tournament, or offer some kind of return discount if it's at a barcade or whatever (one good one I've seen is a stamped card offering half off a beer on a different day). Maintaining a social media account (or two or three - besides Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are good options) is also vital and any machine in the wild should have your social media accounts on it.

Here’s a new angle to look at how to boost pinball on location: take out the stuff that makes the games annoying and make them challenging again.

I grew up playing pinball that was hard on the player: no tilt warnings, no ball saves, no pity multiball on ball 3, certainly no endless ball saves on every ball and multiball and a lot of random ball movement (not every shot was spoonfed to the flippers). Stuff you had to build up would on some games reset on every ball, so you had to start over. Games were designed to have short ball times (good for operators), but still offered a challenge and were fun to play.

Personally I never liked the pity multiball everyone could get on ball 3 on most Data East and Sega games, although Williams used it too on occasion. I feel it takes away the challenge of getting to multiball and as such it takes away part of the fun. There was also the pity extra ball if you had a few short balls, which is different as it extends your game, but doesn’t spoil or award any features. So those remained a challenge. I also stayed away from games with repetitive voice calls like LW3 and others.

Gary Stern has said on multiple occasions he wants an average player to see everything the game has to offer on his first game. I say that is killing pinball on location. If there’s no challenge left, why play again? So the game got the first quarter because the theme seemed interesting. It lost the rest of the quarters because the game turned out to be boring or no challenge at all.

So in order to boost pinball on location it would be interesting to see whether games will be more fun / earn better when the operator adjusted the game so that ballsave times are set to a reasonable time, mutiball ballsave time is set to a minimum or zero, the pity multiball on ball 3 is eliminated so achieving multiball is challenging again, maybe even reset certain features on each ball instead of carry them over. When players have more fun playing the game, they’re likely to spend more money on it playing it.

Sure, some games have their limits in to what the operator can adjust. Then maybe such a game isn’t the best game to operate? If the goal is to boost pinball play on location, one should look at how a game is most fun to play and very often that is not by operating it on the factory settings. It will take some game knowledge from the operator, but I'm confident it will pay off for both the operator as for pinball on location.

Wasn't that Eugene Jarvis input from the Avatar days ?

Bingo. This has been going on in various parts of the country the last eight years or so. Never seems to last more than a few years and the barcades need something new and different to keep drink sales up.

LTG : )

I recall Gary telling me that Eugene strongly advised against showing the Iron Monger on Iron Man as it should surprise the player. Gary decided to have it raised during attract mode as a "teaser".

Having an IM on location for over 4 years, I can say that having Monger up in attract mode is a definite draw and a good decision. Kids see Monger and put in quarters thinking they are going to bash him, only to have him disappear when they start the game.

...or because the player didn't get what they thought they were paying for.