Boycott PuttPutt Dedicab?

Discussion of arcades and other gaming locations with music/rhythm games

Moderator: Moderators

th34nt0ni0
Standard
Standard
Posts: 301
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:04 am
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
Contact:

Boycott PuttPutt Dedicab?

Post by th34nt0ni0 » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:56 am

seriously. it's never been this bad. ever. they have more than enough money to fix it. but it goes to whatever kyle (maintenance guy) wants. $22,000 giant slam a winner? sure. deal or no deal? yea. new racing games for kyle? why not. ONE SENSOR? nah. I/O boards? why?

i've been told more than once that us who play ITG during the winter months single handedly keep the place in business.

don't get me wrong. JT (owners son, and manager) is great and wants to do whatever he can. getting through kyle is a bitch though.

maybe erin can be really slutty to him to get him to fix them. i hear she's real good at that.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

User avatar
lgolem
Heavy
Heavy
Posts: 2888
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:45 am
Location: Bloomington

Re: Boycott PuttPutt Dedicab?

Post by lgolem » Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:57 pm

There are just so many things wrong with your post it is sad, why the hell would boycott a dance machine do anything you are just agreeing with them.
th34nt0ni0 wrote: $22,000 giant slam a winner? sure. deal or no deal? yea.
Deal or No Deal is the TOP of the entertainment/redemption market, Slam a winner has been the #1 game at our arcade for the past 6 months, AND before that it was Wheel of Fortune, because one person complains about the pads that doesn't mean jack, the one thing that makes money in the industry of arcades is NOT the dance machines, it is redemption, redemption is the top of the market, so instead of fixing a dance machine that is probably getting some mild play buy a machine that will pay for itself in less than a year is a wiser choice. Sounds like Kyle actually knows what he is doing, because I am sure more money gets put into slam a winner in a day than ITGay2 gets in a week.

th34nt0ni0
Standard
Standard
Posts: 301
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:04 am
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
Contact:

Post by th34nt0ni0 » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:20 pm

i guarantee that ITG gets more tokens than slam a winner and deal or no deal combined these weeks. they count tokens for each machine to see what each makes.

i'm not the only one complaining. not by far.

just because your arcade doesn't make much on dancing games compared to redemption ones, doesn't mean that putt putt is the same.

the biggest dancing game community in the state is here in fort wayne. people who play nearly daily or every other day are common. players here are me, stm!, ron!, jkup, alex, allusivegold, flea, brandon, danw, caty, chelsea... just off the top of my head.

User avatar
lgolem
Heavy
Heavy
Posts: 2888
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:45 am
Location: Bloomington

Post by lgolem » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:35 pm

Double post: ok look at it this way you play ITGay2, someone plays slam a winner, someone plays the racing game.

ITGay2: gets 1 dollar (lets just assume it is one dollar may be 75 cents either way point still valid), 3 songs and time to pick about 7-8 minutes of time in use.

Racing game: anywhere from 2 tokens to 4, races last 2 minutes roughly, in the amount of time it takes you to play that 1 game of ITG2 that guy can put anywhere from 2$ to 4$ into that one race game, and it doesn't take effort to race, all it takes is working feet and hands, the dance game takes physical endurance and reading ability to play, there fore LESS people will play it than those who play the racing game

Slam A Winner: 1 to 2 tokens for 15 seconds of a ball bouncing, winning tickets, getting addicted like gambling, in the ammount of time it takes to play one game of ITG2 some kid with a starting gambling problem can drop up to 32 (if set at 1) or 64 (if set at 2) tokens which equals to 8 to 16$. Not only that but it is like gambling more than likely a kid or adult will drop almost all there money into that 1 machine.

If YOU owned that buisness, because one person complains about the dance machine supposedly messing up and if they were to be rude about it saying they are boycotting there machine cause of it, would you listen to them, probably not because you are making far more money off of everyone else, if you lose one guy who plays dancing games it means jack compared to losing someone who plays redemption with all there money. That is one thing I despise is when the people think that dance games are like the heart of arcades when they are clearly not, if you were to remove the dance games from arcade and replace them with a redemption that is fun you will earn more than you ever will with the dance machines. One of the most successful arcades is Missouri has no video games at all it is just redemption they pull in enough money from those machines alone to pretty much buy a dance game in full in one week. If you are going to be an ass about something at least be an infromed ass about.

User avatar
lgolem
Heavy
Heavy
Posts: 2888
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:45 am
Location: Bloomington

Post by lgolem » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:39 pm

If you all boy cott then no one plays the dance game then it makes no money then they sell it then they get something that other people will play, look at it that way. You may think you are the largest music game community in Indiana but you are very small minority of people who go to arcades. Especially if it is a place with Putt Putt, redemption will get kids attention better than people whining and bitching about pad misses.

elcuebee
Standard
Standard
Posts: 507
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:45 pm

Post by elcuebee » Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:18 pm

lgolem wrote:If you all boy cott then no one plays the dance game then it makes no money then they sell it then they get something that other people will play, look at it that way. You may think you are the largest music game community in Indiana but you are very small minority of people who go to arcades. Especially if it is a place with Putt Putt, redemption will get kids attention better than people whining and bitching about pad misses.
not always true. i boycotted my local boomers (a family fun center thing, way on redemption) years ago to get a 4th mix, when they had a 3rd mix, and they did it a week later.

th34nt0ni0
Standard
Standard
Posts: 301
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:04 am
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
Contact:

Post by th34nt0ni0 » Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:52 pm

lgolem wrote:ITGay2
nice
lgolem wrote:LESS people will play it [ITGay2] than those who play the racing game
i told you, in the gay 2 is played constantly.
lgolem wrote:one person complains about the dance machine supposedly messing up
umm... i said there were many complaints. mostly because it's broken. not supposedly broken. the I/O boards are growing mold and are covered with much spilled pop. well. supposedly.
lgolem wrote:and if they were to be rude about it saying they are boycotting there machine cause of it, would you listen to them, probably not because you are making far more money off of everyone else, if you lose one guy who plays dancing games it means jack compared to losing someone who plays redemption with all there money. That is one thing I despise is when the people think that dance games are like the heart of arcades when they are clearly not, if you were to remove the dance games from arcade and replace them with a redemption that is fun you will earn more than you ever will with the dance machines. One of the most successful arcades is Missouri has no video games at all it is just redemption they pull in enough money from those machines alone to pretty much buy a dance game in full in one week. If you are going to be an ass about something at least be an infromed ass about.
this isn't missouri. the amount of money made is about equal here, actually. dancing games make more sometimes. probably because lots of people play them constantly. you just don't know that because you're not here. and probably have never been. so you cannot be an informed ass like i can be.

User avatar
danc1005
Heavy
Heavy
Posts: 3237
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:21 pm
Location: Da Fort
Contact:

Post by danc1005 » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:00 pm

Lgolem, I'm sorry, but you really need to STFU.
Every time I've been to Putt-Putt, Slam A Winner and Deal or No Deal get played maybe 5 times an hour each.
ITG is played nonstop on busy nights.
Maybe dancing games don't get money at your arcade because you don't have any GOOD ones?
Just sayin'.
Also, real mature with the ITGay2 thing, bet that took a lot of brain power.
Image

User avatar
MonMotha
Site Code Monkey
Site Code Monkey
Posts: 2505
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:18 pm

Post by MonMotha » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:17 pm

I just have to say that it is virtually guaranteed that redemption out-earns ITG. This is the case at almost every arcade in existence. The giant slam-a-winner is $1/play. A play takes about 15 seconds. ITG is $1/play. A play takes about 5-6 minutes. It's very easy to just walk up and play slam-a-winner repeatedly. Most casual players get frustrated with ITG quickly and play at most one game. Do the math.

The economics of arcades are simply not what you appear to believe. Almost all money is made on redemption. The videos are mostly just to get older people in there with their kids, at this point. Many arcades are lucky to have their dance games in the top 10. While the dancing games are usually near the top of the videos (along with shooters like the Time Crisis and House of the Dead series, aka the quarter suckers), some redemption game ALWAYS holds the #1 spot. Usually it's either a Colorama/tornado type game, a pusher, or bozo the clown. Deal or No Deal is also an operator's dream, mostly due to the incredibly flexible payout settings.

And yes, I'm basing this off real data from arcades you know of (including Putt Putt). This is a trend seen troughout the industry. Pick up any arcade operator brochure or magazine for verification.

As for the amount of investment required to fix the thing, I would tend to agree. Said improvements should be paid for in short order using revenue from the game, though you have to look at it from the point of view of the op: if revenue isn't decreased as a result of the problem, then fixing it makes no sense. The fix would never pay for itself since the same amount of revenue would be realized without the fix. This is a business first, and an amusement place second. Certainly simple cleaning is worth it, though, in increased life of the machine. ITG seems to be kept reasonably clean, however, especially given the overall cleanliness of the venue. Compare to Pump, for example.
A normality test:
+++ATH
If you are no longer connected to the internet, you need to apply more wax to your modem: it'll make it go faster.
If you find this funny, you're a nerd.
If neither of the above apply, you are normal. Congratulations.

User avatar
Jeff Jeff Revolution
Heavy
Heavy
Posts: 1112
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2006 12:33 pm
Location: New Palestine
Contact:

Post by Jeff Jeff Revolution » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:40 pm

MonMotha wrote:Pick up any arcade operator brochure or magazine for verification.
Why, I happen to have one right here.

Where can I find one of these?
ShammerS wrote:Nice cookies, Jeff.
BigBadOrc wrote:boop
Fun fact: only 3 posts at IndyDDR.com contain the word "boop."

User avatar
MonMotha
Site Code Monkey
Site Code Monkey
Posts: 2505
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:18 pm

Post by MonMotha » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:05 pm

Jeff Jeff Revolution wrote:
MonMotha wrote:Pick up any arcade operator brochure or magazine for verification.
Why, I happen to have one right here.

Where can I find one of these?
Register as an operator for ASI :)
Play Meter is one of the more popular ones that I'm aware of. There's also I think Game Room and RePlay.
A normality test:
+++ATH
If you are no longer connected to the internet, you need to apply more wax to your modem: it'll make it go faster.
If you find this funny, you're a nerd.
If neither of the above apply, you are normal. Congratulations.

User avatar
Merk
Lady Banned Son of Switzerland
Lady Banned Son of Switzerland
Posts: 8274
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:33 am
Location: Bloomington / Ft. Wayne
Contact:

Post by Merk » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:35 pm

All bitchery aside, wouldn't the most plausible reason for not fixing the ITG machine be the fact that they're selling the cab for $9,000 sometime in the near future?

In this case, it wouldn't make sense to pump money into something that's going to be salvaged soon.
Image

User avatar
Cbav
Heavy
Heavy
Posts: 1380
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:18 am
Location: Indianapolis

Post by Cbav » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:45 pm

I work at an arcade. Judging by the tokens dumped out of the buckets of ITG2 vs. Slam-A-Winner... The redemption game always wins.

Always.

I used to think I kept places in business by the money i spent on ITG2 / DDR.. I also always thought they were the biggest money makers. I was horribly mistaken. lgolem knows his stuff. Slam-A-Winner is one of our biggest games too. DDR SuperNOVA doesn't come close. It's usually the game with the least amount of tokens in it. It was the same way when we had ITG2.

Yeah and I'd figure they wouldn't fix it the panel yet is because they're busy? They don't want to order / buy the parts because they're about to sell it? I dunno.
Can get ahold of me @spookyxcraig

User avatar
BigBadOrc
Standard
Standard
Posts: 588
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:53 pm
Location: Indy
Contact:

Post by BigBadOrc » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:18 pm

MonMotha wrote:Most casual players get frustrated with ITG quickly and play at most one game. Do the math.
if revenue isn't decreased as a result of the problem, then fixing it makes no sense.
Daniel is the coolest arcade owner I know. He fixes shit immediately. Happy customers = good customers, even if you don't notice an immediate change in revenue.

It's called image, in the marketing world. You gotta keep up your reputation or people will eventually get sick of coming.
lgolem wrote: Sounds like Kyle actually knows what he is doing, because I am sure more money gets put into slam a winner in a day than ITGay2 gets in a week.
OHAI IM JEREMY AND I LIKE TO MAKE FUN OF PPL WHO PLAY DANCE GAMES CUZ THEY'RE ALL GAY ESPECIALLY THAT ONE GAEM CALLED PUMP IT UP UR ASS LULZ.
MonMotha wrote: And yes, I'm basing this off real data from arcades you know of (including Putt Putt). This is a trend seen troughout the industry. Pick up any arcade operator brochure or magazine for verification.
K how bout u post this data including estimates for the cost of tickets and prizes at putt putt in ft wayne... and why is it such a big deal to fix ONE sensor? i thought that was like 50$ tops.. compared to $22,000 is nothing? HAY MAYBE TONY ISNT LYING AND THE MAINTENANCE GUY IS ACTUALLY AN ASSHOLE??? WHY ARE WE SIDING WITH A RANDOM ARCADE MAINTENANCE GUY OVER FELLOW INDYDDR PEOPLE??
groovestats
<3 blackcat

User avatar
blackcat
Heavy
Heavy
Posts: 1224
Joined: Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:05 pm
Location: Bloomington/Carmel
Contact:

Post by blackcat » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:28 pm

I agree with what Mike said about Daniel. He really does care about his customers...the people that work there might beg to differ, but from my standpoint as the customer, he fixes stuff that needs to be fixed, and he caters to what ever other need there is. He is generous to his customers and is even really cool to talk to from time to time.

So if they aren't willing to fix one single pad on a machine, then I'm sorry but there's something seriously wrong with that. So fucking what if Slam a Winner makes more money than ITG? That doesn't stop the fact that people still like to play ITG. That machine is pretty legendary, a lot of the Expert records are tri stars and quad stars...and it's pretty hard to get a machine record if you aren't as Godly at ITG as some of the other people who have played on it.

I don't live in Fort Wayne, but going there to play ITG at the Putt Putt was pretty much the only reason why I would go up there...I mean, I like visiting with Mosh Mosh or danc or mexy or MonMotha, but like, there's no place for me to stay for free, and I want to go to Fort Wayne with a purpose. That purpose being to play dance games with my friends. Sure it has a DDR and a Pump machine (with stage break on + not being really good at PIU = waste of tokens), but I can play those things anytime I want in Indy, why drive 2 hours to play what I already have here? If there's no ITG machine, the dance game I play the most often, my trips to Fort Wayne are pointless.

I just really don't care if Slam a Winner makes more money, I don't favor one or the other. For the sake of the people that actually STILL WANT TO PLAY THE GAME, it shouldn't be that big of a deal to fix the panel for like 50 dollars or however much it costs.

I'm totally in favor of what Tony had to say.

Locked