i'm glad arcade machines are somebody else's problem

One time in my life I had an arcade machine in the house. It was a video arcade game, Mortal Kombat 3. I think I had it for a year or maybe slightly longer, then sold it. I've no regrets about that whatsoever.

Once or twice a year I'll go play some arcade machines. I enjoy the games, but I am VERY glad I don't have to maintain these things.

Back in the '80s when I was a little kid, there was a television show, Silver Spoons. A large chunk of that show took place in the main living room of a house. In the background on that set were a few arcade machines. Some were video, some pinball. I saw that, and thought wow, how COOL would it be to have arcade machines right there in the living room.

Well, I actually found out. Sort of.

I had that MK3 machine as I mentioned before, but I also saw games in other people's places too over the years.

In the '90s while attending college, I went with a friend to visit his friend that lived in an off-campus apartment, and in there was a Centipede machine. I thought hey, that's cool, but wow, that's really taking up some space. If I remember correctly, the guy who owned it even complained he couldn't run it too long because it would literally heat up the apartment too much.

I'd also periodically visit places (usually a friend-of-a-friend's home), and there would either be a room or a finished basement with a pool table there. That's not a pinball nor video game machine, but it's still something usually only seen in bars and arcades. Any time I saw one of these in a house, it was always unused. There would either be a cover over it, or if uncovered, there was always dust accumulated.

At this point I have zero desire to actually own an arcade machine, and it's not just because I briefly owned one before.

There are two realities when it comes to arcade machines, pool tables and other games like that.

The first reality is that the games were never built to last and specifically designed to be rented. A company would stock the games, rent them out to businesses for a few months to a year (usually with a service contract so a tech can be called in to fix a machine when it breaks), and that's the way it worked.

If you bring one of those games in your home, you have no service tech dude you can call for when the machine breaks. You are the tech. No thanks.

The second reality is that the games were made to be used in public spaces with people in them.

Something I found out with my own MK3 machine is that when you're playing an arcade game alone in the house, it sucks. You get this depressing feeling of emptiness. And yes, that was one of the reasons I sold the machine.

If you've ever been anywhere with arcade machines and the place is totally empty, then you know the depressing feeling I'm talking about.

For example, a few years back I was in an airport. As I was walking through the terminal, I saw a room with 5 or 6 arcade machines. Nobody was in there and I had free reign to all the games. I thought cool, I'll go play for a little bit. That lasted for maybe 5 minutes, because I felt that same depressing empty feeling kick in. I walked away from the machine I was using while still in play, thinking yep, this is no fun. I'm out.

Dedicating space in your home for an arcade machine and/or a pool table is a bad idea. The game won't get used, it will collect dust, it will fall into disrepair. All of that will happen.

Whenever I feel the need to play pinball or a video arcade game, that's something I go out to do. In the home, this is the only "arcade" machine I have:

I find this far easier to deal with compared to a full size video arcade machine. The full-size stuff is somebody else's problem, and that's fine by me. I just play the machine and have no interest in putting that big thing in my house nor fixing it when it breaks.

Yes, they still make these if you want one.

Published 2025 Mar 27