Meet Kouichi Toya, known on Twitter as @myhomearcade. Toya owns a building filled with arcade machines from the 80's and 90's. Recently, the Japanese media SUUMO Journal interviewed him about what motivated him to create this space, as well as the costs involved.
According to the article, Toya is a 42-year-old married man with fond memories of the golden age of the arcades. Toya installed his first cabinet in his home ten years ago, but it wasn't until 2016 that he started collecting these machines in bulk. This began to require more space, so instead of dedicating a single room to his machines, he decided to extend it to the garage as well.
— 自宅ゲーセン素人📍◉◉™️ home arcader (@myhomearcade) May 4, 2020The cost of obtaining these arcade cabinets has been high. One of the reasons why collecting video games and retro arcade machines is quite expensive is because it is a global fascination. Toya mentioned that he once won a cabinet of the 1987 Sega game, After Burner, through an online auction, only to find out shortly after that the seller was located in New York. The cabinet had to be shipped between continents, which involved shipping costs of almost 1.5 million yen (approximately $ 14,000).
Depending on the rarity and demand for the games, Toya has seen auction prices in excess of one million yen per cabinet. It also costs money to recondition old machines to get them running again. Toya also makes sure to install a money converting machine, as well as instant noodle and beverage vending machines. "I am very afraid to do the math and see how much money I have spent to date," he said.
For people who are interested in starting a project similar to his, Toya recommends starting with crane game machines (known as “UFO Catchers” in Japan), because it is very common that they are sold at discounted prices.
Source: SUUMO Journal (Yuki Tatsui) via Otakomu
