FB: Trans4Materia Card Game I invented "Circling Vulture, Laughing Hyena"
True story, it happened to a friend of a friend of mine... EVERYBODY!
Should I ask my local arcade about it's supplier?
What price range do they run at?
They plug into normal wall outlets, right?
What would I need/need to do if I were to start my own arcade?Arcades seem to be a dying business. around here anyways.
Ka-Tra


TheProphet, GGs my friend. Give'em Hell.
Where would I go to buy them?
Should I ask my local arcade about it's supplier?
What price range do they run at?
They plug into normal wall outlets, right?
What would I need/need to do if I were to start my own arcade?Arcades seem to be a dying business. around here anyways.
Ka-Tra
Can buy off of Ebay, or go to any local suppliers, but I would bet local suppliers only sell them once they are too crappy to use any more.
If you get a beat up one you can go to places like happcontrols.com to order buttons and joysticks. That stuff is actually pretty cheap.
They plug into normal wall outlets.
And starting your own arcade? That could be tough. I guess find a spot you can rent, and find a source for machines. Either get a supplier to rotate machines in and out or try to buy a few. Websites and stores that sell them in working order charge a lot, I just saw MK3 for $1425 (and MK1 for $1500) on a website today, which seems outrageous to me.
Find the boards on ebay, get buttons from happ, and get the boxes from ebay and suppliers maybe.
It would probably take a bunch of money to get an arcade started. Depending on where you would probably have to go to the town for permits and stuff also, and get any place you rent or buy checked out for occupancy rules.
FB: Trans4Materia Card Game I invented "Circling Vulture, Laughing Hyena"
True story, it happened to a friend of a friend of mine... EVERYBODY!
*edit: How technologically inclined would I have to be to properly maintain a machine?
Ka-Tra
Most arcade suppliers sell or lease brand new games. If you're wanting something new like Tekken 5 or Ghost Squad then you could go through them, but that's like well over $3,000. If you're wanting old games then they probably won't be able to help you.
The price varies. It really just depends on how much you're willing to pay. I've bought old crappy games that barely work for 100 dollars and I've bought nearly perfect big name games for over 1,000.
They plug into walls, but most are that 3 prong type.
To start a business you'd need lots of money, a great location and a ton of luck. I've often had the same dream. It sadly isn't likely to come true. I think if you're serious about becoming an operator you should start working for one and then eventually start putting a few machines in businesses, like maybe one or two in a resturant or something.
And yes it does take a lot of technical skill. Your games WILL break and need new parts, especially if you're playing games that are 10 years old. I know next to nothing so I have to hire people to come fix them and that can be costly. I have 3 machines out of order right now.


TheProphet, GGs my friend. Give'em Hell.
I have been thinking about arcades quite a bit lately and how neat it would be to get involved with one starting. Always looking for more info about it.
The buttons and joystucks and such I know are easy. Monitor replacement seems annoying but I've seen how its done, what sort of other technical problems have you experienced?


- Your Source for UMK3 Competition -
When something better than UMK3 comes out, I'll let you all know, because it still hasn't happened yet.


TheProphet, GGs my friend. Give'em Hell.


FB: Trans4Materia Card Game I invented "Circling Vulture, Laughing Hyena"
True story, it happened to a friend of a friend of mine... EVERYBODY!
Are there any differences in price between arcade cabinets, and pinball machines?
Thanks for your input. I'm not even sure about this, I just get ideas sometimes. I'm kinda on a nostalgia trip. There's only one arcade left in my city, and I haven't gone to one in years.
Ka-Tra


Cool, look what I started. I hope your plans go smoothly.
Are there any differences in price between arcade cabinets, and pinball machines?
Yes. Pinball machines usually cost more because of the size and the flashing lights.


- Your Source for UMK3 Competition -
When something better than UMK3 comes out, I'll let you all know, because it still hasn't happened yet.
If I ever ran an arcade, every game would have the big screens with the set back far apart controls. Fantasy.
btw if you start an arcade you should get...
UMK3
MK2
Killer Instinct 1
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Street Fighter 3 - 3rd Strike
Life Force (old spaceship game)


AIM BustaUppa if you're up for some Kaillera (after 6 PM Eastern... can't slack off THAT much while I'm at work)
If I ever ran an arcade, every game would have the big screens with the set back far apart controls. Fantasy.
The year was 1995. The place was the Broadway Mall in Hicksville, NY. For months they had been clearing out this HUGE section of the mall, right by one of the entrances. I wondered what all the commotion was about. Finally they finished, and I was stunned when I finally went there again and saw it - what they did was take their tiny little "Sega's Time Out" of "Aladdin's Castle" or whatever it was, move all the games into that huge open area they had been clearing out, and order a ton of new games. It was frigging video game Shangri La the first time I saw that thing. For the hot new titles they would have multiple machines; they had a row of literally 8-10 Street Fighter Alpha cabinets, plus two of those Big Screen versions you described with the set back far apart controls. Actually most of the really big games would get that treatment - a whole row of normal cabinets, plus one or two of the big ones. They had a bunch of Tekken 3's plus a big one, they had the just-released Wresltemania The Arcade Game on a big one, and yes, they had Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on two big screens!!! It was madness!
But sadly, the problem was that it was just too much. The market wasn't alive enough to support such a wondrous thing. This was late '95, and arcades were dying. I guess the local morons didn't support it enough, because the mega arcade was gone before long. I forget what exactly became of the area, it's just some nondescript generic mall bullshit now. They moved the arcade to a smaller location downstairs before just getting rid of it altogether.
Damn. I'm gonna go cry now.


- Your Source for UMK3 Competition -
When something better than UMK3 comes out, I'll let you all know, because it still hasn't happened yet.
I will never ever forget that day mostly because of the cab.
Matt


AIM BustaUppa if you're up for some Kaillera (after 6 PM Eastern... can't slack off THAT much while I'm at work)
http://www.carobinson.com/games/ATARI%20-%20SHOWCASE%2033%201993.jpg
This kind of cabinet?
Oh and another fine "big screen" memory... in 8th grade my science class had a field trip to Six Flags Great Adventure, for "Physics Day" or something like that. Anyway we split into groups and decided to meet back by one of the arcades at the end of the day. So my group gets there first and WHAM, there it is, big-screen MK3. Asked the guy playing if I could join in and he was like "sure." So the vs. matches began... I didn't know much about the game back then, but I knew enough to do most of the special moves and put on a decent show. With my classmates cheering me on I got a sweet 5-win streak against a few human opponents. I wanted to really wow the crowds with some fatalities, but that was right when the second revision of the game came out and they changed all the finisher commands.
Ah, it was glorious! Man I gotta find a local cabinet. I could check United Skates in my area to see if they have UMK3... that was where I first saw the game; I'd be kinda suprised if they still had it but its worth a shot. And oh... oh oh.... Fun Zone... I got a tip from someone here on the board that Fun Zone has a MK3 machine. My sister confirmed this, because her youth group went to that Fun Zone the other night and she told me that she played it!!! She said it "might have been" Ultimate... now I just gotta interrogate her a little bit... show her some select screens in MAME and see if it was in fact UMK3 or just regular MK3. Man, if it turns out it IS UMK3 I gotta try and stir up some local competitive action...




AIM BustaUppa if you're up for some Kaillera (after 6 PM Eastern... can't slack off THAT much while I'm at work)
yes fun zone has an umk3 machine, and i believe mk4, might even still hav mk2. havent been there in a long time. im really surprised westbury nathans dont hav one of the classics.
And yeah, I feel kinda betrayed by the Westbury Nathans! I went there recently and there was no MK representation whatsoever. Just SoulCalibur II, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and everything else was basically DDR or a racing/gun game. They used to have two rows of classic old-schoolers like Aliens and Wrestlefest, but no more. Oh well. So many MK memories there... I always got so excited when my old youth group would go there after church. Most of the people would go across the street to Taco Bell and McDonalds, but me and a few others were always like "screw that, we're going to the arcade!" I'd play some MK and Street Fighter and Darkstalkers, usually with a little miniature cheering section of fellow youth-group members, and then we'd run across the street to meet everyone else by the fast food places. Ah, good times.