Game over for arcade as Pirate's Cove closes

[kainemaxwell]

Game over for arcade as Pirate's Cove closes
Body: By ANTHONY CORMIER
anthony.cormier@heraldtribune.com

MANATEE -- It used to be that a thousand teenagers would walk through the door of Pirate's Cove Family Fun Center on a Saturday night.

Tokens were traded for a turn at the video games. Soda washed down soft pretzels.

And Spitfire go-karts kicked up black exhaust and took straightaways at 20 mph.

But times are different now, and Pirate's Cove and other family entertainment centers are not as popular, or profitable, as they used to be.

The venues are closing throughout the region, and others are struggling to stay afloat in Southwest Florida.

Higher business costs, from property taxes to gas for the go-karts, and a changing customer base are leading to the demise of mom-and-pop entertainment centers.

In fact, it is believed that only one go-kart track, at Livingston's Amusement Center in Sarasota, exists between Tampa and Cape Coral.

An arcade was bulldozed for a car lot in Englewood, and an Embassy Suites took over another go-kart track in Brandon.

The latest to fall is Pirate's Cove, located on Tamiami Trail in Bradenton.

Its owner, Craig Copeman, hung on for 23 years, even as the hundreds of teenagers who came on weeknights dwindled to a few hundred per week.

Copeman sold out to a developer, even though he did not really want to. But there comes a time, he said, when you have to cut your losses.

"It's tough," he said. "But you can only charge so much money to play video games or ride a go-kart."

On Saturday, everything will be auctioned off: Galaga, Star Wars, Dynamo Air Hockey, a chili/cheese warmer, two ticket shredders, five bar stools, 23 go-karts -- even the water fountain.

"And the lights, too," Copeman said. "If people are interested."

Industry experts say there is something nostalgic about arcades and small amusement venues, which long provided an outlet for youngsters whose only other hangout was the mall.

In their heyday, entertainment centers were popular along Florida's west coast. Now, though, they are a scattered breed.

Two years ago, Pelican Pete's Playland shut down in Englewood to make room for a car dealership. Two hotels were built on the site of Celebration Station in Brandon. And a gas station and self-storage lot are expected to take over at Pirate's Cove.

"Where are families supposed to go?" asked Ralph Perna, co-owner of Pop's Golf and Batting Center on Fruitville Road.

Many of the rising costs are being passed on to the consumer.

In most places, it used to cost a quarter to play a video game. Now it may take a dollar, or more, to land you a ride on Cruisin' USA, the popular racing game.

And increasing overhead costs struck hard at many businesses which saw attendance drop, said entertainment and toy analyst David Riley.

While you can only charge so much for a round of go-karts or a turn at a video game, the price of insurance, taxes, electricity and everything else has put many owners in a tight spot.

"People don't have the same kind of disposable income," said Riley, an analyst with The NPD Group. "It used to cost a quarter. Now it's $1 or $1.50 or $2, and fewer people are willing to pay it."

With all the growth in east Manatee, Copeman thought of building a new site near Interstate 75. It would have cost $5 million, he figured.

One owner, Perna, wanted to expand, but his plan to add a go-kart track at Pop's on Fruitville Road was rebuffed by Sarasota County planners who worried about noise.

Also stinging entertainment centers is the fact that children have so many entertainment choices now. Why would they want to hoof it out to the arcade when their bedrooms are stocked with Xboxes, iPods and a Nintendo Wii?

Riley, the analyst, downplayed the influence of video games, saying that arcades were more of a communal experience than just for gaming.

But Copeman says there are too many children who would rather hook up to their Xbox than stand at a machine and chase little blue ghosts.

The thrill, for many, is gone. And in the case of Pirate's Cove, it is not coming back.

"I guess it was good while it lasted," Copeman said. "But times have changed."

Craig Copeman is selling the land under the once-thriving arcade that has been in his family since 1984.

[Poofta!]

this (sadly?) has been going on for probably 5 or 6 years now... once thriving, noisy, populated arcades are going away, even small ones at malls are almost gone.

personally, i will miss them, but i cant say i didnt see this coming. heres my take (that im sure has been mentioned oh so often by oh so many).

the games and gamestyles themselves have changed... people are looking for a more immersive, open ended experience in their games now, as opposed to a pick-up-and-play approach of before. gamers i think would rather stay at home and play a game like bioshock/assassins creed/gta/crakdown instead of going down to an arcade and playing the latest shmup. not to mention that home console games look as great, and probably better than what is coming out on arcade these days.

the technology has changed, if before arcade graphics/sound game an unrivaled experience, the arcade game was always better than any home counterpart (until the ps2 era). add that to the fact that you could find, play and challenge people at the arcade, something you couldn't do on your ps1 or snes or nes or atari by yourself (of course there are exceptions, xband etc). there was a constant influx of people and never ending variety of gamestyles to challenge you in that mk/street fighter/tekken machine. these days, all one has to do is boot up an arcade perfect port of their fav fighter, with a great hori arcade controller and take it online.

of course, the biggest thing, above all, without which people would still flock to arcades, if even just to watch and congregate with each other, meet new people to even play xbox live with, is price. if in the early 90s, one could go and spend 10 buck at the arcade (considering inflation, that 10 bucks is probably like 18 now) and play 20-40 times at .25-.50 cents a game. lets even say you take 20 bucks to the arcade now, youll be lucky if you get 20 plays. itll mostly probably be 10-15 plays. ($1-$2 and thats being charitable). so now the gamer is thinking... will i blow 40 bucks at the arcade tonight or go and buy that new 360 game, or like 3 ps2/xbox ones? i know for fact if i was still paying .25 for a game, id being going to arcades just to chill with my friends.

maybe somewhere, one day, some one will open an arcade where he can stock it with the newest and oldest arcades and only charge .25 per play, ill be there with my friends, and making new ones.

also i believe games themselves should adjust, i loved how gauntlet legends let you ave your character so you could continue playing him w/ his stats later. there should be more of that, or even better, have games take 360 mem cards so you could play at the arcade and at home on live, and to get the most out of said game one must do both. i remember something like that was done in japan w/ fzero (and probably failed) but this is different. dungeon crawlers seem perfect for this (actually even fighting games and driving simulators would be great as it would contribute to your gamerscore and stats, that youre not only tough stuff at home on a pad, but also in public behind the wheel/stick!)

that last point i believe has so much potential...

[MrSparkle]

nothing like progress eh? </sarcasm>

[Steve W]

Well, that's one thing that always bothered me about modern arcade games... they don't cost a quarter anymore, you end up spending a buck and a half just to play for ninety seconds. When 50¢ became the norm, I stopped going very often. It also falls on the shoulders of modern arcade game designers, putting out derivative games over and over. How many light gun shooters can you make? How many driving games? What happened to the simple pick-up-and-play games, instead of realistic simulations? I can play games like that on a modern home console. They need to give us something that we can't enjoy at home. The technology industry has been trying to create true 3D monitors for years, viewable without a special pair of glasses. Arcade designers need to incorporate something like that into their machines, and keep the costs down so that operators only need to charge a quarter.

How much do those Pac-Man/Galaga anniversary machines go for nowadays? $10,000 or so? For what's essentially less than a hundred bucks worth of electronics? The arcade game companies need to stop overcharging operators too, just so they can afford to buy decent games and attract new business to their arcades.

[Jorpho]

Now it may take a dollar, or more, to land you a ride on Cruisin' USA, the popular racing game.

Heh. The one that's ten years old?

[WiseSalesman]

Oh yeah, this has been happening for awhile now, ever since we started seeing arcade perfect translations on home consoles. I can kind of understand. Really the only reason to go to the arcade is to get an experience you can't get at home. The DDR explosion really helped arcades out for awhile, but Konami managed to screw that up by making sequels lacking all the charm of the originals. I don't see any reason to go to arcades anymore, and I'm sure many others feel the same way.

[Mangar]

I direct you to...... http://www.barcadebrooklyn.com

Thats the future of arcades imo. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. As nostalgic as old arcades are, I'd much rather be able to enjoy a pint amongst adults and play Donkey Kong on a well maintained machine, then drink soda on some machine that Little Timmy has been kicking and drooling on all day.

Not to mention that when you are finished, you can find a chick and get laid.

A Win Win!

[boatofcar]

In most places, it used to cost a quarter to play a video game. Now it may take a dollar, or more, to land you a ride on Cruisin' USA, the popular racing game.

If they're still charging you a buck to play Cruisin' USA, it's no wonder they're closing up shop.


We've talked about this before, but the best way to make these places thrive again is what's happening up north--arcade by day and barcade by night.

[diskoboy]

I think the game prices are the biggest factors in arcades closing.

I remember when Dragon's Lair first came out. People were hesitant to pay 50 cents when every other game, at the time, cost a quarter. Not to mention, back in the day, if you were good at a particular game, you could play for hours on one quarter. Seroiusly - who want's to pay $1 for a game that will probably last less than 1 minute - wth no chance of extended playtime?

They just don't make games like those, anymore. Every arcade you walk into is jam packed with racing games, light gun games, or fighting games.

Up until the mid-90's, most arcades had a good variety of game that didn't play the same as one another. But once game companies broke the 50 cent per play structure, the industry had nowhere to go but down.

EDIT - and the companies who manufactured arcade games can't blame inflation for rasing their prices over 50 cents. Hardware prices aways drop sharply a few months after said technology is released. Of course, creativity is also a major factor in why arcades died. But if the arcades that are still around can adopt something like an XBLA or Playstation Store model (good, casual games, at cheap prices, runnng on modern hardware) the arcades would probably flourish again. And letting arcade gamers go up aginst people playing at home, online would be a huge plus.

[Push Upstairs]

The arcade near me got rid of the one game there that I'd most likely go play, that "Aliens" shooter. Seems they kept the cab for it but replaced the board with some "Far Cry-ish" game.

[8-bitNesMan]

Heh. The one that's ten years old?

That point jumped out at me too... Nothing to make your article relevant like some anachronisms!

[Slate]

That point jumped out at me too... Nothing to make your article relevant like some anachronisms!

Yeah, I can buy a nintendo 64 with that game for $1.50 if I can find one that cheap!

[Clownzilla]

I believe that there is still potential in arcades IF they are developed right. Where I live in Springifled, MO, we have an 80's arcade called 1984 (some people on here have been there). They have a $5 flat fee to play all sorts of 80's video games (or buy a 10 visit pass for $20). It's a good deal, but I always am upset that they stopped at the 80's. There are SEVERAL friends of mine that yearn for 90's arcade games and even pinball machines. I still would love to rip somebodies head of in Mortal Kombat or slam dunk over somebody in NBA Jam.........all while standing right next to them. Now, there is a huge market of people that grew up with arcades that would love an experience like this. The perfect combination would be 80's and 90's games at a flat fee (like the 1984 arcade I mentioned). During the daytime (especially in the summer time and on the weekends) allow all ages in. After 7 PM nightly though, only allow people above 21 and serve alcohol. Make it a fun, yet relaxing atmosphere that let's people wind down after a long days work. Also have pool, shuffleboard, darts and so on. Even a cigar room and gaming leagues would be some nice additions. Arcades are dead to the younger generations, but there is a desire of them for those of my generation. Why no profit on that? That Barcade place mentioned seems similar to this idea. The most important part of the whole thing is pushing the non-gaming products and services. That would EASILY offset the maintenance cost of all the machines (while making a fat profit). The machines and atmosphere would be the draw while the alcohol, food, cigars, leagues, etc. would be the money makers. You will see these popping up because this idea is WAY to tempting...........just wait.

[Greg2600]

I was quite the avid Go-Kart fan back in the 90's. A group of friends of mine often traveled all over the place to the places. Unfortunately, they were rarely well maintained, and fall apart as you go. The remaining places now have much quicker indoor electric karts, which are more fun, but way more expensive. The Family Fun Center is on the way out.

[CreativeOnlineSurname]

Reading that article hit home, figuratively and literally. I live in Cape Coral, and all we have is a dumpy pseudo-arcade with no working games and go-karts. The mall used to have a well-maintained arcade that I practically lived in, but it shut down a good six years ago. Now I don't have any options for getting my arcade fix other than MAME. It sucks, because I don't mind dropping fifty cents to play Tekken Tag Tournament with working controls against a skilled human opponent.

I think the barcade idea is brilliant, and if I ever decided to start a business, that would be it.

[Griking]

the games and gamestyles themselves have changed... people are looking for a more immersive, open ended experience in their games now, as opposed to a pick-up-and-play approach of before. gamers i think would rather stay at home and play a game like bioshock/assassins creed/gta/crakdown instead of going down to an arcade and playing the latest shmup. not to mention that home console games look as great, and probably better than what is coming out on arcade these days.

I don't think it has as much to do with the type of game that's being played as the convenience of being able to play it at home. Arcade games were pretty much the first casual games, they didn't take a large time commitment to learn and play. Once it got to the point where the graphics were as good at home there was no need to pay a quarter or more to play them. It only got worse when less people played and the price per play started going up to ridiculous levels. Most casual players weren't willing to pay $1 a play. I know I'll miss the days of Spanky's, Wizards and all the other arcade that I grew up with but there's no going home again.

[Jorpho]

The Japanese arcades seem to be thriving on big communal experiences with soccer teams and Gundam battles and such.