One of the things that all arcade owners and staff should do, but almost never do, is to play their own games.

Nothing is worse that walking into an arcade and seeing a game that is in an obvious state of disrepair.  Blurry or dark screens, missing controls, jammed coin slots, etc.  Or even worse, after plunking down some money into the game, discovering that it does not play correctly – unresponsive controls, gun games that do not detect/place shots accurately, no sounds, etc.

I have always thought that every arcade owner, manager, attendant, etc. should be tasked with being responsible for ensuring a quality experience for the customers.  This can be as easy as taking 15 minutes each day to quickly playtest the games, or making it part of the attendants’ daily activities.

Even if the person tasked with this duty does not know anything about a particular game or how to play it, they can likely figure out if the joysticks and buttons work, or spot a game that has crashed or is otherwise in need of attention.

Why this does not happen is a mystery to me…