No Time Like The Present To Cash In On The Pasts Popularity

Coin-operated amusement devices are once again red hot. At no time since the Golden Age of Video Games have they occupied such a prominent place in pop culture and the public consciousness. Of course, many operators would argue with that premise, based on what they've been seeing in their cashboxes. To those doubters, I say: take a good look around.

At present, you would be hard-pressed to find a major or a secondary market that doesn't have at least one so-called "barcade" featuring classic games. And it's impossible to ignore the presence of coin-op in pop culture. Pixels, the big-budget Adam Sandler movie scheduled for release this summer, is already generating a healthy buzz even as advertising, such as the Bud Light spot featuring a giant Pac-Man maze, has become commonplace.

There's no secret motivation behind the renewed interest in classic coin-op (and even new) games. They represent cherished nostalgia combined with entertainment that can't be easily duplicated at home. They are very much a shared cultural memory of the Gen X and Boomer age cohorts. Advertisers, small businesses and cutting-edge marketers are only too happy to appropriate iconic coin-op. When an upscale hotel recently created a pop-up faux arcade filled with pins and videogames for a few nights, they knew what they were doing.

Interestingly, many operators have been slow to pick up on the opportunities presented by this trend. Even those who were around during the halcyon days of packed Pac-Man coinboxes have not fully recognized the profit potential in leveraging coin-op's place in cultural history, nor identified prospective new location types.

The reasons for this are obvious. Many potential new-category venues are pop-up. Since retailers discovered this high-foot-traffic, short-duration concept, variations of the pop-up store or event have been proliferating in a variety of formats, increasingly in upscale settings and implementing more sophisticated concepts. The limited timeframe induces a sense of urgency in consumers -- delay and it's gone.

In an industry where games traditionally stayed on location for months, years, or even decades, the concept of one-night or single-week "event locations" may seem anomalous, maybe even unnatural. However, the underlying concept -- coin-op as a way to promote or enhance a venue -- is the same for the short-lived event or pop-up venue as it is for traditional locations. The fact that an operator can charge top dollar for such "one and done" events is not too shabby, either.

The list of potential short-term locations is lengthy, and there is no shortage of potential partners for such endeavors. For instance, hotels that can offer a pop-up arcade on their menus for catered events, the organizers of comic book conventions seeking additional revenue streams, even corporate clients seeking to spice up an in-house event all qualify as prospects.

There is also the issue of selling to an unfamiliar market. Event planners, whether independent or associated with a location, are not typical coin-op location managers. Selling a boxing game into a bachelor party, or a win-every-time skill crane filled with specialty prizes for a bachelorette bash, is a different type of sales job.

To a large degree, photobooth operators have been in the vanguard of partnering with nontraditional coin-op locations and short-term event organizers. As the goodwill toward videogames continues to increase among a population in constant search of nostalgia and novelty, right now seems to be the right time to at least test a new operating model.