I berieve!! I got dibs on Void/Chronos!!
Which character in Dota is closest to Boxer?
I also think that building a revenue model >>>>> arcade ideas.
But I also think that hearing what we want out of an arcade can also influence the revenue model. For example, the operating hours, size, kinds of events we want there, etc. could potentially influence exactly what he’ll be peddling, whether it be food/drinks, video/game rentals, merchandise, Thai massages, or family/gf games.
So, yeah, we need to figure out how to get it to make some money, but I think this thread itself isn’t pointless.
With that said, I think we have a lot of arcade-specific ideas already, and it would be most helpful to focus more on the business end now.
If you’re going to open an arcade in the Bay Area I would suggest opening it in the East Bay since there’s seems to be zero arcades there. Walnut Creek wouldn’t be a bad spot. easily accessible through BART
axe?
Gotta be Lion because he can headbutt launch (impale) into ultra (finger)
Has the OP considered the liability on the arcade? Is it going to be an LLC? (the answer should be yes) How much insurance will you need?
how are the financiers being handled as far as input on the arcade goes? Are they going to be members of the LLC? Managing members? (ie will they have votes at your meetings?)
do you have the necessary management skills or are you hiring a manager?
What about human resources? You’ll have employees. Do you have any idea how to handle that aspect of your business?
Others have mentioned, and I must re-iterate: What is your business model? what is your revenue outlook? where is your business plan?
have you already hired an accountant?
have you already hired an attorney? (If not, consider sending me a pm, I’m a business planning attorney in San Jose)
I wish you luck, and hope you have made a full consideration of the scope of the undertaking you are intending upon.
Business planning attorney playing SF4… you nigs best be careful around this fool.
Will you teach boxer how to handle his money properly? He always makes me lose a dollar every game I play. Managing such a boxer gives me no return on my overall investments!
@Retry: LOL! I thought about it, it’s more like Sand King, cuz Lion’s finger is only one hit. Sand Kings stun into ultra is like… THERE-IS-NO-ES-CAPEEEEEEEE
Me and GH were slowly building up our funds and pretty much still are, in order to do something like this ( except with booze during late hours ) but that’s something that will have to happen many moons from now. I’m glad to see that in the meantime someone is actually trying the idea out for us so I’m going to be taking a special interest in seeing how this is done. Good luck!
about the card issue is it really that big of a concern? How often do they really break down, how hard is it to repair the scanners at cabinets, and how much more expensive is it to add a second station to add credits? Tokens are really horrible cause you have to carry them around and you don’t want to carry too much around. I like the card system because it’s just a card you carry around and it makes choosing the more expensive credit options much more attractive because of all the bonus credits. Like SVGL gives you 10 bonus credits for the 10 dollar option and 30 bonus credits for the 20 dollar option. I would never choose to do either of those options if i had to carry all those tokens around. the card system is a win-win for everybody because the consumer feels like they’re getting a really good deal and having a lot of credits on the card insures multiple visits/playing more games then they would normally.
Also as far as games are concerned, I’d like to request a game from the Tetris the Grandmaster series, preferably TGM3. :wgrin:
I totally agree, lets come up with less arcade ideas and more prominent ideas with how we can source more revenue. Idealistically you’d want the arcade to break even, that is make enough to cover its continual existence. This includes: Rent, Electricity, Maintenance, Cost of Operation (buttons, joys, wires)
But that is in an ideal world, and as many of you have stated, breaking even would be a god send. We need to find Myung other ways of increasing his income. Some ideas i’ve been kicking around
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Food - Since getting a license and area to cook and prepare food is out of the question due to cost and having no real food, the best thing that Myung could do is provide food that isn’t prepared by his staff. This includes: Candy Bars, Soda, Energy drinks, etc. Basically a small scale 7-11 with no real food. Things like Hot pockets and cup o noodles can be sold. A microwave can be provided, but the customer must “make” his own food.
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Alcohol - Apparently a license for just beer on the premises isn’t that expensive, according to Myung. However, this would change his demographic (cutting out the 21 and under club). However, letting alcohol be sold will bring in extra revenue, prehaps on weekends, from the hours of 10-2am alcohol will be provided in and must be consumed in a designated area, no minors in to this designated area would help keep them out.
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Stick Services - I know you guys all know a metric shit ton of stick builders. What if Myung allowed you to peddle your stick wears for a cut of your profits? You can bring in your sticks and take orders at the arcade and peddle your warez. He takes his X% cut, you get your % cut and more money and exposure for the community
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Arcade products - Who doesn’t wanna customize their own shit. Selling all things from boards, to buttons to joysticks and then on. Basically be an Akihibara shop in norcal. This includes special orders for things only in japan.
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Rental - Rent out games. Simple as that. It doesn’t take a lot of space to set up a game/anime rental. Maybe in one side of his space, he can have set up a rental biz to bring in new anime/sell manga and rent out console games.
Ideas? Suggestions?
Great idea - cheap, easy to maintain, and low overhead. Thumbs up on that one.
Sounds like a good idea as well, provided it’s in a designated area and doesn’t interfere with the under 21 crowd.
After a lot of browsing on the SRK trading outlet, a lot of people seem to not like waiting for sticks and not being kept in the loop. This seems like a great idea too. I would probably buy a custom stick if people set up shop here.
Yes yes and yes. I’ve been asked by quite a few people about local areas that sell parts, and there aren’t many. I know I often want to buy parts, but am discouraged to buy online, pay for shipping, and wait. This would be a great idea too.
Big no no, I think. The initial cost and the overhead would be too much - also, since probably the main demographic will be out of towners, who would rent stuff? And what if people didn’t return things/ returned them too late? Seems more trouble than it’s worth, I think.
Overall, some great ideas though.
World Warrior cab or I’m not coming.
If space permits, maybe adding something like a spot to sell milk tea could make some good amount of money. Should bring a nice demographic of crazy Asians in too. Would probably complement those touchscreen games like photohunt mentioned earlier to rake in the revenue too. Least that’s kinda envisioned how BEARcade should (would) return as.
@Crackfiend: Toss him a Hand of Midas so he gets paid.
Shit I’m a geek.
my 2 cents:
i would like to see a cool sports bar that also hosted ppv mma fights with a downstairs dungeon for all the arcades. on ufc or boxing nights excuse me, pacquiao nights), you can charge 5 bucks a head.
also 70’s star wars arcade. i can take out the death star all night long… especially after i down a pitcher of fat tire!
That was the 1980’s whipper snapper. The 70’s had Pong and Computer Space…IF you were lucky.
Which reminds me…pinball machine.
For money making games, I’d seriously look into DJ Max Technika. Simple little touch based music games but it’s bringing great profit to SVGL, someone’s usually on it priced at $1 a game and it’s usually got a good line of people are nights. Easy to get into, hard to master kind of thing.
I think Jared knows more about this one than me but it would be a great addition to your arcade especially since I believe the Golflands are the only spots that house the machines in the bay area
From a community perspective, this would be huge. I’m totally behind you on this one. It could even be taken one step further and host regular stick building workshops where tech noobs can come talk to knowledgeable locals. I can definitely think of some folks who’d be willing to spend some time doing this 
Yep, Technika is making a killing and is growing in popularity. Although, I’d wait and see how it does nationally and whether or not there is a sequel coming. If those two come back thumbs up, jump in with both feet.
Hey all, just wanted to alert you, survey has been updated.