Short answers, pulled from the story.
The arcade game industry changed the standard price from a nickel to a quarter in 1965 when Periscope became the first coin-operated game to charge a quarter per play. This shift established the quarter-play price point that would become the standard for over two decades.
The ban on pinball machines ended in New York City in 1976 and in Chicago in 1977. The New York City council overturned the ban in 1976 after a demonstration by Roger Sharpe, while the Chicago ban remained in place until 1977.
Sega released Missile in 1969, which may have been the first arcade game to use a joystick with a fire button. This control scheme established the standard for all future arcade games.
The golden age of arcade video games began in 1972 with the release of Pong and waned in 1983 due to an excess number of arcade games and the video game crash of 1983. The industry recovered by 1986 with the help of software conversion kits and popular beat 'em up games.
The number of arcades in Japan peaked at 26,000 in 1986 before dropping to about 4,000 in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 drastically hit the arcade industry, forcing many of the large long-standing arcades in Japan to close.
The Dominant Factor Test is used to determine when arcade games are games of chance and thus subject to gambling laws. This test evaluates whether the outcome depends on skill or luck, creating a grey area for many redemption games.