As we draw closer to our usual biannual meet up in the Arcade haven at Funspot, in Weirs Beach, NH, I start thinking more and more about the decline of arcades. I had great memories of spending all my quarters at my local arcade in upstate New York. Throwing a ton of quarters down the coin slot of an X-Men Arcade and then moving onto the original Star Wars arcade games made me want to go out and buy both. But we all know that Arcades died out in the early nineties because of the popularity of consoles and the low cost included with them. Did arcade games become so expensive for arcade parlors to afford the new ones? Were the experiences given within those arcade games too short and not worth the dollar to play them? I believe that these are two of the underlying factors in the death of the Arcade scene and manufacturing industry. And now, with the struggling world economy, even the arcade safe haven, Japan, is closing its corporate run arcades every day. Will we ever see a day when arcades die throughout the world, I hope not, because these games started the gaming revolution we are seeing today.
Although getting profits out of an arcade is so rare, we are left with clubs, local groups and a few national non-profits keeping our beloved arcade industry alive. One of the most well known is Twin Galaxies, made famous in the documentary King of Kong, which is an organization seeking to preserve “the arcade” and the scene itself. This is through donations, tournaments and the recent release of the gaming edition of Guiness Book of World Records. Walter Day is the man that heads up this group and their museum of games is at Funspot and they have over 100 classic arcade games from 720 to Pacman. I love what they do, which includes keep high scores on all these games, and if you have never heard of them check out their website and see some insane scores. It is these hardcore enthusiasts and other basement arcades are keeping the arcade scene afloat.
In the present day, you will see a rare arcade game at your local bar or in a mall somewhere, but the new arcade games cost between ten and twenty thousand dollars. This barrier to entry is absolutely ridiculous and killing the widespread nature of arcades scene in the pasts. Instead of throwing a dollar into a arcade machine for a 10-15 minute experience, you could spend 50 dollars or less for a 10 hour or more experience. And they wonder why arcades are dead. The graphics on arcades, which use to trounce consoles, has now become equal. Even further destroying the arcades are the sale of peripherals and light guns, especially on the Wii, have given the broad audience and older gamers the feeling of arcades.
Unfortunately, I believe that the underground nature of arcade gaming will give those into the scene a better experience. This nature allows an n00bs to get better advice from those and purchase the right products from ebay because of this smaller scene. I wish I had more room in my apartment because I would have a slew of these game because it is much cheaper than a few of my other hobbies. I could buy a destroyed Pacman from a local bar, restore it and fulfill my nostalgia until I find one of those Star Wars cabinets. Until this happens, we will continue to meet at Funspot and carry out our childhood memories.
Check out these sites for some cool arcade stuff:
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