Quote:
Originally Posted by Columbine
Not sure if it helps, but I only ever entered an arcade for a) the gatchapod phone-charm machines and b) purikura. Purikura are probably out for the US market as you'd have to import a booth from Japan (and translate it!) plus all the general sundries for it, and it would end up too expensive for both you and the customer. There were a couple in london, but it was about £5-£7 a pop.
I would also pay attention to how you dec the place out. Make sure the entrance is well lit and isn't completely done up with images that'd mostly appeal to guys. I'd go into an arcade that looked safe, fun and neutral, but i'd think twice about stepping into one where the door is closed and the glare of the outside makes the interior look like a dark hole stuffed with guys hunched over booths and plastered with pictures of soldiers and girls in bikinis. It kind of screams "they're either going to be mean to girls/new gamers, or try and perve on you," which is a huge stereotype but you know what, has a nugget of truth in it.
Pachinko is pretty lame in my opinion. It's vertical pinball, only you can't really control the ball. The one I used to go by was mostly filled with older people; old ladies, salarymen. It was always busy, but it wasn't especially considered hip.
Also, hire some female employees. I go into video game stores every now and then and it's often all guys, which is then a bit of a lottery if you need to ask advice. Sometimes it's fine, other times it's an unbelievable sham.
Uh, but mostly I agree with MMM, girl gamers who acutally frequent the arcades are fairly rare. Most of them probably stick to home-console play.
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Thanks for your advice!
Purikura isn't really a game and I'm really trying to attract gamers. Plus I don't even really think that would do well in an arcade, isn't that something for a mall?
I really plan to pay attention to the way the place is decorated. I'm going to try to keep it clean and neutral as far as making it inviting/acceptable to women who want to enter. Clean and bright windows so you can see in and out of the place from outside of the building and I don't have pictures of girls or anything on the wall. Just some wallscrolls of games or anime or something. I also planned to have a few pool tables and serve alcohol, but that is an aside and not really applicable to attracting female gamers.
And yeah, I agree Pachinko is pretty lame, I don't even know why I threw that out there. Sorry.