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.

Speaking of arcade games, the earliest version is called electro-mechanical games that are deeply known by many 80s. Actually, those 80s must remember those memories linked to the early amusement-park where there are filled with all kinds of arcade games. They must can still recall their feelings from those games like Pacman, Ms Pacman, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Space Invaders, Dig Dug, Centipede, Frogger, Defender & Joust. Engaging in those arcade games, people tend to temporarily forget everything outside the virtual world. At that time, the time is considered to stood still in the real world while it flies faster than thunder in the virtual world. Then, what in the end the arcade game is and what magic power it has?

What is the arcade game?

Arcade game, or you can call it coin-operated game, was sourced from 1930s where the first coin-operated pinball machine emerged. At that time, the early amusement machine is very simple, as well as different for those electronic ones today. Because of this, the earliest arcade games just have few kinds available in those early amusement-park where you can play ball-toss games, shooting galleries. The most interesting part will be the special coin-operated fortune machine that boost to tell out the future of a person and played mechanical music. Though the early arcade game is limited to a few kinds, it grew to a big household during the following decades. Also, in the late 1970s, the arcade game industry walked into a gold age, where there are thousands of arcade games available for people to create their own happy moments.

What kind of magic power does arcade game have?

Since its outbreak in those golden days, “arcade game” becomes a well-known term that is familiar to almost everyone. Today, you can see large variety of arcade games in the amusement center such as video games, merchandisers, redemption games, pinball machines, and many others. So, here comes the first reason for its great magic power. It refers to the its plentiful categories that can meet the demands of people of different ages, as well as satisfy different tastes. In this case, people will never get tired of soaring in all kinds of virtual worlds. Another important factor that has been supporting its lasting existence and prosperous is about the game itself. This is a very simple logic inference because the arcade game won’t manage to attract even a single more player if it is bored itself. Punching on the pad or pulling around the joysticks can always make players feel excited and keep them engaged in for hours.

The arcade game is always able to offer youths hours of fun by providing exciting shooting games, boxing games, fighting games, and racing games. Today in those arcade game center, you can both find out new arcade games and traditional arcade games that can help rediscover your ole memories.