Review: Barcade (Brooklyn, NY)

[daskrabs]

I went to Barcade for the first time on Sat. 10/9/10. Located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Barcade is surrounded by other fun bars in a generally decent neighborhood. Barcade has about 2 dozen or so games. These are basically all 80's games: Pacman, Galaga, Frogger, Joust, Punch-out, Marble Madness, 1943, etc. All games are 25 cents per credit. Some of the machines are beat up, meaning they have dim, off-color, or burned-in monitors, or joysticks and/or buttons that are semi or non-functional. For example, 1943's 2nd player stick was broken, so I wasted a quarter there. Frogger ate another quarter. Best games for me were Galaga (on a real arcade monitor, albeit a dim one, the stars in the backround are hypnotic) and Crystal Castles (had a brand new light-up trackball, very responsive, possibly Happ or Ultimarc). Major disappointment was the lack of 90's games: No Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, TMNT, Simpsons, HOTD, etc. Apparently, hipsters don't think anything made after 1989 is cool (yet). This is kind of baffling. If a place like this opened in Philly (where I live) with 90's games, the place would be packed to the gills every night. The beer list was outstanding, though. About 30 microbrews on tap, including Slyfox Pumpkin, which was delicious. Overall, I'd recommend going if you're into good beer and 80's arcade games. Wear a tight flannel shirt and grow a beard if you wanna look the part at Barcade.