Starting a Classic Game Room

[wmartin]

Hello All,

     I'm starting this thread because I have plans on starting a Classic Arcade Game Room in Wisconsin. I already work for a vendor and have done so for over 10 Years. I want to start a game room because I worked for a Corporate Vendor, and all they care about it money. Yes money is important for a business but when you start to become greedy like this company it's a problem. My company just sent out an email stating how much money we made this year and WOW it's a lot. The worst part is they want to increase cost to play games and increase cost of prizes. I don't agree with this since everyday there a many families that want to play but can't due to most of the games costing $2 or more for 1 credit. I'm fed up with the greed and plan to open my own classic arcade that will allow anyone no matter how much money you make to come an play and have a great time. I'm still about a year or so away from my goal, but I wanted some ideas and tips on how I can make this place just amazing for everyone. I do have plans to donate % of revenue to various organizations out there, such as Autism Society for example and many more. I also plan to hold tournements and game building contests. I would love to hear feed back and any ideas for this. i really want to make this place the best I can not only for the community but also for all the people out there that love an enjoy classic games as much as I do.

[mrdude]

Sounds like you have good intentions. I think you'll need to determine your demographics first. Families? Young kids? Yuppies? The 21+ night crowd? etc.  The games are the attraction, but typically not where the money will be made with a lot of these places these days. Food, liquor, etc is what will keep cash flowing in and the business making money. Some places have cover charges and all of the games are on free play. If everything is on coin play at the old rates, it might be enough to keep the games up and running to buy parts and such.

You mentioned making donations, perhaps if you ran it as a non-profit it might be easier? I'm not sure how that would work on the business side. Or perhaps even partner with another business that has space for 20+ games and split the earnings?

Good luck and keep us updated!