(Photo credit: James Glover II, Ventura County Star)
For those who say that arcades have died off because they can’t match competing online with people you don’t see or have never met, I don’t think they have participated in a big 
arcade competition before. Granted it helps if an arcade tries competitions (and I think that arcades have suffered for not doing competitions) but for those that do and for those people who participate in these battles, it’s obvious that competing live is far better than online and what better way to do this than with arcade titles made just for competing.
A big arcade competition has taken place at the Dejin Arcade in the Simi Valley in California, the first California Regionals Arcade Fighting Game Tournament or we’ll call it the CRAFGT for now. The event featured several fan favorites, from Super Street Fighter II Turbo (the original and the new HD version), Street Fighter 3, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Capcom Vs SNK 2, and even BlazBlue and Street FIghter IV. At the even they held the “Battle For California”, a competition between NoCal and SoCal players competed for the “bragging rights of California”. That was a great idea and this all brought out the players, not just from all over California but from other states as well, with one player coming from as far as NY to compete.
For more info check out the article below
[Gamers fill Simi arcade to do battle – Ventura County Star] [Discuss on the Forum]
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Nomax
Of course competition attract people. We organized racing games competitions in a funfair arcade offering prizes like DVD players, T-shirts, entertainment shops coupons, … It attracted enough competitors to fulfil the prizes value and accompanying girlfriends spent money playing pushers and cranes bringing more income than on a normal day. We wanted to do that in a traditional arcade but we couldn’t because the law required a maximum prize value of around 7 €!!! The location owner didn’t want to risk an inspection. This later place closed down some months later because of lack of attendance despite having the latest titles.
Fighting games have many followers but many of the die-hard are already members of small clubs organizing tourneys on the console versions and never visit arcades. What’s needed is a centralized system which manage local, national and then worldwide class arcade competitions. Local and national compos being organized through local associations or operators. Result being gathered on one central internet website.