Arcade Economics?

[Rich-online]

If Ben were like the arcade owners here, the sign would have read:

$1 = 4 Tokens
$5 = 25 Tokens

That would encourage the patrons to spend a bit more.

-- Rich

[StrangeWulf13]

So the man's a bit generous. Who cares? He just wants them to have fun and come back again. Which is why he tries to keep the Posse from interacting too much. They tend to make the patrons leave, rather quickly...

...through the broom closet.

Boy, did you pick the wrong door!

[Gengar003]

Boy, did you pick the wrong door!

Lol... You need to put quotes around the name when you're quoting them...

that tickles me! Hee hee! Quotes when you're quoting...

I'm kinda with StrangWulf on Ben's generosity... He's got things going his way, doesn't *need* extra money, and is the kind of person who probably wouldn't subscribe to that kind of thinking anyway... he's a nice guy.

Not profit-driven.

[StrangeWulf13]

=P Kinda figured that out already, thank ya. I changed my entry before you even posted. So there.

[Shyal_malkes]

I've never liked the token system, I've always preferred the quarters system, come in get your money changed spend a few quarters, any you don't spend you can still spend elsewhere, the tokens system seems a tad greedy in that respect.

but that's just me...

[Wallaroo_Blacke]

I've never liked the token system, I've always preferred the quarters system, come in get your money changed spend a few quarters, any you don't spend you can still spend elsewhere, the tokens system seems a tad greedy in that respect.

but that's just me...

No, shyal, it's not JUST you...

In fact, sooner or later, you (in referance to anyone)
have make a ever-so-dowdy-and-not-so-joyous trip
to the laundramat... especuially when your own
washing machine breaks down, and when you get
there, the change machine is out of order...

-OR-

You just GOTTA get that can or bottle of ice-cold soft drink...

And, in some cases, maybe BOTH.


Oh! And let's not forget about pay-phones...

[Sharuuk]

And this is why I keep my tokens and change seperate. I've got a big ol' bowl full of change, and another one full of tokens....actually that one's made of several different compartments for different arcades as some tokens aren't interchangeble between arcades.

S'aaruuk

[Wallaroo_Blacke]

And this is why I keep my tokens and change seperate. I've got a big ol' bowl full of change, and another one full of tokens....actually that one's made of several different compartments for different arcades as some tokens aren't interchangeble between arcades.

S'aaruuk

Case in point.

[Sharuuk]

And this is why I keep my tokens and change seperate. I've got a big ol' bowl full of change, and another one full of tokens....actually that one's made of several different compartments for different arcades as some tokens aren't interchangeble between arcades.

S'aaruuk

Case in point.

Since there's only 3 main arcades in town and the biggest is actually closest to me, it's not a real problamatic issue......although a lot of them are now going back to quarters.

[SolidusRaccoon]

And this is why I keep my tokens and change seperate. I've got a big ol' bowl full of change, and another one full of tokens....actually that one's made of several different compartments for different arcades as some tokens aren't interchangeble between arcades.

S'aaruuk

Case in point.

Since there's only 3 main arcades in town and the biggest is actually closest to me, it's not a real problamatic issue......although a lot of them are now going back to quarters.

Envy you, have not been to a real arcade in years.

[Sharuuk]

Since there's only 3 main arcades in town and the biggest is actually closest to me, it's not a real problamatic issue......although a lot of them are now going back to quarters.

Envy you, have not been to a real arcade in years.

I hear that.....unfortunetely most of the "arcades" here have gone "kiddy video" and are so cutsey wootsey you could just puke....The one really good one here "Rocky's Replay" has a bunch of the really violent hack & slash and shoot 'em ups with excellent graphics and lots of damn realistic gore.

The Morals Police (read: "meddling assholes with no lives of their own and too much time on their hands") have been trying to get the place either shut down or the games changed to more "family frendly" venues for about the past 2 years. Thankfully the local courts here have said they have no standing and the charges of creating a violent atmosphere for kids is groundless BS. A little point these idiots seem to overlook is the fact that the place has a wine and beer license and nobody under the age of 18 is allowed inside.

I think some people just don't like seeing someone have a little "out of the oridinary" fun......and God forbid you get pleasure out of killing some scumbag or alien.

S'aaruuk

[Shyal_malkes]

one of these days the "token" will count as viable currency...

then comes the ever ominus "credits"

lets just go back to gold and silver.

[RHJunior]

The "generous" breakdown for tokens doesn't mean that Ben isn't profit motivated. Precisely the opposite.

Any businessman worth two spits in the ocean can tell you that giving your customers that <I>teeny little bit extra</i> goes a long way in producing repeat customers.... Especially in an entertainment-based industry.

You will note that $1 gets you $5. and $5 gets you 25. Tokens are, effectively, 20 cents apiece. The customer gets 25% more for his money than at a regular arcade.... while Ben gets 20% less (4 quarters per 5 games, rather than 5 quarters per 5.)

HOWEVER....


1) Making the tokens cheaper encourages the customers to spend more.

2)The cheaper the tokens, the more people playing games.

3)The more people playing games, the bigger the crowd.

4)the bigger the crowd, the more people will stop in to see what's drawing so many people.

See, whether Ben gets 2 customers a day or 200, the overhead is still the same--- the games STILL have to be running, the AC and lighting STILL has to be going, the employees STILL have to come in and be paid.... so lowering the per-play cost marginally gives him more benefits (draws a large crowd and keeps his customers happy) than it costs him.

Plus, 5 tokens for a dollar doesnt take into account all "half purchases" the kids who drop just one or two more quarters in the change machine, OR all the 2,3, or 4 token games.


The reason for using tokens instead of just quarters for everything is multifold.

1)efficiency--- far easier to round up the money from the floor walkers and one or two change machines every night than to dump out the changeboxes of close to a thousand arcade games, dontchathink?

2)Security--- see above. Teenage hoodlums are less likely to try and pry open an arcade game full of cheap tin coins than one full of quarters and silver dollars.

3)Advertising--- many arcade places get specially stamped tokens with the arcade name on them. So even if the kid walks out without spending 'em, he's helping scatter name recognition.

4)It's a little smarter to give people 5 TOKENS for a dollar than 5 QUARTERS.

[Earl McClaw]

The reason for using tokens instead of just quarters for everything is multifold.

1)efficiency--- far easier to round up the money from the floor walkers and one or two change machines every night than to dump out the changeboxes of close to a thousand arcade games, dontchathink?

Yes, but those game changeboxes still need to be emptied and the tokens put back in circulation, a thankless task that won't go away. Mind you, you probably don't have to empty every machine every night. Before long you'll get a measure of how often from how popular a machine is. (Then again, if you manage to "wire" the machines to a central monitor, you can be even more efficient with this. The ultimate extension of this would be to have all the machines drop the tokens into a system that gravity-feeds them into a central bin downstairs, and have an automatic unit similar to a "coin sorter" down there that gets them ready for sale again. But the cost of that would probably exceed any possible savings.)

2)Security--- see above. Teenage hoodlums are less likely to try and pry open an arcade game full of cheap tin coins than one full of quarters and silver dollars.

Less, but there's *%#s who'll do it anyway.

3)Advertising--- many arcade places get specially stamped tokens with the arcade name on them. So even if the kid walks out without spending 'em, he's helping scatter name recognition.

Assuming Ben got ahold of some. I heard somewhere that those tokens can be expensive. (Casino tokens in particular, as those can be exchanged for cash and they have to worry about counterfitting.)

4)It's a little smarter to give people 5 TOKENS for a dollar than 5 QUARTERS.

Oh, yes!

You missed some additional, if minor, reasons:

A) If they sell tokens, the arcade has the money, even if the games don't get played.

B) The rates on the sign allow the arcade to handle paper money, which is significantly lighter than the same amount in quarters.

C) Lighter tokens can mean less wear on the machines over time, reducing repair and maintenance costs.

[Rich-online]

One point to be made is that the $5 = 25 tokens is redundant. If Ben really believed that his patrons have such poor arithmetic skills, he should have put the translations for $10, $20, $50 and $100, also.

Ralphs main point still holds. By keeping his prices lower, he'll draw more patrons.

-- Rich

[RDB]

The reason for using tokens instead of just quarters for everything is multifold.

1)efficiency--- far easier to round up the money from the floor walkers

Who uses walkers any more? Wouldn't token dispensers be cheaper? Plus there's the introvert factor - many geeks/nerds are more comfortable accessing a machine than "bothering" a real person, even if that's their job

3)Advertising--- many arcade places get specially stamped tokens with the arcade name on them.

I have a small collection of them, though I didn't bother to record when and where I got them

To get a bit tangential: what are these "family problems" that require Penny to spend the whole summer there? Her folks seemed reasonably well-adjusted during the family reunion, but admittedly that's when you put your best false face on

Ron, misses classic pinball machines

[Sharuuk]

To get a bit tangential: what are these "family problems" that require Penny to spend the whole summer there? Her folks seemed reasonably well-adjusted during the family reunion, but admittedly that's when you put your best false face on

This is only a guess, but maybe Penny was the problem.

S'aaruuk

[The JAM]

[...unWARP!!!]

Good evening.


The arcade near the office has a card system. You buy a card, credit-type, and the machines, instead of coin slots, have a card slot, like an ATM. You can add credit with ticket machines, or directly on ATM type cashiers.

[UncleMonty]

Token vending machines might have some advantages, but if I remember my youth oh-so-very-long-ago, having an excuse to talk with a young woman (yes, even Penny!) would be more likely to bring me back to whichever arcade employed her.

Of course, right now she's got a slightly manic young fellow with a camera at hand and ghosts on his mind. This could be fun.

[Sharuuk]

There was this one arcade downtown that used these weird little key fobs that had chips in them....they also had something similar to a USB "a" connector on one end. Basically, you got the thing charged up with how ever many dollars you wanted to spend and you went and plugged it into a game and you chose how many "quarters" you wanted to dump into the game. You could keep the fob, but the connector was so squirrlly that there was no way you could forge credits on it....it was actually a pretty cool way to run the arcade. No money in the games for asshats to try and steal and the only cash deposits were from a cage.....worked pretty well.

S'aaruuk