Depending on the multicade it might be illegal.
it might use MAME, one of those 60 in 1 boards, or be specific for home use (free play only). There are a few that are fine for commercial use, but they are usually limited on the number of games.
That being said, 99% people aren't going to care or even think about it.
There are a bunch of bars with playstations sitting out for patrons to play (technically that is illegal, but no one is going to enforce it)

I think pandoras box is set-up to accept coin, though I've never tried it.
I went the ultracade route since it was technically legal for commercial use and it had the most old-school games on it. Found a bootleg hard drive on ebay for $100 bucks, think it had 280ish old school games on it. The computer is type specific, you can still find them on ebay and KLOV.

For me having a bunch of old-school arcade games doesn't make a lot of sense, based on earning potential and the room they take up. I understand the appeal of the original cabinet and board (no missing frames, original controls, artwork) but...

here is the cocktail version.

For me I just bought a custom cabinet, wired it up and installed an ultracade computer in it.

IMG_9815 (resized).jpg

As far as old-school games, I have a few. Think the hardest thing with those is the monitor, just recap em and replace the flyback and they are usually fine for commercial use. The joysticks and buttons break every now and again but other then that, it's a lot easier then maintaining a pin.

Pretty sure Namco made a commercial arcade with defender on it recently.... I'd have to look around though.
you could buy a replica from that guy on ebay or the game room goodies store. But your essentially buying a look alike cabinet with a multicade computer for over 3k. Even old school arcades are getting expensive.

Kids seem to play the older games but I would assume they would be more interested in the stuff from the 90's, like street fighter 4, tekken 5 etc.
I'd get a crane game or key master if I had stuff at a movie theatre, heard those do phenomenal in family friendly places.

that's the one I was thinking of, wasn't 100% they made a commercial version of it. I might wind up getting one of those... it's a 4 way joystick?

by the player or op?
via the restrictor plate?