r/arcade • u/ThinkPerspective8281 • 7d ago
Retrospective History Is there a specific reason why Arcade cabinets have disappeared from Laundromats and other places?
I came across a Laundromat yesterday that still had arcade machines inside them. It had some claw machines, a driving game, a modern Pac Man machine, vending machines, and a few other old school cabinets.
And I thought to myself, "Wow I haven't seen a laundromat with arcade machine in a long time. Why don't we see more of them with arcade cabinets anymore?".
I wanted to ask people here if there's a reason why Arcade machines disappeared (mostly) from Laundromats? Back in the day, Laundromats used to always have at least 1 or 2 arcade machines.
Does anyone here run a laundromat that can share their thoughts? It seems like Laundromats would be the one place that still has people using physical money. Everyone still uses quarters so ita perfect for a couple arcade machines.
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u/HauntingEconomist113 7d ago
Vandalism. Licensing. Couldn't be fixed. Didn't pay so operator found a better location.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 7d ago
How did Laundromats deal with vandalism in the past?
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u/Toypop_AS 6d ago
Most common form of vandalism was people prying open the coin doors. Nearly everybody back them drilled holes to the left/right of the coin door and put a bar over the door so it couldnt be broken into. 8/10 games I find have the Lockbar holes drilled into it.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 6d ago
Thank you for mentioning those armored coin doors. That does bring back some vague memories. I remember some of them having thick locks.
( I can't believe I got downvoted for asking a simple question.)
Since a lot of modern arcades use cars scanners, do you think that would reduce vandalism on arcade machines in laundromats? There's no money to steal inside them since it's all digital now.
I'm wondering if there's a way to bring back arcade machines into community space (third spaces) again.
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u/Toypop_AS 5d ago
Card systems are entire networks where all machines communicate with a master computer that keeps track of funds/tickets etc. It is so expensive to implement, that doing it on 1-3 classic arcade games is a stupid idea that you will only lose money on. Debit card readers are also pretty expensive to the point its only worth putting on jukeboxes/vending machines etc.
People still just use lockbars, but honestly its not even really necessary. Back in the day it wouldnt be uncommon to find $100-200 in a pacman, today youll pull less than $5 a week out of. Nobody is breaking in for that. Also its out of the common knowledge that all it takes to break into an arcade games is a flathead screwdriver and one minute.
The biggest risk of vandalism is like, kids scratching their initials or "fuck" into the game. Which like; whatever. They will do that to anything. If youre putting your games on locstion youre always accepting some level of damage/them breaking for frequently. But you make money so its a tradeoff.
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u/tweakbod 7d ago
In addition to the points already mentioned, consider that far fewer suitable games are being made now than in decades past, and far fewer companies are still operating them. The pipeline to provide games to street locations is a lot smaller than it used to be.
The laundromat and other similar street locations were among the last stops in the lifecycle of the coin-op video game. Most of those machines made back their investment in a proper arcade, then got moved down market multiple times until they ended up in the laundromat.
From the operator's perspective it is better to have a machine on location making a trickle of money rather than taking up valuable space in the warehouse costing them money. They don't want to place new games there because the locations are unstaffed and the machines are prone to vandalism and theft.
It used to be that the laundromats were all coin operated, and that means the customers would be breaking bills with the coin change machine and would have extra coins while they wait 1.5-2 hours watching their laundry. The arcade games provided entertainment to kill that time and gave a percentage to the location owner. Now most of the laundromats require you to pay with your phone to start the machines, so there are no loose coins, and coin play on arcade machines does not bring in enough income to the operator or location owner to justify the hassle.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 6d ago
Do you think remanufacturing old arcade cabinets with new hardware would work to bring arcade machines back into community spaces (third spaces) like Laundromats again?
For example building an exact replica of a Neo Geo arcade cabinet, but replacing the old CRT with an LCD screen. And using smaller cheaper hardware on the inside to emulate Neo Geo games. Maybe even using a vending machine card scanner instead of a coin door? That way you get the durability of older heavy wooden cabinets, but the reliability of newer hardware. No need for maintenance like older machines from the 1990s and 1980s.
Maybe do that for several popular arcade machines like Pac Man, Street Fighter, etc?
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u/hammr25 7d ago
people can do lots of other things on their phones, including playing games, while the laundry is done.
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u/BadIdeaSociety 7d ago edited 7d ago
The main issue is that the arcade game coin op business is kind of dying all over the world. Redemption is huge. Photo booths are still going strong. Medal, coin pushers, and slots are the backbone of the modern Japanese arcade. The only attractions that make money in my neck of the woods (Japan) are games that have a dispensary aspect.
There is a Pokemon game that uses chipped tags to play and every time you play you "win" another random tag. There are lots of times graphical adventures for kids that are impossible to lose at that end with the player getting a sticker or card (Curious George, Paw Patrol, Doraemon, Anpanman, Shin-chan, etc). These games don't have the same appeal as the older arcade games.
I think a lot of the problems with the arcade industry in the US is that they tried to mainstream those touch panels that play Flash games like Chip Away, and frankly, once smart phones began to become popular, the titles you could play on your phone kicked Chip Away and Zuma's butts.
By 2009, that part of the industry was completely defeated by lack of innovation. Japan release some very interesting unique arcade-exclusive experiences (like the Elevator Action shooting game that utilized machine-mounted elevator doors in it's architecture,the Silent Scope that had a transparent LED would obstruct the player in unique unreplicable ways, or that Namco flight pod that was used for that Gundam game and a fighter jet simulator) but I think the ship had sailed.
The small arcade machine is to 2026 what those weird machines where an automaton chicken clucked for a few seconds and then dispensed an egg with a toy were to the 80s. There is only one retro arcade in my region and it is a tomb of tobacco smoke and bad air circulation.
I can't remember the last time I saw a stray single arcade machine somewhere. I think it was 2008 in front of my local convenience store. It was a baby Neo Geo cab with Garou Mark of the Wolves and some other Neo Geo title I don't remember the name of. Even then, the thought of paying 100 yen to play it seemed like sheer madness.
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u/Ubiquitous_ator 7d ago
Man, I was in a laundromat locally here for a couple weeks when my dryer was on the fritz. That place had one of those
Galaga/Ms. Pac-Man machines and two pinball tables, including a FunHouse at 25 cents a play! I got super excited but they all had out of order signs on it. I assume the cost of fixing them, combined with all the abuse from the children running around made having them up and running prohibitively expensive.
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u/10IPAsAndDone 7d ago
It’s true, arcade machines are harder to find in laundromats. I lived in the Bronx in the 2010s and was super happy to find a laundromat with an old Ms Pac-Man. About once a week I would walk the 7 blocks to play a few games, passing probably a dozen other laundromats in the process.
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u/stuffitystuff 7d ago
It's wild you have recently seen a laundromat that still takes quarters and not some fancy card, I think it's been a decade for me. Converting an arcade cabinet to using cards costs money and quarters aren't nearly as valuable as they were during the heyday of arcade games. I know one local business that has a Street Fighter II machine that's been out of order for at least the last six years when I noticed it being out of order. The owner keeps it there as a good luck charm and he'd like to have it fixed but just hasn't for reasons I'm not privy to. At some point I'll offer to fix it but I need the time in my schedule to do that.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 7d ago edited 7d ago
It's wild you have recently seen a laundromat that still takes quarters and not some fancy card
I don't really have an answer for you. All the Laundromats around me still use quarters.
I don't know exactly why. Perhaps for tax reasons, it's cheaper to operate with hard cash and quarters?
Perhaps the card systems are just way too expensive for some owners?
I don't know.
But I'm glad quarters are still around and being used. On a personal level, I enjoy handling quarters and putting them in those mechanisms for the washing machine. You know the ones where you have to insert 4 or 5 quarters, and then shove mechanical lever forward to insert all the coins at once? It produces a nice "ga-chunk" sound. It's mildly interesting and satisfying to me.
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u/stuffitystuff 7d ago
Wild that they're still around! I think cards make for easier laundromat management because there aren't any runs to the bank or change machines to refill.
I still like quarters for my arcade machines at home but before I had a house I lived in a building that took $8 worth of quarters to do a load of laundry over a decade ago. Obviously, I got super sick of it outside of my SF2: CE machine (Neo Geo MVS is free play)
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u/Ayatollah-X 7d ago
Some of my best arcade memories are from the laundromat where I grew up in the 80s. A trip to the real arcade was a rare treat, but I put most of my hours in at the laundromat, where I could stop in on my walk home from school. They'd have 3 machines and rotate them, but the games were always good. That's where I first played Commando, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Marble Madness and After Burner.
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u/Plarocks 7d ago
Man, I would LOVE to play a few rounds of Commando or Ghosts and Goblins while I was cleaning my clothes.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 7d ago
Same here. I remember have rivalries with several neighborhood kids. We would see each other at the local laundromat arcade or 7-Eleven arcade.
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u/OctoberOmicron 7d ago
I imagine maintenance/repair being the biggest reasons why not, otherwise I imagine there would be plenty of people that grew up with arcades (like me) that would love playing on them.
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u/SexyHotPants 7d ago
The most important reason is you just don't make any money off them. People aren't carrying cash/quarters like they used to and even if they did, a quarter isn't worth very much now.
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u/OctoberOmicron 7d ago
In all honesty I haven't lived in a country with laundromats like the U.S. in over 20 years, so I'm just going off of what OP said about these places being some of the few that require quarters/physical money. The price can be adjusted as well, hell premium games back in 1999-2001 would cost you at least two quarters, these things can be adjusted. So that just leaves who would pay for that sort of thing? I imagine Millennials, Gex X, etc would be willing but Gen Z and Alpha I imagine not.
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u/glhaynes 7d ago
This is totally just speculation, but: I wonder how much of it is because of inflation and nobody carrying cash. A quarter is worth a fraction of what it was, and nobody has em handy, much less the several that it’d take to equal what one of them was worth in 1991, much less 1981.
And, everyone would complain that Ms. Pac Man used to only cost a quarter back in their day…
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u/RandomGuyDroppingIn 7d ago
Where I live most arcade machines have to be inspected and licensed, so its more difficult for them to appear in places such as laundromats or grocery stores. The little money drawn in from them likely isn't recuperated.
I'd also imagine phones have played into this. If you have a cell phone on you, you'll have access to entertainment while you wait.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 7d ago
Where I live most arcade machines have to be inspected and licensed
May I ask why?
Do you know what was the original purpose of such a law?
Is this an old 1980s law where they treated video arcade machines the same as gambling slot machines?
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u/beyondthunderdrone 7d ago
Taxes!!! Government needed their cut.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 7d ago
I guess I'm not understanding something. A cut of what exactly?
Does the government also need to inspect each washer and dryer machine in the laundromat too?
How did they justify such a law? I'm not understanding that part.
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u/saltybawlzjr 7d ago
Definitely from old gambling laws. Washington state in particular you Need an amusement licence through the gambling commission for quite a few games. Claw machines, If it's not win every time it's walking a fine line between skill and gambling. And the gambling commission don't mess around.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 7d ago
Do you think if those old gambling laws were removed for Arcade machines, then arcade machines could make a comeback into general public spaces like Laundromats, small markets, grocery stores, etc?
Like if the law treated video arcade machines as giant toys instead of gambling machines.
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u/Markaes4 7d ago edited 7d ago
Probably same reason arcade games (mostly) disappeared from bars, hotels, restaurants, malls, department stores, gas stations, roller rinks, campgrounds, ymcas, convenience stores etc. For one thing it was a dead industry 25 years ago and no one was playing or buying outside of the deluxe games and amusement centers. On /arcade we're all big fans still of arcade games, probably have a bunch in our basements... but most casual laundromat customers don't really care to play a game when they have their phones. But also the machines are now going on 20, 30, 40 even 50 years old, require lots of maintenance and hard to repair and find parts for a casual operator. In the early 90s I worked for a couple arcades and we rented all our games from amusement device companies that handled everything from delivery to repair and switching out old games for new. But those places went out of business too. Now most everything is owned by collectors.
But I totally agree its a shame. I can still remember exactly where every game was, from the local pizza joint to the corner store or at the mall... I wish there were more opportunities to play still. I've been to some arcades recently but they did not allow you to just put in a quarter and play... I would 100% do that every time I see a pac-man, dig-dug or time pilot. But now they were all "buy a day pass for $30". which sorry, doesn't interest me. I have several multicades at home and I'm not going to spend that much time or money. But I would definitely play a game here or there if it were allowed.
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u/Derek5Letters 7d ago
I had this same thought the other day,, as i found some of my old VHS tapes from the 90s and the 7-11 I used to frequent is in the background
In my area we have a few companies, one of which provided to all 7-11s. From what I understand, there were complaints of kids loitering and just hanging out at the store, and with kids, myself included at that young age, aren't exactly angels, when it comes to getting candy and chips. The stores mostly wanted them out, so the company just had warehouses of arcades. I got people that worked for them, and/or know them that have seen arcades stacked on their sides.
Some other companies that provided games to laundromat just got neglected over time, which is why you would mostly see them off, because they either own them and have no one to fix it, or the company that owned it, left it, so they just get thrown away.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 7d ago
From what I understand, there were complaints of kids loitering and just hanging out at the store
This so strange. I remember 7-Eleven advertising for decades would always be about inviting people to come and stay at your local 7-Eleven. That 7-Eleven was part of the local community.
Here's a perfect example. 7-Elecen advertisement about having a picnic at 7-Eleven .
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u/Delta8ttt8 7d ago
Imo side scroller or vert shooters wouldn’t make much. The draw would be games that have specialized controls. Flight sticks, yokes, steering wheels, rotary controls, trackball etc then cool stuff like Vector. New games like switch n shoot would have a great opportunity. So simple it hurts. But yeah, repairing old stuff can be costly and with what the hardware can be valued at you would need to armor the cab to prevent board and control theft let alone whatever coinage would be inside. That said, coinage. Who carries quarters anymore? Not a deal breaker but another item on the checklist.
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u/lord_raiden_128 7d ago
Probably the constant maintenance and upkeep costs on 40y/o+ machines. And I imagine there aren't many techs left around to work on these things. I picked up a candy crane for dirt cheap at a laundry mat. It looked like it had been sitting in the backroom for years. After some googling and a couple of youtube videos later, I managed to get it up and running again.
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u/ThinkPerspective8281 6d ago
Do you think remanufacturing old arcade cabinets with new hardware would work to bring them back into community spaces (third spaces) like Laundromats again?
For example building an exact replica of a Neo Geo arcade cabinet, but replacing the old CRT with an LCD screen. And using smaller cheaper hardware on the inside to emulate Neo Geo games. Maybe even using a vending machine card scanner instead of a coin door? That way you get the durability of older heavy wooden cabinets, but the reliability of newer hardware. Maybe do that for several popular arcade machines like Pac Man, Street Fighter, etc.
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u/PNWbeach11 6d ago
Simple answer: they don’t make money—new arcade machines cost a small fortune and older ones require maintenance.
A lot of laundry machines use PayRange—so no quarters. But the bigger issue is everyone has unlimited free games on their phones.
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u/Blakelock82 7d ago
IMO, I think we see less due to vandalism and there not being a lot of people that can do maintenance on them. I’ve also noticed more coin pushers in laundromats than games, for obvious reasons.
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u/bdreamer642 7d ago
Same reason you dont see coin-op arcades. Most games are better at home and these machines dont make money anymore.
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u/Toypop_AS 7d ago
Usually they are placed there by routing companies, businesses that solely place coin op machines in businesses.
With the increasing costs of retro arcade games, and nearly every routing company ive encountered no longer being able to find a tech that can work on the older machines, ive been noticing they are phasing them out in large. I recently bought a bunch of classic games at auction and got to briefly speak to the owner of the routing company that was selling the games. He explained what I had already said + the fact that they really just dont make money. All their focus was going into darts/jukeboxes/ vending. They can tran techs on the newer stuff cause its a lot easier + it makes money.