>>11385727
I can offer some feedback here. I looked into opening my own arcade once but decided it wasnt worth it.

>electricity for dozens / hundreds arcade

Electricity. This is their biggest expense. Some arcades save money by keeping most machines off until peak hours like the afternoon or weekends.

Also some cities are more expensive electricity than others.

>pinball machines

Most indie arcades don't run pinball because they are maintenance heavy. It's a metal ball banging around inside a box. So it needs constant maintenance or it will breakdown. You need to go out of your way to find a specific Pinball arcade. Pinball barcade. Or some arcade museum.

Pinball actually doesn't earn much money either. It's why Dave and Busters and Round1 don't run pinball. They don't earn profit. The Pinball industry is fueled by private collectors and pinball home enthusiasts. It's not fueled by arcades anymore.

>cost of maintenance of machines: massive

Depends on the machines. Freeplay Retro arcades save money by running much older machines. The downside is that spare parts can be hard to find depending on the age of the machine.

>employees wages

Many indie arcades get by with just 1 person running everything. Occasionally if the arcade is bigger they will hire 1 or 2 other people.

Galloping Ghost with 1100 machines only has like 4 or 5 employees in total including the owner.

>insurance

Yes this is another factor. If you have any deluxe machines with motion, then you need to pay for extra liability insurance in case someone hurts themselves.

>regulations

This is what killed it for me when I looked into Arcade ownership.

Some cities and towns are openly hostile against Arcades. Despite 40+ years passing, they still have this mentality that arcades are seedy areas that will bring down the quality of the town or city.

Other places are very welcoming.

Unfortunately every city and town near me is very hostile to arcade owners. So I gave up.

Back | Go to board

Board:

/vr/

Thread:

How do we bring Arcades back?