Just wanted to give you an update on whats going on. I found an ideal space (I think) in San Mateo. Its only a 20 minute drive from the center of SF and 2 blocks from the San Mateo CalTrain station. Plenty of nearby public parking and good places to eat too. The preliminary game list is as follows:
-Street Fighter IV: 4 high res cabinets, back to back
-BlazBlue: 2 high res cabinets, back to back
-Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion: 2 high res cabinets, back to back.
-Airhockey (still trying to find a source for this)
-Wangan Midnight Max Tune 3 (dedicated single cab)
The rest of the games are in Astros
-DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
-Ikaruga
-Gundam vs. Gundam (possibly NEXT, asking my vendor): 4 linked cabs.
-Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
-Capcom vs SNK 2
-Marvel vs Capcom 2
-Mark of the Wolves, King of Fighters 98 (or 2002, whichever more people prefer), Metal Slug 3, Puzzle Bobble
Possible additions:
-Puzzle Fighter
-Street Fighter II Champion edition (set to $0.10 per play)
Now the bad news: The space we picked isnt actually developed yet, so it would take them at least 3 months to build it out. And I found a source for a card system, but Theyre expensive. Very expensive. Like I could buy 2 PIU2 cabs for the price it would take to put card readers on everything. So shrug I guess decide how important it would be to you all. Ill try to post another survey soon, to ask people more specific questions. Also, I’ve got crackfiend helping me with planning events, so this place is going to be real busy. Again, thanks for all your ideas and input. Keep it coming.
niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. possibly to put in kofxii…?!! haha but besides that. everything is looking pretty strong. keep the momentum going Myung
so this project got the permit already and ready to go into construction or it’s still in the design/plan check phase?? depends on the building type, it might take more than 3 months to finish…
san mateo is too far for me! i might as well just go to mgl! i live in san francisco and don’t have a car. I am really looking forward to this opening but if you can’t make it happen in san francisco maybe daly city? and about the card system why not have both but install a card reader later if you still want them, in the mean time quarters will do just fine!
Card reader system is not worth it imo. Just get very distinctive tokens and you’ll be fine. If you said the system is worth 2 PIU setups, I have a ball park figure in my head that screams DON’T DO IT!!!
Nickel plated tokens with a custom label and a larger diameter (bigger than a quarter) wouldn’t run you more than 1-2 thousand dollars for a huge shipment and would last you at least 1-2 years.
Because you can’t have deals if you use quarters. You can’t have a double token wednesday or something like that. Plus, when people spend tokens, there’s this mental thing where they feel like they’re not spending real money, while in reality, they’re blowing through quarters left and right.
Big thumbs up from me on choosing San Mateo. Not only because it’s close to me (haw), but more importantly, it’s about as central as you can get for the Bay Area. The city itself is pretty nice overall (especially the downtown area) so you won’t have to worry about trying to convince people to go somewhere scary to play, like the first TGA back East
I also agree with Pieguy: if the cost of a card redemption system is so ridiculous that you can get two PIU2 machines (which can also equate to 4-6 candy cabs!), definitely look into other options. You need the games first to attract people to spend money
Yeah, those card readers were real sticker shock (I was honestly expecting half that cost). In terms of tokens, what’s an elegant way to deal with the fact that different games cost different amounts?
If you just have tokens be straight quarters (1 token = $0.25), then the psychological advantage is gone. But if you make the tokens worth more, like say $0.75 for SF4, how do you deal with the older games? Maybe 2 or 3 credits per token on the older machines? Maybe have those run on quarters instead? Any ideas from the gallery?
I’d have to agree with the very distinct token idea, especially if the money saved goes towards a DJ Max Technika machine
Will all the SNK games be in a single cab MVS style? If so, I’d say KOF 98 is the way to go, most refer to it as the pinnacle of the series. If it’s not single cab I’d say MotW and Metal Slug 3 alone would be best, as far as I know there’s no real support for KOF in the bay area, but MotW is such a strong game a scene would pop up in no time. Metal Slug is just classic though.
A music game is really a must though, kids are crazy dedicated to them and an older DDR mix would bring them in, as the only thing arcades in the US really have now are SuperNova and X, both of which are pretty awful.
EDIT: As far as tokens go, I think the simple 1 token = $.25 is the way to go and then charge say 3 tokens for SF4 or what have you. Mixing up tokens and quarters seems like a bad idea and I have no problem paying $.25 for some CE magic
The UCD MUGA is 5 tokens for 1 dollar. So essentially, 1 token = 20cents. Whenever I get my $5 worth of tokens, my pocket feels sooo heavy, and it feels sooooo nice.
Psychological advantage is still there because people feel tokens equate to less than $.25. Iono why, but even if it’s a 1 to 1 token to quarter conversion, people just throw away tokens like they’re free. Also, I advised silver tokens because they’re cheaper and because most arcades I’ve been to use bronze tokens. You want distinctive tokens so that you can easily pick out foreign tokens during weekly token inventory.
Right now, MUGA does 5 tokens per dollar and we charge 3 tokens for SF4 (paid off a $24,000 korean h2h setup in 6 months, lolololol), 2 for t5dr (dun ask), and 1 for everything else. PIU is 3 tokens, Razing Storm is 3 tokens, ID5 will be 3 tokens, etc. etc.
If you have big ass money match cabs, it’s not unreasonable to charge $.40 to play cause SVGL’s cabs are small as fuck and already a quarter. $.15 for some elbow room ain’t bad.
Not to shit on other people’s dreams, but GGAC didn’t pull in crap for money and neither did T5DR (relative to new SF’s). KOF was also a fat waste of money as was SVC Chaos (what a pos game). Buying these games is all about catering to a ridiculously small community. (T6 will probably be pretty big tho since it’s been 3 years since last release)
I bet you SVGL’s mario kart setup pulls in ridiculous amounts of profit relative to its initial investment so look into that.
That place is boss and the owner/manager is hilarious. But they just rolled out this new hand cut fatty beef flavored with beer… which is fail. Stay away from it.
Again, thanks for all your ideas and input. Keep it coming. 
