Inaugural Wilcox Arcade Black Friday

This marks the first year Wilcox Arcade will participate in Black Friday — so yeah, I’m going big with it.

Let’s start with the first deal at Know-a-Guy, in Murray, Kentucky: Switch ’N’ Shoot, which usually grants the player two credits per quarter, just got a bit of a boost. Now, one quarter will net you four whole plays (not counting potential consolation credits).

Because it’s simply not possible to charge less than 25 cents per credit via traditional quarter mechs, I figured offering twice the gameplay would functionally provide the discount for which I was aiming on Switch ’N’ Shoot. What I also enjoy about this promotion, from the perspective of the end user, is that it facilitates twice as much practice time for those desiring a high score. (After all, 300 points has always been the threshold for earning a Wilcox Arcade trucker hat.)

When it comes to Epic Gamers in Fulton, Kentucky, on the other hand, I was able to slash the price of my premier product clean in half. Gumballs, which typically cost 50 cents each, are now a measly 25 for Black Friday. I’ve been colorfully referring to this phenomenon as “double the Dubble Bubble.” Am I wrong?

What’s more, the typical discounts associated with receiving certain colored gumballs are still in effect at the checkout counter of Epic Gamers itself. A purple gumball will get you 15 percent off your sale total; blue will bring you 10 percent off; and while will be 5 percent. With incentives like that, I don’t see why you wouldn’t purchase a gumball every time you visit the store. Worst-case scenario, you’ll walk away with a little treat — and, on top of that, you’ll directly support my coin-op endeavors throughout western Kentucky.

Both these deals apply now through the entirety of Thanksgiving week, so you’ll have seven days to take advantage of them. This is, on my side, a logistical necessity — so I’m not running around changing prices in two different towns during a holiday weekend — that, incidentally, will prove beneficial for you.

Even if Black Friday has lost just a touch of its cultural significance, it’s been important to me since I restarted the Wilcox Arcade route last year that I would eventually throw my hand into the proverbial ring. I want my route to feel vibrant, alive, and reactive…even when I can’t afford to add new machines.

Really, I just want the world to be less expensive for everyone, my customers included. It’s incredibly difficult to move the needle as a human being these days — take it from my wife and me as we struggle to save for a house — but I certainly don’t have to make things worse by jacking up the prices on something as nonessential as arcade games. That’s why I keep my prices so low, even if a more astute businessman might see that as a grave miscalculation of market equilibrium.

Long story short, I hope these two Black Friday deals will do the trick this year. Next year, I’d like to expand my offerings, of course, but this seemed like the most feasible way to go about it while my route is still this small. (That Switch ’N’ Shoot deal is pretty dang generous, though.)

Make sure to swing by Know-a-Guy in Murray and Epic Gamers in Fulton all this week for the best danged arcade deals you’ll see this month. Certainly, I’m proud to facilitate them.

Oh…and follow Wilcox Arcade on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to know when anything else of interest might be a-brewin’.