Re: How to get youth into pinball, and not lose my shirt.
- From: "Lloyd Olson" <ltg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:07:22 -0500
A couple thoughts posted below. LTG :)
"Pin Wiz Jr." <maizeandblue@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9u%Fi.61156$Pv4.19816@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Try to get it in the closest mall/hangout spot to the school. Fair City
Mall is the closest mall to my high school, and it probably gets 50-100
people going every day from a 2000 person school.
Depending on if the city has rule or regulations about how far you need to
be away from schools.
As much as I wish you could, you're not going to get anywhere with just
pinball. You'll probably want a few vids. You might consider setting up a
lounge area with a decent TV and couches, with a computer and games or
something. I'm a 100% pin guy, but I'm trying to think about what my
friends would want. You could get a wii or something and hook it up to a
small TV. People would definitely come to play that. DDR is also still
popular.
Really put some thinking into whether you want a hang out or a profitable
business. You can do either one successfully, just be careful that you don't
create a hangout full of loiterers not spending money and chasing off
potential customers.
It really depends on how much time and money you're willing to put in to
this. If you had one of those plans that get all the football games,
people would come just to see the games and they would play pins at
halftime, during commercials, etc.
Get comfortable couches! It really makes a difference. I would think you
could get some really cheap but comfy ones at a Salvation Army kind of
place and put some new upholstery (I think that's what they call it on
mom's TLC shows) on it.
Skip couches. Some girl gets felt up or cries rape and you are a dead man.
Don't set up potential problems.
Teenagers (excluding me) don't tend to want to hear music from the '60s
and '70s. You're going to have to settle with the station that mostly
plays top 40 hits.
Snack bar needs the essentials. Hot dogs, fries, chips, soda, water,
pizza. People who come just to hang out aren't going to be ordering the
fried calamari.
Here's another thought. Hire some juniors and seniors from the high school
to work there, because their friends will come to hang with them. They'll
gladly work at minimum wage at the snack bar if they get to play video
games and stuff. Thing is that you'll have to be careful about them giving
free stuff to their friends. You might want to consider either a zero
tolerance policy or having an older supervisor when you're not there. An
arcade can't afford to risk losing any more money than it's already
probably going to.
Another thing to check with the city if you hire employees. They may have
age restrictions for people working in an arcade. In my city you have to be
21 or older. Which is young but at least on the right track. A 16 year old
is not going to be able to go up against older people without some serious
problems. During the video fad years there was an arcade in Shakopee that
had a 16 year old employee. Good person, a good tech, but anytime he went up
against older customers they'd just drag him outside and kick the crap out
of him. If you are open to the public, even if you run a decent place,
sooner or later you will have situations to deal with. An older person is
less likely to have as much trouble as a young one. And anything going on in
or around your business is noticed by everybody. So no situation is always
better then a bad one. So always strive to lessen your problems.
As for pinball machines, I really want to say get some NIB Sterns, but
it's hard. Paying $4200 isn't realistic for a small operator. I would
recommend getting some games with popular themes. Games I notice my
friends playing that aren't too expensive are HSII and WCS. Both good,
fun, new games that can be had in good condition for under $1500.
-Ethan Blonder
--
www.virginiapinball.org
.
- References:
- How to get youth into pinball, and not lose my shirt.
- From: beechwood
- Re: How to get youth into pinball, and not lose my shirt.
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