KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you’re the right age, you remember the thrill of loading your pockets with quarters and proving your skills at the arcade.
Now those classic games are finding new homes in Kansas City. It’s a trend that began on the coasts ten years ago and is finally picking up traction in the heartland.
Two throwback hot spots have opened in the Crossroads in the past two months: Tapcade at 1701 McGee, just up the street from The Brick, and Up-Down at 101 Southwest Boulevard, in the old Hamburger Mary’s location.
“Nothing goes back to your childhood like putting a quarter in the slot,” said Kelsey Christie while letting a friend take her turn at Gauntlet, a 1985 Atari game.
She carried her tokens in a fanny pack. Yes, a fanny pack with a logo for the latest of the two video lounges.
Up-Down opened two weeks ago, though the renovation was months in the making. The owner began with a location in Des Moines, IA. When he went looking for a second location, friends and friends of friends eventually led him to Kansas City.
“People are just genuinely excited to step in here and have a good time and be nostalgic about the ’80s and ’90s a little bit,” Up-Down General Manager Joey Akers said.
At Up-Down, even the price is nostalgic.
“One quarter per play,” Akers said.
If you opt for tokens, it’s 10 games for $1.
The mood is half modern bar, with natural wood accents and an outdoor patio, and half time machine, complete with video screens featuring shows and movies of the time. When KCTV5’s crew visited, classic WWF fights shared space with American Gladiators and the Spielberg classic “E.T.”
Up-Down’s opening came on the heels of another establishment called Tapcade. Beer on tap plus Arcade became Tapcade. But there’s more to it than that. It’s a full-service restaurant attached to a movie theater, Screenland Crossroads.
Tapcade is the brain child of Adam Roberts and Brent Miller. They opened the Screenland Armour in North Kansas City three years ago as a place for good flicks, craft beer, and a vine that can only come with “Street Fighter,” “Donkey Kong,” and both stand-up and table versions of “Ms. Pac Man.”
“We grew up in the ’90s so we’re ’90s kids,” Roberts said. “We play ’90s games. We watch ’90s movies. We play ’90s music. The whole concept of Screenland Armour was like a celebration of ’90s nostalgia, so part of that is the arcades.”
Things went well, and they wanted to expand. When they found a new home for the Screenland Crossroads, they decided to take the arcade to a different level.
Instead of 15 games in the theater lobby, which is the set-up on Armour Road, there are more than 40 games at Tapcade, which is a bar and restaurant adjoining but separate from the theater.
“This has done well enough for us to continue growing and expanding our ideas,” Roberts said, “but, I mean, we’re both just nerds and if we can get other people to nerd out with us, that’s awesome.”
Eric Mason was plenty nerded out to discover Tapcade. He had just hit the high score on Q*bert when KCTV5’s crew caught up with him.
“This reminds me of when I was a kid,” said Mason, who came there from Kansas City, KS. “When I was thinking about all the games they might have, I was going down the list and they totally have Q*bert, Pac Man, Mario Brothers, X-Men, Area 51, that Star Wars game. They had all the games I was expecting.”
The two Crossroads-area establishments have a generational theme in common, but there are two key differences.
At Up-Down, you pay by the game. At Tapcade, you pay $5 to have unlimited access all night long.
Up-Down is distinctly a bar. No one under the age of 21 is allowed. That’s a bonus for Christie.
“It’s nice not to have to be worried about a bunch of little kids running around,” said the Up-Down customer from Kansas City, MO.
Tapcade is a full-service restaurant, so it’s all ages, a useful feature if you want to share your nostalgia with the next generation.
“I think parents really like to show their kids the difference between an arcade and the PS4 you have at home,” Roberts said.
Both places offer the experience feeling like a kid again while enjoying a grown-up beverage.
