Think about how much you think you might spend. Then triple it.

Think about how much time you'll think you'll spend on it. Then triple that as well.

If you don't have supplemental income to help support yourself and the business, plan to eat a lot of PB&J's for the next few years.

You'll also have to keep thousands of dollars of tools, supplies, and parts in stock. A game that isn't earning is a waste of space (and rent).

Set aside at least $5k for all the miscellaneous startup costs, fees, insurance, etc.

Plan to set aside enough to cover 30-90 days of expenses, including payroll.

There are a lot of expenses involved before even getting to the fun stuff of a business.

Talk to a lawyer to help set up some of the legal stuff.

Setting up an LLC will help protect you in case the business gets sued or goes bankrupt.

With an arcade, plan to do a lot of redemption games. Non-redemption games don't earn a whole lot. Think about how you want to handle tickets and prizes, and how much that will cost, and how to balance that against earnings so that you're still making money.

Try to focus on games that people wouldn't really have access to at home. Or, familiar games, but giant size. Also, people seem to like bowling games and carnival-style games (at least in my area).

Good luck

Sad looking old beat-up and routed ones are usually more of a turn-off than brand new games.

Eventually, it comes to a point where you might be pouring more into repair a game than it's actually earning, so you always have to keep an eye on how games are doing.

I would also avoid games on the cutting edge that have just been released unless you're prepared to be a beta tester. That can be frustrating as well, and can take time, effort, and lose on potential earnings if the game is down due to a manufacturer issue or bug.

Better from a safety net perspective, yes.

However--that's also money that's just sitting there that you can otherwise put into the business or seriously invest elsewhere.

Set up a lunch & lemonade stand for the road workers

Yeah, you can forget about HUO games staying in HUO condition. The public can be rough on equipment.

I've seen a couple pinball museums that give the public access to a large portion of the games, but then have a VIP membership of some sort to have access to a quieter area with nicer games.

You could try doing a yearly show instead of a coin op business. That is more or less satisfying my itch for now.

Granted, you would need to find the right space for it that can provide enough electrical circuits and one that wouldn't charge a small fortune to rent.

A couple of the arcade owners I know also have games out on location. The games occasionally get rotated around to keep things earning.