Bars with Classic Arcades

[CartCollector]

I've heard of two: Barcade (http://www.barcadebrooklyn.com/) in New York City and Barcadia (http://dethroner.com/2007/08/28/barcadia-dallas-latest-arcade-watering-hole/) in Dallas. From what I can gather, they're bars with classic arcade games such as Frogger, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, etc. I haven't been to either, but I might go to the Dallas one sometime. Has anyone here been to one? What was it like?

[MrSparkle]

the dave in busters int eh palisades mall has SOME classic games among them a fairly well loaded mame cabinet, house of the dead one, an 8 player daytona usa setup!!! and the 20th anniversary mrs pacman/galaga machine. pretty large bar drinks are definitely on the stronger side when compared to most chain restaurants. food however can be best described as mediocre, id put it on the level of chilis.

[CartCollector]

Dave & Buster's is okay, I've been to one before, but there's not that much retro stuff anymore. At one time they had both a Taito combo unit and a Donkey Kong collection at mine, but then they removed them. The nice thing about the bars I mentioned is that they focus exclusively on arcade games from the 80s, especially pre-crash games. So it's very likely you'll find an arcade game you like, quite possibly one you've practiced at, instead of row upon row of shallow motion sensing games.

[retrogarden]

I stumbled upon Barcade when I was in New York, typical NY non-irish bar, but had quite a good vibe. It's good seeing it though :)

[Neil Koch]

the dave in busters int eh palisades mall has SOME classic games among them a fairly well loaded mame cabinet, house of the dead one, an 8 player daytona usa setup!!! and the 20th anniversary mrs pacman/galaga machine. pretty large bar drinks are definitely on the stronger side when compared to most chain restaurants. food however can be best described as mediocre, id put it on the level of chilis.

Dave & Buster's can suck a fart out of my ass. I went there once and won't bother to ever again.

Overpriced, bad service, weak drinks, very few actual video games (mostly those ripoff ticket redemption "skill games"), way too many screechy spoiled kids running around in it late at night (the local Gameworks at least bans people under 21 after 8PM), and the kicker was the food poisoning I got from the chicken wings I ate there.

[Eric Dude]

There's one in Seattle (the name of which escapes me right now) with only the really classic stuff, and some pinball machines. There's an even better one in Portland, OR called Ground Kontrol. They have good stuff like Punch-Out, Metal Slug, Bust-A-Move, Berzerk... a decent variety. They even sell used games, though the prices are usually high.

[RJ]

Hey Neil is that the Maple Grove MN location? I've been interested in going there but it's quite a drive IMO. I guess I wont have to bother, from your experience.

BTW- I thought D&B's banned (unchaperoned?) kids after a certain evening hour...

[DJ_DEEM]

there was a good one right outside of boston that just closed called good times, they also had go-karts batting cages and a whole bunch of cool stuff, real bummer

kind of off topic there is a bar in gainsville fl if i remember correctly called 1982's that has a nintendo, sega and supernes built into the bar with big screens behind the bar it's pretty awesome my band played there and the whole night i was trying to set high scores ahhaha

[MrSparkle]

BTW- I thought D&B's banned (unchaperoned?) kids after a certain evening hour...

Technically they're supposed to i see them start going around id'ing people at a certain time but i always see tons of unattended kids running amok after hours anyway. ill admit D&B DOES have aton of crappy skill games, but it also had a TON of non kill games, a decent mix i thought of late 80s (admittedly not that much) mid 90s and modern arcade games. maybe i just got lucky with the bartender they had on staff making my drinks but they definitely seemed on the strong side i figured that the plan was to get you good and plastered so you blow a ton of money on arcade games. D&B isn't perfect but its the closest bar/arcade in the area (not counting bars that have one or two broken mortal combat machines in a corner somewhere, or the ever popular deer hunting games).

[Neil Koch]

Hey Neil is that the Maple Grove MN location? I've been interested in going there but it's quite a drive IMO. I guess I wont have to bother, from your experience.

BTW- I thought D&B's banned (unchaperoned?) kids after a certain evening hour...

Yeah, it was the one in Maple Grove. It is definitely not worth making a special trip to. if you want a decent bar/arcade experience, the Gameworks in downtown Minneapolis is much better.

Most of the games there are the big gimmick ones (ie DDR, racing games, etc) that get a bit spendy, but they have a Ms Pac Man/Galaga 20th Anniversary cocktail that's set to five lives, so you can get quite a bit of play for your money on that. There's a couple of other classic games like Centipede scattered about.

Gameworks does kick out people under 21 (even if they have a parent with them) after 8PM. I would have thought D&B would do the same thing, but I was there around 11PM and there was still a ton of annoying kids running around. When I went to D&B, it was a few weeks after it opened, so they might have changed that policy, but my experience was so bad, I'm not going to bother trying again, especially (as you said) it's a trek to get out to Maple Grove.

[MrSparkle]

see the problem is that dave and busters lets kids stay if accompanied by a parent of course every time they go to kick a kid out whats the kid going to do, they're going to say oh i'm here with my parents theyre over at the bar somewhere or something. honestly i dont really care because 99% of the kids only wanna play the stupid skill games anyway.

[RJ]

I've been to the Mpls GameWorks -it was quite awhile ago & I recall not being too impressed- like you Neil at D&B! It likely has changed since then. I was at the Vegas one in '97 shortly after it opened IIRC.

I went back to Vegas last summer & had a great time at Gameworks. Even put my initials up on Xevious (top score, see my avatar pic) & Galaga.

[Steve W]

I think I might attempt to go to Barcadia in Dallas one of these days. I don't drink, though, and I don't like being around people who are. I wonder if they have a drink minimum or something.

Using Google Maps with their street level view, I laughed to find out that near Barcadia is a laundromat called Mr. Do Coin Laundry. I guess after the videogame crash, Mr. Do had to earn money somehow, and at least he's still getting quarters...

[Neil Koch]

I've been to the Mpls GameWorks -it was quite awhile ago & I recall not being too impressed- like you Neil at D&B! It likely has changed since then. I was at the Vegas one in '97 shortly after it opened IIRC.

I went back to Vegas last summer & had a great time at Gameworks. Even put my initials up on Xevious (top score, see my avatar pic) & Galaga.

I've been to the Vegas one also. They had a pretty decent selection of games, and it was surprisingly quiet in terms of the number of people there, so it was a nice change of pace from most of the places on the strip.

The Minneapolis one has improved a bit since they opened. The security has been upped so there's far fewer of the gangster-wannabes hanging out, and the drink prices have come down, especially since the smoking ban.

It's not the greatest place ever by any stretch, but it's a decent enough place to hang out for a bit while waiting for a movie at the theatre next door or a concert/sports event at Target Center. It also has a mellower vibe vs most of the bars in the area, which are either populated by the aformentioned wannabes, dumb hicks from outstate, snobby suburbabnites, or dumb drunk college kids.