What are non-video arcade games?

Non-video arcade games are exactly what they say they are, games that are not played on a video screen. This is not to say that these are just limited to pinball machines. As a general category, these will include all kinds of coin operated games that are not played on a video screen. The non-video category will generally be divided into three main types, single player skill, multiplayer competitive machines, and pinball.

The single player skill category will include some of the more familiar carnival games such as skeeball, Rapid Fire Basketball, and various shooting gallery games. This attraction of these challenges is based on the personal performance of the individual. The player’s ability to advance to more difficult levels or achieve a high score is not affected by a competitor, it is based on personal achievement. Your skill is measured by the same criteria every game, how high you get in the given amount of time or before you use up all your turns (for example, the fixed number of balls provided during skeeball). Also included in this category are Pachinko machines, although your success here is mostly based on luck.

The most common type of non-video arcade games are competitive multiplayer games. Arcade games that fall into this category will include (but are not limited to) foosball, air hockey, electronic darts, shuffleboard, and coin-operated pool tables. In addition to the ability for the individual player (or team) to get a high score, there is also the more immediate satisfaction of being able to beat your friends in head-to-head competition.

Pinball machines, naturally, also fall into the category of non-arcade games, but they also have the added distinction of being able to be both a single player skill game and a multiplayer competitive game.

Non-video games may not be as technologically advanced, but they are just as exciting and competitive.