A Case Study in Chosing Cashless

Logan Arcade Owner Leaves Coins Behind for his Elston Electric FEC

By Jim Bennington, No Cash Value LLC

No Cash Value LLC (NCVLLC.com) is Jim Bennington’s boutique consultancy focused on the “middle space” of amusement operations, LBE/FEC location design & development. To reach Jim Bennington, email [email protected].

If you’ve read Malcom Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, or recently Revenge of the Tipping Point, he presents a theory that describes how ideas, trends, and social behaviors can suddenly spread like wildfire, reaching a critical mass and becoming a widespread phenomena. It is the moment when a small change or influence tips over into mainstream adaptation.

Now, what does this have to do with cashless systems in an arcade? Everything! It has everything to do with managing profitability in a modern fun center of any type.

Coinage and tokens mean a nostalgic fixed denomination spend-to-experience ratio. With digital impulse spending habits, we are not tied to the bills and coins in our pocket to trigger fun against the clock or our own skill.

Why is this the time for a cashless payment system? All marketing aside, the flex comes in the many levers an operator can self-activate, self-market, self-reconcile to allow access to fun and rewards. It allows an organization to be self-sufficient, making it easy to spend money in your location on your terms.

Meet my friend Zespy, a 10-year quarter-based arcade veteran behind the acclaimed Logan Arcade in Chicago. Located in a former hardware store, it is a must-do pinball and retro arcade bar mecca. Logan Arcade grew out of a back-room secret arcade you were allowed to play in if you bought a record from Zespy, the shop owner.

Today, Logan Arcade is a thriving neighborhood staple serving its guests cold beer, a highly curated collection of games and novelties, and even an upcycled animatronics stage band to entertain guests and tournament players. Guaranteed a quarter-dropping good time, the place is wild and funky!

Unintentionally defining the “retro FEC” venue category with his new Elston Electric, Zespy found his “tipping point” when partnering with the hospitality group 16 On Center for their biggest revitalization project ever – The Salt Shed, a live music and entertainment campus along I-94 in the former Morton Salt complex.

We aren’t talking about selling more Dixie cups of quarters and PBR. This tipping point was based on entertaining weekly mass surges of new players and year-round concertgoers, a load-in turnstile and throughput mentality, and the critical need to establish the arcade as an equally appealing neighborhood hangout that represents true coin-op roots.

The mission was not to replicate the Logan Arcade, but to invent a hybrid retro FEC experience. Logan Arcade solidified Zespy as a curator of a funky good time, managing cash pans and reloading the change machine, but this new project was of a different scale. It needed to be anchored into a cashless, frictionless payment platform with mobile wallet capabilities to match the velocity of guests coming in before and after concerts.

Once the card system was chosen, the task of integrating a futuristic tech payment ecosystem onto vintage equipment began.

Paired with a full food and beverage menu, Elston Electric was to be the anchor concept for the sprawling music venue (with its indoor capacity of 3,600 and outdoor festival grounds with a capacity of 5,000). All of those people would have access to the blended 110-piece modern FEC mix, Boiler Bar and a massive selection of vintage pinball and coin-op novelties.

They have everything running off an Embed tap-to-play card reader – medallion machines, a Goliath pinball from 1975, Chicago Coin’s Baseball Champ pin from 1973, all the way up to a brand-new Godzilla from Raw Thrills.

Elston Electric also hosts a program on the card swipe platform that allows them to create special souvenir play cards for the traveling bands, roadies and backstage crews. Recently, Alabama Shakes and Japanese Breakfast enjoyed downtime in the arcade between sound check and their sold-out shows.

The Merch Shop, a prize redemption store, offers a multitude of collectibles and oddly unique toys, candies and rotating merchandise.

Think about how this applies to you and your business. What is the “tipping point” for your entertainment offering based on? Your logo, a brand you bought, or your ability to scale…? Or is it in recognizing the accelerator that will define your location’s success in an ever-evolving industry?

Elston Electric is that ideal blend of equipment, venue, human interaction and creativity. Zespy has assembled an amazing hands-on operations and technical support team, and the venue speaks for itself online and in person. (If you’re in Chicago, you’ve simply got to go experience it and Logan Arcade for yourself.)

The evolution of this concept is in the collaboration between resources: Zespy manifested a growing dream into a confident reality and pivoted his base of arcade operations from free play to quarters to a tap-to-play platform without losing its authentic vibe and cool factor. 16 On Center produced a stunning live music venue that will deliver a constant flow of guests. No Cash Value LLC (that’s where I come in) consulted the “middle space,” bridging operating experience and cashless system knowledge. Brian Conway expertly curated the modern games list, guiding the Betson’s install team. And Embed integrated the cashless payment environment with custom kiosk skins, support and scalable services to increase sales in the real and digital worlds.

The diversity of the audience and flow of international talent will keep Elston Electric positioned as a unique destination that makes it easy for people to spend money on fun in Chicago. You’ll find the location online at www.elstonelectric.com and on social media.

Thoughts on Coins vs. Cards from Zespy Himself

“I’ve been a collector and fan of games my whole life. Before I had a driver’s license, I would take out ads in my small hometown newspaper, looking to buy old cartridges or systems. My friend Phil and I would scour the thrift stores and garage sales looking for anything we could find.

That initial interest in the history of games jumped from early consoles all the way to the full-size arcade machines. The love of games followed me from town to town until I landed in Chicago, a mecca of arcade games. From there, my collection grew to become the first classic/retro arcade in Chicago, and went on to open Logan Arcade. There’s something uniquely satisfying about the sound of a coin dropping into a machine — it’s part of the magic that’s kept Logan Arcade running on quarters since we opened in 2014.

That said, my love of games has no era; I love it all. So, when I decided to launch my first family entertainment center, Elston Electric, I knew it was time to take a different approach. With modern games, modern modes of payment seemed appropriate.

After researching the major card systems on the market, Embed stood out as the clear choice for what we needed. The robust reporting tools, operational efficiency, flexible pricing options, and seamless customer experience have all been excellent — both for us and for our guests.

We’re about halfway through our first year using a card system and I couldn’t be happier with the results so far. Having the ability to check in on my arcade’s performance at any moment is incredibly valuable. It’s given me a whole new level of control and insight.

And as much as I love the nostalgia of quarters, I definitely don’t miss counting them.