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…
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.