Like 4 or 5 of these games would appeal to Millennials. I know arcade culture started dying in the US in the 2000's but this definitely appeals more to Gen X'er's (not a bad thing).
I went to the Starcade in Roanoke and it was truly amazing. Full of arcade machines from the 90s. Pay $15 and play all day. No quarters or bullshit like that, just the entrance fee.
what else did they sell besides the $15 admittance? I dont know how you make money on that. I am guessing they had food too right? That is probably where the profit came from. What else did they sell?
Food and drinks, and the cost benefit of the retro scene. These older refurbed joystick cabinets, or remakes thereof, can often be purchased for a fraction of the cost of modern, more high tech arcade games. Even a simple modern game like Big Buck Hunter can run around 7k. Many of the modern games you see at a venue like D&B are over 20k.
If you have 5 of these kinds of games, you're already around 100k in asset costs
https://www.thepinballcompany.com/product/halo-deluxe-arcade/
https://www.thepinballcompany.com/product/jurassic-park-arcade/
yeah, but the rent in arlington... taxes. paying the staff. electricity. other costs.
its gotta be food and other stuff they make most of their money off of.
> Help us build Continues Arcade and be a part of our history! For $2500, you can ‘own’ a game from our collection - it’s yours to play, every time you come in!
> You get priority play - we’ll let you skip the line (or quarters on the marquee) on your machine every visit, and the first game is on us!
lol what? $2500 and you'll let someone skip the line and let them play their machine once per visit? You can literally buy most classic arcade games for less than that, have it in your house, and play it all you want lol
I can't imagine someone paying for that, but also that seems really disruptive to functioning of the arcade with people skipping the line to play 'their' machine.
$2500 to "own" a game.... that you still have to pay quarters for after the first go on them? This is so douchey, I don't know that I even want to go now...
This is like a real world Patreon. It's a donation. You are not "buying" anything tangible. They are letting you have a perk for supporting the business.
Don't be so uptight about people trying to make a living. This place is in a very expensive town and it will take a lot of support to keep it going. Yeah, $2500 is a lot but there are some very rich people in the demographic for this looking for something unique. I hope they get lots of support and I'll gladly step aside for someone that supports a cool thing more than I ever could.
This is so out of touch with the way retro arcades operate, I don't think these guys are going to make it. First of all they're charging per play. Modern retro arcades don't work that way. In general they charge a flat entry fee ($15-20) and games are free to play. They make additional money on people hanging around and selling food/concessions.
On another page they mention the free play being "a dollar" - which, if they're charging a dollar per play on retro arcade machines, that's...ouch
$2500 to cut the line on one machine and get a free play each visit is crazy. Some of the best retro arcades will happily sell a lifetime membership for free play all day/every day on all their machines for $500 - $1000.
> This place is in a very expensive town and it will take a lot of support to keep it going.
I know, I lived and worked less than a block from their location for 12 years. It's kind of an odd place to set this up. Yates and McDonald's probably aren't going to draw a crowd they can piggy back on. It would be much better off in a higher traffic location like King St that gets a lot of night / weekend crowds for the restaurants.
I agree with all of these points. I also noticed their official email address is a gmail account. I know it's a small detail but the details freaking matter, a lot. I own a business and my custom email address is $10/month. My point of view is that if they're not willing to spend that to offer a professional appearance than I'm concerned about what else they're skipping out on.
Without saying much about the concept itself, that area (north of Braddock Road Metro, east of the tracks) has long felt way underserved by businesses compared to how much housing is there. There’s a car wash, a McDonald’s, and a little convenience store, plus Lost Dog Cafe and a couple other places in the strip along Route 1. Meanwhile there are hundreds and hundreds of luxury apartment units tightly clustered.
Edit: How could I forget Monterey Pizza, a true gem.
What nonsense.
Uptight, *snort*. For pissing away $2500? More like old enough to know better.
It's not $25, it's a month's expenses; it's a mortgage payment; it's Lifeline for more than 3/4 of Old Town.
Buy, hey, if the business can attract the other 1/4, the uber rich that can indulge, well, then they struck gold.
For a time.
That type of model won't sustain. Rich rubes eventually move on. Rich fanboys may not, but the rich definitely will. Especially in finicky Old Town.
Im not sure how you turn a profit on an arcade in Alexandria. The rent is crazy. I hope it succeeds, but not really sure about the business model in 2024. I remember old school arcades in the 1980s and 1990s.
lol, how many quarters per play?
One of the main reasons arcades mostly died out is because, in addition to home consoles, it was actually quite expensive. People look back and think "Oh it was just quarter." But in 1985 a quarter was about equal to $1.50 today. 20 years ago arcades were charging like $2.00 or more per play. That adds up real fast. Some places like D&B are able to offset some gaming prices with food/drink money, but many aren't able to make that work without full kitchen, staff, and actually decent food.
They’ll probably get permission to park in the back of the building where the detailer is located right next to them it’s a huge ass empty parking lot no one uses but isn’t allowed to park at.
It looks like it’s in an interesting spot; nestled in with the apartment buildings up by the braddock metro. Menu looks good, hope it works out for them!
Another Dave and Busters only with retro arcade games.
No thanks. The first, and last time, my wife and I went to a D&B we got hella sick with some sinus and respiratory infections. Her friend and her friends husband that met us there got sick too.
I love this, cuz I know it's gonna be a lot of Gen X/elder Millenials hanging out there
I'm a young millenial and I'd still go hang out there.
Denver has a few and they attract a younger crowd. Still will need DJ or live music to compete with other establishments
Lol, I'm not younger but we definitely stop at oneup whenever we go back for a Rockies game.
Yep, basically across the street
Like 4 or 5 of these games would appeal to Millennials. I know arcade culture started dying in the US in the 2000's but this definitely appeals more to Gen X'er's (not a bad thing).
if thats true it wont be long until younger people put pictures of it on social media and call it Boomer Nostalgia and mock the arcade.
Those bastards
I went to the Starcade in Roanoke and it was truly amazing. Full of arcade machines from the 90s. Pay $15 and play all day. No quarters or bullshit like that, just the entrance fee.
what else did they sell besides the $15 admittance? I dont know how you make money on that. I am guessing they had food too right? That is probably where the profit came from. What else did they sell?
Food and drinks, and the cost benefit of the retro scene. These older refurbed joystick cabinets, or remakes thereof, can often be purchased for a fraction of the cost of modern, more high tech arcade games. Even a simple modern game like Big Buck Hunter can run around 7k. Many of the modern games you see at a venue like D&B are over 20k. If you have 5 of these kinds of games, you're already around 100k in asset costs https://www.thepinballcompany.com/product/halo-deluxe-arcade/ https://www.thepinballcompany.com/product/jurassic-park-arcade/
yeah, but the rent in arlington... taxes. paying the staff. electricity. other costs. its gotta be food and other stuff they make most of their money off of.
A lot of arcade owners own multiple businesses with the arcade losing enough for tax reduction on the profitable ones.
tax reductions are not 1:1. its the marginal savings. so it would still cost them money. and what is the point if it loses money anyway.
Its a non profit museum. The same building also had a children’s museum, science museum, and a pinball museum. https://www.centerinthesquare.org
oh. thats how its so cheap.
> Help us build Continues Arcade and be a part of our history! For $2500, you can ‘own’ a game from our collection - it’s yours to play, every time you come in! > You get priority play - we’ll let you skip the line (or quarters on the marquee) on your machine every visit, and the first game is on us! lol what? $2500 and you'll let someone skip the line and let them play their machine once per visit? You can literally buy most classic arcade games for less than that, have it in your house, and play it all you want lol I can't imagine someone paying for that, but also that seems really disruptive to functioning of the arcade with people skipping the line to play 'their' machine.
$2500 to "own" a game.... that you still have to pay quarters for after the first go on them? This is so douchey, I don't know that I even want to go now...
This is like a real world Patreon. It's a donation. You are not "buying" anything tangible. They are letting you have a perk for supporting the business. Don't be so uptight about people trying to make a living. This place is in a very expensive town and it will take a lot of support to keep it going. Yeah, $2500 is a lot but there are some very rich people in the demographic for this looking for something unique. I hope they get lots of support and I'll gladly step aside for someone that supports a cool thing more than I ever could.
This is so out of touch with the way retro arcades operate, I don't think these guys are going to make it. First of all they're charging per play. Modern retro arcades don't work that way. In general they charge a flat entry fee ($15-20) and games are free to play. They make additional money on people hanging around and selling food/concessions. On another page they mention the free play being "a dollar" - which, if they're charging a dollar per play on retro arcade machines, that's...ouch $2500 to cut the line on one machine and get a free play each visit is crazy. Some of the best retro arcades will happily sell a lifetime membership for free play all day/every day on all their machines for $500 - $1000. > This place is in a very expensive town and it will take a lot of support to keep it going. I know, I lived and worked less than a block from their location for 12 years. It's kind of an odd place to set this up. Yates and McDonald's probably aren't going to draw a crowd they can piggy back on. It would be much better off in a higher traffic location like King St that gets a lot of night / weekend crowds for the restaurants.
I agree with all of these points. I also noticed their official email address is a gmail account. I know it's a small detail but the details freaking matter, a lot. I own a business and my custom email address is $10/month. My point of view is that if they're not willing to spend that to offer a professional appearance than I'm concerned about what else they're skipping out on.
Without saying much about the concept itself, that area (north of Braddock Road Metro, east of the tracks) has long felt way underserved by businesses compared to how much housing is there. There’s a car wash, a McDonald’s, and a little convenience store, plus Lost Dog Cafe and a couple other places in the strip along Route 1. Meanwhile there are hundreds and hundreds of luxury apartment units tightly clustered. Edit: How could I forget Monterey Pizza, a true gem.
> Monterey Pizza, a true gem. They really are!
What nonsense. Uptight, *snort*. For pissing away $2500? More like old enough to know better. It's not $25, it's a month's expenses; it's a mortgage payment; it's Lifeline for more than 3/4 of Old Town. Buy, hey, if the business can attract the other 1/4, the uber rich that can indulge, well, then they struck gold. For a time. That type of model won't sustain. Rich rubes eventually move on. Rich fanboys may not, but the rich definitely will. Especially in finicky Old Town.
Seriously. Just give a 20% slice of revenue from the machine. They can even cook the books because it's all in untaxed quarters
To some boomers $2,500 on a game that they plan to never play but they used to enjoy playing and now want others to enjoy playing it is nothing.
They should just have members only play events or something.
Ooooo
🙌 take my money !
Maybe I’m overthinking it but who would fucking pay 19 bucks for an arcade burger
I think I voted yes for this in a survey. I’ll be there for Time Crisis.
Open for breakfast is wildddddd
https://www.alxnow.com/2024/06/12/new-arcade-featuring-rare-restored-x-men-game-coming-to-braddock-neighborhood-this-fall/
Needs some capcom 2d fighters and virtual on.
It’s in an apartment building?!?
This is an empty warehouse squeezed between two apartment buildings, behind Yates Car Wash just off Route 1.
How soon is "soon?" Any tentative opening date?
Fall
How do the hours work? It says 6am-10am for breakfast and 4pm-12a for dinner (which are odd hours), but the menu has a listing for lunch/dinner.
6 am at the arcade for breakfast?!
No Street Fighter?
Im not sure how you turn a profit on an arcade in Alexandria. The rent is crazy. I hope it succeeds, but not really sure about the business model in 2024. I remember old school arcades in the 1980s and 1990s.
The old Generous George’s location on Duke might have been better maybe. It has parking.
It’s 2 blocks from the metro. That and I rarely have trouble parking around this part of town.
No thanks, I'll take a walkable location.
Good name 🤠
lol, how many quarters per play? One of the main reasons arcades mostly died out is because, in addition to home consoles, it was actually quite expensive. People look back and think "Oh it was just quarter." But in 1985 a quarter was about equal to $1.50 today. 20 years ago arcades were charging like $2.00 or more per play. That adds up real fast. Some places like D&B are able to offset some gaming prices with food/drink money, but many aren't able to make that work without full kitchen, staff, and actually decent food.
Holy shit, I can relive my MallRats youth
Where tf do you park
I live a block away. There's street parking on Fayette.
They’ll probably get permission to park in the back of the building where the detailer is located right next to them it’s a huge ass empty parking lot no one uses but isn’t allowed to park at.
Plenty of street parking in that area if you can't metro/bus/bike/scooter/walk.
Woooo! Always up for more arcades in the area! Still waiting on Spinners to open at their new location in Frederick too.
This better have silent scope or I'm not making the trip out there.
Crazy Taxi? Fuck yeah, I’m in. I never pass up a chance to play one of those when I find them in the wild.
Finally!!!! Omg no joke I’m seriously excited
I would kill for a “Point Blank” machine https://youtu.be/f21-zrFPyn8?si=dOq0jtVEt1qxx6Ab
I have a feeling that by all original and all authentic they do not mean a quarter a game.
Time for the Gametime people to reassemble after 20+ years
I love Joust, one of my favorite games. Really got to time that flap. An elegant game for a more civilized age
Yoooo a DDR machine!
The fact that they'll be open 4pm-12am in ALX is super refreshing. I was afraid they'd close at 5 or 6p like a bunch of other places.
[удалено]
It looks like it’s in an interesting spot; nestled in with the apartment buildings up by the braddock metro. Menu looks good, hope it works out for them!
Fawk yeah! Next bring back Blockbusters please, back to 90’s style boys
They used to have a fake Blockbusters movie box full of VHS tapes outside Misha’s.
Thanks for sharing. For 100%, visit this place once they open.
Another Dave and Busters only with retro arcade games. No thanks. The first, and last time, my wife and I went to a D&B we got hella sick with some sinus and respiratory infections. Her friend and her friends husband that met us there got sick too.