LA Gamers and/or children of the 80s-90s - would you hang at a classic arcade? (Pasadena: home, neighborhood)

[miagirl32]

I know, I know...classic arcades are pretty much dead in LA. That's why I think hanging at one would be awesome . I'm not talking Dave and Busters - I'm thinking a chill neighborhood hangout. Relaxed vibe - tasty food. Would you go? Does your neighborhood need one of these? If so...which one?

Whether you think this is a great idea or an awful one, I would appreciate your thoughts . Thanks in advance!

[John23]

I can't think of any arcades in west LA.

-There use to be westworld in Marina Del Rey. Use to go there a lot in the 90's. I remember they had 5 or 6 Street Fighter II machines when that was one of the biggest games in the world.

I remember their T2 machine, that was a great arcade experience. They had one of the 4 player, maybe 6 player X Men games.

They also had Bad Dudes? Cadillacs and Dinosaurs? Some random 80's games, I think galaga and pacman.

-There was an arcade in westwood by UCLA. I think on weyburn Ave. Is it still there?

And then on the Santa Monica Pier, there's a few games. It seems like there's nothing with a specific 80's theme around here. I think the rents are too high around here for that though, lol.

I would go to an arcade now on a saturday.

[miagirl32]

Thanks, John! The Santa Monica and Redondo Beach Piers both have pretty big arcades, but they are so run down, the experience is definitely lacking. Thanks again for your feedback ,

[Mashi]

I think technology has passed it by. Why would someone bother going to a place with a Street Fighter machine now and wasting quarters when they've got the newest version at home that they can play with friends sitting in the next seat over or 5000 miles away. Arcades were big when they were the cutting edge of gaming and offering something that the home-gaming systems couldn't. Now a PS3 or XBox does everything an arcade machine does but 100x better and in the comfort of your own home. I'm not saying your idea wouldn't work, but it would have to offer something unusual to get quality people coming in. Maybe put it in a hipster neighborhood since they always think what's old is better.

[ilovegarlic]

Originally Posted by miagirl32

I know, I know...classic arcades are pretty much dead in LA. That's why I think hanging at one would be awesome . I'm not talking Dave and Busters - I'm thinking a chill neighborhood hangout. Relaxed vibe - tasty food. Would you go? Does your neighborhood need one of these? If so...which one?

Whether you think this is a great idea or an awful one, I would appreciate your thoughts . Thanks in advance!

Are you asking because you'd like to start up one yourself as a business venture? I believe they have something similar in downtown Las Vegas that is doing okay.

[West of Encino]

Maybe. Been a long time since I been to one. I wonder if there are any in the SF Valley. I know there's one at the Santa Monica Pier, when I went 13 years back.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Mashi

Why would someone bother going to a place with a Street Fighter machine now and wasting quarters when they've got the newest version at home that they can play with friends sitting in the next seat over or 5000 miles away...

You're right. I remember the neighborhood kids begging us to drive them to 7-11 to play Street Fighter....the most advanced system any of the kids at home had was the first Nintendo, I think.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by West of Encino

Maybe. Been a long time since I been to one. I wonder if there are any in the SF Valley. I know there's one at the Santa Monica Pier, when I went 13 years back.

I think the closest to that in SFV is at the mini golf course on Sepulveda near the 101. There's an Ultrazone in Sherman Oaks too.

To OP,

I think it might work as a bar/arcade/dance club if its properly located. You need a young base crowd, and I think it helps to also attract older people who grew up with arcades in the 80's. IMO the place in Vegas is very well located.

I'm thinking that Old Town Pasadena is a good location. I think this concept would work well in DTLA also.

[drshang]

I think the idea of the arcade is fun, the problem is everyone who opens an arcade seems to adopt the old 80s/90s style pricing model of paying .25/.50/1.00 for each "play" of a game. Look, this is an oudated/relic type of pricing system and I think many arcades seem to ignore this fundamental fact. Especially since the price of all these machines is way less than they used to be, and comparable systems exist at the home level.

In my view, you are much better off stressing the "hangout" part, with some admission based system, or hourly charge system, with a good revenue model to generate food and beverage sales. In the era where people can buy games for a dollar, simply charging people a dollar to play an old game once, is just not really palatable. I think this is a major reason why these places just don't really exist any more.

[Joe Van Fossen]

There's an arcade in Walnut, Super Arcade, that was known as the first place to have Street Fighter 4 in the US (before the console releases). I used to frequent there around that time. I don't go very often at all anymore, but it's more popular than ever now that it's become somewhat of a known fighting game hot spot.