I’ve spent a bit of today in one (for a job), and it’s… Honestly just kind of sad.
Everything is “branded” and based on some commercial IP. All the “independent”/quirky things I grew up with are gone, it’s fully cashless, much more expensive, and just generally… Super underwhelming. I’ve seen one pinball machine in the entire place. 😔
And still, the place is nearly empty. So if they’re trying to “appeal to different demographics” by pivoting to branded shittiness (fidget spinners! plants vs zombies! Fucking rabbids), it clearly ain’t working, lol…
Ah, I miss the 2010s, even compared to this shit…
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.
"barcade" sounds like something where you get 90+% hipsters and redditors.
Relevant copypasta lifted directly from Reddit. Barcade section is about half way.
/u/Lurker404 I don't know how many hipsters there were, but I definitely saw some redditors (of note: a dude in a miniskirt.) But yeah, other than missing the tiktok/twitter whores that assessment was pretty accurate.
Remember when fetishes were kept private and not forced upon the general public with threat of punishment from the government if you object?
How long ago was that? It seems like 10 to 15 years ago?