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How do you feel about the removal of tokens from arcades ? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world
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Im probably in the very very small minority of people who still love and go to arcades. Its such a great place to meet like minded nerds. We are lucky to have 2 really awesome ones in town, one of which has a lot of good old machines, and they repair them too. They have some new ones that are OK too.

Anyway, I dont like that they changed to the dumb card thing. I get it (efficiency, capitalism, it was bound to happen) but it removes another visceral experience in society that was so fun.

Anyway, my old man rant!

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[–] 20 points 10 months ago (13 children)

My only problem with the cards is there's not a good way to say "I'm waiting in line and want next". I miss just sticking a token or a quarter on the machine to line up. Note, this may have only been applicable for DDR, but it worked, dang it.

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (9 children)

    Use the card?

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    I dunno, a quarter or a token isn't a big deal if it gets lost, but if a card has fifty bucks on it its staying on my person at all times. Also, I'm not sure many people still know what it means in the first place lol

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (6 children)

    You’re standing next to machine anyways, I’ve never seen someone in line fuck off.

    In Canada you would use toonies, that’s quite a chunk of change to lose regardless. If there’s enough of a line to justify leaving tokens, the group keeps everyone honest.

    Edit or a spare empty card, doesn’t have to be the full one.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago* (5 children)

    Sure, but you also aren't paying super close attention to the DDR cab either if you're in line. You're looking at things around the arcade and maybe pacing around a bit so that you aren't just hovering over the other people playing.

    Not only that, but losing a toonie is absolutely not the same as losing $50 on a card. It's an entirely different scale. $50 is far more attractive than $2 to a potential thief

    Also, where were you that the machine took toonies? Every arcade I've been in was loonies until they switched to the cards.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    How’s the person supposed to know there is even anything on the card…?

    $2 is a lot more attractive than a empty piece of plastic mate.

    Lots of machines take up to 5 coins, air hockey has always been $2-3.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    How’s the person supposed to know there is even anything on the card…?

    Because it's an arcade and loading funds is what people do with those cards. Also, those cards are generally accountless, and not tied to any sort of identifying information, so snatching one up and pocketing it is trivial and nobody would give you a second look if you tried using it on another machine.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago*

    People use blank cards for this purpose all the time, and if there’s enough people to justify using tokens in a line. No one is gonna be able to grab a card without being noticed. So there’s a very good chance that someone is gonna be caught and get an empty card.

    Yeah… that’s mighty tempting eh? If you’re foolish enough to use a loaded card and leave it unattended you kinda deserve it to be honest.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    If my card was taken, which would be empty, I would go seek management and they would use the cameras to find the person instantly the only realistic end is the person gets caught with a blank card, gets banned and likely get police involved.

    Or would you just stand there dumbfounded instead of dealing with it….? There’s no situation here where the thief gets ahead, they’ll be caught 100% of the time if you are smart enough to seek management….

    This is a wonderfully fake situation that’s easily dealt with to get mad at though lmfao.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

    The other 6 people in line keep an eye too, you can look away for a little bit, but you also use a blank card so nothing is lost.

    I’ve never seen someone try and steal the change, why would they be tempted to steal an empty plastic card? Cameras have existed in these places for decades now, you’d have to be extremely dumb to try and steal some petty change when you’re are guaranteed to get caught, banned and likely get the police involved.

    If your card was taken you wouldn’t go tell management? They would look at the cameras and deal with it immediately.

    Yours inventing scenarios that don’t exist.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

    It went for any game, pinball and sometimes pool tables.. Single player and you have next. If it was street fighter and someone else wanted to play, they would just interrupt your game and fight you. Beat em ups and strangers just join in if theres a free spot

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