Chuck E Cheese might be closing... what will that mean for the arcade market?

[RH | 4,980]

My wife told me the other day that she had read that Chuck E Cheese may be shutting down across the nation, for good.  (See here: https://people.com/food/chuck-e-cheese-approaches-bankruptcy-possibly-close-all-stores/)

Admittedly, this is sad news.  I know their arcades aren't amazing for adults, but they had some solid games and I always enjoyed playing with my kids.  Feel free to discuss this news in general, but this is my question--if hundreds of arcades shut down across the nation, I assume they will liquidate all of their arcade units in order to pay off part of their debts, so what will this mean for the arcade market at large.

I know I've been wanting an arcade unit or two for a while.  Unless Dave & Buster's also goes under, this may be my last chance to get a good unit at a decent price for a long time.  But I also have no clue to find where these liquidation sales might take place.  Maybe locally?  Or will they truck them all to regional warehouses and sell them there.  Does anyone have experience with this type of thing (buying from bankruptcy liquidation sales, specifically) and know how this might play out?

I really do hate to see the place go.  I had fond memories going there as a kid when it was Show Biz Pizza and it's always sad to see another arcade chain bite the dust.  But, the only benefit is possibly getting an arcade cab at a reasonable price.  Thoughts?  Tips on how to do that? 

[G-type | 2,534]

This article illustrates a perfect example of whats wrong with this country. 17,000 workers laid off in March while 3 million is paid to 3 people.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

I was in one a few years ago with my kids.  The arcade cabs nowadays are probably not the sort of thing you'd want to try and purchase and bring home...

[Estil | 1,265]

8 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I was in one a few years ago with my kids.  The arcade cabs nowadays are probably not the sort of thing you'd want to try and purchase and bring home...

Why do you say that?  Whatever happened to the days of wanting to "bring the arcades home"?

Personally I liked Showbiz Pizza better.

[RH | 4,980]

3 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I was in one a few years ago with my kids.  The arcade cabs nowadays are probably not the sort of thing you'd want to try and purchase and bring home...

Unless you mean because they are covered in kiddo fingerprints and pizza sauce, I think there could be some gems.  I've been in a couple over the last 10 years or so, and I think they basically buy what they want or need when they open up a new Chuck E Cheez and then renovate and update the inventory every 10 years or so.  My wife and I went to one on a date about 10 years ago just to look for something different.  They definitely had a wide array of games.  A lot of stuff for kids but even a Ms. Pac Man unit, no doubt for the parents.  The one near us is actually a hot place for kids to have their birthday parties.  Most of my kids friends have parties either at CEC or a local Skate Rink because those are the only two party places in our local main town that has a population of about 30,000.  Parents are going to hate to see it go.  Anyway, they have Luigi's Mansion (which I hate to admit I never played), Guitar Hero, I think some version of SF Rush, maybe Mario Kart and in the back of my mind I seem to recall one other old/retro Namco unit.  If this is correct, there could be more than a few gems in a big company-wide liquidation.  If they sell them all locally, I'd consider getting the Guitar Hero one. I know that GH for the arcade is absolute crap and the lag is atrocious, but I'm hoping someone has a hack for that that either fixes the lag or allows for different ROMs.  If GH actually worked well for the arcade, it'd definitely be a cab at the top of my want list.

[Deadeye | 1,596]

I would pick up a Wacky Gator machine (much better than Whack-a-Mole IMO)

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

It sucks in the same way Toys R Us shutting down did, but arcades were pretty much dead by the late 1990s. There's the barcade market now, but obviously that's not much of a family option.

[RH | 4,980]

1 minute ago, Deadeye said:

I would pick up a Wacky Gator machine (much better than Whack-a-Mole IMO)

Oh, that's a good one.  There's also a (really, really, really bad) ride-simulator thing that eats my kids tokens every time we go.  It's a two-seater, so they just share their tokens.  I'd be the greatest Dad in the world for at least 5 years in a row if I got one of those, but my wife (and I) would hate it.

[RH | 4,980]

1 minute ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

It sucks in the same way Toys R Us shutting down did, but arcades were pretty much dead by the late 1990s. There's the barcade market now, but obviously that's not much of a family option.

Agreed, and I wonder how those are doing.  Looks like D&B recently got a shot-in-the-arm, but who knows if that will have been enough to save them.

https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/dave-busters-stays-afloat-100m-jefferies

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

Just now, RH said:

Agreed, and I wonder how those are doing.  Looks like D&B recently got a shot-in-the-arm, but who knows if that will have been enough to save them.

https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/dave-busters-stays-afloat-100m-jefferies

There are actually a few of them around Cincinnati. They seem to do well enough to get by, but I haven't been to one since things started reopening around here, but I do enjoy going.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

16 minutes ago, Estil said:

Why do you say that?  Whatever happened to the days of wanting to "bring the arcades home"?

Personally I liked Showbiz Pizza better.

Size?  Among other things

[zeppelin03 | 314]

10 minutes ago, RH said:

Agreed, and I wonder how those are doing.  Looks like D&B recently got a shot-in-the-arm, but who knows if that will have been enough to save them.

https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/dave-busters-stays-afloat-100m-jefferies

I haven't been in a D&B in years.  Are they any good? I enjoyed myself at a round 1 but have Main Event and D&B closer.

I guess all forms of arcade are just not on my radar anymore.

[RH | 4,980]

@zeppelin03 Honestly, I've not been in a D&B in ages, and even then it was a brief experience.  I know they exist but none have been close to me, so I've just not been there.  When my wife and I went to Chuck E Cheez years ago (without kids) it was largely because Dave and Buster's was an hour drive away, but we happened to live 5 minutes away from CEC. So... we went and had a nice meal somewhere, and then went over to the arcade for fun.

[DefaultGen | 5,436]

Maybe keep an eye on your local arcade auctions? They are largely old operators and resellers moving coin-op stock of all kinds.

Does Chuck E Cheese let adults in without kids? The last Chuck E Cheese I was ever in in college (which reluctantly let us in without kids, lol) had some pretty sweet stuff from early 80s cabaret cabinets of Atari classics to a giant motion cockpit of Afterburner Climax to a RCT pinball machine. I might still go to Chuck E Cheese with a bucket of hand sanitizer if it wasn't pedo-y to do so.

Edited June 15, 2020 by DefaultGen

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

36 minutes ago, Estil said:

Why do you say that?  Whatever happened to the days of wanting to "bring the arcades home"?

Personally I liked Showbiz Pizza better.

Chuck E Cheese became a casino-for-kids over the last 20 years, or so.

Big move away from "traditional" arcade games, big move towards "ticket gambling".

They retained the "midway"/"boardwalk" style games like whack a mole or skee ball (i.e. skill-based ticket redemption) but MASSIVELY expanded luck-based ticket redemption machines (i.e. spin-the-wheel type games).

 

The whole thing seems like a good opportunity to pick up a skeeball machine though.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

6 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Maybe keep an eye on your local arcade auctions? They are largely old operators and resellers moving coin-op stock of all kinds.

Does Chuck E Cheese let adults in without kids? The last Chuck E Cheese I was ever in in college (which reluctantly let us in without kids, lol) had some pretty sweet stuff from early 80s cabaret cabinets of Atari classics to a giant motion cockpit of Afterburner Climax to a RCT pinball machine. I might still go to Chuck E Cheese with a bucket of hand sanitizer if it wasn't pedo-y to do so.

They will gladly let you in without kids. (at least as recently as 10 years ago, when my wife and I dropped in for a pre-movie beer and a few games of skeeball)

And longer ago than that, my friends and I went to Chuck E Cheese for my 19th birthday (:P) back when they still had actual arcade games.

 

[RH | 4,980]

1 minute ago, arch_8ngel said:

Chuck E Cheese became a casino-for-kids over the last 20 years, or so.

Big move away from "traditional" arcade games, big move towards "ticket gambling".

They retained the "midway"/"boardwalk" style games like whack a mole or skee ball (i.e. skill-based ticket redemption) but MASSIVELY expanded luck-based ticket redemption machines (i.e. spin-the-wheel type games).

The whole thing seems like a good opportunity to pick up a skeeball machine though.

Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with this BUT, I think they understand that not everyone wants to play ticket games.  Plus, if you have a few, true arcade games, you might be able to milk an extra $5-10 out of the parents if they are so inclined.  I only need about 20 tickets to get a tootsie roll on the way out.  The rest is playing other games.  Skeeball is probably they only arcade/ticket game that I really enjoy, along with Wack-a-mole-gator.

5 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Maybe keep an eye on your local arcade auctions? They are largely old operators and resellers moving coin-op stock of all kinds.

Does Chuck E Cheese let adults in without kids? The last Chuck E Cheese I was ever in in college (which reluctantly let us in without kids, lol) had some pretty sweet stuff from early 80s cabaret cabinets of Atari classics to a giant motion cockpit of Afterburner Climax to a RCT pinball machine. I might still go to Chuck E Cheese with a bucket of hand sanitizer if it wasn't pedo-y to do so.

You know, we've had kids for nearly 10 years, so at least in that time frame we we've gone with at least one kid.  10 years ago, though, we were able to go in as a couple.  Especially if the day was something like a Wednesday evening.  Often, we were the only people there, or there was just a single party.  Weekends are crazy, but during the week it was pretty slow.  It was obvious we were just a couple gamer-nerds on a date. 

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

52 minutes ago, RH said:

Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with this BUT, I think they understand that not everyone wants to play ticket games.  Plus, if you have a few, true arcade games, you might be able to milk an extra $5-10 out of the parents if they are so inclined.  I only need about 20 tickets to get a tootsie roll on the way out.  The rest is playing other games.  Skeeball is probably they only arcade/ticket game that I really enjoy, along with Wack-a-mole-gator.

As recently as 10-15 years ago, my local Chuck E Cheese was nearly 100% "ticket games" and "kiddie rides".

With the floor-foot-print of "skill based" ticket games being identical to the "old days", and the replacement of "real arcade games" being with 100% luck-based ticket gambling machines.

 

What "they understand" is that kids at a birthday party will happily spend other people's money on a 10 second gambling thrill until they eventually run out of tokens and trade the results for a tootsie roll and a rubber snake.

Edited June 15, 2020 by arch_8ngel

[JamesRobot | 5,837]

I'm more of a Showbiz Pizza Place kinda guy.

[Estil | 1,265]

1 hour ago, arch_8ngel said:

Chuck E Cheese became a casino-for-kids over the last 20 years, or so.

You couldn't really get anything good from those tickets...and even for the most skilled players it was virtually impossible to get any of the best prizes via tickets that you couldn't have just bought for less than the amount you spent on tokens to get the tickets (I know I'm not saying that quite right).  Now the "casino-for-kids" is those stupid gambling micro-transactions in way too many of modern games. 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Estil

[Tulpa | 3,537]

4 minutes ago, Estil said:

You couldn't really get anything good from those tickets...and even for the most skilled players it was virtually impossible to get any of the best prizes via tickets that you couldn't have just bought for less than the amount you spent on tokens to get the tickets (I know I'm not saying that quite right).  Now the "casino-for-kids" is those stupid gambling micro-transactions in way too many of modern games. 

Well, yeah, that's how Chuck E. Cheese made their money. They weren't being altruistic about it.

[Hammerfestus | 3,890]

This is some bull crap.  I’ve got really little kids (the oldest is 2) and all the cool stuff I wanted to take them to is closing.  First it was Toys R Us right before the boy was born and now this.  

[Tanooki | 4,952]

5 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I was in one a few years ago with my kids.  The arcade cabs nowadays are probably not the sort of thing you'd want to try and purchase and bring home...

I'd have to disagree with that entirely and I doubt the one in town near me is an anomaly at all.  When my daughter earns it from some school stuff typically I'll take her there and use their newer scan card system they setup in the last couple of years where I can pay $20 for 1/hr unlimited play, usually they throw another 25min for $3-5 so I do it.  Yeah there are a lot of those skill games and stuff, but they also do have some traditional stuff again.  There is the real skee ball stuff for one, but they also have normal arcade games three ways into the wind of normal, gun game, and riding something.  Mine has Luigi's Mansion 2P game and also a 4P TMNT based on the last good iteration (the one from 5~ years back) and it's much like the old Konami designs.  There's also this pretty sold racing motorcycle game there for 2 players, and a few other random bits around the usual token suckers.

 

But even then, in an age of people getting too hurt over little things, they spit out tickets like mad and my daugther figured out how to game a couple of them between us.  That 23-25 dollars worth of time will net her thousands of tickets that'll get her at least a 1/2 of the way up the wall.  If she had patience and we had made a couple trips a year ago, they had like PS4s up at like 8000 tickets and she typically would probably have earned that dropping $100 in scan card time or so.  I think they knew few kids could resist as the lesser stuff by even half is about retail value then, no more $20 spider rings.

[captmorgandrinker | 1,650]

6 hours ago, RH said:

Feel free to discuss this news in general, but this is my question--if hundreds of arcades shut down across the nation, I assume they will liquidate all of their arcade units in order to pay off part of their debts,

Hate to be the one to tell you this, but you probably don't wanna google what Chuck E Cheese does to their retired games.

Maybe this is karma for all those years of destruction?

[RH | 4,980]

2 hours ago, captmorgandrinker said:

Hate to be the one to tell you this, but you probably don't wanna google what Chuck E Cheese does to their retired games.

Maybe this is karma for all those years of destruction?

Yeah, I probably don't but there's a difference between destroying units amortized off of the accounting books and selling literally everything to pay off debts.

Edited June 16, 2020 by RH