Why I keep this checklist
In 2021, I approved an equipment order before checking one line of the specification. Four machines arrived, and none of them could run on our building's power supply. The vendor fixed them in the end, but two freight legs and one lost launch weekend later, the mistake had cost roughly $2,400.
Since 2017, I have handled procurement orders for two indoor entertainment centers. That sentence makes me sound organized. My paperwork tells a more honest story: I have personally made and documented 12 significant purchasing mistakes, totaling roughly $9,000 of budget that produced nothing but a lesson.
The mistakes were not exotic. Wrong delivery window. Wrong doorway. Wrong assumption about what customers actually play. This is the checklist I use now, with eleven checks in the order I run them. It is not a sales sheet. It is the boring stuff I sign off before money moves.
Checks 1 to 3: test the supplier before you test the machine
The first three checks are about who you are buying from, not what you are buying.
Step 1: Verify the company behind the Namco name
If someone shows me a cabinet with a Pac-Man side panel, I used to nod and write a purchase order. Not anymore. Brand names in this industry tell a complicated story.
Bandai Namco Entertainment, founded in 2006 after the game divisions of Namco and Bandai were integrated, is the video game business. Those classic Namco Bandai video games people remember, from Pac-Man to Tekken to Ridge Racer, live under that umbrella. Commercial amusement machines sit in a related but separate operation. That split matters because a machine that looks like a Namco product may have no direct support from the company you think you are dealing with.
I now ask one question on every quote: Which legal entity is selling this equipment, and who supports it after installation? A distributor that cannot answer does not get the deposit.
Step 2: Ask about year two before you fall in love with year one
In 2017, I bought two cabinets from a distributor that was leaving the market. The price looked right. The cabinet looked right. The payment terms looked generous. When the company closed, my spare parts supply closed with it.
People assume that cheap equipment is as efficient as well-supported equipment. From the outside, a low quote looks like a smart business move. The reality is that the smart move is a vendor who can ship a genuine part in days. I now ask for response times, parts availability, and remote diagnostic options in writing. Vague answers are still answers.
Step 3: Let floor data choose the game genre
My personal taste has cost this company money. In 2023, I was convinced a rhythm game would be a hit with the after-school crowd. The crowd walked past it for three weeks.
The same month, local teenagers kept asking about a drift game. The name that kept coming up was Drift Max Pro, a car racing game with realistic sliding physics. I trialed a Drift Max Pro car racing game in the slot where the rhythm cabinet had been. In thirty days, it earned roughly three times what the rhythm game had earned in its best month in that spot. I was not the target audience. The data was.
Checks 4 to 6: the floor, not the showroom
The next three checks come after you know which machine you want, before you tell anyone to ship it.
Step 4: Measure the whole path, not just the floor space
In 2018, I verified that eight machines would fit in their planned positions. I did not verify that they could reach those positions. The route from the loading dock to the game floor included a 76-centimeter fire door. One cabinet was 84 centimeters wide. The machine sat in its crate for six days while we rented lifting equipment and removed a window. That delay cost $1,250.
The measurement check now includes every doorway, elevator, stair landing, and corner between the truck and the final position. Walk it yourself. Twice.
Step 5: Put power and network requirements in the purchase order
An arcade machine can be perfect in a showroom and useless on your floor if the electrical specification is wrong. The $2,400 mistake from the start of this article was exactly that: the correct model, the correct artwork, the incorrect power configuration.
Today the PO states voltage, phase, plug type, and network requirements. I send the electrical drawing to an electrician before signing, not after delivery. If a vendor treats those fields as optional, the checklist stops there.
Step 6: Treat sound as a purchase requirement
This is the check most buyers ignore. Nobody expects an arcade to be quiet, but nobody expects a noise complaint from the neighbor above, either. Sound is a feature, not background noise.
When I evaluate a used or refurbished unit, I bring a pair of closed-back studio headphones and plug them into the machine's audio source. If the audio is clean through the headphones but distorted through the speakers, I know the amplifier or speaker is the problem. Thirty seconds of listening has caught faults that took longer than a formal checklist.
If you plan a quieter zone, choose machines with a headphone output and mount a small bracket for closed-back studio headphones at every seat. It costs little and gives you a usable corner after 9 p.m.
Checks 7 to 9: the forgotten operational details
These are the steps that look optional until a small problem becomes an expensive one.
Step 7: Order spare parts on the same purchase order
I once saved $48 by buying non-genuine buttons for a ticket redemption cabinet. They started failing within three weeks. Including technician time, that $48 saving cost us around $300.
Genuine spare parts are not a luxury upsell. When I order a machine, I add a small basket of the parts most likely to wear out: buttons, joysticks, power supplies, and sensor boards. If they sit in a drawer unused, that is a cheap insurance policy.
Step 8: Agree on delivery dates in writing
In 2022, the logistics coordinator asked if Thursday delivery would work. I said any day after Monday was fine. She heard that Tuesday was fine. Our installation crew was booked at another site, so the machines sat in a hallway for three days. The storage cost was $350, and the machines were nearly damaged twice.
The rule now: a delivery date is a written date. If materials arrive early, someone at the venue must be ready to receive them or redirect them before the truck departs.
Step 9: How to make a card game (and why an arcade should bother)
This step looks like a joke. I am serious. Birthday parties are a reliable revenue stream for many venues, and a custom card game turns a generic party favor into something families remember after they leave.
If you want to know how to make a card game without building a board game department, the condensed process is:
- Pick one interaction: matching, drafting, or bluffing. Our deck uses a simple draw-two-and-compare challenge, so a new player can start within one minute.
- Keep the deck small. A 36-card deck is enough. A 120-card game will never get learned at a party table.
- Create a print-ready PDF from a blank card template and test one copy with your own staff before ordering more.
- Print a short run at a print-on-demand card manufacturer. Put a QR code on the card back that leads to your group booking page.
From the outside, this looks like a vanity project. In practice, it is one of the cheapest branded items we hand out, and it keeps families at the table between game sessions.
Step 10: Hold a staff pre-open test session
Every new machine gets at least ninety minutes with staff before the public sees it. We hand them a checklist and order pizza. In the last eighteen months, that session has caught 47 potential errors before a single customer encountered them.
The goal is not to find fault with the machine. The goal is to let a fresh pair of hands operate it the way a customer would.
Step 11: Put everything in one shared log before opening day
The unglamorous final check: serial numbers, warranty expiry dates, login credentials, spare part numbers, and distributor contacts in one shared file. Not a binder in a locked drawer. This is the step that makes the rest of the checklist useful next year.
We moved this record from paper and email threads to a simple spreadsheet. The switch saved a couple of hours of month-end work and removed the search-for-the-manual routine on a Friday night. Is digital efficiency exciting? Not really. Boring systems prevent expensive surprises.
Common errors that still appear
A checklist does not make you mistake-proof. It makes you mistake-slower, and that alone has saved us thousands.
First, assuming the quote includes everything in the brochure. Ask what is not included before you ask for a discount. Installation, freight, customs, and configuration are frequent omissions.
Second, leaving dates vague. ASAP means two days to one person and two weeks to another. Write the date, confirm the date, and follow up. A late delivery is easier to solve than a surprise delivery.
Third, buying the newest machine for its own sake. The newest game is not always the most profitable. Our Drift Max Pro car racing game did well because it matched the local audience, not because it was new.
That is the list. Print it, keep it near the desk, and use it before the next order. If it prevents one $2,400 mistake, it has already paid for itself.
