So here is my basic advice:

Do what you want to do and will bring you joy and meaning.

BUT realize:

1. It will take more money than you think it will.
2. It will take more time than you think it will.
3. It will become more of a burden on you than you can possibly imagine right now until it is entirely financially self sufficient (years).
4. You will constantly be pressed to spend more time doing other things that actually make money other than being at your arcade.
5. Your family will wonder why Dad can’t come along for (insert event).
6. You will constantly be dealing with repairs, expensive repairs that will additionally suck your time away and cause you headaches because you don’t want to be THAT arcade that has half the games down.

If ALL OF THAT doesn’t scare you off, then yes you should run an arcade. I still run an arcade (just barely) even though I am a surgeon, run a full time research lab, run a startup medical imaging company, and have a family I want to spend lots of time with. It’s either a calling or it’s not. If it’s not a calling and you can’t float the cash outlay to do it, don’t do it. Just remember there is an opportunity and financial cost to everything you do and at this point you commodity likely in shortest supply is your time. Just be sure that’s how you want to truly spend your time

Don’t forget about Nick at Roanoke ! That place was here before any of us. They have a prime location I am envious of.

Talk also to Silverball owner in Johnson City too. He is on here as haryworm I think and avid pin player. Good for lots of helpful advice.

RPC has a lot of funds from membership fees. Richmond is a lot bigger town and a lot more hardcore pinball players. It is a true co-op in that most of the members pooled their machines.

PPP makes little off it’s pinball league since it only charges $5 per session and has only about 20 members. It’s more driven by public. And finally I own all the machines, but in our new debut we will have some league members bringing in their machines too.

As you note both mostly run on volunteer power. I’d venture it’s damn near impossible for it to work any other way unless you want to just put in 2010 and later Sterns. Those are the only mostly set them and forget them machines I am aware of. The older ones break too much. But we’ve surprisingly had only maybe 1-2 machines down on any given day. And I will say that you HAVE to budget time for this and during weekdays. Too hard to fix during open hours.

Think about your demographic. Yes having lots of pins is nice and RPC makes it on pins alone, but kids want to play video games too. That’s why Martinsville works. In my next incarnation I will have 30 videos in addition to all the pins and also an old console room too. While we all look at the nuance of all machines, kids just see a ball and flippers and all are mostly the same. They get bored.

Really easiest thing to do is put your pins in an existing bar and see how much it stresses you out just dealing with this. Go from there.

We are all here to help and support you in whatever way we can. Good luck