> Give or take $1500x800 = $1.2 million > Selling since 2003. > > So yeah, actually, there should have been mo money but they also seized 5 houses and > cars. Coinopstore also sells cleaned up original arcade machines at obscenly high > prices. > Sorry folks, no money laundering here. There actually is money to be made in classic > arcade multimachines, mostly cocktail cabinets. The machines weren't fakes. > Counterfeit for sure, but not fake. They could be set for taking coins or freeplay so > mostly private use, but lots of commercial use as well. Perhaps Namco got fed up with > seeing the machines in all the barcades and cafes that are appearing thoughout the > area. > > What is surprising though is that they were also selling machines wrapped in art from > the NFL, MLB, NHL, Disney, Wizard of Oz, Marvel, Harley Davidson etc, and bragged > about how they could do whatever you wanted to the Feds. > > They also sold around the country, crossing state lines. > > So far, it appears to be only Namco that got upset about it. > Haven't even heard from General Computer Corp (GCC) whom guards Ms Pac-Man > > Court date is Aug 21. Now thats a jury duty I would love to be on
and that's only the US operation.
Here in the UK I can think of about 7 professional looking units within a single bus ride of where I am (most of them in bars or fast food places) and 2 of them within walking distance and that's for a relatively small city. Apart from fruit machines they're basically the only thing you see, especially the cocktail tables which seem to be considered trendy.
Absolute cancer on the industry these things, in so many legitimate establishments too because they're not even sold as bootlegs. Not sure why nobody believes me when I say somebody is making an absolute killing on them, and it's disgusting.
One interesting thing that did come up recently is a Kyle Hodgetts game running on the same hardware, makes me wonder who actually worked on the software they're running. The general presentation they have never felt very Chinese to me (choice of fonts etc.) so it could be all the development was outsourced although I imagine the software side of them is a very different business to these cab sales.
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