Arcades growing in Omaha Nebraska

[Via The Gateway, University of Nebraska] [Photo credit: Stacy Shea]

This article I came across piqued my interest for a good reason – many people I run into will state that “The arcade is dead!” if asked about arcades. That is despite the fact that my area(which is not close to Omaha Nebraska) has roughly seven or eight arcades within a 25 mile radius and only one I know of has actually closed over the past 10 years. So I believe it’s useful to point out the reality of arcades by using facts such as this. The news source called The Gateway is running an article called “Arcade Advancement adds adventure to Omaha’s assortment” and it discusses four different arcades in the area which certainly don’t sound like they are in trouble of dying out anytime soon. First they discuss one company called ‘Nickel-A-Play’ which uses a very similar concept to a company I find in my state called Nickelcade. You pay a fee to enter and all the games use nickels. The disadvantage in these is they usually don’t offer many new games but they offer a fun time for cheap.  One of the arcades is the popular Dave and Busters, which is well-known for it’s unique options in offering a sports bar in addition to the games. Competing with them is a company called InPlay, which uses a similar model to D&B and is growing despite some recent management changes. And finally there is an FEC present called the Family Fun Center which sees a large number of college students come by as constituents. One quote from the Family Fun Center manager is of interest:

“Our business has grown and grown, and these last two years has been, by far, the most competition that has ever come in to town,”

This is good news to hear although it is only representative of one place. I think it still is a good example however to point out that arcades are not a dead breed everywhere. In fact with the popularity of gaming as a whole being at such a high as today, I think now is a good time for arcades to grow, assuming their managers take advantage of the market.

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