As we all know, arcades are one of the most popular places of entertainment for children and teenagers. But, in the past thirty years, the arcade has almost disappeared, as the development of time, people can easily bring games into their homes. Although video games used to be used only in the large arcade-style systems, the advent of home game systems have actually made games more portable than the past, especially when they can be used on television. SEGA Genesis, Nintendo and Atari, and other systems push children further and further away from the once the most popular arcade machines and back to their own houses for entertainment.
These days, however, the arcades return to more adult venues-bars.
What is the Arcade Bar?
The arcade bars are what they sound like: places of entertainment, part of arcade and part of bar. Generally speaking, these places provide mixed drinks, wine, beer, bar snacks and food (sometimes even with full menus), as well as a range of video games and other entertainment programs. Sometimes these games types are limited to the arcade-style games such as Tekken or Pac-Man, but they usually have a range of consoles, such as Super Nintendo, Nintendo, the original PlayStation, Atari, and so on.
Why are they popular?
It is simple. The average age of bar gamers is 35, according to the data. Arcade bars are popular among adults because nostalgia is so strong that adult players want to have entertainment choices outside their home systems. Nowadays, people in their 20 and 30 years old always miss the 1980s and 1990s. They want to play old arcade video games again and play games in a social environment.
Where Can We Find These Arcade Bars?
The answer is very simple. Actually, they are everywhere. Here are some famous arcade bars in big cities.
Cobra arcade bar
It was located in Phoenix, Arizona. Cobra Arcade Bar has different choices of drinks, including fine wines, and craft beers, or cocktails. The owner has one of the best options of vintage arcade games available in any places, with titles like Frogger and Galaga as headliners.
Barcade
It was located in New York, America. The name Barcade, won’t disappoint people. It’s actually a half-arcade and half-bar, a chain of a few venues across New York, one of which is in Philadelphia. Beverage options include craft beer, and game choices include popular games such as “Tapper” and ” Donkey Kong “. Barcade also has a patio area to let people relax between games.
Shorty’s
It was located in Seattle, Washington.
The historic building was almost razed to the ground by bulldozers, but fortunately, at the last minute, it was preserved and transformed into an arcade bar for players to entertain. There are delicious hot dogs, beer and cocktails in the bar. On Friday, it has special happy hour which includes $6 mixed drinks, and the game includes different versions of pinball and other classic games, such as taxis.
If you are not live in one of these big cities but you really want to relive your arcade experience. Don’t worry. Do a simple Google search for “arcade bar in (insert your city)”, there may be a location closer to you.