AHC/WI: The Video Arcade remains popular.

During most of their history, Video Arcade cabinets have been stuck in the shadows of the home console and the PC, most often standing alone in the corners of diners and bowling alleys. Even when they're gathered together in a hall, often they are in reality attached to some other venue of entertainment, like a cinema.

However, between the late '70s and the mid '90s, arcades were actual, standalone venues, and they were extremely popular. If a town had a bar and a library, they likely also had an arcade. Video Arcades were a third arm of videogames in general, along with consoles and PC games.

Today, while still popular in Japan, most arcades in Europe and America closed down by the time of the Playstation, Nintendo 64 and the Saturn. What I'm asking is: What would it take for Video Arcades to remain as big as they were in the '80s, especially the early '80s, at the peak of their popularity? With more, larger companies focused on making cabinets, how might the technology differ? Which companies would flourish and fail? How might pop culture be affected?
 
I'm fondly recalling Aladdin's Castle, my town's old video arcade, as the destination of choice for our elementary school birthday parties back in the early '90s. Kids would swarm the X-Men game in the hopes of getting first dibs on Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. The last kid to get there invariably got Jubilee ;)

My guess is that, to remain competitive, arcade games had to offer game experiences that were unavailable on or incompatible with the console and PC. Having more DDR-style games, those with full body motion, would go a long way to prolonging the popularity of arcades, especially if they continued to offer new games that weren't available for home use. In fact, one could argue that the Wii was meant to provide a DDR/arcade-style experience in the home.

I think one of the biggest problems, however, is that arcades couldn't keep up with the shift towards multiplayer online gaming. Sure, it's fun to gather a bunch of friends to go to the arcade, but it's so much easier to gather those same friends online; no one has to go anywhere. So I don't know if it's possible long-term to maintain the arcade's popularity in the face of the galaxy of choices and experiences available on console and PC.

Cost me also be a factor - does anyone know how much it takes to develop and distribute arcade games versus console and PC games?
 
Cost may also be a factor - does anyone know how much it takes to develop and distribute arcade games versus console and PC games?

I don't have anything to back up my opinion, no examples or personal experience, but common sense suggests that an arcade unit is fairly easy and cheap to work with. It's physically larger than a home console, meaning larger/older components can be used to get the same performance, and the games themselves are smaller and simpler, you don't need to make 20+ hours of game because nobody is going to stand in front of one for that long. For some reason, I could see the indie market grabbing a big chunk of arcades, since they need to be simple and short, but imaginative and creative. Standardizing hardware also makes it cheaper.
 
In Korea at least, there are internet cafes that serve a similar (if expanded) purpose to the video arcade. Perhaps it can become more popular in Europe and the Americas.
 
In Korea at least, there are internet cafes that serve a similar (if expanded) purpose to the video arcade. Perhaps it can become more popular in Europe and the Americas.

Yeah, my impression is that arcades of some form are still very popular in Korea and Japan. Do you know why this is the case? What's the relative popularity there between arcades and console/PC games?
 
I don't have anything to back up my opinion, no examples or personal experience, but common sense suggests that an arcade unit is fairly easy and cheap to work with. It's physically larger than a home console, meaning larger/older components can be used to get the same performance, and the games themselves are smaller and simpler, you don't need to make 20+ hours of game because nobody is going to stand in front of one for that long. For some reason, I could see the indie market grabbing a big chunk of arcades, since they need to be simple and short, but imaginative and creative. Standardizing hardware also makes it cheaper.

That makes total sense to me :)
 
Yeah, my impression is that arcades of some form are still very popular in Korea and Japan. Do you know why this is the case? What's the relative popularity there between arcades and console/PC games?

At least with Korea, it seems that the prevalence of internet cafes is a result of a strong PC culture, not in spite of it. I don't really know why gaming is usually done at internet cafes instead of at home, but I suspect it might be because it has become so mainstream there that it became a leisure activity to do with "real life" friends, and going to a place to play a game is easier than bringing along a computer to your friend's house (PC gaming dominates console gaming in Korea). I guess the prevalence of the internet cafe is a result of the lack of console gaming- it's one of the only ways to have local cooperative gameplay with friends. I have no idea why Japan still has arcades, though, since its gaming console industry is quite strong.
 
Here's a POD that could save the arcade in the USA:

In OTL, when the US Congress decided to make the dollar coin smaller in 1979, they made it too small, as in too close to the quarter to be easily distinguished.

The coin diameters/weights were:

Eisenhower $1 - 38.10 mm/22.68 g
Kennedy 50c - 30.61 mm/11.34 g
Susan B. Anthony $1 - 26.49 mm/8.10 g
Washington 25c - 24.26 mm/5.67 g

The US coins weighed slightly more when they were made of silver but I didn't post those weights as they aren't really relevant.

On the other hand, Canada foresaw the usefulness of making both the 50 cent and dollar coins smaller back in 1968, when they switched from silver to nickel composition.

Canada's coin diameters/weights were:

Canoe $1 (silver) - 36.36 mm/22.33 g
Canoe $1 (nickel) - 32.13 mm/15.62 g
Coat of Arms 50c (silver) - 29.72 mm/11.66 g
Coat of Arms 50c (nickel) - 27.13 mm/8.10 g
Caribou 25c - 23.88 mm/5.65g (silver), 5.05 g (nickel)

Notice that all Canadian coins were slightly smaller than the same denomination US coins even during the silver era, but except for the dollar, the difference was about half a millimeter, almost unnoticeable.

More interesting is that Canada reduced both the $1 and 50 cent coins in size back in 1968, keeping the $1 larger than the 50c and the 50c larger than the 25c. Interestingly enough, the Canadian nickel 50c was the same weight as and a hair larger than the Susan B. Anthony dollar the US came up with later.

The reason the US made such a small dollar OTL was that research had shown 9 grams as being the heaviest a coin could be and circulate effectively.

I believe that theory to be wrong. While the Eisenhower dollar was big and bulky, the real reason it didn't circulate is that the $1 note still existed. While making it smaller was probably a good idea, I believe if they had picked a size similar to Canada's, it might have caught on. With a circulation coin larger than 25 cents, perhaps arcades could still be profitable....
 
Interesting parallel between arcade games and slot machines - one I'm sure wasn't lost on game designers...
How common were arcades where you could redeem wins/points for real prizes?

That could be the answer to hanging on longer in states where gambling is illegal, the games may be very hard but they're still a game of skill.
 
Arcade offer something unique that one cannot get at home:

IMG_0208.jpg


gundampod1.jpg
 
Here's a POD that could save the arcade in the USA:

In OTL, when the US Congress decided to make the dollar coin smaller in 1979, they made it too small, as in too close to the quarter to be easily distinguished.

The coin diameters/weights were:

Eisenhower $1 - 38.10 mm/22.68 g
Kennedy 50c - 30.61 mm/11.34 g
Susan B. Anthony $1 - 26.49 mm/8.10 g
Washington 25c - 24.26 mm/5.67 g

The US coins weighed slightly more when they were made of silver but I didn't post those weights as they aren't really relevant.

On the other hand, Canada foresaw the usefulness of making both the 50 cent and dollar coins smaller back in 1968, when they switched from silver to nickel composition.

Canada's coin diameters/weights were:

Canoe $1 (silver) - 36.36 mm/22.33 g
Canoe $1 (nickel) - 32.13 mm/15.62 g
Coat of Arms 50c (silver) - 29.72 mm/11.66 g
Coat of Arms 50c (nickel) - 27.13 mm/8.10 g
Caribou 25c - 23.88 mm/5.65g (silver), 5.05 g (nickel)

Notice that all Canadian coins were slightly smaller than the same denomination US coins even during the silver era, but except for the dollar, the difference was about half a millimeter, almost unnoticeable.

More interesting is that Canada reduced both the $1 and 50 cent coins in size back in 1968, keeping the $1 larger than the 50c and the 50c larger than the 25c. Interestingly enough, the Canadian nickel 50c was the same weight as and a hair larger than the Susan B. Anthony dollar the US came up with later.

The reason the US made such a small dollar OTL was that research had shown 9 grams as being the heaviest a coin could be and circulate effectively.

I believe that theory to be wrong. While the Eisenhower dollar was big and bulky, the real reason it didn't circulate is that the $1 note still existed. While making it smaller was probably a good idea, I believe if they had picked a size similar to Canada's, it might have caught on. With a circulation coin larger than 25 cents, perhaps arcades could still be profitable....

Definitely an interesting idea. Certainly might help around the margins.

Are there still Dave and Busters around? They were just getting started when I was in high school in the late '90s, at least where I grew up. At first, the concept of an adult arcade wasn't entirely locked down and there were a lot of kids there. The games were like nothing you could get from a console and really made it worthwhile for a visit.

But before too long the owners made it clear they'd prefer adults (who could drink) and started cracking down on the kids. I guess adults proved a less reliable demo for whatever reason, because the chain doesn't exist in my area anymore. And before they disappeared they developed a reputation for fights and drunkenness.

But they took care of the price problem by putting everything on a card and abstracting the cost of the game ("100 'points' per play," and a point might cost 2.5 cents or something.)

Anyway, I can imagine someone else taking the Dave and Busters concept, making it friendlier for kids, and perhaps having some kind of success. It's an uphill battle, but it's a start.
 
I do know that arcades are still more common in Japan for some reason...I think maybe these Gundam simluation pods could be a factor...
 
I do know that arcades are still more common in Japan for some reason...I think maybe these Gundam simluation pods could be a factor...

It's because Japan has huge population density, making staying at home less common. The places where arcades died last in America were the places with high pop density like California and NYC.

And arcades are starting to suffer in Japan now, due to the rise of mobile.

You'd need a POD that ups the pop of the US to at least 500 mil in current territory by 2000 for arcades to survive in the US.
 
Definitely an interesting idea. Certainly might help around the margins.

Are there still Dave and Busters around? They were just getting started when I was in high school in the late '90s, at least where I grew up. At first, the concept of an adult arcade wasn't entirely locked down and there were a lot of kids there. The games were like nothing you could get from a console and really made it worthwhile for a visit.

But before too long the owners made it clear they'd prefer adults (who could drink) and started cracking down on the kids. I guess adults proved a less reliable demo for whatever reason, because the chain doesn't exist in my area anymore. And before they disappeared they developed a reputation for fights and drunkenness.

But they took care of the price problem by putting everything on a card and abstracting the cost of the game ("100 'points' per play," and a point might cost 2.5 cents or something.)

Anyway, I can imagine someone else taking the Dave and Busters concept, making it friendlier for kids, and perhaps having some kind of success. It's an uphill battle, but it's a start.

There's still a Dave & Busters in Milpitas, CA, near San Jose, but as far as I know it's the only one left in the Bay Area. I do see a surprisingly regular amount of advertising for it here though. Kinda like Sonic - there's also like one left in the Bay Area, but there are Sonic ads running at least once an hour on SF networks.

Are there any other adult-oriented arcade chains like D&B in other parts of the US?
 
It's because Japan has huge population density, making staying at home less common. The places where arcades died last in America were the places with high pop density like California and NYC.

And arcades are starting to suffer in Japan now, due to the rise of mobile.

You'd need a POD that ups the pop of the US to at least 500 mil in current territory by 2000 for arcades to survive in the US.

Maybe Europe would be slightly easier, given the higher population density? Europe also has less working hours than Japan and (possibly?) less disposable income than America, so kids would tend to spend pocket change on arcades than badger their parents for a few hundred Dollars/Euros for a console + games.

As for moblie/handheld gaming, maybe arcades would grow a 'sitting area' for wireless multiplayer? A small section of the building, seperate from the cabinets, with tables and seats like a cafe, but no real food, maybe just a drinks machine, for arcade goers looking to either rest their feet or play on their handheld. Useful for things like Streetpass if you don't live in a city, and being able to sit down with your friends for a drink could keep them in the arcade for longer. I know, it's a little devious, but I think it makes sense.
 
We just opened a Dave and Buster's here. There are lots of games at a local fun park- though they also have laser tag, miniature golf and other stuff. There's still Chuck E. Cheese's here too- originally a Showbiz Pizza.
 
Top