01
ARCADE BAR — OPEN LATE
44 Cabinets. All Free Play. No Queue For Change.
A bar with a properly restored arcade attached, not an arcade with a bar bolted on. Every cabinet is on free play from the moment you walk in. You pay for drinks and that is it.
OPENING HOURS
Monday
Closed
Tuesday — Thursday
4pm — midnight
Friday — Saturday
noon — 2am
Sunday
noon — 11pm
Free play the whole time we are open. No tokens, no change machine, no jar of quarters by the door.
02
THE FLOOR
The Floor
Original boards where we could get them, faithful reproductions where we could not, and we say which is which on the marquee. Six pinball tables, all levelled weekly by someone who cares far too much.
44
CABINETS, ALL FREE PLAY
The Seventies
1976 — 1979 · 6 MACHINES
Breakout
Sprint 2
Space Invaders
Asteroids
Galaxian
Lunar Lander
The Eighties
1980 — 1989 · 18 MACHINES
Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Defender
Robotron: 2084
Centipede
Millipede
Dig Dug
Galaga
Frogger
Q*bert
Joust
Tempest
Gauntlet
Rampage
Bubble Bobble
Out Run
The Nineties
1991 — 1999 · 14 MACHINES
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Mortal Kombat II
Killer Instinct
The King of Fighters ’98
Marvel vs. Capcom
X-Men: Children of the Atom
Metal Slug
NBA Jam
Daytona USA
Sega Rally Championship
Time Crisis
Puzzle Bobble
Windjammers
After That
2000 — 2006 · 6 MACHINES
Metal Slug 3
Capcom vs. SNK 2
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
Initial D Arcade Stage 4
Ketsui
SIX PINBALL TABLES
Medieval Madness
The Addams Family
Attack from Mars
Twilight Zone
Theatre of Magic
Monster Bash
03
THE BAR
On Tap
Eight taps, four of them local, two lagers that are actually good, and no cocktail menu. We would rather pour you a decent pint in ninety seconds than a negroni in six minutes.
Wine is red, white or orange. Soft drinks are proper ones. There is a coffee machine and somebody knows how to use it.
01
Hallmark Bitter
Local. Four miles up the road.
3.8%
02
Fifth Quarter Pale
Local. Brewed for us, badged for us.
4.4%
03
Backstreet Porter
Local. Cold nights, long games.
5.0%
04
Meadowgate Session IPA
Local. The one you can have three of.
4.0%
05
Keller Pils
Lager that is actually good. Unfiltered.
4.8%
06
Continental Helles
Lager that is actually good. Very cold.
4.6%
07
House Dry Cider
No apple sweets in it.
5.2%
08
The Guest Line
Rotates every Tuesday. Ask what is on.
Varies
04
TUESDAY AND THURSDAY
Tournaments
Tuesday is pinball, Thursday is fighting games, and the leaderboard resets on the first of every month. Winner gets their initials on the wall for a year and a bar tab.
TUESDAY · 7PM
Pinball Ladder
Three games, best two of three, on whichever tables come out of the hat at seven. Sign up at the bar from six. Free to enter, capped at thirty-two players.
THURSDAY · 7PM
Fighting Games
Double elimination on the cabinet, not on a console. Game rotates monthly between Super Turbo, KOF ’98 and Accent Core. Sticks are Japanese and they are looked after.
LEADERBOARD RULES
One. Scores only count if a member of staff sees the screen before it is cleared.
Two. Three initials, no more, and we reserve the right to refuse the funny ones.
Three. Everything resets at open on the first of the month. Nothing carries over.
Four. The month’s top score on each tournament machine goes on the wall for a year, plus a fifty pound tab.
Five. Ties are settled on the machine, that night, in one game. No sharing the wall.
05
PRIVATE HIRE
The Whole Floor
Whole floor hire for up to 120 people, Sunday to Wednesday, from 900 including a welcome round. All 44 cabinets and all six tables stay on free play, which is the entire point.
120
PEOPLE, STANDING
900
FROM, WELCOME ROUND IN
Sun
TO WEDNESDAY
Pizza for the room is quoted per head. Thursday and the weekend stay open to everybody — we are not shutting the floor on a Friday, sorry.
06
ONE OVEN, UNTIL 11PM
The Oven
One oven, six pizzas, until 11pm. The one with the fennel sausage is the correct order and the staff will tell you so.
NO STARTERS. NO PUDDINGS. NO CHIPS. THERE IS ONE OVEN AND IT IS BUSY.
01
Fennel Sausage
The correct order. The staff will tell you so before you finish asking.
02
Margherita
Fior di latte, basil, nothing clever. Twelve inches of restraint.
03
Nduja and Honey
Hot, then sweet, then hot again. Order a Keller Pils with it.
04
Mushroom and Taleggio
No tomato. Thyme, garlic, a lot of black pepper.
05
Pepperoni
Cupped, crisped at the edges, grease in the little bowls. Yes.
06
Marinara
No cheese at all. Tomato, oregano, garlic, oil. The purist option.
07
HOUSE RULES
House Rules
Over 21 after 8pm. No drinks on the cabinets, and we do mean it. Be decent to whoever is on the machine you want. That is the whole list, and it is not negotiable.
01
Over 21 after 8pm
Under-21s are welcome on the floor until 8pm, with an adult, every day we are open. After 8pm it is a bar and we will ask for ID. Bring the real one.
02
No drinks on the cabinets
And we do mean it. There is a shelf beside every machine and a rail along every wall. A spilled pint is a dead board and a dead board is a month of somebody’s evenings.
03
Be decent to whoever is on the machine
Coin up on the marquee, stand where they can see you, and wait. No backseat play, no leaning on the cabinet, no reaching over a stranger to hit a button.
04
Free play is not a free-for-all
If there is a queue at a cabinet, it is one game and hand over. Tournament nights, the tournament machines are for the tournament from 7pm.
08
FIND US
Walk In
No bookings for the main floor, ever. If we are full there is a queue and it moves. Come early on a Friday or come late on a Tuesday and have the place to yourself.
Quarter Inserted
Unit 4, The Old Print Works
112 Gasworks Lane
Manchester M4 6JR
WHEN WE ARE OPEN
Monday
Closed
Tuesday — Thursday
4pm — midnight
Friday — Saturday
noon — 2am
Sunday
noon — 11pm
Two minutes from the tram, five from the station, and there is a bike rack in the yard. Kitchen stops at 11pm sharp. Over 21 after 8pm, so bring ID.
Quarter Inserted