Arcade auction

KANGtheCONQUEROR said:

Zoug68 said:

The arcade is a lot of fun when it's raining.

Dark Rides are a lot of fun when it's raining too.

The arcade doesn't have a line. There is no wait to find something to do in the arcade unless you have your sights set on a specific game and no other.

Pete said:

We have a Dave & Buster's in Cleveland. In addition, two more venues opened recently that are just like Dave & Buster's, a Round 1 and another brand that I can't think of at the moment.

That would be Scene 75. It's right down the street from me in Brunswick. There is also one in the Akron area. Scene 75 has redemption games, mini bowling, dodgems, go karts and a bar. Points off for no pinball machines though. Although pinball machines are a high maintenance item I can see why they don't have them.

Their games are all card based, swipe your card and credits are taken off.

Pete said:

Redemption games are where it is at and I think Cedar Point is getting rid of the unpopular games and modernizing and expanding the redemption games.

I would love to see the redemption prizes actually be something of value. Preferably Cedar Point related items. Shirts, glasses, even 'front of the line' style Plinko certificates.

Have you guys heard of The Void?

https://www.thevoid.com/

It's a VR experience with a real world element. Everything you see in the virtual world exists in the real world. So if you see a lever in your VR headset, you can grab and turn it in the real world.

They have a Star Wars experience in Disney Springs, Ghost Busters in Vegas, and several other experiences across the country.

It seems to me that Cedar Point would be an IDEAL place for something like this, and the Arcade would be THE PERFECT place to put it. It would certainly bring more money in than the stuff they sold off. The Disney Springs one is $30 /ticket.

CP is already experimenting with VR on the Iron Dragon...

Good call. The Void would be an excellent use of the space. A few weeks ago I went to The Void at Disney Springs for the first time and thought it was fantastic. They refer to it as "Hyper Reality" and I would agree that it's several steps above any virtual reality experience I've had. The untethered VR gear is comfortable and allows you to freely experience moving from room-to-room by solving a puzzle (like mini escape rooms) and integrates a great first-person shooter gaming experience. We had lots of fun.

Paisley said:

The arcade doesn't have a line. There is no wait to find something to do in the arcade unless you have your sights set on a specific game and no other.

By saying there is no line and there would be a line for a dark ride you've pretty much summed up the arcade should go or be downsized. A line for a ride is not a problem it means there needs to be 2, 3, or 4 dark rides to satiate the demand.

A dark ride doesn't make money, it costs money to run, unless you count Fast Lane but that's good for all rides. Arcade games are usually making money all day. People will spend lots of money to get dumb prizes that you can buy at the dollar store.

KANGtheCONQUEROR said:

Paisley said:

The arcade doesn't have a line. There is no wait to find something to do in the arcade unless you have your sights set on a specific game and no other.

By saying there is no line and there would be a line for a dark ride you've pretty much summed up the arcade should go or be downsized. A line for a ride is not a problem it means there needs to be 2, 3, or 4 dark rides to satiate the demand.

No, what I am saying is the arcade has the capacity to actively entertain more people at once than a ride where a limited number of people are being entertained at any given time while the majority stand around and wait. The arcade is needed. It doesn't need to be downsized, it needs for the games in the back to be working so my kids have more ways to spend my money when it rains.

KANGtheCONQUEROR said:
By saying there is no line and there would be a line for a dark ride you've pretty much summed up the arcade should go or be downsized. A line for a ride is not a problem it means there needs to be 2, 3, or 4 dark rides to satiate the demand.

Nonsense. A ride/attraction having a line doesn't indicate popularity. After all, my average wait times for Woodstock's Express have been longer than my wait times for Magnum.

Thabto said:

A dark ride doesn't make money, it costs money to run, unless you count Fast Lane but that's good for all rides. Arcade games are usually making money all day. People will spend lots of money to get dumb prizes that you can buy at the dollar store.

A dark ride doesn't make money? Check your signature line, didn't notice how many times you quoted riding the mario arcade game. Ticket sales. The arcade doesn't even exist without the rides. The arcade also costs money to run which many have expressed is the problem they don't spend the necessary cost to run the thing.

Paisley said:

The arcade is needed. It doesn't need to be downsized, it needs for the games in the back to be working so my kids have more ways to spend my money when it rains.

I'm good if they keep it working. I actually use the arcade, I'm an arcade collector, but the way it is no way. Loving arcade and pinball isn't clouding my judgment on it or the popularity of it. A family of 6 drops 6 quarters in whack a mole and two of the six machines work. Great collection of electro mechanical games, quarters dropped nothing. New dollar a game space invaders frenzy the cannon sighting is off. All pinball down. I know someone in the field that offered to fix all their machines for a season pass and the love of the hobby, nope. Cedar Point obviously has made the decision the classic arcade games there are dead.

If it's just going to be Chuck E Cheese redemption game hell bring in the dark rides.

djDaemon said:

Nonsense. A ride/attraction having a line doesn't indicate popularity. After all, my average wait times for Woodstock's Express have been longer than my wait times for Magnum.

Woodstock Express easily most popular roller coaster under 48 inches

Magnum 4th to 7th relative popularity among riders over 48 inches.

Pretty much illustrates the point again. They built a lot of great adult coasters because they are extremely popular and once what was 2-3 hour wait for the most popular coaster in the park (Magnum) is as close to a walk on.as you can get.

Do I want to see a kid coaster get built next? No, but they need another kid coaster more than what I want.

KANGtheCONQUEROR said:
Woodstock Express easily most popular roller coaster under 48 inches

But that's not what you said. You were making the argument that "Attraction X has a line, therefore it is more popular that Attraction Y which doesn't have a line." That's not necessarily true.

After all, the only thing a line at WE indicates is that ~800+ pph want to ride it. More than ~2000 pph are needed at Magnum to generate a line. Magnum is by far more popular than WE, but it has almost triple the capacity.

I'm not necessarily saying your core point is invalid, just that your metrics are.

There's no way, in a million years, that WE can push through 800pph. Unless you're just running it in a loop with the same people on it and not releasing bars or seatbelts.

I mean, the ride duration is 1:06 and it holds 16 people. Assuming the quickest load/unload scenario of 54 seconds (completely unrealistic with the seatbelts) that's still only 480pph. More realistically, I'd put the actual capacity somewhere in the 250pph range.

The math checks out.

That makes sense. I was just going by Vekoma's numbers.

KANGtheCONQUEROR said:
If it's just going to be Chuck E Cheese redemption game hell bring in the dark rides.

I bet that is what will happen. I used to love arcade games also back in the day. Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Galaga.... played all the time. In current times, I think it is difficult to engage people in classic arcade games when a person's mobile device offers games with better graphics and possibly more engaging game play, all for free. The redemption games offer something that can't be had outside of the arcade, the chance to win a prize. I think that is what is needed now to get the average person to play games in the arcade.

MaverickLaunch said:

There's no way, in a million years, that WE can push through 800pph. Unless you're just running it in a loop with the same people on it and not releasing bars or seatbelts.

The Barnstormer at Magic Kingdom says "hold my beer"

I think you mean "hold my root beer". Or, "allow me to make a sit-down dining reservation and hold my beer at the table"