• ToppestOfDogs@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Inside almost every arcade cabinet is a Dell Optiplex running Windows 7, or 10 if its really recent. There’s no such thing as an arcade board anymore, they’re all Dells, or sometimes those HP mini PCs, usually with the protective plastic still on.

    Daytona even uses a Raspberry Pi to control the second screen. SEGA intentionally ships those with no-brand SD cards that consistently fail after 3 months. It’s in their agreement that you’ll buy another card from them instead of just flashing the image onto an SD card that won’t break.

    The Mario Kart arcade cabinet uses a webcam called the “Nam-Cam” that is mounted in a chamber with no ventilation, which causes it to overheat and die every few months, so of course you’ll have to replace those too. The game will refuse to boot without a working camera.

    Oh yeah also all arcade games with prizes are rigged. All of them. We literally have a setting that determines how often the game will allow wins.

    • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      It’s in their agreement that you’ll buy another card from them instead of just flashing the image onto an SD card that won’t break.

      Sounds like it’d be pretty simple to just replace it and not tell them. If they tell you they know it should’ve broken down by now, just ask, “Why, did you intentionally sell me something defective?”

      • Dadd Volante@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Yes. You have to have a license to charge people money to play those games.

        Otherwise you would have seen a ton of arcades open already

        Edit: I only know this because I asked a guy who ran one. His machines were in pretty bad shape and I inquired why he didn’t just do as you thought.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I worked in an arcade in the 90s. Wow have things changed. I bet pinball games are not easily fixable anymore either.

    • Tilgare@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Oh yeah also all arcade games with prizes are rigged. All of them. We literally have a setting that determines how often the game will allow wins.

      One time on vacation, my little sister and I found a crane game in the game room of our hotel that was clearly over tuned - basically every button press was another win, it was great. We still remember it fondly. A stupid thing, but even at that age we knew these are usually scams and we we’re stoked to just basically get cheap toys.

      • nebulaone@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The easier way is to just get an arcade emulator. Run it on your Desktop PC or make your own emulation machine with a Raspberry Pi. Although you need the game images (called Roms), which you can legally read and backup with original copies, or you can put on your pirate hat and find them on the internet, or so I’ve heard, allegedly.

    • AlexisFR@jlai.lu
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      1 year ago

      What you says is unlikely, since every arcade I want to still used the same machines as in 2005.