Retro video games and craft beer? Yes, please! This is what Barcade is all about. With locations in cities including New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, I ventured to the one closest to my home, New Haven, Connecticut.
As part of a birthday adventure, my wife and I spent an afternoon in New Haven, finding a lighthouse, playing video games, and eating clam pizza. Barcade was the reason for the trip. Since first hearing about it, this piqued my interest. Newer arcades don’t have the same appeal for me, but a couple of rounds of NBA Jam or Street Fighter II? Sign me up!
The Barcade Experience
Just like the arcades of yore, the games cost typically somewhere between a quarter and fifty cents a play, with the one exception being the Iron Maiden pinball which was 75 cents. Breaking a five-dollar bill into quarters was plenty (well until I put one more dollar in), unlike the arcades that my kids go to where leaving without dropping twenty dollars is a rarity.
After the coin exchange, my first stop was the bar. Excited to see a number of local brews, I chose the Fat Orange Cat, an excellent CT brewery. The beer was an IPA which I could take with me to each arcade game since there was a shelf at the perfect height next to the game.
He’s on Fire!
My shoes were turning red since the first game I played was NBA Jam. Selecting the Seattle Supersonics (Kemp and Payton anyone?) I lost a hard-fought quarter to the Celtics. Onward and upward, I tried my hand at Super Street Fighter II and also lost. Jackie and I threw it back with Rampage, which I enjoyed tremendously. She played Primal Rage and won the first round. We tried to save the Old West in Sunsetriders but failed miserably. She tried to make it across the street in Frogger and build a burger in Burger Time, another failure. We both tried our luck with the Iron Maiden pinball (since my favorite, the Addams Family machine was out of order). It was a quick play for me but Jackie was racking up more points than I could count.
I felt like, well, a kid at an arcade! Other titles that intrigued me included Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter, and even Mortal Kombat. After blowing six bucks and a beer, our day at Barcade was done. It was a fun diversion for a birthday celebration afternoon.
New Haven’s Barcade is located at 56 Orange Street in New Haven. There are garages nearby, we parked in a lot on Crown Street and walked a few blocks.
Fun! That looks like my kinda place! I love all of the old video games and especially pinball machines. Going to have to remember this the next time I go down to New Haven in search of gargoyles and grotesques at Yale!
Yes! It’s a fun place