Im probably in the very very small minority of people who still love and go to arcades. Its such a great place to meet like minded nerds. We are lucky to have 2 really awesome ones in town, one of which has a lot of good old machines, and they repair them too. They have some new ones that are OK too.

Anyway, I dont like that they changed to the dumb card thing. I get it (efficiency, capitalism, it was bound to happen) but it removes another visceral experience in society that was so fun.

Anyway, my old man rant!

  • 4grams@awful.systemsEnglish
    13·
    7 hours ago

    They should have never gone to them. Arcades should be something you visit with a pocket full of quarters.

    • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@slrpnk.netEnglish
      6·
      6 hours ago

      Disagree, tokens are fun! I have one from every arcade I’ve ever been to (and that’s what I thought this post was going to be about, taking tokens from arcades) and they all have unique designs and make for great memorabilia.

      Plus, logistically, tokens make sense:

      • The arcade can offer bulk discounts (4 per dollar vs 50 for ten dollars)

      • The arcade can offer party packages ( I’d rather give my kids’ friends a pot of tokens than a wad of cash)

      • Tokens reduce the need for cash-on-hand, reducing the risk of theft

      But I’m sure the main reason is it’s what I was used to when I was a kid and teen.

      • 4grams@awful.systemsEnglish
        8·
        6 hours ago

        They arrived when arcade machines started charging more than one quarter per play. They are there to make it easier to spend money, I mean once you bought them, why not spend them all?

        I’m old though.

        • ignirtoq@feddit.onlineEnglish
          2·
          4 hours ago

          Arcades have to charge more than a quarter per play now due to inflation. The price isn’t just you renting the machine for the duration of the play, it’s you paying a small slice of the rent on the arcade location, the income of the workers, the maintenance of the machines, and the electricity for the lights, AC/heating, and so on. No arcades would exist today if they could only charge quarters.

          • magiccupcake@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            3 hours ago

            Even accounting for inflation arcades should be cheaper.

            The compute hardware costs much less and is much more power efficient.

            Other power hungry features like lights and displays are both cheaper and more power efficient.

            The argument that they still need to be expensive makes so little sense, other than the physical space they occupy.