Photo Credits - My close buddy, Ralph from the Dk Lounge.
http://thedklounge.com/ - check it out.. new nerd culture website/blog.
YESTERcades
80 Broad St
Red Bank, NJ 07701
Phone: 732-383-7873
Video Walkthrough [ http://youtu.be/jFWRVTv7Nkw ]
A few weeks ago one of my close friends and I decided to head over to Yestercades for an afternoon of arcade gaming bliss. After just an hour and a half from us in Long Island NY and paying highway robbery in tolls ($13 for the Verrazano and $.50 for red bank exit?... wtf) we were in the closest retro arcade oasis in years.
Selection of Games: There was a good mix of late 70's through mid-90's games. They had the classics like Donkey Kong, Galaga, Space Invaders, Frogger, Arkanoid, and Tempest, but threw in some good less frequently seen games like Bosconian, Time Pilot, Gyruss, and Burger Time. All the cabinets were in great working order and refurbished if needed. There were a few games which were not in their original cabs. This was due to availability and also that the owner swaps certain sequels in and out.
However, Yestercades is not limited to just arcade games. They had an ample collection of nearly every major home console available to pick up and play. There was a group of teens playing the new CoD (black ops II) for a good portion of the time we spent there. If you're into pinball, there was about maybe 20 or 30 games, but we stuck mostly to video games for our trip.
Service: The employees were very friendly and helpful. There were not any situations where we needed anything besides buying something to drink. We did, however, get a chance to talk to the owner who was on the register near the end of the night. He was the type of person who was just very excited to talk about video games. He informed us that he takes game requests on Facebook and will try to feature them in the rotation. I got the feeling that this was more of his personal collection rather than just a business.
Atmosphere: Dimly lit, and full of energy. It reminded me of walking into my local arcade when I was a kid. I think we were probably the oldest people there without kids until like 5:30pm
. On weekends they are open until 2am, which is very nice because the younger crowd dissipates around dinner time. It was much more relaxing to play without kids smashing the buttons and screaming. I highly recommend going for a late afternoon / night session. Yestercades also offers tournaments from time to time and have a high score (single credit) table that is very available and conspicuous near the front counter (no pic, sorry).
Pricing: There is an hourly rate of $8.75. Times are rounded down and broken into 15 minute intervals. We were there for about 3.5 hours and spent $34 and change. Not too bad considering all games were free to play. I was able to credit-feed a few games to the end which is nice; I never had the money to do that as a kid.
Both of us had a great time and plan on making it back at least every other month. Maybe if I was younger I'd spend more time there, but like most of us I already have a gigantic backlog of unfinished games and not enough time to finish them.
Oh yeah... it's located 1 block from Kevin Smith's comic store.
Found that out going to get some burritos.
