Get Your Quarters, Shelter Arcade Bar is Open

Ah, the chaotic symphony of bleeps, bloops and wak wak waks. The chorus of hadokens, finish hims and frustrated gamers plunking down more quarters after being bested, yet again, by their favorite machine. The golden days of video arcades are long behind us, game overed to memory, but for those who think they do their best gaming standing up, consider Shelter Arcade Bar your extra life.

For gamers who are only just coming of drinking age and may not have had the opportunity to spend much time in the arcades of yore, owner Mike Maven recommends starting with Revolution X, which is the Aerosmith-themed remake of the Terminator 2 game, complete with a machine gun that shoots CDs at oppressive, anti-music forces (it really doesn’t get much more early 90s than that). Other old school favorites include Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man and The Addams Family pinball machine, and if you’re looking to get a your team-up fix, Mike’s pretty proud of the four-player X-Men cabinet. And before you ask, yes, he has Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The games are the draw, but they aren’t going to keep the lights on, especially since Mike is committed to keeping the arcade and pinball games at just one quarter and two respectively. “We’ll keep it cheap,” he says. “I want it to be a hangout place.” To pay the bills, Shelter will have craft beers on tap and in bottles, as well as game inspired cocktails (ex: the Donkey Kong cocktail is barrel aged whiskey, peach bitters and Italian vermouth) and personal pizzas, a menu which he’s geekily dubbed Potions and Power Ups.

Arcade bars have been popping up all over the place and it’s hard not to get excited about Providence having one to call its own. There’s just something about the playing a game in an arcade – the sounds, the stress when someone puts their quarter on the machine to call next game, joysticks and buttons slick with pizza grease – that you just can’t get from playing your PS4 at home.

Shelter Arcade Bar
111 Dike Street
Soft opening June 10 and 11