In the shadow of MetLife Stadium and the American Dream at the Meadowlands, in an unassuming industrial area, sits the U.S. headquarters of Betson Enterprises, a company that sells and services arcade games across the country.
According to sources, the arcade game market, which was almost wiped out in the 1990s due to the rise of home video games, is now booming.
“There’s a big resurgence in arcades,” Jonathan Betti, senior vice president of sales for Carlstadt-based Bettson Corp., said in a recent interview. Jonathan is one of the few members of the Betti family still involved in running the business.
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Betteson, a division of H. Bette Industries, is seeing big demand from businesses ranging from Dave & Buster’s and take-out games to bowling alleys, arcades along the Jersey Shore boardwalk, movie theaters and arcade bars, Bette said.
Serving over 6,000 customers worldwide, Betson provides all of your arcade gaming needs, from sales and financing to game room design, arcade parts and service.
Its products range from air hockey to motorcycle and car racing, shooting games, claw machines, skateball, dancing machines, boxing games, basketball and football games, and it sources its arcade games from 30 manufacturers around the world, according to its website.
Nearly a Century of Business
According to its website, Bettson began as H. Bettie Industries, founded in 1934 by restaurant and tavern owner Humbert Bettie Sr., who began operating jukeboxes at his Greenwich Village restaurants and other establishments.
Eventually, Humbert Bettie moved out of the restaurant business altogether and began selling jukeboxes and other entertainment devices throughout New York City and New Jersey, with over 7,000 devices on the streets.
Humbert retired in the 1950s, returned to his native Italy and handed the business over to his son, Bert.
Under new ownership, Bettie began supplying pool table parts.
“By the late 1950s, the family began distributing equipment, first carrying Fisher pool tables and then Midway, Chicago Coin and other games,” the website states.
The arcade business was renamed Betsson and distributed all kinds of entertainment games and other devices across the country for the next 60 years.
“Our business may have contracted, but when you’ve been in the business for 90 years, you learn to weather those kinds of situations,” Betti said in a recent interview.
Arcade games range in price from $11,000 to $50,000
Betti said classic arcade games such as Pac-Man, Galaga and Donkey Kong have their own secondary market, with individuals buying and selling them for home use and as collectors. Pinball machines, for example, are popular collector’s items.
The average arcade game costs around $11,000, but newer premium games, such as virtual reality games, can cost as much as $50,000.
“We need to do everything we can to keep our game rooms fresh,” Betti said. “The reason people love going to the movies is because there’s something different to see every time they go. Our most successful customers are the ones who keep their game rooms fresh.”
Another division of the company sells “home game room equipment” such as billiards, darts and other “things you’d find in a man cave,” Betti said.
What makes an arcade a success?
Many arcades have in-house technicians who service machines during and after peak periods such as weekends, while some facilities lease equipment and hire technician services through a third party.
Betti said Bettson offers services such as real-time screen-sharing technology so customers can call the hotline, share their screen and “we can explain how to fix it on the spot and get you the parts you need to fix it.”
Betti said there’s also something called the “Betson Technical University,” which offers multi-day training courses on caring for arcade games, including soldering, multimeters, crimping wire and troubleshooting.
“Successful arcades are subject to a lot of wear and tear, and it’s inevitable that games will go down and someone has to be there to fix them,” Betti said.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:Daniel Munoz and Facebook
