One of the problems with technological progression, a lot of the unique things about arcades are now more available at home plus thanks to the Internet you can play with others easily.

We don’t have the same arcade culture they have in South East Asia anymore, I could see a return to prominence if they shift to vr and those omnidirectional running platforms but the old school style isn't going to cut it and the ones left are appealing to hipsters as I saw MANY pinball machines and the like at Twitch, Google and Twitter (before Elon) headquarters..

Not an arcade specifically (where the machines are what makes them money), but I went to a barcade (the games are free and they make their money off drink sales.) about a year back and that was fun when there was a game I could play with my buddies, but when I found a machine for one of the classics (that I'd grown up playing in collections or on MAME) they were kinda disappointing. Also there were too many annoying people there.

There's one adjacent to the first-run movie theatre at the mall, and there's usually a bunch of young people in there. Haven't gone in to check out what's in there, though. I've got games I can suck at at home, without feeling three or four decades out-of-place.

There's a whole bunch of VRcades around, though,

There is a barcade in Boise called Spacebar. It used to be a little 90s style hole in the wall but got turned into yet another modern commercial bar. Lost some of its charm. Still fun, but not as much fun as it used to be.

I've been to a few that market themselves as retro arcades with bars. One had all the 80s classics and the other had all the stuff from the 90s.

The only ones that still exist around here are aimed at kids and have a ton of those games that give tickets for prizes, or have almost exclusively pinball games and maybe a few old school arcade games.

Arcades dried up around 2000, with the holdouts going to about 2010 or 2012, and even they're gone now.

It's a shame, really. I used to really like arcades.

I went to a place, don't remember the name, but it was in Nashville. Lots of old, OG arcade machines that all had their coin requirements disabled. You just payed a fee to get in and played as long as you wanted. Lots of old and new pinball machines there too. Pretty fun time.

Pinball still kicks ass.

the good arcades I have been to are all about flash and novelty. they will have machines that have physical inputs that you can't get at home, such as flight seats or big ass joysticks. several of them I have been to also have VR setups, which is great for scratching the vr itch without buying a multi-thousand dollar setup.

the reality is: if it's just a video game, kids will not come for it. they can get that on their phones a lot more conveniently and cheaply, quality be damned. but if it's a light gun game where the gun is mounted on a moving seat like a turret on a Jeep, suddenly there's novelty that you can't get anywhere else.

Arcades have never been a thing here in Germany (maybe even Europe as a whole).

The only "arcades" I've ever seen here were basically gambling halls which had various versions of electronic slots, poker, etc machines. I've spent a couple of summers in the UK and their "arcades" were mostly just gambling halls, too, especially coin pushers. The Brits REALLY love their coin pushers.

There are some around me that cater to people who grew up in the 80s and 90s like me so it’s a crowd of adults. They have food and a bar and play 80s and 90s music and the arcade games are old

You were just at a bad arcade. It's really sad how much console gaming culture has been told arcades are dead by the media.

In the Orlando area we have several, but the one I love is called Arcade Monsters. It has a full set of Maximum Tunes and Initial Ds. There are 20 pins near the eating area. The classic arcade games are on the second floor. They worked really hard to get the atmosphere just right. Also, people in the games history circle hate it because you can hire girls to play games with. They intend to expand to a much larger area soon.

In Seattle there are a few arcades close enough that people arrange pub crawl walks to see them all. I've done it and enjoyed the experience all the way. The arcade I love is in the mall in Tukwilla.

Bremerton has an arcade pub crawl ability as well. The one I love is called Quarters, and even the other owners love it as well. It's across the street from the comic and TTRPG hobby shop.

Portland has some small arcades, but the big names are Quarter world and Ground Kontrol. They are similar to Arcade Monsters in size and design. The new and old mix together really well.

When I talk about these places to console fans, they act as if arcades are rare. When I take them to an arcade, it dumbfounds them that these places exist. Arcade fans know about them though. Heck, VR is doing way better in the arcade space than the living room. I battled zombies with my wife the other day. Everything was set at tourist pricing, so I probably won't do it often.

I seriously wonder why arcades get the treatment from the media that they do. If anything they're expanding not shrinking. There's the crappy places like your experience and then awesome places like I just named.

I went to a barcade last month, and yeah all the machines has a card reader you'd use a preloaded card to play. The cost of plays were in an arbitrary point system so you don't associate a dollar amount to it. I forgot the conversion but I believe most games were like two bucks a play. Other than the smattering of gimmicky prize token games there were mostly light gun games, some racing games, one of those dancing games, and some kind of Minecraft game that looked kind of like a side scrolling brawler. No fighting games that I noticed.

No.

I went to a place called the Ice Box in Seattle last year. Was pretty empty on a Wednesday night so I can't speak to the regular clientele but it was all older games, all token operated. It was pretty cool. They had an entire room dedicated to pinball machines that looked like they were made in the 60's.

Barcode near me hopping with young folks. Big draw is new arcade game killer queen:

https://killerqueenarcade.com/

5v5, super fun