No Beating This Beat-Em-Up
My cousin used to own a small café near an elementary school, so most of his revenue came from, essentially, children hanging out there before or after school while parents watched. At the time, game cabinets were still very much in vogue, and colleagues elsewhere in the city claimed that having one covered the operating costs twice over, so he installed one.
The installation did lead to a lot more money coming in, but the exact choice of game — a beat-em-up — coupled with rowdy children did lead to scuffles and rows between pupils, which [Cousin] and his baristas broke up. He did not, however, ever reconsider the idea to keep it.
Then, a couple of parents visited him one morning, demanding that he uninstall the cabinet because their twins had gotten bruises and ripped clothes in the attempt to have a turn, and in their opinion, having a game cabinet in a cafè just outside a school “wasn’t appropriate for children just coming to or leaving school” because “it wouldn’t separate study and play properly”.
[Cousin] shrugged and said he would consider it, and they left, satisfied.
He then installed a second cabinet and posted rules about how to take turns. While this did lead to fewer scuffles, the parents came back with a vengeance, this time claiming that one of the twins had lost three teeth while trying to get a spot and that the video games he chose were making the schoolchildren “too mean”.
[Cousin] answered to take it up with the school. The parents, in turn, tried to start a rumour mill about [Cousin] belonging to an organised crime family trying to recruit, but as [Cousin] was busier managing the place than participating in neighbourhood activities, it didn’t stick beyond a few awkward questions being asked by visiting parents.
They finally called the police, but as the only legally questionable thing was having a cabinet with an age-restricted game on it, [Cousin] got away with a small fine and an order to change the game, which he did without complaint. The parents visited him again, saw that nothing else had changed, and finally gave up.