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…
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.