Sorry about the delay in updates, I have been very busy trying to get everything sorted out. Thankfully some family members have decided to take out some signature loans to help me out with a little extra cash and so I will soon be picking up Indiana Jones and Shrek Pinball thanks to that. I also will be able to pick up a few extra games beyond what I had originally planned, which is even better.
We have finished the major part of painting but now I need to touch up several parts and begin adding murals which is going to be a challenge in and of itself. Fluorescent paint is a pain to come by unless it’s spray paint and I’m no good at spray painting so I’ll probably have to buy or make some stencils and go from there.
The electrical still needs to be finished but now that we have some machines in there, it gives them something to work with as far as amps go. Crystal Castles says that it takes 3 amps at least, I’m not sure how much newer games take.
I almost forgot to mention that I have a sign up in the window that gives a basic summary of The Game Grid Arcade and it has attracted a number of people to take a look – hopefully the anticipation is building so I’ll have a solid launch. Also as of today I just ordered 5000 tokens which should be here in a few days – no custom design yet, but that will come later. I also should be picking up a number of games today, including a couple of brand new ones so I am definently excited.
Previous updates:
Just a thought but if you’re looking for some art for the walls you could probably do alot worse than try and find some grafitti artists. I was in a new venue in Dublin recently to see, ironically, a band called Crystal Castles. They had a fella called Maser doing their wallart and it looked magnificent.
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=NsIFOGoYIEc&feature=related
If you found someone good (ask around on the internet, I’m sure there are probably forums for it) the odds are you could get something cool done and just pay for the paint they use. Might be worth looking into.
Ah, here we go. There’s a few pictures of the stuff here.
http://maserart.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post.html
Other stuff at his blog is madness. I love the Last Supper piece.
How about something like…
http://www.misha-art.com/art/fine%20art/2006/last%20supper.jpg
I like the art style.
Hehe, those are both cool (especially the last supper one). I will have to ask around and see if I can find someone to do something. I have been thinking of doing a Tron theme, painting all the edges with fluorescent paint and going from there. Maybe mix some 8-bit art with some modern stuff.
I think a tron type background would look awesome (but maybe to difficult to do?). http://arcade.interfazed.net/tron.png
You better get this arcade open before everybody gets their economic stimulus checks, or before they spend it all. I think you’ve got balls of steel to open an arcade at the beginning of a recession. if you can make it through the next two years you can make it thru anything.
And if you don’t make it…you might become one of these guys spending his days spray-painting the sides of buildings. 🙂
Yes a Tron type background is looking to be a little difficult (at least to do it the way I want to) but we’ll see as we progress. We did our first tests on painting the edges today and so far so good.
As for the economy, I don’t think it’s as bad as it’s being painted by the media(which has political points to play this year for painting a negative view as is possible). Of course it does depend on where you live but so far we’re not in a recession until we have two quarters of negative growth and so far we’ve slowed but not gone negative, which is good. I am concerned about the rising price of gas but there is a point where people will simply refuse to pay that price and it will start going down. I just hope that happens sooner than later. Fortunately where I am at a mall I have all the other stores to help draw people in and also on top of that Utah’s economy is doing awesome for a number of reasons – I actually saw numbers of how a big arcade is doing here since January and it blew me away as to how much money they make. They are actually one place where Paradise Lost Dlx was among their top earning games, one week nearly making $1000! Also Big Buck Safari is averaging about $400 a week across the country and I’m getting that in tomorrow actually. I’ll also be getting Indiana Jones pinball which made $100 a week at one local location and that’s pretty good for pinball. By focusing on good earning games and unique stuff like The Act and Slambot I think I’ll do well. Time will tell of course. 🙂
Traditionally the entertainment sector does well in times of recession.
My filmmaker friend was telling me that theaters also do well in times of recession. The only thing that gives me a little comfort about the rising gas prices is that back in the 70’s when there were gas shortages is when the arcade industry really took off.