Insert Coin | OPEN

[logahmod]

Insert Coin didn't look like much from the outside: dark tinted windows and a large green and black sign over top. Nevertheless the bike rack out front was almost always full and finding parking could be quite a challenge. 

It lay several blocks north of the park, nearer to Skaia U than Crocker U and well nestled in the heart of the area where most Skaia students who lived off campus tended to settle in a more densely packed area with apartments and eateries. It didn't bother advertising much since it had become a staple of college life in Sburb and business was booming. 

Inside the place was dimly lit with scattered neon and the comforting blue glow of abundant screens. Most of the floor space was devoted to games that ran the gamut from pac man up to the more modern games with motion capture so you could duck your character behind cover and several DDR machines to trick people into exercising. 

A long glass counter stretched to your right as you came in, complete with the full range of prizes that you could redeem your tickets for, all the way up to the 100,000 ticket replica light saber that gleamed in its own case behind the counter. The employees generally looked bored as they exchanged cash for tokens and tickets for prizes. 

Farther in was another counter that the owners had had the brilliant idea of making available to food truck vendors. The menu varied drastically depending on the day and regular customers tracked Insert Coin's social media feeds to find out which food trucks were scheduled for which days. There were some tables and chairs clustered near that counter as well as the more active games like DDR for entertainment while you ate. The water fountains and bathrooms were near there as well. 

There was also a more enclosed area upstairs, with private rooms for karaoke and private parties, where you could reserve a room and a particular game ahead of time for a few hours. The owner often said that putting in a service elevator had been his smartest investment and a large chunk of the arcade's income came from people setting up soulcalibur tournaments or bringing in their own consoles to take advantage of top of the line projection and sound equipment to game on a screen the size of a wall. 

For clients of age they also sold beer and some basic cocktails, though if you spilled you were banned for a month with second offenses earning you a lifetime ban. 

Have fun!

((Mod note: The arcade and food trucks will be wholly staffed by NPCs for now so feel free to set future threads here for parties or hang outs. It has any arcade game you want. The areas so far are: Main Arcade, Prize Counter, Food Counter, Karaoke, and Party Rooms. Let us know if you want other areas! Also this isn't leading to plot or anything, we just felt the time was right for a new neutral space and an open thread!))

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Arcade | Dragonslayer | Feferi: Parry Parry Thrust

[lunaquatic]

Feferi looked like she was all business. She stood in the middle of a trio of metal posts, turning a quarterstaff over in her hands as she flicked her gaze from one post to the next, waiting for the next level to start.

Each pillar was about six inches wide and seven feet tall, each leg of the metal triangle forming the base 8 feet apart. The quarterstaff was four feet long, giving her room to maneuver between the pillars. Each square pillar had three small squares, one at the top, one at the middle, and one at knee height. The game lit up squares and played a sound and the goal was to hit the square before it went dark. Like whack-a-mole but in three dimensions. As you completed levels the game sped up and Feferi was determined to make it past level seven today.

Regarding this as ideal trident and staff practice, Feferi had come in comfortable loose fitting dark clothing, though she had soon discarded her hoodie by the main console and was down to black yoga pants and a bright pink tank top that matched her bright pink tennis shoes, both of which glowed in the nearby blacklight. The staff had bands of fluorescent tape to make watching more exciting for spectators though the Dragonslayer game was near the back of the arcade section on the opposite wall from the entrance door and the counters with a fairly wide strip of empty space to prevent people getting clobbered with quarterstaves.

Feferi had been here for a while, as evidenced by the sheen of sweat on her brow as the randomized pattern started up with a loud chime, then the beeps began. Feferi spun and thrust, stabbing at the lit up squares and careful to keep turning so none of the posts stayed behind her for long.

The rest of the arcade fell away as she panted for breath as she struck at the beeps, but she was tiring and she finally hit a middle square instead of a top and the game played the 'dead' sound and she grumbled, shoulders drooping in disappointment as she tried to catch her breath, glancing around to see if anyone was waiting to take the next turn.

John: Be amazed

[johnnynocakes]

"That was really cool," John said, an unopened can of soda in one hand and an opened one in the other, "I don't think I've ever seen somebody hit things that well before!"

He put the unopened can forward, gesturing past Feferi with it toward the arcade game. A moment later, he tipped it a little further toward Fef, offering it up as a gift.

"How often do you play? Can you teach me? I'll pay the machine."

Feferi: Preen

[lunaquatic]

Feferi winked at John and accepted the can, popping the tab and holding it out to him. "Cheers!" she said happily, waiting for him to bump his against hers before taking a swig and smacking her lips contentedly. "Tanks!! I'd love to teach you!! Dragonslayer is my favorite!!!"

She frowned slightly, looking his face over. "Hey didn't we kiss at the party?" she asked, leaning in closer as she looked at his mouth, pursing her own and pondering whether it was weird to kiss him to check.

[johnnynocakes]

John's can rang a satisfying metallic donk against Feferi's, and then he turned thoughtful, a hand on his chin.

"Sure, that seems about right," he said, his eyes straying to dip a glance at her legs. He wasn't so great at hiding it, and he pushed his glasses up with a fingertip in the moment afterward, hiding his eyes.
"I mean, the bottle spin, right? I remember you."
Feferi's enthusiasm had certainly left an impression for days afterward.
"You're really... good." he managed.

[lunaquatic]

"You're not so bad yourshellf!" Feferi said with a lascivious wink, taking another swig of her drink. "So!! How to play dragonslayer!!"

She put the quarterstaff into his free hand, the wood was waxed and smooth and comfortably thick and sturdy enough to hold and strike without worrying about breaking things. "First off you want to always try and bring your hands back to the middle! If you're holding it at one end you might as whale be using a sword!!" she said. "And what was your name again?"

Arcade | Mazan | Feferi: Introduce Dirk to Ninja game

[lunaquatic]

As was becoming her habit, Feferi dragged Dirk along by the hand. "No sea!! They got a new one and I fin it's PERFECT for you!!!" Feferi insisted. Her trips to the arcade had been infrequent before since being introduced to it last year by some classmates for a mixer, but she adored the Dragonslayer game and considered it a fairly ideal training tool, and having passed a game with a fake sword, it had seemed a perfect time to drag Dirk along.

"Look SEA?? It's a SWORD game!!!" Feferi said, pulling a sandwich bag of tokens out of her pocket and starting to shove them into the machine. "You have to slash and cut fins and I bet you'd ENJOY it!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Dirk: Play the Ninja Game

[coltblooded]

Dirk didn't have a chance to get a good look at the game before Feferi was pushing coins into it but, not wanting her to waste her tokens, he obediently picked up the fake sword. It was too light, not balanced, and felt wrong in his hands, but he still burned through the first level of the game with no problem. After years of training, the movements came naturally to him, even with this terrible plastic weapon.

He glanced at Feferi as his screen displayed his score and instructed him to get ready for level two.

"What are you gonna do? Just watch me play?" He asked, turning back just in time for the game to loudly announce the second level.

Feferi: Observe the Ninja

[lunaquatic]

Feferi grinned. "You got it!!" she said cheerfully, tucking her bag of tokens away in her pocket and watching him avidly. "And when you either beat the game or give up I'm going to show you MY favorite game!!"

Dirk looked as casual as she had suspected he would, but it had been an excellent pretext to get him to come to the arcade and she fully intended to take advantage of it to get him onto the DDR machines.

Dirk: Grow Tired of This

[coltblooded]

Dirk continued through the next ten levels without putting much effort into it. Did people really think this was fun? It was too easy to be- The next level was much faster, and Dirk was caught off guard. He lost precious seconds and a few thousand points, but quickly recovered and started to make up for it. By the time he was at level 20, he was growing bored, but there was a small group of young teens crowding around them, watching him with interest.

In the end, he cheated a little by using his speed to beat the last level. He didn't think anyone would notice, with the exception of Feferi. He set the sword back down in it's stand and crouched to gather the ridiculous amount of tickets the game was spitting out. He didn't have any interest in arcade prizes, so he held the dangling strip out to Feferi.

"Here." He told her, side-eyeing a trio of giggling preteen girls. Why were they staring at him?

"You wanna show me your game?" He asked, hoping she would lead him away. Most of the crowd had dispersed, but a few people were still watching and talking amongst themselves.

Feferi: Change of Plans

[lunaquatic]

Feferi laid claim to the tickets with a speculative grin, gears turning in her head almost visibly as she quickly stacked them to make a more manageable bundle. "This way!" she whispered, winking at him and leading the way deeper into the arcade and ducking around rows of machines until the few idle watchers had given up following the entertaining duo.

With a grin, she led him toward the back wall, gesturing with the hand holding the tickets to the ominous looking metal structure. She handed him back his tickets and shed her jacket, dropping it carelessly on the floor before carrying her bag of tokens over to the console on the wall behind it, plunking in tokens. The cabinet next to it unlocked and popped open and she claimed one of the quarterstaffs within (there were sensors that went off if the game ended and you didn't either add more tokens or put the staffs back).

She closed the cabinet which locked again and walked to the center of the triangle before tossing her bag of tokens onto her discarded jacket. "This one's MY favorite," she said happily, striking the one lit up middle panel to start the game.

She lasted for several minutes before she missed one of her strikes and the game over noise played and she straightened, panting slightly. "Want a go?" she asked, offering him the quarter staff.

Arcade | DDR | Feferi: Wander past with popcorn

[lunaquatic]

Feferi had paused in her dragonslaying (quarterstaff practice) to wander around the arcade and had been attracted by the smell of popcorn coming from the food counter. Bag in hand, she was munching contentedly as she wandered over to the sitting tables, looking around to see if anyone was playing DDR as that made for the best spectation.

Jane: pwn at ddr

[investigatorjane]

Jane wasn't normally the best at standing still and simply watching people play a game they were horrible at, such was the case with Jake. She watched closely as he became angrier and angrier at the large machine in front of him. The woman wasn't sure why he was so terribly hell-bent on winning something, but she decided she didn't want to be around if his temper grew too thin and he decided to punch it. Clearing her throat, she told Jake she would be elsewhere before walking off, not bothering to wait for a response if he even heard her in the first place.

Her eyes searched the building, looking for something to do, when they landed on a vacant DDR machine. With a smile gracing her features, she moved up to it quickly, putting in all of the coins and necessary settings before beginning to dance. She'd never been horrible at dancing, but she also wasn't the best- however, Jane proved to be better than the machine as she hit every move with ease.

Feferi: -whistle appreciatively-

[lunaquatic]

A girl of about her height was making the machine light up and say complimentary things!! Feferi snagged a table near the DDR machine and munched her popcorn avidly, tucking her feet up onto the seat of the chair with her as she watched appreciatively.

When the final stage rolled through at last and the last stage came up, Feferi swallowed her mouthful of popcorn and set her bag on the table before tucking her fingers into her mouth and wolf-whistled before applauding. "Encore encore!!" she cried, grinning as she picked up her popcorn again.

"If you do another round isle the bottle of water'll be on me!!" Fef offered cheerfully. She was dressed somewhat less garishly than usual in jean shorts and a loose pink top, her mane of hair pulled back in a long french braid for once. She had come to train.

Jane: Jump in Surprise

[investigatorjane]

The sound of someone closer to her caused Jane to jump, not expecting anyone to suddenly burst out anything or ask for an encore. She turned around quickly, blue eyes wide as she took in the woman sitting at the table closest to the large DDR machine.

She smiled, though a blush found its way to her cheeks as Jane averted her eyes. "Well, I wouldn't mind doing another round! Care to join me?" she asked, looking up. This woman looked absolutely harmless. Perhaps Jane would be able to find friendship with her, or at least company until Jake returned from the claw machine.

Feferi: Jump at the chance

[lunaquatic]

Feferi giggled, swinging her short legs a little and still on her chair. "Whale if you don't mind that I can basically guarantee you'll beat me isle join you!" she said cheerfully. "I'm no great shakes at DDR truth be told."

Still, she set her popcorn down and brushed crumbs off of her top as she bounced over, digging quarters out of her pocket. "Shell we?"

Jake: Be Frustrated

[olli_lolli]

As a date, Jake decided to bring Jane to the arcade, having heard good things about it around town when he did go out. The man thought a little bit of fun in their lives, would do both of them some good and had talked to his girlfriend about going. She agreed, so there they were. At Insert Coin Arcade.

Already from walking inside, Jake loved the atmosphere of the place. It screamed fun in a variety of ways. The two of them went up to the counter and exchanged money for tokens, but before he started in on some of the other games, Jake noticed a plush crane machine. He then got it into his mind to win something cute and cuddly for Jane and immediately went over to it, placing in a token and maneuvering the crane to a squiddle plush. Down, grab and.... shoot! It missed grabbing the plush and moved back over to the starting position.

Jake frowned and inserted another coin, only for the same thing to happen again. And again. And again. When Jane walked away, Jake barely noticed, being so focused on the machine and getting more and more frustrated with it as he wasted his tokens. How in the dickens did anyone win anything from these!!!

"RAUGH!" he shouted in frustration, attracting the attention of some of the other arcade go-ers.

Roxy: Examine the Crane Rager.

[voidcats]

The normal sounds of Insert Coin were laid along the lines of low talking and the sounds of various machines all going at once, with magical jingles and voice acted dying grunts; Roxy had initially worried that she might be considered "too old" for the scene, but upon arrival, she had been mollified to see that the vast majority of gamers there were all around college age or older. Alright, so she was still hip. She could totally run with the cool kids.

A few minutes later saw her in The Zone on one of the many brands of first person shooter games the arcade had to offer; Roxy was content with sniping left and right for the sake of tickets, though it soon became obvious that not everyone was having such a pleasant experience with their own games of choice.

The exclamation (was it considered an onomatopoeia if she heard it instead of read it? hmm) was met with Roxy getting fuckin' wrecked by the zombies she was battling against, thanks to popping her head around the corner to check out what the hell the malfunction was. She whistled low after seeing some dude struggling with the crane machines; that was pretty much everyone's bane of existence, but considering he was so expressive about his frustration, it was pretty obvious he was a newb. After adjusting her snapback and stuffing her earned tickets into her backpack, Roxy strolled on over, thumbs hooked into the pockets of her jeans.

"Hmmm. Seems like you got a disastrous case of the 'Cane Rage' there, dude." Roxy tilted her head, clicking her tongue soon after as she observed the dilemma. Yeah, def a n00b. "If you don't mind me bustin' in on your sick game, I could try and give you a hand with winnin' the toy of your dreams. Whaddya say?"

Jake: Show Frustration

[olli_lolli]

Time and again, the man kept putting tokens in the machine only for it to prove futile. He even tried getting some of the other plushes but to no avail. He was just about to give up when a tall, blonde woman walked over to him. She was just about an inch shorter than him, which impressed the man, seeing as so very rarely were women that tall. Jake's face was still drawn into a look of anger as she approached and spoke to him as he blinked at her and sighed. Crane Rage sure was right. And here he thought it would be an easy prize for the love of his life.

"Yeah. I'm not having much luck with this confounded thing. All I wanted was to win that blue squiddle there for my girlfriend who has since walked away, I believe. If you can have any better luck or know how the blasted rig works, please, be my guest. I'll pay the token for it, even." If she really could win the squiddle for Jane, he'd be eternally grateful to her. So the dark-skinned man stepped back and allowed the blonde woman to take over. In the meantime, he adjusted the green t-shirt he was wearing, pulling it back down as it had ridden up in his course of moving with the machine to get it to do what he wanted. His hands slid into the pockets of his khaki shorts, and he kicked his hiking boot clad feet as he waited for the stranger to either fail or win the squiddle for him.

Roxy: Become the GameGrl.

[voidcats]

Crane Rager backed away from the machine and Roxy swooped on in, taking stock of the plushes inside. Squiddles had plenty of ways to be tangled up in one another; hell, most employees packed these things tight on purpose, so even if players got a good grip on one of the toys inside, the claw would inevitably slide right off of it. It was better to go for the machines that hadn't been stocked in awhile just for that reason, but it seemed like the dude was pretty set on getting that blue squiddle.

Well, alright. She could work some forbidden majyyks up in this thing. Roxy rolled her shoulders and hip-bumped the stranger on her way towards the front of the machine, squinting as she surveyed the landscape. The target plush wasn't too far towards the edge, which was good: it would have been nigh impossible to get otherwise. Roxy hummed as she finished scoping out the machine, digging into one pocket to produce a token.

"Nah, I got it covered, baby. Seems to me like you've already wasted enough fake currency on this machine." Roxy pushed the coin into its proper slot and then straightened on up, already nudging the crane into place. First order of business: that pink asshole who had its tentacles all over the blue squiddle's. After nudging the claw into position, Roxy checked around the sides of the machine before pulling it on up and winning it. Another token later saw her angling for the blue squiddle that had now entangled itself into the partner at its side, leaving Roxy to grab for the blue-and-green pair by their twisted tentacles. Once all prizes had been dropped and the winning jingle played a second time, Roxy stooped down and fished out the trio of squiddles and handed the tangle buddies over to Crane Rager.

"Well?" She grinned, tucking the pink squiddle under one arm. "Hate to separate a good pair like that up. 'Sides, the green matches your eyes." At that, she winked, giving a little raspy laugh.

Arcade | Jurassic Park | Terezi: Shoot Rabid Dinosaurs with Dave

[bl1nd_just1c3]

It felt like years since she last walked into an arcade and eons since she last got to 'see' one. Her older sister was addicted to arcades. The weekend with no school and you don't want to play outside? Arcade. Birthday party? Arcade. Bored? Arcade. Arcade? Arcade. Never really hated it, back when she could see even Terezi enjoyed it but the fun was lost when her sight went away. Until now.

Terezi needed an escape from reality but mostly her own mind; especially after the incident that had taken place. She messaged Dave, reconnecting after everything that had happened to the both of them. It was great to hang around him and his 'cool kid' demeanor. Donning an appropriate outfit for the occasion; she met up with Dave at the arcade.

Remembering her favorite game back when she could see; Terezi pulled Dave towards the Jurassic Park arcade game. It was a big hulking machine from the early nineties. The game was either a single person shooter or in this case, a two player shooter. Jumping into the fake Ford Explorer like in the movie; there were two guns and a seat big enough for two people to join together and killing dinosaurs before they killed you. The seat moved, shook and twisted as if they were on an actual bumpy dirt road at great speeds.

Terezi wasn't the best at the shooting game but it was easy to kill a raptor when it would 'jump' on the vehicle to snap and hiss at them. She was laughing genuinely when one bump actually had her bouncing off the seat for a second. Near the end of the game, the big Mommy herself was fast approaching. The Tyrannosaurus Rex charged and roaring ready to consume it's daily amount of human flesh.

Dave: Own This Shit

[pendulumbeat]

Dave had been more than thrilled to hear from Terezi, excited to get out of the house and do something that felt a little more normal. After he'd regained his ability to speak, he'd gone back to work and had been swamped. Damn hipsters and their vintage records.

The arcade was familiar, a place where he'd spend countless hours since moving to the city. So much so, in fact, he had most of the games memorized and down to an art. He was in the high score chart of a good number of the machines, not that anyone would know who 'SBAHJ' was. The older machines that only allowed three letters as a name were lovingly given names like 'ASS', much to the irritation of the employees. Dave enjoyed the giggles from younger kids when the high score chart came up and "1 ASS 696969" was waiting for them. He was particularly proud of that score, it had taken a lot of practice to die at just the right moment.

The Jurassic Park game, Terezi's favourite apparently, was one he'd played ad nauseum when he'd first arrived. His preference was, of course, for swords, but a fake gun was his second love. He knew she couldn't really see how well he was doing, but he still felt the need to show off to his friend. With pinpoint accuracy, he took out every single one of the dinosaurs on the screen -- save for the ones she took down.

Not only was he good at the game, he couldn't help his running colour commentary. Giving the dinosaurs backstories and romantic interests. Telling her all about each one's daily life and their ambitions. They got more and more absurd as the game carried on and he wasn't even sure if he made sense anymore. It just came out of his mouth in an endless stream, so happy as he was to have his voice back.

"Aw shit, TZ," he said when the final boss approached. "Momma T-Rex is hungry for flesh. She's gotta pay her mortgage this month and doesn't have shit left for food, then us tasty pink morsels come along on a silver platter shaped like a Jeep. Best day of her damn life. But shit, we got these little pea shooters, those don't feel too nice. Oh well, she's gonna try. We just look too damn tasty to resist. 'Specially me, this plush rump is some fine dining..."

On he went, unaware of if anyone else was listening to his vaguely inappropriate descriptions of everything.

Terezi: Be the Dragon

[bl1nd_just1c3]

Terezi couldn't help but laugh along with Dave on his commentary on the thrilling lives they were mercilessly taking away in the game. She tried to stifle her snickers while trying to shoot at the T-Rex that was fast approaching their make-believe Explorer. "Your rump must be one of the top picks for millionaires like obese duck liver; she's hauling tail just to reach us. I might be saved to live another day if she manages to catch us because we both know she's going to savor your flavor.' In response to her own quirky reply; she licked the top of her lip to encourage her point. Terezi leaned against Dave, not putting too much weight against him to ruin his struggling chance of survival. Since her perception with a fictional plastic gun was already questionable; she tilted her head sniffing his neck.

"Is that sweat I smell, Dave?" She teased, "Don't worry about some cougar-Rex who's drooling over your plushiest of rumps." Moving back to sit her spot, she pushed her arms forward as if it was going to help her win the game and save Dave's butt. Literally. "She might be a dinosaur but I'm a dragon." Terezi smirked, "So therefor I'm far superior."

Dave: Be the Meal

[pendulumbeat]

"Damn right, most expensive rump roast on the menu," he drawled, smirking. "People are fighting over this one of a kind delicacy. There's a bidding war on it, up to billions of dollars. The auctioneer's sweating, even he can't speak fast enough to keep up."

He laughed when she leaned into sniff him, even as a blush crept up onto his cheeks. "Hmm, you gonna be my dragon-knight in shining scales?" he teased as he landed a shot right in the dinosaur's eye. "I'm fuckin' swooning."

Fisticuffs or Fighting Games [For Jake]

[johnnynocakes]

John squinted into the arcade, trying to decide where to go first. It was strange, coming to a place like that in what was probably supposed to be adulthood. He still felt like a kid in these kinds of places, no matter how sophisticated and upscale it managed to look.

Rolling change in his pocket, he glanced at the exchange kiosk, strained to gaze into the distant depths of the dance machines and pouted thoughtfully at the nearby zombie shooter. Games were always better with a friend.

Jake: Play a Martial Arts Game

[olli_lolli]

Jake and Jane had split up for a little while so that Jane could continue on with her DDR while Jake took on some of the other fighting games he'd heard about in the arcade. The dark-skinned man wandered around, looking for one that would catch his eye. In the back pocket of his khaki shorts rested a sufficient bundle of tickets from previous games, and tucked under his arm was the green squiddle Roxy had won for him at the claw machine not too long ago.

As he walked around the arcade, a sound similar to the exclamations used when fighting with martial arts reached Jake's ear. He turned to look and found a game that indeed dealt with martial arts. He'd learned the fighting style along the way when he and his Grandma used to travel growing up and found himself more than a little nostalgic. So he approached the game, noting the wide berth it was given.

It appeared to be a motion sensor game, where the player moved his/her character in the game by performing the movements in real life. Perfect! Jake smiled widely, excited to get back into fighting, even if just for a game. The man emptied his pockets onto the floor in front of him and stretched a bit before inserting the required tokens and going through the motions of being shown what moves were recognized by the game. Then, the game began.

He punched and kicked left and right, showing off his stellar moves and controlling the character with all the precision and accuracy he picked up when learning the fighting technique years ago. It truly was an amazing sight to see, muscles rippling with each controlled movement.