While modern video games often feature complex digital economies, classic arcade machines handled player-created economies through fundamentally different mechanisms due to their isolated hardware and pre-internet technology. Arcade cabinets primarily facilitated economic activity through token-based systems where players exchanged physical tokens or tickets for in-game advantages. Another common method was score-based trading, where high scores became currency that could be "traded" through intentional losing to another player. Some multiplayer arcade games enabled local trading systems where players could exchange weapons or power-ups during gameplay sessions. The most sophisticated arcade systems used memory cards to store player progress and assets that could be transferred between machines, creating a primitive form of asset trading. However, these economies were severely constrained by the arcade machine's isolated nature - no persistent internet connection meant all economic activity remained localized to specific machines or arcades. Unlike modern MMOs, arcade games lacked true player-driven markets with fluctuating prices because the systems were designed for short sessions rather than persistent worlds. The economies that did emerge were typically unofficial arrangements between players rather than developer-supported features. This created unique micro-economies where skilled players could "sell" their services by achieving high scores for others or trading valuable in-game items during cooperative play sessions.