“The Ultimate Online Resource for  Coin-Operators and Home Owners on the Web”

This seemingly popular question is very complex in nature to answer. The first question Ii ask is why?  Did you not realize that the 80’s are over? Who plays Ms.Pacman and Skeeball any more?  The most common answer I get is “Well there’s nothing for the kids to do around here”. Well that maybe but a better question is “Where are the kids?”   Next I ask what kind of arcade? Many say “you know...where they can but quarters in and play video games!” Oh so you mean at home playing xBox and PSII which has better graphics and its FREE!” Hmm...typically not the answer they want to hear and also not 100% accurate on my part either.

An Arcade Business can mean a lot of things to different people. So to start with you really need to define what exactly it is you want to accomplish with your arcade business. Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are:  I am willing to work long hours and weekends? Do I have great people skills? Do I pay attention to details? Do I have any experience in electronics or game repair?  Am I good at managing cash flows and understanding ROI? These questions and others should be addressed first before even making your first call.

Many would be arcade owners calls go something like this:  Hi...I have a 1500sq spot in a strip center and would like you or someone to fill it with games and split the money 50/50!  Do you do that or know someone who will? The straight answer is NO! Not what they want to hear.

So lets take a closer look at what type of arcades are successful in toady’s technology driven environment.  In the coming months I will examine these different types of arcades and discuss why they are successful and trends that are causing them to flourish.  Stay tuned.......

Among  the dozens of visiting celebrities will be Abdner Ashamn of Brooklyn, N.Y., who  is world famous as the record holder on Ms. Pac-Man and Robotron. Also, coming from San Jose, Calif., is Mike Klug, a legendary competitor and former world  record holder on Atari's Pole Position; and Greg Sakundiak of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who held many world records on classic arcade games during the ‘80s but retired from gaming to pursue a career in professional arm wrestling.

Created  by Callan Hendricks and Dwayne Richard, proprietors of Totally Amused, a Humble firm that specializes in selling and repairing classic video games from the  1978-1986 era, the event will allow the public to play nearly 100 classic video  games while noted gaming celebrities demonstrate gaming tips and tell stories  from the "arcade era" of the early 1980s.

Called the Legends of the Golden Age: A Tribal Gathering of the Greatest Video Game Superstars of the 1980s, the event will feature high-score contests on dozens of games, allowing players to potentially win listings in Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of world Records, the industry's official record book.

Walter Day, editor of the record book, will be at the event to conduct the contests and  verify the high scores for the record book. Not only will there be two national events on classic games like Turbo-Sub and Aztarac, but the highlight of the weekend will be two additional arcade contests featuring two of the top arcade games currently in the nation's arcades. Promoted as The Houston Arcade  Championships, this additional tournament features Target: Terror and The Fast and the Furious, both games manufactured by Raw Thrills Inc., a Chicago-based  company that was founded by Eugene Jarvis, the creator of the legendary Stargate and Robotron video games. These two modern games have been donated to the  activities courtesy of Betson Enterprises.

For  more information, contact Callan Hendricks, (832)347-6570; or Walter Day, Twin Galaxies (641)472-1949 Back to HOME