Why No Seats For US Arcade Machines?

[JakeM]

In Japan you sit down at most machines, (especially 80's era) so why didnt Japanese companies make their cabinets be sit down ones when they exported the games? Why did Williams and Atari do stand up cabinets? Standing up gets tiring and your back hurts from the angle, it makes you play less. So why did the US arcade companies do this? I think it would have saved arcades in the 80's for awhile longer.

[The Adventurer]

Maybe because Pinball machines were stand-up machines? Or maybe because the earliest arcade cabinets (pong, space invaders) were american inventions and stand-up machines, so when arcades starting popping up in Japan they chose to do it differently while the US industry stayed the same?

EDIT: Apparently Space Invaders came from Japan. But I suspect its original cabinet was a stand-up?

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

The mistaken belief that sit-down cabinets take up more space, combined with an overall bias against giving teens a place to sit down. Arcade OPs must have believed it would lead to loitering, which they did anyway. And is that even a bad thing?

[kupomogli]

Arcade machines in the US don't allow you to sit down because the US is full of fat people who need to lose weight. Or atleast studies have shown this.

[JakeM]

And is that even a bad thing?

I know, right?! They would have made even more money then they did, hard for some to imagine, but its true. I think Japanese arcades survived longer because of this very simple reason. Lets say 83 still happened and Atari consoles crashed and console games didnt sell. You could have still gone to an arcade and sat down with friends watching you play games. Sure the fad would have worn off to a lot of people, but if there were places for people to sit down when they werent doing stuff and it was too hot or cold outside they could have gone into arcades to cold down or warm up. I mean, when movie theaters opened it would have been crazy if films were 30 minutes long and you had to stand up to watch them. Same with arcades basically.

kupo, obesity wasnt such a problem till later.

[SparTonberry]

Capitalism!

If you're not popping quarters in the machine, you need to get out as soon as possible! :D

[wiggyx]

Most of the sit down stuff is pachinko and whatnot. The sort of things that adults in Japan will play. I'm sure the adult players are far more likely to play for longer when they are comfortable. Look at slot machines here in the US. Stuff like the Street Fighter series was all but never presented in a sit down format. They're just catering to a specific market. .

[Bojay1997]

There were plenty of arcades in the San Diego and Los Angeles area that had tall stools that were available if you anticipated having a long arcade gaming session. Heck, even the local Chuck E. Cheese had stools in the arcade area that could be moved around. Frankly, with most arcade game plays only lasting a few minutes, I never really bothered to pull a stool over.

[skaar]

People tripping over stools and suing arcades?

No idea.

I do have to say I'm glad bar table machines were a thing. I love those machines.

[Tupin]

I thought it was to keep insanely good people from hogging a machine all day and playing on one credit.

[AdamAnt316]

There were, of course, some arcade machine cabinets which were intended to be sat down in to play. One of the more famous of which would be Atari "Star Wars" cockpit cabinet, which I'm lucky enough to own an example (http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/temp/arcade/starwars.html) of. :) Of course, Atari also sold it as a conventional stand-up cabinet game, so maybe the arcade operators preferred it that way? Either that, or they didn't have the room for the larger cabinet (price wasn't as much of an issue as you might think, as the cockpit version (http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=star-wars-cockpit-model&page=detail&id=21219) apparently cost only $200 more than the upright cab (http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=star-wars-upright-model&page=detail&id=2623), yet they apparently sold four times as many of the latter as the former).
-Adam

[FFStudios]

It's hard enough to find an arcade worth its salt that isn't filled to the brim with "pay to lose 2 levels in" shooter games. The best one near me has all the best coin-op games on the second floor, and they rarely open it to the public. Doesn't stop me from playing some Tekken downstairs, though.

I think it's the fact that our collective attention span is so short that we don't really care about making an arcade game an extended session. I can only really think of a couple games that I've been so glued to as to keep standing there and putting coins in.

[sloan]

There actually were plenty of sit-down arcade machines in the US, at least in the early to mid 80's. They were also called "cocktail" cabinets and the screen stared up at you as if it were a cocktail table. I distinctly remember playing Make Trax, Galaxian, Pac Man, Galaga, and Ms. Pac Man on cocktail cabinet machines. They normally did not make it to arcades, but mostly to pizzerias and pubs.

[Buyatari]

There actually were plenty of sit-down arcade machines in the US, at least in the early to mid 80's. They were also called "cocktail" cabinets and the screen stared up at you as if it were a cocktail table. I distinctly remember playing Make Trax, Galaxian, Pac Man, Galaga, and Ms. Pac Man on cocktail cabinet machines. They normally did not make it to arcades, but mostly to pizzerias and pubs.

He is talking about machines with a built in seat.

The fat American comment might not be far off. My buddy was big into arcades and had several sit down machines (Star Wars,Sinistar,Omega Race,etc). For him finding one with a seat in good condition was often a problem. They were often cracked.

[FieryReign]

There actually were plenty of sit-down arcade machines in the US, at least in the early to mid 80's. They were also called "cocktail" cabinets and the screen stared up at you as if it were a cocktail table. I distinctly remember playing Make Trax, Galaxian, Pac Man, Galaga, and Ms. Pac Man on cocktail cabinet machines. They normally did not make it to arcades, but mostly to pizzerias and pubs.

Was it just my area or were these things in every Pizza Hut? They were actually 2player alternating. You sat across from each other and the screen would "flip" when it was your turn. One person got the good "booth" seat and the other guy had to sit in the "hard" chair. Mine had a Ms. Pacman cocktail machine that was later replaced with Yie Ar Kungfu. I'll be damned if the music and sound effects aren't permanently burned in my head for life. I can remember the music and sounds from Yie Ar Kungfu, yet I cant remember where I just put damn keys?

[JakeM]

He is talking about machines with a built in seat.


No I wasnt. In Japan, if youve seen their arcade machines, theyre low to the ground, so the arcades have different things for you to sit on, its not complicated.

:47 seconds in you see perfect examples of these machines. In america they used wooden cabinets to put the screen and games in instead of the plastic ones they use over there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXmVxASCGXc

[xelement5x]

No I wasnt. In Japan, if youve seen their arcade machines, theyre low to the ground, so the arcades have different things for you to sit on, its not complicated.

:47 seconds in you see perfect examples of these machines. In america they used wooden cabinets to put the screen and games in instead of the plastic ones they use over there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXmVxASCGXc

Technically, candy cabinets do not have seats either. They are just lower to the ground, so it's easier to put a stool underneath it. I always remember playing at arcades and trying to grab a bar stool to sit on and play from, but I would guess the main reason a lot of places didn't have them was to prevent loitering as well.

The last thing an operater needed was a bunch of punk teenagers sitting around in your arcade not spending money. :P

[sloan]

He is talking about machines with a built in seat.


No I wasnt.

:bigmac:


Was it just my area or were these things in every Pizza Hut? They were actually 2player alternating. You sat across from each other and the screen would "flip" when it was your turn. One person got the good "booth" seat and the other guy had to sit in the "hard" chair. Mine had a Ms. Pacman cocktail machine that was later replaced with Yie Ar Kungfu. I'll be damned if the music and sound effects aren't permanently burned in my head for life. I can remember the music and sounds from Yie Ar Kungfu, yet I cant remember where I just put damn keys?

I said in an earlier post that cocktail cabinets were mostly in pizzerias and pubs, but I did go to a small-town arcade once that had three cocktail machines. That is where I first saw Make Trax, on a cocktail cabinet version.

[Oldskool]

It just wouldn't be the same if every arcade game was a sit down. That's one unique thing that sets them apart from just sitting on your couch and playing a game. When I am playing on my MVS Big Red I prefer to stand up - especially while playing fighting games. The movement of your body really gets you into the game and makes you feel like you are more of a part of it. I have bar stools on each side of the MVS just in case I want to sit down while playing but honestly they are very rarely used. When someone is over playing on the MVS I always offer a bar stool and they go "naaa I don't want that".

[Ed Oscuro]

EDIT: Apparently Space Invaders came from Japan. But I suspect its original cabinet was a stand-up?
No, it was the same kind of Taito cocktail you see everywhere.

The old Taito cocktails were metal and wood, exactly the same as the cabinets you can see here if you find a Taito cocktail.

The plastic cabinets people are talking about are relatively newer types. I think even in the Street Fighter II era they were using mostly metal / wood designs (which I believe is the construction of the Capcom Status 25, one of which was restored (http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2012/09/capcom-status-25.html) recently).

The seats for these cabinets are traditionally just little stools.

Of course some machines do have seats - racers mostly, I'm sure everybody has seen the Cruis'n games, but there are also some unusual ones like S.T.U.N. Runner, and of course all the environmental and air combat titles. This isn't just a US phenomenon - Yu Suzuki is (unless I am mistaken) the pioneer of sit-down games in Japan, and even today there are some neat-looking environmental pod type games being played (mech fighting games are popular as always).

Today in Japan, and probably in China as well (I suppose I could ask somebody) most cabinets have the stools set out for players.

[Retronick]

I can't speak for ALL machines, but I actually think it has a lot to do with the type of game. Not sure if it's out of habit, but I enjoy standing to play fighters like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter (Alpha 2 especially). The only machine I ever bought was a sit down cabinet. I can't imagine playing this one standing up: http://www.retronick.com/?attachment_id=1671.