Arcades got you out of the house, they had a communal aspect to them, you played games together. Those quarters were well spent!
I couldn't get a quarter out of my dad as a kid. Who's fault is the parents?
If I mowed 2 acres of lawn dad would give me a stack of quarters. It didn’t take me long to realize that a fraction of that mowing time spent playing Defender would consume those quarters. I still
loved playing it, but valuable perspective.