Free Play Arcade-Orientated Club

dav09

Hi folks, so last year I looked into running one off events yearly/bi yearly with crazy cool cabinets. I looked very hard into this, doing out a business plan, collecting cabinets, but came up short on a few areas. Insurance was a big one, transporting stuff on my own, it seemed a lot to take one for one person and probably would have meant leaving a stable job and a huge financial risk if it failed and couldn't find anyone else committed to doing this that I knew, I hope someone else takes the idea had and I love albeit different, see the likes of what the lads up in Base and what they're doing. Having said that, I've done a lot of work on another idea that I think might work out, but will need some support in terms of attendance in the future.

My idea is to create a permanent free play club space as a dedicated Arcade. It would have some of the best arcade titles of all time and have been building towards this for quite some time now with a few setbacks along the way so far. I want it to have games that very few places in the world has, to maybe run competitions and let people bring their own machines and PCBs to if they want. The idea would be to have 70-80 cabinets making it the largest by far in Ireland (definitely starting with less). It would probably be open once a month only with maybe some private bookings in-between. I have a plan A, B and C with this, and still have some decisions to make as to what exact format and scale to go with.

Would people be willing to travel to something like this a few times a year? It would ideally be somewhere somewhat central in Ireland but that may not work out, I have a few potential places located and viewed, but without taking too much of a risk, a small-ish sized town would be the most risk averse location and maybe moving later if it was the right thing to do (it won't be near Dublin initially unfortunately).

The place doesn't need to make a profit, just pay the bills really, any extra will probably just be reinvested. I wonder would a yearly membership work/ if there would be any interest if it was affordable. Maybe have a charge of €25 as a one off fee if you don't want the yearly membership. Break even is about 150 people showing up per month.

What games would you like to see?

Here's a list of that I have acquired so far, I've spent a lot of money to try and make something like this happen and am very serious about doing this:

Outrun Sit-down Motion

Afterburner DLX

Initial D3 Cycraft SDLX

Initial D4 twin

Sega Rally

Tokyo Wars

Quick and Crash

Mario Kart Arcade GP2

Star Wars Cockpit

Maximum Tune 3

Virtua Fighter V

Candies

Neo Geo USA

Phoenix

Centipede

Asteroids

Stern TMNT

Paperboy

Guitar Hero

Tempest

Mortal Kombat 2

Tron

NBA Showtime

Wacca

Super Mario Bros

Donkey Kong

PAC Man

Gorf Original USA

2 Empty Midway Cabinet (to be decided)

Roughly 30 cabinets, would ideally like to add at least another 15/20 for opening.

Ones I'd like are Time Crisis 2, Manx TT, Outrun 2 SDLX, Daytona, Galaxian, Frogger, Defender, Crazy Taxi, F355 DLX, Track and Field, Baby PAC, Rally X, Japanese games, interactive games, few more candies, more pins, Simpsons and a few more. 

I have a few friends who have agreed to do some temporary trades of machines so that I can rotate what's in the place to keep it fresh.

Timeline would have it ready for middle of next year most likely. I am paying a silly amount of money for storage each month, so it wouldn't be much more of a risk/much extra to rent a space in a unit, and could use temporary event insurance for it. Have put a lot of thought and work into this over the past few months but looking for feedback before the next stage. Could integrate coffee, snacks to help bring in a little more money. Location wise still up for debate, if anyone has any leads on anywhere not too expensive in a decent location let me know as I said I've already viewed a number of sites, I wonder if people would travel regularly for this, and if a town (let's say the size of Ennis ~30k people) would be able to attract 150+ people per month to a spot like this open one weekend/or so per month , and would it last having 70/80 cabinets. Thoughts, opinions, suggestions?

Inviere

We tend to see these ideas pop up every few years, and invariably fizzle out. That said, you're in the unique position of having the goods to make this work dav. When this has come up in the past, I'm not sure there was ever such a unique and varied collection available, so I think your idea definitely has merit here.

Based on the above, you mention it opening maybe once a month, excluding private bookings, and needing about 150 people per month. So excluding private bookings, as they're not exactly guaranteed, you need a very decent and very regular turnout. It seems high, certainly in the beginning stages anyway.

Would making a dedicated YT channel and Twitter account for this be a good way to get the boat actually moving? You could start showing the hardware, talk about the ideas and plans you have, start getting the idea passed around in arcade circles on said platforms, and so on. If you gave it a name, an identity and so on, it might generate a bit of a buzz and some anticipation around it. You should definitely video and record highlights if the night for the channel, and promote the heck out of it online. Look into some small local sponsorship too, every little helps.

As for other ideas, you could devote a corner for people to bring some retro consoles/computers too, so not only Arcade greatness, but a place to sit down and play/talk/chat about home hardware, play ports of arcade games, and so on.

High score competitions go without saying, with some prizes for winners etc.

Yearly subs would be a nice option for regular attendees, but I'd imagine it'll need to establish itself first to generate a bit of trust, so people know it won't collapse after 8 weeks after they've just paid for a year of access. Maybe dilute the idea down a bit to singular/nightly access, 3 month access, 6 month access, 9 month access, and yearly access...all available as options.

Maybe look at perks, that reward and incentivise higher subscriptions. Maybe top tier customers get to choose/have input on some of the games for a given month etc?

As for games, what I'd LOVE to see would be a Street Fighter wall, exactly like I remember from 25+ years ago. So SF2, CE, HF, SSF2, and SSF2T all beside each other, loud attract mode sounds, all begging for credits 😊 Even seeing them on basic woodie jamma cabs would be such a nostalgia trip. Even grow that out to a Capcom Corner, with classics like Final Fight etc all there too.

Sunset Riders, Chase HQ, Daytona, and an absolute must is a twin sit down Ridge Racer 2 if possible. Ah, one can dream...

Look there's tons of ideas, but as is always the case with these things, getting them off the launch pad is so difficult, and then maintaining a sustainable level of interest is just as tough. As I said above you've got the connections, the hardware, and the will to make this happen, so if there's anything any if us can do here to help, I'm sure we can do our best 👍

dav09

Cheers, yeah a lot of ideas get thrown around and never work out, I even had one similar a year back running events as mentioned but it just didn't go anywhere, costs ballooned to 5 figures starting off and a few roadblocks came up, so this might just end up being another one of those. I know I don't think I could ever go the arcade bar route again unless someone else did the bar/restaurant side, you wouldn't believe how much stress and effort it is and how massive the weekly breakeven point is of a place. The breakeven of 150 people excludes any uncertainties such as corporate bookings, cafe, etc. Have also approached numerous Enterprise Development boards and a few other outside the box routes to see what supports could be given to an idea to help ease the initial burden.

I think the idea here is I have a lot more time on my hands due to some circumstances and would like to do something positive and running a nice arcade would be ideal, I think starting small/test event would help, and building it from there if you get a good enough lease agreement, so yeah idea of yearly membership should be later on you're right.

I also know too from past experience, a lot of retro games just get completely overlooked, when we first launched the old arcade we had so many amazing titles, 20 Goliaths, Outrun, Manx, Sega Rally, but on a pay per play model people only seem to play either franchises/ titles they recognise along with newer flashy machines, besides a few who will come once for nostalgia.

The model I'm going for is completely different from what I've seen before, with no Bar/Restaurant, will that disincentivise a lot of people? I'm not sure if there's a way I could really integrate this with one of those but open to all ideas and suggestions. Without many interactive games that FEC's have, will people even be drawn to this. I think when someone does a decent Free Play arcade in Dublin, it will make a fortune, the issue is when you do that, costs rise astronomically to definitely far beyond a point I could manage. Even looking at Galway, rent prices just rule the place out realistically. So it would need to be the next biggest towns after that, definitely initially, and gauging interest/ if people would travel is difficult.

As for that socially, yeah that's definitely a great idea, I think I will do this anyway, and maybe send out feelers to see if people really would attend regular events or whether it is far fetched in the selected area, i have a youtube as is and could merge the content across that and the business.

Great suggestions too, those are some really fun ones. I really like the Capcom area idea, and an idea of having areas themed potentially either to eras or developers.

I would definitely need help, mostly in support if it were to happen. I think I'll definitely do something, whether it just ends up an area for friends/ small groups/boards meetups, etc. or is more fully fledged out like above remains to be seen.

o1s1n

Eirecade Club? too on the nose? 😁

This is the dream alright, I really wish you all the best and if there's anything I can help with, stick me down as another supporter. You've definitely got a hell of a lot more going for you than a lot of other people I've seen pitching such ideas.

Honestly the no bar/restaurant might be a bit refreshing, everyone there just for the games. Would have more of a meet type vibe to it than being in a loud bar which, although is fun, can be a bit annoying when you genuinely just want an evening playing games.

The sky is the limit really. Could have a 'bring your own PCB' section, with a few Jamma cabs with no games in them for folks to bring along their PCBs. (I'm just looking for excuses now to whip out Dinorex in an arcade!)

Inviere

Eirecade, brilliant 😎

tonyotonyo

Tying in to tournaments would be something I'd seriously look at. Street fighter being at the top as usual.

Plus it'd be free advertising across linked tounaments in different countries.

Seems to be that ssf 2 turbo is the go to version

http://www.goukipedia.com/basics/

I've had alpha3 running on a projector and it's pretty cool. No idea about input lags or anything like that, but it would make a good centrepiece.

dav09

Eircade Club, that sounds cool! As for Dinorex, we'll have the break it out for the launch event, make sure to bring that special PSU with it!

It would definitely be fun, have long thought over even a small test even somewhere if the insurance side was easy with even 20-30 cabs, see if the location is right and see how many people would come, and scale it later. I think the goal is to get some sort of unit where the rent is near what I pay in storage, it's sort of a win win then besides rates, electricity, etc.

In terms of PCBs, tournaments, etc, it would be cool to have that all community based, maybe have 3 Jamma cabs that for Hour 1 and 2 are the "bring your own game" while simultaneously having a competition on a driving game, and I'll have some of my PCBs too that we can swap in and out, while hour 3 and 4 could be some fighting competition on those 3 cabs. I'd like as many original PCBs as possible, but the likes of a Taito X2 Multi might be a workaround too as it has many of the Street Fighters emulated well with Fast I/O.

80s Synth Pop

Could be cheaper than storage companies. Maybe an industrial estate somewhere. I'd have an after burner climax dlx to add to it, a few xenon cabs, midway 4 player, naomi shootoutpool, outtrigger, virtua golf, monkeyball, wildriders

Where are you thinking?

I'd buy another 20 cabs and start dipping into pins if there was space.

Jack burton

The lads in Belfast in base arcade are doing Freeplay machines and prebook tickets online and doing well at it

Definitely a great idea

dav09

Wow that's absolutely fantastic and thanks for that, if I have a unit big enough (which I think I will) then absolutely would love that. I'm looking at either a Retail Unit or Industrial Unit more than likely, currently debating Ennis and Galway, industrial unit outside Galway or Retail Unit in the likes of Ennis from places I've viewed so far, somewhere between 700-1000sqft for start. Looking to buy a few more cabs myself and maybe run the first around October. Base is going well which is fantastic but thill be a lot different for sure. Hoping to make a call on this over the next week but I think I'll go ahead with it this time.

dav09

I've spent the past two weeks looking at units around Ennis, Galway, a few tempting but not confident there would be an audience big enough to sustain this. I am hoping to view a unit next week in Dublin, would that suit more here? It can fit roughly 60 games, would still be the same model, open 1 weekend a month, all Free Play.

o1s1n

If you open a unit in Dublin I'll be moving in and you'll never see the back of me. So just fair warning 😁

dav09

Fantastic! Yeah hoping to visit a unit next week, it's not in the center of town hoping people would be willing to take a bus to travel to it if it goes ahead.

Jack burton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120877791#Comment_120877791

That's probably better too. I don't live in Dublin and going to the city centre is a bit of a task 😂

Someplace people in dublin can get a bus to and people outside can drive too sounds ideal really to me, just IMO

dav09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120878896#Comment_120878896

Thats exactly the plan 😀

CathalDublin

Definitely be down for this, if it’s in Dublin I may even loan out my Defender(converted to multiwilliams) as it doesn’t get played anymore but I don’t want to sell it.

Damien-King

Im In Mayo but I'd be tempted to take a spin down. Would beers afterwards be an option for anyone?

dav09

Yeah I will definitely do something but to what scale/type is the question along with location, hoping to view somewhere in Dublin this week. Picked up another 5 cabs this week Top Skater, F355 Deluxe, Outrun 2, Street Fighter 1 (Original USA) and a Club Kart Naomi to add to the list, want a bunch of different and unique cabs and would certainly take a lend of a Defender for sure (I am fairly useless and that game and a lot of those era Williams games, difficult games but fun for sure).

As for after party sounds good, either to an Arcade bar or something else after would be sweet.

o1s1n

An F355 Deluxe? that's another absolute monster! I remember Star Amusements in Bray had one of them for years.

Best of luck with the viewing 😀

RobbingBandit

Definitely be careful with you machines don't just open a thing like this to randoms as you open yourselves up to stuff getting damaged.

Sounds like a fun idea used to love arcade machines in Dr Quirkes in late 90s

dav09

Yeah I really wanted as many Sega DLX and Super DLX cabs as possible, Outrun, Afterburner, F355 and Initial D Cycraft is a super cool lineup imo, I think now the only thing left to get for me would be just Outrun 2 SDLX, but I don't have room for it at the minute. There's a few more but aren't realistic either.

Yeah I've a decent amount of experience with arcades and also do repairs around the country, honestly not too much damage happens, they are built fairly robust besides people stealing wheels, outrun 2 Ferrari Logo, etc. have seen some bizarre ones though like a snapped steering column on an Outrun 2 (something I thought was physically impossible) and people spilling drinks down cabs and trying to clean PCBs of that.

KeRbDoG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120926528#Comment_120926528

You are starting to sound like someone we should let you know our wishlist/grail cab, should you come across one on your travels :D

dav09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120926661#Comment_120926661

Absolutely! To be honest I've collected 90% of my own grail cabs if not more, almost everything else are just pipe dream cabs (although I thought the same with Afterburner DLX and Cycraft so you'd never know). There's still tonnes of cabs in Ireland, UK and places like Italy if you're willing to pallet ship or willing to take on a project. USA+Japan too if you can share shipping containers or LCL. If anyone ever wants me to find cabs let me know and will point you in the right direction if I can!

tonyotonyo

Speaking of containers, sibling moved to Japan there so that's a new pipeline, the spice will flow.

To hell with all those proxy websites and fees coming out the arse, I'll have them going round in vacuum cleaner mode instead. Gonna get way easier from now

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120923724#Comment_120923724

When looking for locations don't forget parking. Lots of industrial units have very limited parking so getting enough space for a few hundred people could be difficult, a retail unit could have more parking but the other businesses might not be happy with your customers parking for several hours.

Jack burton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120947330#Comment_120947330

Thats a good point. I'm part of a gym and we have a unit in an industrial estate and parking is limited enough during the day.

After 5pm and weekends though theres tons of spaces so it definitely would impact your hours to open id reckon. I think an arcade like this would operate off peak work hours though.

dav09

Very true, most spots I've looked at so far have been close to towns with plenty of parking/public transport. Having multiple sessions might be one way to accommodate more people if parking isn't ideal. One or two left to visit before making a final decision on what shape this will take. Would like to try something near a big city and open it publicly but worried it would fizzle out after a while without a bar/restaurant just being an arcade. Worst case scenario I will buy a unit and do more low-key events in mid 2024.

CathalDublin

Not sure what your budget is, but while looking at a unit for something completely different, I’ve come across this, easily accessible, loads of parking, flexible lease, no management or hidden fees, seems ideal for something like this.

https://www.daft.ie/commercial-property-for-rent/dublin-industrial-estate-glasnevin-dublin-11-glasnevin-dublin-11/4518233

dav09

Cheers Cathal, have been away this weekend but looks nice, I think out of budget for me though, I want to make sure I can pay the rent before people come in the door from wages to minimize risk, which definitely complicates the Dublin idea.

Something else to add, believe it may also came from the old Atari Expo, Ridge Racer DLX (I think, it's not the small form factor one anyway)

Shapey Fiend

I'm in Ennis so that'd suit me! I'd try talking to everybody else running arcades in Ireland, and the Arcade Club in the UK really work out any problems beforehand before you end up in a hole financially. In a small country like this I think it's important try and think broadly because 40 year old plus dedicated retro nerds may not be your bread and butter. Older people have life commitments and while they'll say they're dying to play Donkey Kong it'll probably get way less interest than some middle of the road Fast & Furious racing cabinet. Most arcades in Ireland are subsidized by food/drink (a challenging business lots of staff) or a playcenter and bowling. If you have things set to freeplay there's potential for kids to wreck things hanging off joysticks etc.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121050506#Comment_121050506

Some of us are still clinging on to our dwindling very late 30s thank you very much 😁

It's a really good point though. If you go into Token it's mostly younger folks. The people who are actually pining to play games from their childhood again are probably at home most nights with their kids and not able to head out much.

Saying that, Token is still full of mostly old games and everyone seems more than happy to play them. Really does have a lot going for it location wise though and they do subsidise everything with food and drink.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975956#Comment_120975956

Jaysus man, another classic! Love that a lot of these have come from sites around Ireland. It's a bit special.

You must have one of the best hoards of larger DX machines now in the country.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121050685#Comment_121050685

Embrace your 40s man.....where things really actually were better back in our day 😁

dav09

Thanks folks, I'm not too far from 30 myself but yeah most of the Arcade hey day was before my generation. I went to a retro console/ E Sports event on a trip to London recently and was also an eye opener, will implement things I seen there into this. Trying to think outside the box with this as much as possible as for years it's been proven in the UK stand alone arcades just don't work. This thing has actually sort of spawned from trying to think outside the box as I rent a couple of units that I could put towards just renting one unit accessible to the public. I have been involved with some arcades here too, and I know well that certain good games only get played by people 40+ for nostalgia (i.e. Golden Axe, Shinobi) and those people will likely visit once a year if even. What I've learned is generally important is a recognizable theme (Pacman, Spiderman, Time Crisis, Simpsons) and interactive cabinets (music games, drivers, gun games, etc). The DLX thing is just something I personally want to collect, will probably just operate 2/3 of them as a sot of center piece ideally Cycraft, Afterburner DLX and Ridge Racer most likely, maybe eventually swap in and out the other few. I know cabinets I have like Paperboy won't get a lot of play, I suppose again more or a center piece as it's rare along with some other bits.

I have absolutely 0 interest in the likes of E Sports or Fortnite but I know those LAN setups work well, I suppose the main thing is to keep it hardcore arcade focused, but maybe have some other things on the side to keep it all viable, have looked at partnering with some people to potentially run that side of it. I'm definitely taking my time with it as I don't want to get it wrong, hence why I'm aiming next year.

Shapey Fiend

Token are doing corporate events/work do's/parties and wedding functions as well.

They're so busy in there now and quite space restricted so I don't think it matters what mix they have everything gets played.

Just going on anecdotal stuff I've heard the guy runs Arcade Heroes and maybe the guy runs Level Up in Limerick said. Older people will come once in a blue moon but the more traditional stuff doesn't get as much interested as the more modern stuff. I'm old and I make a beeline towards Mai Mai and Groove Coaster myself as well cos I can't play those at home.

DaveyDave

...

CathalDublin

The lads up the north running base arcade have a good business model, would you consider something similar?

1 weekend/month ticketed event. They tend to keep the same venue and have storage space in the same building for most the machines, finding that venue, transport and storage is the difficult bit though.

for anyone who hasn’t been or doesn’t know about it, check it out here

https://basearcade.com/