Barcade officially opened just a few hours ago on St. Marks, and by 5 p.m. the place was already bumping and bleeping. The new location is nothing short of brilliant — Barcade is directly (and irresistibly) in view of the stoners finishing their dogs at Papaya King, and will likely scoop up Kenka’s clientele as well. It caters to a rare breed of people who like to have “fun” while drinking.
We stopped in today and spoke to the owner, Pete Langway. The place struck us as a remarkably on-point reproduction of an old-school arcade, but Langway said that wasn’t intentional. “We’re not trying to recreate an arcade, we’re just trying to have a cool bar,” he said.
Though smaller than the other locations (there are five in all), Barcade St. Marks still has “plenty of games,” a manager assured (see the list below). Regardless, the beer selection is just as extensive at this location, with 24 taps to choose from. Langway explained there was fat chance he would’ve been able to get a new license to serve hard liquor in this neighborhood. “But we were happy to get the beer and wine license at all,” he said. “Which is fine, given our focus on craft beer.”
Starting next week, the kitchen will be fully operational and will be run by Langway’s Chelsea location chef. “It’ll be mostly sandwiches,” Langway said. “But the menu is similar to the Chelsea location.”
We perused the game selection and found tons of combat games (Tekken 3, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat II and III, X-Men), classic games (Marvel super heroes, Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Super Mario) and others including Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk. Here’s the full list, courtesy of the bar’s website.
Art of Fighting
Baseball Stars
BloodStorm
Centipede
Daioh
Die Hard
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
Fatal Fury: King of Fighters
Fatal Fury Special
Fighters History Dynamite
Galaxy fight: Universal Warriors
Gyruss
Jungle Hunt
Killer Instinct
King of Fighters ’95
Knights of Valour 2: Nine Dragons
Marvel Super Heroes
Metal Slug
Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker
Millipede
Mortal Kombat II
Ms. Pacman
Mutant Fighter
Out Run
Piranha
Pit-Fighter
Punch-Out!!
Puzzle Bobble
Rambo III
Rampage World Tour
Red Clash
Samurai Shodown II
Speed Buggy
Street Fighter
Street Fighter 3: New Generation
Strider 2
Super Mario Bros.
Tekken 3
Tetris
Toobin’
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Virtua Fighter
X-Men: Children of the Atom
Barcade, 6 St. Marks Pl., nr. Third Ave.; open every day from noon-2 am.