Im 31 yrs old & I started my coin-op business from scratch. I operate in FECs & Bars & recently started a second business which operates a stand alone arcade with 10 pins in my hometown. In the 12 years Ive done this Ive never paid myself till recently. Ive had to work a full time job to pay my personal bills. The businesses are self sufficient when it comes to paying their bills, but please think long & hard before getting into coin-op. The bar market is terrible. Barcades in the correct city do good, but there bars 1st & arcades second. I am very fortunate my wife has a great job & I only work my businesses now, but man have I struggled at times. You have to have a burning desire & truly love pinball or video amusement or whatever type of coin-op you do. Remember you can be Disney or you can be Joe's Arcade and this equipment cost you both the same. You dont get a discount cause your small. Ive only recently had employees as well for my stand alone arcade venture & right now paying there wages, & paying the rent & paying utilities & paying machine bills I cut myself a check a couple times a month, but its $100 at a time. Love this venture 100% or you will burn out fast. Remember you buy a GOT or TWD premium its $7000. True pinball players who play in leagues & tournaments will pay $1.00 per play, but your average customer who outweighs your league player 100/1 will balk at that $1.00 per play, they will go on facebook & comment about it too. You gotta be careful & find a true balance of equipment you can price accordingly for your everyday customer.

Coin operated amusements is very competitive in my area & sometimes cut throat. Splits of cashboxes are competitive & repair time needs to be ASAP or your gonna get a call cause other vendors are waiting to swoop in & snag the location at any opportunity. Now if you own your arcade & merely renting space some worries as an operator decrease, but other worries increase of course. As far as price per play, your average customer will stick there nose up at $1.00 per play. There is something about $1.00 that people think is like spending $5.00. Now if your running tokens at a discount you could probably get 4 tokens per play or even better card swipe system like dave & busters. With card swipe who's gonna calculate 2.9 credits per play.