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| - What a great official, 200th review for my Yelp profile. This is pretty much the best bar slash arcade I've ever visited within an hour's radius from my house. Where I live (Spartanburg) barely has anything except Gattiland, which is good from a family-friendly standpoint.
Unlike Abari, there is an age restriction -- you have to be 21 years old or over to enter. There is a good to this, however -- you don't need to worry about kids hogging machines, interfering with your high score run. ;)
Edit: apparently they changed the rule. Under 21 is allowed as long as they are accompanied by a guardian. This is more fair, in my humble opinion.
Charlotte's been growing with these "barcade" complexes. I think arcades started dying when PS2 hit stores, and most of the family oriented arcades have only ticket redemption games, and maybe a few racers/shooters here and there.
Incredible staff. They know about the games they have and their menu of food & drinks.
And... Great selection of classic machines and pinball tables. My favorite is probably Outrun 2 (being a fan of Sega's arcade racers). It's hard to do those drifts without a seat though.
I also played the 4-player X-Men game as Colossus -- what a throwback to 1992.
The pinball selection is fantastic as well (my favorite is Swords of Fury), although they're priced at 50 cents.
Edit: X-Men is currently gone. They do rotate games in and out, so what games I talk about are subject to change anytime.
As far as the food and drinks, I'm no alcoholic so I can't comment. However, I did get a bacon/cheese pretzel. It was a good little snack, but I don't come here for the sacrifice of food. :P
They are often rotating games in and out -- the owner tells me they're getting The House of the Dead (the original 1997 one) on the floor soon. It's not here right now as of 10/30/2017, but hope it comes soon. It's my #1 favorite game in the arcade.
If you ever travel to Charlotte, be sure to check Palmer St. Gamebar out. Free arcade games and .50 cent pinball. Just remember: 21 and over only. I would say Palmer Street and Abari are neck-and-neck on my list of go-to arcades.
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