Arcade Club

CathalDublin

Well these places seem to be popping up all over the UK, its kinda obvious a full time arcade wouldn't work in Ireland but do you think something like this could survive?
http://www.arcade-club.com/

They only open to the public 1 night/week and charge £10/adult £5/child admission, I see they also do private rentals but I wonder do they manage to make enough to cover the rent and electricity.

Looking at the average rent for a small office 500sq feet in Dublin seems to be about €400/month give or take €100 depending on areea/access.

CathalDublin

CathalDublin wrote: »

Well these places seem to be popping up all over the UK, its kinda obvious a full time arcade wouldn't work in Ireland but do you think something like this could survive?
http://www.arcade-club.com/

They only open to the public 1 night/week and charge £10/adult £5/child admission, I see they also do private rentals but I wonder do they manage to make enough to cover the rent and electricity.

Looking at the average rent for a small office 500sq feet in Dublin seems to be about €400/month give or take €100 depending on areea/access.

make it happen

CathalDublin

Future Cathal might do it, I think it would require quite a few people to make happen and a fair wad of cash to start off with.
Couple of high quality repo cabinets(like your DK) of the classics wouldn't be too expensive then a couple of candies, pinballs could be added as they were found, theres always bargains out there if you hold out long enough.

o1s1n

Would love for this to happen, consider me a weekly regular

Jack burton

Would be doable but would need a fair bit of cash/time to invest into in, maybe in the future.

You'd be wanting 20+ machines in there to draw a crowd I'd say

safetyboy

What's does it involve? renting a lock up, how safe? I'd be up for letting a Cab and some PCB's for it if its workable, not too far in the shtix though what about setting up in the basement of a pub? I can ask in work as we rent out a few rooms to the arts council for buttons it seems. I will check that tomorrow, its centre of town too.

Tomo.Murphy

I'd love to see this happen. If it was at all possible for me to get to it I'd be a regular :-D

Optimus Prime

Could be cool, i always think this thing would be a great idea, then i think about kids getting chocolate all over my cabs, lads spilling beer on them, swinging out of the joysticks, damaging cabs transporting and then change my mind. Other than those worries.. im in too haha..

CathalDublin

keithgeo wrote: »

Could be cool, i always think this thing would be a great idea, then i think about kids getting chocolate all over my cabs, lads spilling beer on them, swinging out of the joysticks, damaging cabs transporting and then change my mind. Other than those worries.. im in too haha..

Well the cabs in the link above are always there so no moving about to get damaged, I wouldn't fancy sticking my whirlwind up for public play either but I'd sacrifice my defender to something like this, remember they are only open to the public once/week to cover the costs.

Jack burton

If this did happen then someplace in a unit with room for a lot of cars would be best I think.

Would be very cool though. Id say the only way to really make money these days with arcade machines is to serve some good beer and food etc. But then you have greasy hands and spils on machines haha no thanks

I would be in to help out anyway I could

CathalDublin

Jack burton wrote: »

If this did happen then someplace in a unit with room for a lot of cars would be best I think.

Would be very cool though. Id say the only way to really make money these days with arcade machines is to serve some good beer and food etc. But then you have greasy hands and spils on machines haha no thanks

I would be in to help out anyway I could

I think making money is probably out of the question at the start as then there is tax/etc to worry about, where as if it's a non profit club there is none of that to worry about. I think the aim long term might be to turn it into something profitable, but the short term would be a bit of craic an evening or 2 per week. Beer would abviously be on a BYO basis.

safetyboy wrote: »

What's does it involve? renting a lock up, how safe? I'd be up for letting a Cab and some PCB's for it if its workable, not too far in the shtix though what about setting up in the basement of a pub? I can ask in work as we rent out a few rooms to the arts council for buttons it seems. I will check that tomorrow, its centre of town too.

Looking at Daft the last couple of months, it's possible to rent a decent sized office around the Naas Road/Red cow, Blanchardstown area for about €300-€500 per month. It would need to have evening access, some of them don't, it would need to also have own entrance, again some places don't. Most the industrial estates have security in the evenings so should be pretty safe, I wouldn't be too worried about a break in, as all they'd be looking for would be cash most likely. Once it was dry without chance of flooding it would be grand.

Optimus Prime

Would you need to worry as well about the cold, condensation or whatever on the monitors in cabs? we would have to pay electricty bills too i guess, do you have to seperatly pay a management company or something for the security?

o1s1n

If it's a decent retail/office space then you shouldn't have to worry about damp or condensation or anything like that really. You could make sure the room was up to a comfortable temperature before powering anything on.

Having them sitting in a cold empty office when you're not there is fine - sure think of Granny's arcade in Japan. I can only imagine how many years that was lying dormant. My Aero boots perfectly every time

Jack burton

Few lads i know have a garage for their cars inside a monitored industrail estate. Entrance card required for going in and out. I think something like that would be ideal. No excess security fees

o1s1n

Jack burton wrote: »

Few lads i know have a garage for their cars inside a monitored industrail estate. Entrance card required for going in and out. I think something like that would be ideal. No excess security fees

Yeah there could be something like that which has an alternative primary use (even one of those storage lock ups?) - might be insurance/public liability issues though if you're using it for hosting groups of people. I guess different places will have different policies.

I've always really liked the idea of creating something like Barcade. City centre bar somewhere, throw in a load of arcade machines. From looking at the way people are frothing at the gash over these crappy MAME cabs dotted about town, I'd say it might just do well.

Myrddin

This idea has come up quite here a few times at this stage, & never seems to go anywhere. I think at the end of the day, folks are (mostly) just happy with having their cabs in the comfort of their own home. Coupled with the costs of setting this up, the risk to cabs in terms of transport, & the great unwashed using them, & a place like this not being central to everyone involved, just takes the steam out of the idea.

I think one way to maybe try something different, is to broaden the audience. Get all the Irish AO & J+ users in on it too, because I think the more involved with this, the lower the cost will be, & the more incentive there will be for others to get involved.

Cantstandsya

As someone who loves arcades but, unfortunately, isn't in a position to have a cab of his own, I'd love to see something like this here. So while I might not be in a position to offer practical support by way of cabs etc. I do offer that most useless of all support, moral support.

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would be interested in it. People who aren't able to have cabs of their own but would happily spend 20 quid or so every week for an evening of arcade fun.

Might not be a money making scheme but I reckon you could get a decent group of people together to support it.

eddhorse

Ill donate €50 a month

I think a few arcade meets where people bring games for the day would be a good start.
Certain people should learn to drive so they can bring a cab..........

CathalDublin

BrownFinger wrote: »

I think a few arcade meets where people bring games for the day would be a good start.
Certain people should learn to drive so they can bring a cab..........

Or maybe someone else who drives could offer their cabs a lift there, but not home;)

Finding a suitable area for a good price is the most difficult part, I actually know somebody who owns a couple of places around drumcondra/fairview area which have parking, they are all in use at the moment though they are a bit like this place so might need some work before cabs could go into them.
http://www.daft.ie/commercial/46-upper-drumcondra-rd-near-tesco-drumcondra-dublin/210937/
Something like this would be ideal if it was in an easier to access area, although it is only 15minutes from the m50. maybe its a little small.
http://www.daft.ie/commercial/nore-road-glasnevin-dublin/123439/

Atavan-Halen

Personally I think the idea of an arcade/game cafe would be better. Some consoles set up alongside some cabs with a library of games to to pick out and play while having a coffee, open during the day for coffees and snacks, and beers and chiptune gigs in the evening. Not sure if there'd be a market for it, although with a good location and cheap coffee, you could get the lunchtime crowd in for takeaways.

I'd be glad to help out with the original idea though if it ever came about.

eddhorse

Bringing cabs would be very difficult.

Unless you had custom boards.ie cabs that you brought your MVS or jamma boards to.

o1s1n

BrownFinger wrote: »

Certain people should learn to drive so they can bring a cab..........

:eek: I hope that wasn't pointed at me! You loons are welcome in my house any time, as long as you bring your own booze :pac:

CathalDublin

I think the idea of moving cabs regularly might be difficult, was more thinking along the lines of starting with maybe 10cabs( mainly cheap cabinets or custom built repos )and try make enough to buy a few more as bargains comes up, swap boards out weekly/monthly from personal collections.
While a cafe might be good and could work, this would be a non profit thing run in spare time as anyone I know who would be interested in same is in full time employment and wouldn't be willing to take a risk on something like this.

Also cafe rents are very high, especially in the city centre, they can be into the thousands in rent weekly plus public liability insurance, accounts, etc.

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

:eek: I hope that wasn't pointed at me! You loons are welcome in my house any time, as long as you bring your own booze :pac:

I hear an invite to a Beers in that statement!
Beers!
Beers!
Beers!
Beers!

BGOllie

when's the next one , I missed the last ones and I'm thirsty

Doctor DooM

Myrddin wrote: »

This idea has come up quite here a few times at this stage, & never seems to go anywhere. I think at the end of the day, folks are (mostly) just happy with having their cabs in the comfort of their own home. Coupled with the costs of setting this up, the risk to cabs in terms of transport, & the great unwashed using them, & a place like this not being central to everyone involved, just takes the steam out of the idea.

I think one way to maybe try something different, is to broaden the audience. Get all the Irish AO & J+ users in on it too, because I think the more involved with this, the lower the cost will be, & the more incentive there will be for others to get involved.

You think you hear it a lot? Try being FG forum mod I think about 20 arcades for us to have tournaments in have been rambled on to me at this point in various different outlets.

At the end of the day, this kind of endeavour requires financial investment, passion on the part of the person developing it, and constant (monetary) input from the people who attend. It's not an easy ask.

safetyboy

What about Block-T studios?

http://www.blockt.ie/

Elgire

This is quite easy to set up. I'm the former manager of Blacks Snooker Hall (Arcade and Slots) in Old Bawn about 15 years ago. After the Hall closed down I started importing cabs from the UK for private home use as the arcade scene here was dying but the country was still in Celtic Tiger money.

I had a small commercial unit in Bray, Co. Wicklow I used as a lock up and invited friends over at the weekend to play. As the business model slowly died the lads started chipping in €10 a week to use the lock up. Unfortunately people grow up and kids come along so the 'club' slowly died but it's now somewhat evolved into a Motorcylce Club 'Clubhouse'.

I'd love to get involved with another Arcade Club. €10 a week 'dues' between 8 to 10 people should be enough for a shared unit. No need to open to the public. Keep membership exclusive to just those needed to cover the bills.

I still have over 8 kiosks, a tekken 5 and SF2 cab in storage. So that's a start.

Jack burton

Any chance of selling me that SF2 cab?

But yeah I would agree with that type of idea. Maybe a meet once a month open to a selected public and everyone that day chip in a few bob towards bills or even a kitty

Elgire

SF2 cab was on adverts for 2 years and nobody could stump up the cash. I think I dropped it to €600 at one stage. This Christmas I turned down €1,000 for it.

A club, if it's to survive needs proper structure. President, VP, Treasurer and Secretary.

A once a month fundraiser or something would be a good idea, similar to how a motorcycle club might have a 'Rock Night' €5 admission or something.

Rates on commercial premises are not as high as residential. My bills in my apartment are usually higher than the clubhouse.

Jack burton

And im not 100% sure but arnt there fees that you dont have to pay of you are a non profit club?

Cantstandsya

I wonder how many people this would need to be viable? There seems to be a fair amount of interest just on these boards alone.

If you stuck this up on something like meetup.com I'd say there'd be a good response.

CathalDublin

Cantstandsya wrote: »

I wonder how many people this would need to be viable? There seems to be a fair amount of interest just on these boards alone.

If you stuck this up on something like meetup.com I'd say there'd be a good response.

I'd say 8-10 people to make it viable, maybe less(3-5) with regular pay meets/events "Donations".
I'm waiting to hear back from a few friends I have who have family with lookups/ offices which they rent to see if anything comes up cheap

Los Lobos

BrownFinger wrote: »

I think a few arcade meets where people bring games for the day would be a good start.
Certain people should learn to drive so they can bring a cab..........

The first rule of arcade/pinball club is you don't talk about arcade/pinball club...

Los Lobos

Los Lobos wrote: »

The first rule of arcade/pinball club is you don't talk about arcade/pinball club...

Ah los lobos,
another non driver :rolleyes:

safetyboy

If only candys fitted on a dublin bike!!!

Elgire

Jack burton wrote: »

And im not 100% sure but arnt there fees that you dont have to pay of you are a non profit club?

You don't pay any fees except rent to a landlord and local rates as long as you are not publicly trading as a business.

4 people paying €25 or 6 people paying €15 a week is more than enough to get started.

Have a look at what €400 a month gets you:
facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.784149311596605.1073741835.710236078987929&type=1&l=af9ee814ae

EDIT: Can't post links cause I'm a new user apparently so copy and paste the above.

safetyboy

Hells angels \0/ I'm in, cabs will be safe there? Do bikers like shmups?


Honestly looks good.

Elgire

safetyboy wrote: »

Hells angels \0/ I'm in, cabs will be safe there? Do bikers like shmups?


Honestly looks good.

Haha careful now, them lads are on the other side of the city.

It's just a suggestion, there are similar lots available for €350 a month. The closer you get to the city the more expensive obviously but there are some good units in Tallaght for around €400-€500 a month. It just depends, are you guys all show and no go or is someone actually going to make a plan and set this up?

I could book a conference room in Tallaght Library some evening if any of you are even remotely interested.

Chatting on a message board achieves nothing.

Jack burton

I'll help out but im down in Waterford so i wont be a major player in this lads.

CathalDublin

That place you're renting looks ideal, I'm totally up for trying to start something, my G/F had a baby at the weekend, so for the next couple weeks I'm tied up but I think if there was enough interest we could get something ready for the summer

eddhorse

CathalDublin wrote: »

That place you're renting looks ideal, I'm totally up for trying to start something, my G/F had a baby at the weekend, so for the next couple weeks I'm tied up but I think if there was enough interest we could get something ready for the summer

Which place do you mean?

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

That place you're renting looks ideal, I'm totally up for trying to start something, my G/F had a baby at the weekend, so for the next couple weeks I'm tied up but I think if there was enough interest we could get something ready for the summer

Congrats Dude!

Edit:Should say, KeithGeo here after a name change. bought the bubblebobble off you a while back.

CathalDublin

eddhorse wrote: »

Which place do you mean?

The one elgire linked