RikaKazak Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I was curious what people pay nowadays for used arcade machines. (example: street fighter 2 or mortal kombat).....I need some filler pieces and was curious if you guys are paying $100-$200 a game, or more like $400? Or more like $800? I was also curious on the numbers. I need them for filler, but if say a Keymaster is doing $1,500 a month, what would street fighter do if it was sitting right next to it? (anything ball park is close enough) Are we talking $10 a month? $50 a month? $100+? Thanks in advance guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerformaVending Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I know that the big amusement operator over here will put two identical cranes together before he puts in any "traditional" arcade stuff. Most arcade units I see are more for home collectors- and the volume of gear for sale isn't encouraging. If it makes money regularly, it's not for sale in great quantity. As for what an arcade rig would do next to it, if I had to ballpark it, I'd say you'd be better looking to $10 a month than anything higher. People play redemption to get the prize- the arcade rig isn't going to have that same incentive to play. Whatever you choose to do, good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjacks Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 If it is at all possible that arcade game may actually suck money out of your pocket when you go to service it. Beware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoRefunds Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Let's say my filler pieces cost less than $900 each... I'd stay away from the whole street fighter thing as they are such weak earners that it's just not worth it. Also, a competitor could come in and say "wow, your op runs junk, blah blah blah" There are some proven steady earning filler pieces for me. For $500 and less I can buy a wide variety of driving games. Cruisin, cal speed, rush, hydro & arctic thunder, etc etc, the list goes on and on. Anything made by Midway is still reliable, and they still earn (as filler, we're not talking brand new a+ earners). Kids can't drive in real life, and they can't get the same effect on their dumb phone so these have become staples in all my locations from the A+ locations all the way to the laundromats. Gun games such as area 51, and big buck hunter(i.t. version) still do well and can be bought cheap $250-400. I don't like service calls and these games keep my phone from ringing. How about a classic? Ms.Pacs have leveled off in recent years and I can get one nice enough for the street for $500. A thousand years old yet they never break. I've given up on multicades. Too expensive to buy compared to their ROI. Original Ms.Pac will beat them here. Most do about $50-80 a month. A few can break $100 a month (gross) Interactive games? Good old Hoop It Up, I've bought these working 100% for less than $25. Yes, $25. Clean them up and install new basketballs inside and out and set for quarter play with a 40 second game time and they still do ok. They probably gross $40-80 a month. Cheap filler. Prize games. Now we're talking. I can now get BarberCut prize games for $800ish. Stackers also. They will make for a sure fire fast ROI and make a first class "filler" piece. I try to get one a month at the auctions. I'm almost putting them in my C locations now and I'm sure it will bump them up quite a bit. And after I sell the piece it's replacing for $400, it's like getting it for nothing. It's the opposite of what I said earlier....."oh your operator has this beat up street fighter with sticky buttons in here....hmmm...you should try my nice prize game and even at a 30% commission, I'll smoke his 50%". We're not talking Key Master money. We're also not talking $3000 for a used key master. Cranes. Stick with anything by smart and you'll have a truck load of them for next to nothing$$$. Just a simple $1.00 per play and a 5" knobby ball. Very profitable. An arcade purist may want to play Street Fighter a half an hour for .25, but I enjoy paying my bills on time instead. Touchscreens. I know I know, the cell phone killed them. But I run at least 50 upright touchscreens on the street as filler pieces and some do surprisingly well. This comes with the disclaimer that there are ALWAYS 5 or 6 in the shop and I can bulletproof the heck out of them and they still fail, so they may not be for everyone. Fixing these better than factory condition is almost my hobby (or punishment). I've got several that take in $120-150 a month (gross) which I'm very happy with. I just got an ION upright in Winston for $150. Great filler with a small footprint. They do good in the small remote towns as smart phones really haven't made thier way there yet. Music. A couple of months back I said what the heck, let's try a touchtunes at a laundromat as filler. This location has 6 games and is a nice place. Attended open to close (thankfully). A pot-o-silver pusher, upright megatouch ion, a pinball, crane, big buck pro, and a nice driver. I do bulk there also. It's a $10k a year stop which is unheard of for laudrys. I parked a touchtunes out there and it KILLED! I just told the owner we would split it as we do the crane 70/30. Some weeks it does near $100. You can get those rhapsody touchtunes boxes, gen 3 with mjs computers for peanuts....less than $200 all night long so I'm happy with that. I plan on doing more soon. Someone who has no interest in a video game may be into music. But you asked a good question and I hope I've helped. Again these are just my experiences on my routes. YMMV. I try to keep my filler pieces looking as good as my brand new equipment, down to cleaning the monitors and keeping the marquee lights working and the cabinet looking good as well. It makes a difference in the cashbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikaKazak Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 Thank you so much NoRefund...I REALLY appreciate that you took the time to write all of that Next beers on me (ok ok, the whole night lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendbend Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 I also thank you I have been researching arcade machines for awhile and your post has given me more information in one shot then I have obtained elsewhere and I treat the advice from this forum like gold so thank you again now I will hunt and buy these recommended machines I am getting some arcades because I went crazy and bought too many full line and bulk machines I got really good deals so now I want to inhance my machines with a few just for fun machines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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