Arcade bars are a growing trend that combines nostalgia with socializing, offering a wide variety of games from different generations and serving drinks, as well as hosting events such as trivia nights or pinball tournaments.
These venues can generate revenue by selling branded merchandise such as T-shirts, posters, and collectibles – or they could collaborate with other businesses to increase revenue streams even further. This is exactly what you would find in great bars like adult arcade bar Arlington.
They Are a Great Place to Hang out With Friends
Arcade bars provide the ideal space to meet up with friends or unwind after a stressful week – providing not only an exciting atmosphere but also the chance to relive those nostalgic childhood games like Ms. Pac-Man and Space Dungeon while relaxing and having a good time playing games! Plus, you can indulge in delicious food and beverages while playing!
Arcade bars have gained in popularity recently due to a combination of nostalgia and modern innovation. Unlike Dave & Buster’s, arcade bars offer more adult-oriented experiences, including craft cocktails, beer, and classic arcade classics.
Most bars have minimum age requirements that prohibit children from playing there; however, some offer family-friendly hours and provide activities for both the kids and parents to do together, making them an excellent way for families to spend quality time together.
One of the main attractions of arcade bars is their ability to help people meet new people. By competing against others and winning prizes if you beat them, arcade bars offer great opportunities to meet like-minded individuals while creating lasting friendships and memories that will stay with us forever.
Many of these bars also provide delicious food and drinks to increase profits by keeping people for longer and ordering more beverages. Furthermore, those who enjoy their experience will likely return and recommend the bar to others.
Arcade bars are great places for socializing with friends, but sometimes they can be hard to locate. Some may require travel out of your comfort zone to reach them; luckily, there are websites dedicated to listing arcade bars with directions provided to each location.
Arcades in NYC may be hard to come by, but many are well worth the trek. Two Bit’s Retro Arcade on the Lower East Side offers an authentic arcade experience with 22 games and drink specials; dedicated gamers will appreciate its selection of rare titles.
They Are a Great Place to Meet New People
Many people enjoy visiting arcade bars because they offer the chance to meet new people while also relieving stress from a hard week’s work. Barcades tend to be busy on Friday and Saturday evenings because they offer great fun for an affordable price – the games here are far more realistic than at home, adding further appeal.
Reviving classic arcade games has led to an explosion in the popularity of classic arcade game bars. This revival has allowed some bars to recapture their former glory while attracting younger patrons, helping to keep these businesses open during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreaks.
Installing arcade machines is an affordable and simple way to make your bar more inviting for customers and adds another source of income, not to mention adding authenticity to the experience of being at your bar.
If you want to expand your business, hosting leagues or tournaments for specific games could be the key to drawing in more customers and creating additional revenue on slower days of the week. Railyard Billiards and Pub hosts an amazing Golden Tee tournament on Friday nights; that way, they bring customers through their door!
Some bars have started offering eSports events, which has attracted an entirely new crowd of gamers and enthusiasts. Such events may become the next big thing in gaming!
Not every barcade needs to rely on nostalgia alone for success; it needs to broaden its appeal and ensure longevity. One effective strategy for doing this is adding interactive and social games, such as Golden Tee. This type of eSports-inspired tournament enables users to compete for real prizes in a live tournament format – an engaging way of engaging the local community while increasing your business exposure.
They Are a Great Place to Get a Drink
Arcade bars have become increasingly popular as an innovative combination between arcades and bars, drawing in customers looking for both food and games. Arcade bars differentiate themselves by serving both food and drinks while featuring both old and new games – including specialty cocktails named after classic videogame characters, such as Pac-Man, made of vodka, lime juice, and grapefruit juice – as well as offering local craft beers from their tap list.
This relatively recent phenomenon is already making waves around the globe, such as Boston’s inaugural arcade bar, which opened last year as part of a collaboration between Cozy’s Grilled Cheese and Burgers food-truck concept and restaurant/cocktail bar Area Four – where patrons can indulge in decadent muenster-and-bacon sandwich treats in front while simultaneously playing “Game of Thrones” pinball and sipping drinks from pint-size R2-D2s!
It all began with a group of friends wanting to relive the nostalgia of their youths, so they transformed bars into arcades by adding pinball machines and other games, and then beer sales became part of the equation – this type of establishment offers much higher margin sales potential than other entertainment venues.
Barcade is one of New York City’s oldest arcade bars and serves classic video games from yesteryear along with American beers. Their iconic giant Pac-Man mascot can be seen here, and you can play iconic original titles such as Frogger or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for just a few coins per game!
Brooklyn Barcade is another excellent option, boasting 40 original arcade games, a full bar, shuffleboard, and an extensive menu featuring everything from grilled cheese sandwiches to deep-fried Twinkies. It offers an easygoing and fun environment, perfect for either dating or gatherings of friends.
They Are a Great Place to Go with Kids
Nostalgia is an undeniable lure of arcade bars. People of all ages love simple controls and pixelated graphics; pairing these games with cocktails and beer only heightens the experience! Barcades can also draw in newcomers who might otherwise never visit these spaces – for instance, a Wilmington arcade bar that features old-school pinball and video gaming is drawing people from all around.
Arcade bars offer a host of games to entertain children of all ages. Classic arcade games like skee ball or modern racing car simulators such as Driver can be found, along with tabletop favorites such as billiards, air hockey, and ping pong. There are even specific arcade titles, such as Hopstar (a virtual hopscotch activity) or Lane Master, where friends can compete against one another!
Dave and Buster’s is an arcade that welcomes children while offering an extensive beverage selection, featuring arcades, bars, restaurants, and an outstanding kid-friendly gaming selection – offering tokens to buy for their games as well as Sensory Sensitive Saturdays to assist children living with autism or developmental disabilities.
As the arcade industry began its decline, owners experimented with various means of increasing revenue. Some used their space as a venue for birthday parties (Chuck E Cheese); others opened Dave and Buster’s as a dining and socializing experience (Dave and Buster’s). Over time, some owners started to focus on maintaining arcade cabinets alongside cocktail menus and other attractions in order to bring customers through their doors.
Draftcade is an arcade bar located in Boston that opened last year as a collaboration between food-truck-turned-bricks-and-mortar Cozy’s Grilled Cheese and Burgers and restaurant/cocktail bar Area Four, boasting 75 vintage arcade games, Skee-ball, pint-sized R2-D2s filled with cocktails for drinks service, as well as an interactive board games room.