I respect your opinion but I like arcades because it’s fun. Sure… there are cheap deaths in arcades but I’m there to spend time with friends and family. And sometimes it’s nice playing a retro shooter game like Time Crisis with your old man.

it was reasonable, it motivated you to get better at the game so that you could play longer for less quarters. should never be compared with the monetization schemes in gaming of today.

It worked when you got like three lives for a quarter.

Today it's literally like 8 bucks for one to three lives if you pay attention.

I remember you could put your name in the high score. Whenever I make it to the top 10 I always put my name as “Hugh Jazz”.

Kinda true. It wasn't universal to all arcades, but the overall model is not that dissimilar from a casino.

People nowadays associate "pay to keep playing" with mobile games and their stamina systems, etc - but this model was really pioneered in the arcade machines of the '70s.

arcade games usually suck. Except the racing ones with the motorcycles you ride on thats actually cool.

Originally posted by Devsman:

It worked when you got like three lives for a quarter.

Today it's literally like 8 bucks for one to three lives if you pay attention.

today it's more like you can skip a couple of levels if you pay, basically pay to not play.

Fun fact but I got so good at one game that I basically cheated (almost) the system.

There is a game where you’re suppose to get 50 balls inside a bucket. There is a wheel with buckets and if you manage to get all 50 balls in the bucket (without dropping 1) you get the jackpot prize which is 1000 tickets. Of course I won but the prize pool dropped down to 500. So if you win again you only get 500.

Originally posted by OoOoOoooOOoOoorgle:

Kinda true. It wasn't universal to all arcades, but the overall model is not that dissimilar from a casino.

People nowadays associate "pay to keep playing" with mobile games and their stamina systems, etc - but this model was really pioneered in the arcade machines of the '70s.

it also rose from a necessity though, limited number of machines and people waiting their turn to play the game. If a player was really good at the game it was entertaining to watch them play, but if they sucked at it after a couple of turns (and quarters) they would give up and let someone else take their turn to play the game.

TMNT arcade beat em ups were a lot of fun. You could finish those for a few dollars with other players.

Scam? No. The machines were usually owned by the owner of the business or someone who invested & the money generated kept up with repairs & all sorts of stuff. Arcades were a hangout spot for friends to meet up and play games together... before you could just drop $500+ on an at-home system.

I remember .25-.50 cents per game/life (3 lives or so really)

Originally posted by Xero_Daxter:

I remember you could put your name in the high score. Whenever I make it to the top 10 I always put my name as “Hugh Jazz”.

Mine was always AAAAAAAAA because I couldnt figure out how to change letters.

Just because the game is harder than it needs to be in a bid to suck out quarters doesn't make it a scam, even if there is somewhat of a monetary incentive, especially since some of those games can be beaten with a single credit, and with others are score attack games that aren't meant to be beaten. What makes something scammy or not is whether or not you understand the terms of the deal.

Plus look, let's say one of the games is scammy. You learn your lesson and stop playing the game. Back in the heyday or the arcade it only cost you one or two quarters to play. Maybe you spend a dollar learning that you don't stand a chance and move on to something else. So in the grand scheme of things, it's not really much of a scam.

Originally posted by Xero_Daxter:

I remember you could put your name in the high score. Whenever I make it to the top 10 I always put my name as “Hugh Jazz”.

Nah man, they didn't let you enter more than three letters.

Originally posted by Tonepoet:

Just because the game is harder than it needs to be in a bid to suck out quarters doesn't make it a scam, even if there is somewhat of a monetary incentive, especially since some of those games can be beaten with a single credit, and with others are score attack games that aren't meant to be beaten. What makes something scammy or not is whether or not you understand the terms of the deal.

Plus look, let's say one of the games is scammy. You learn your lesson and stop playing the game. Back in the heyday or the arcade it only cost you one or two quarters to play. Maybe you spend a dollar learning that you don't stand a chance and move on to something else. So in the grand scheme of things, it's not really much of a scam.

Originally posted by Xero_Daxter:

I remember you could put your name in the high score. Whenever I make it to the top 10 I always put my name as “Hugh Jazz”.

Nah man, they didn't let you enter more than three letters.

Then I would put in an alternative name for a donkey. Lmfaoooo.

I don't think they were. At their peak, arcade machines offered something different and people were genuinely entertained enough to keep paying. Sure, people could buy an Atari or an Intellivision (or maybe a computer like a ZX Spectrum or a C64) but they were limited in graphics, sound, and gameplay depth by comparison even though each platform was still kind of cool in its own way.

On second thoughts, throwing the C64 into the mix makes my argument a bit wobbly, because I think that's where home devices started to catch up. Once C64s with enough games got into a critical mass of homes, the death of the arcade was on the cards. Then the Amiga 500 came along and nuked it.