No to barcades

[gbpxl]

I went to Up Down Arcade in Minneapolis with my girlfriend last week and we walked right out. There was a bouncer who wanted our IDs and when we went inside the first thing you see is a woman in a tight shirt selling beer. Yeah not really my kind of place. I have never had an issue with alcohol but I know that many people struggle with alcoholism and I imagine it's hard for them to go to these places to plug away at a machine and have the temptation of alcohol within feet of them. Not to mention dads who want to bring their kids to an arcade to show them what it was like for gaming in the 80s and 90s and they can't do that.

There is a place called Zap Arcade in Jordan, MN I like somewhat but the variety isn't the best and some of the machines were broken or were converted into the mutlicade.

Still wanna check out Galloping Ghost Arcade, that place looks awesome.

[Aussie2B]

All the barcades I've been to have been pretty lackluster. They tend to be shabby places with machines barely hanging on for dear life, if not totally broken. I don't have a problem with them serving alcohol, though, and some aren't too in your face about doing so. Depends on if they're more a bar for adults that happens to have games or more a family-friendly arcade that happens to have beer available. If it's the latter, it's not really any different from taking your kids to a restaurant that serves alcohol. The problem my family ran into is that there's an arcade (that serves pizza and beer and switches to being a 21+ place at night) near where my brother and his family live, but the owner is a total racist piece of garbage who spouted bigoted crap at my niece and nephew. So what could've been a decent place to take them is ruled out for that reason.

[Bratwurst]

Been hearing from a few folk in the California area that barcades will probably collapse in the next 4-5 years because the machines are getting too expensive to acquire and maintain. Plus it's a bit of a lost art for a lot of the tech...

I suppose they'll adapt to emulators and LCD screens? Seems like a fad that'll wither anyway.

[Aussie2B]

I've already seen some using LCDs. Not sure about emulation. Certainly doesn't help the appeal any, especially when I could just load up MAME and play the games on my own CRT at home.

[Steve W]

There's a couple barcades around the Dallas and Fort Worth area, I've been to a couple but have never felt compelled to go back. Not when there's a few small retro arcades in the area without the "bar scene" ruining the experience.

There's two Round1 Bowling & Amusement places in the area, and I find myself going in to those fairly often. I've gotten fairly addicted to crane machines. Those machines are much better when there's good stuff in them, like at Round1.

[bb_hood]

There was a bouncer who wanted our IDs and when we went inside the first thing you see is a woman in a tight shirt selling beer. Yeah not really my kind of place. I have never had an issue with alcohol but I know that many people struggle with alcoholism and I imagine it's hard for them to go to these places to plug away at a machine and have the temptation of alcohol within feet of them. Not to mention dads who want to bring their kids to an arcade to show them what it was like for gaming in the 80s and 90s and they can't do that.


Yeah its real tough for those dads to smuggle thier kids past the bouncers.

Not your type of place, thats understandable.. be comon.. its a just a bar with video games, not the other way around. Not an arcade that sells alcohol.

[jperryss]

I've already seen some using LCDs. Not sure about emulation. Certainly doesn't help the appeal any, especially when I could just load up MAME and play the games on my own CRT at home.

By that logic, why even go to the bar when you can drink at home?

There are two of these around 30 miles from my house and the one that I've actually been to was OK. Out of about 25 machines, 5-6 have replaced the CRTs with flat-panel screens so I assume those are running emulation.

[Aussie2B]

I wouldn't do either because I very rarely drink. :p I've never ordered a drink at a barcade. If I go to any kind of arcade, the draw is having a more authentic arcade experience than I can have at home. I want to play authentic cabinets with CRTs in them. If LCDs and emulation are thrown into the mix, the appeal is gone for me, especially when I then get a BETTER experience at home, seeing as games that were designed to display on CRTs look like crap on LCDs.

[Niku-Sama]

huh interesting

most of the barcades in the Eugene Portland Salem areas are open to minors until around 10pm or so and then go strictly booze and brews till 2am.
might have to do with some of the laws.

I know here (here is Oregon) a bar HAS to sell food in conjunction with the booze and recently has to maintain a kitchen until last call or closing where before it was only till midnight
that might have something to do with it, since there has to be a eatery part of any bar they just go full fledged with it during the day and maintain part of the menu at night to complay with state laws

theres odd drinking laws in this state. A town near by has a law on the books still that its illegal to fight drunk in a dry creek bed...

[jb143]

There are Jamma to LCD converters so there's a very good chance they are not using emulators. There does seem to be a bit of a push to switch to LCD screens for various reasons, the biggest being cost and availability. A new LCD screen and converter board is going to likely cost less, last longer, and need less maintenance than a CRT.

Having said that though, I can't stand the look of an LCD on an arcade cabinet. The ones I've seen usually the image is too flat and almost looks painted on. Not right at all, not the right resolutions at all. Just wrong wrong wrong.

An RGB modded TV looks much much nicer (almoooooost as good as the real thing) and much much cheaper(practically free). Most operators likely don't care too much though, and I doubt that most of their customers really care either, so unless we're talking about enthusiasts such as Galloping Ghosts, it's a trend that I don't see going away.

[Niku-Sama]

i'd like to see a low res glossy LCD curved like the front of a CRT.
it'd be low cost for companies to make and they would make a killing being "specialized"

[jb143]

i'd like to see a low res glossy LCD curved like the front of a CRT.
it'd be low cost for companies to make and they would make a killing being "specialized"

Something tells me a low res LCD screen would look even worse, even if it were the exact resolution of the game. A CRT doesn't have pixels so the pixels of an LCD would really stand out. A curved high res display with an inline filter to create the look of a CRT would probably look pretty good though, although be more expensive.

[Bratwurst]

There are also FPGA clones of older arcade games coming out now, but they're pricey, and most people that would go to a barcade are looking to play TMNT and The Simpsons instead of Robotron 2048 or Defender.