Arcade Outside the Dealer Room
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Posted by lanefan marimaccadmin
#26

marimaccadmin wrote:
I can't really confirm any specific machines....although.....if you DON'T want to see a Gauntlet Legends machine, you maybe shouldn't go over there.
Please also do not forget that room 140 will be filled with arcade machines on free play, for only $4 an hour.  The hallway is just a nice little taste. :)
Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC
Will generics do for paying the $4 per hour?

Posted by brotherbock lanefan
#27

lanefan wrote:
marimaccadmin wrote:
I can't really confirm any specific machines....although.....if you DON'T want to see a Gauntlet Legends machine, you maybe shouldn't go over there.
Please also do not forget that room 140 will be filled with arcade machines on free play, for only $4 an hour.  The hallway is just a nice little taste. :)
Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC
Will generics do for paying the $4 per hour?

All payment is made in tickets, none in cash money. I can't imagine this is the sort of thing that time-specific tickets would be necessary. 

Posted by marimaccadmin
#28

Generics are completely fine.  There are time specific tickets, but those aren't really necessary.  It's unlikely the room would be at capacity but theoretically if that were to happen, people with actual timed tickets would be allowed in first.  Again, I really don't anticipate that happening.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

Posted by turbostar
#29

$4 isn't a bad deal.  Wasn't it like $15 per hour in years past?

Posted by aldctjoc garhkal
#30

garhkal wrote:
aldctjoc wrote:
Ahh, Gauntlet. If they'd only do a live event of it. It'd be like the best of both cosplay and LARP! :D

Don't they do something in that vein with True dungeon?

You see, that's my original joke. I just rewrote it for Gauntlet. You can't be an efficient comedian if you don't plagiarize your own stash. :D

Posted by garhkal rodoubleb
#31

rodoubleb wrote:
Iron Wolf?  I must have been thinking of the ground breaking stand up coaster at Six Flags from the 90s.
Of course I meant OPERATION Wolf, where you get to shoot that cool Uzi with grenade launcher that had rumble action before that was a thing.  

I liked that one, though not as much as the scrolling T2 one..

 

Posted by tdb turbostar
#32

turbostar wrote:
$4 isn't a bad deal.  Wasn't it like $15 per hour in years past?

That depends.  For me, $4 an hour is a bargain compared to what I used to spend in arcades.  But I remember seeing someone play Pac-Man for 45 minutes on one quarter back in the day, so for that fellow it wouldn't be much of a deal.
 

Posted by marimaccadmin turbostar
#33

turbostar wrote:
$4 isn't a bad deal.  Wasn't it like $15 per hour in years past?

Well, the room with games on LAN and the Internet, and consoles, is $8 an hour; the old school arcade is $4.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

Posted by crusader77
#34

The X-Men Arcade game and TMNT were my two fav's

Posted by garhkal crusader77
#35

crusader77 wrote:
The X-Men Arcade game and TMNT were my two fav's

Which Xmen one.  The multi-screen version or the single one?

Posted by brotherbock tdb
#36

tdb wrote:
turbostar wrote:
$4 isn't a bad deal.  Wasn't it like $15 per hour in years past?

That depends.  For me, $4 an hour is a bargain compared to what I used to spend in arcades.  But I remember seeing someone play Pac-Man for 45 minutes on one quarter back in the day, so for that fellow it wouldn't be much of a deal.
 

I hit 45 min on one quarter on Elevator Action. I put that on scholarship applications. 

Posted by garhkal brotherbock
#37

brotherbock wrote:
tdb wrote:
turbostar wrote:
$4 isn't a bad deal.  Wasn't it like $15 per hour in years past?

That depends.  For me, $4 an hour is a bargain compared to what I used to spend in arcades.  But I remember seeing someone play Pac-Man for 45 minutes on one quarter back in the day, so for that fellow it wouldn't be much of a deal.

I hit 45 min on one quarter on Elevator Action. I put that on scholarship applications. 

I've known people like that.  heck when i was stationed in NoB, i often hit one of the arcades near Mil Circle mall, and (can't remember the name of the game) could go 2-3 hrs playing it for a buck...

Posted by nialith
#38

Had a friend who was just stupid good at Robotron which was in our local grocery store. He would gather so many lives, he'd let us play for a bit, lose horribly, and then he'd take over and just build up the lives again. 

Posted by garhkal
#39

As a somewhat related q..  How many own arcade games and have them at home?  How much do they normally run?

Posted by unsoundergnome garhkal
#40

garhkal wrote:
As a somewhat related q..  How many own arcade games and have them at home?  How much do they normally run?
Kind of depends on the game and the condition and whether or not it is an original or a MAME machine or something.  Maybe $400+.  Pricing can really be all over the place though.  Rare games can be thousands of dollars.

Posted by aaronmlopez garhkal
#41

garhkal wrote:
As a somewhat related q..  How many own arcade games and have them at home?  How much do they normally run?

Personally, when my man-cave is finished, I will be getting the X-Arcade cabinet. The cabinet runs $2700 but includes 250 games which is a much better deal than buying individual cabinets at $400+ apiece. The controllers are indestructible and have a lifetime warranty. When I worked for an arcade as a repair person years ago, controllers were what broke most. Hopefully the machines at Gen Con will have some decent controllers so they don't break half way through the convention.

Posted by p3ndrag0n marimaccadmin
#42

marimaccadmin wrote:
I can't really confirm any specific machines....although.....if you DON'T want to see a Gauntlet Legends machine, you maybe shouldn't go over there.
Please also do not forget that room 140 will be filled with arcade machines on free play, for only $4 an hour.  The hallway is just a nice little taste. :)
Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

So how does this work?  is there a sweep of the room every hour on the hour?  If I come in at 430, do I play until 530?

And to be honest,  4 bucks an hour is ok I guess, but hell I can go an hour on Galaga on 1-3 quarters  :)

Posted by marimaccadmin
#43

They give you I believe a wristband with the time on it, and they go and check the room periodically.  They don't clear the room, and if you're one minute over, they aren't going to make you stop in the middle of your game, but they will walk around checking wristbands.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

Posted by rogersba aaronmlopez
#44

aaronmlopez wrote:Personally, when my man-cave is finished, I will be getting the X-Arcade cabinet. The cabinet runs $2700 but includes 250 games which is a much better deal than buying individual cabinets at $400+ apiece. The controllers are indestructible and have a lifetime warranty. When I worked for an arcade as a repair person years ago, controllers were what broke most. Hopefully the machines at Gen Con will have some decent controllers so they don't break half way through the convention.

X-Arcade has a very low reputation in the arcade collectors groups. They are way, way overpriced and their controls are not great quality (you'll be using that warranty). Their control interfaces have problems with ghosting and handling multi-button presses. Since you have some background, you'd probably be better off buying a cheaper mutii-cab like the one they occasionally have at Costco and swapping out the sticks.

Or, if you (or anyone else here) like projects, you can start at pretty much any level and build up. You can build a cabinet or buy one off Craigslist. You can hunt down a CRT or put in an LCD. You can easily buy a 60-in-1 board or go the PC+MAME route. You can get whatever controls you want from places like Focus Attack or Paradise Arcade Shop, including programmable LED lighting. Plus you can have custom artwork. The hobby is in a big upswing with the advent of 3D printing, short run PCBs, etc. There's even a new "Dexter" board that will allow owners of Dragon's Lair or Space Ace to replace their failing laserdiscs with sd cards.

The folks running the arcade events at Gen Con would be happy to give you recommendations. You can also hit up either forums.arcade-museum.com or look for a local Facebook group. There are also arcade expos all over the country. The largest one near Indy is Louisville Arcade Expo in early March.

Posted by rogersba garhkal
#45

garhkal wrote:
As a somewhat related q..  How many own arcade games and have them at home?  How much do they normally run?

I have 3 arcade cabinets and 3 pinballs:
Neo-Geo 2-slot with Samurai Shodown, Magician's Lord, Puzzle Bobble, and Metal Slug
Tron
MAME Cabinet with 25" CRT and 2 player, 6 button controls
Bally El Toro pinball
Data East Star Wars pinball
Midway World Cup Soccer pinball

And I'm a "small" collector. One of the guys running the hallway arcade has a whole warehouse full!

Prices vary wildly. For working cabinets, you can get less popular titles starting around $200, all the way up to what most consider the holy grail: the Atari Star Wars in the full cockpit is $2500 - $4000. Brand new arcades are rare and start $5000+, with the relatively new Star Wars Battle Pod costing a jaw-dropping $35000.

Pins start around $500 for something working and go up depending on rarity and condition. There are several companies making new pins. The latest big game, Ghostbusters, is $9000-15000 depending on options.

The biggest challenge if you want to get into retro arcade is the CRTs. Nobody makes tubes anymore due to environmental regulations, not even in China. We do everything we can to keep tubes alive or harvest them from compatible TVs before they reach the landfill. Most other circuit components are common enough that boards can usually be repaired if you're handy with a soldering iron and a logic probe.

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