The 11 Best NYC Bars With Games
June 18, 2015, 3:06 p.m.
If you're an activity-oriented drinker, this city's got a fair number of game-centric bars. Here are the best ones.
If you're more activity-oriented when it comes to social gatherings, this city's got a fair amount of game-centric bars sprinkled throughout the five boroughs, with everything from mini-golf to shuffleboard, and enough retro arcade games to make even the curmudgeonly pinball wizard happy. Don't see your favorite pool hall on here? Tell us what we missed in the comments.
TWO-BIT'S RETRO ARCADE: You can find 32 different retro arcade games in this punk rock bar that seems lifted straight out of the 1980s. Pacman, Donkey Kong, and Frogger keep company with 13 pinball machines and a popular punching bag game called Boxer. The games are drawn from the owners' 60-plus collection, and are regularly rotated. There are also high score contests and a pinball league so you can definitively prove to your friends that you actually are the best at Street Fighter. The bar serves wine, beer, and sake along with snack food, including retro candy and pizza from the owner's favorite (and secret!) pizzeria.
Two-Bit's Retro Arcade is located at 153 Essex Street in the Lower East Side (212-477-8161, facebook.com/twobitsarcade).
(Courtesy Full Circle)
FULL CIRCLE BAR: Full Circle Bar specializes in "Brewskee Ball," a skee-ball and alcohol mash up that has become so popular the bar managed to launch the country's first skee-ball league. Play on one of the seven skee-ball lanes for a dollar a game, while indulging in the over 30 beer options. The bar also offers a twist on dreidel games like Spinagogue (who can spin the dreidel the longest) and Target Tops, a dreidel, skee-ball and cornhole hybrid.
Full Circle Bar is located at 318 Grand Street in Williamsburg (347-725-4588, fullcirclebar.com).
BREAK BAR AND BILLIARDS: A good pool hall can be surprisingly hard to find. It needs to have enough tables so the diehards aren't glaring over their beers at the beginners taking too long at the table, but there's also got to be enough non-pool activity that you're comfortable hanging out after a few games. With a large room full of pool tables, in addition to foosball, air hockey and ping pong, Break Bar and Billiards will make even your non-pool adept friends happy. The bar also serves a solid selection of pub food staples and reasonably priced beers that cost around $5.
Break Bar and Billiards is located at 32-04 Broadway in Astoria, Queens (718-777-5400, break-ny.com).
ROYAL PALMS SHUFFLEBOARD CLUB: Step inside this landlocked cruise ship of a bar for a round of shuffleboard. Casually play a game at one of the ten shuffleboard courts while sipping tiki cocktails, complete with the requisite tiny umbrellas. The bar's shuffleboard league is popular with battle-hardened teams returning to the lanes of victory, but they are always happy to include beginners. Royal Palms also hosts a rotating lineup of food trucks every day, with this month's visitors including Carl's Steaks, Neopolitan Pizza, Dub Pies, and Toum Truck.
Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club is located at 514 Union Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn (347-223-4410, royalpalmsshuffle.com).
BARCADE: What would this list look like without the Brooklyn arcade bar that arguably started it all? Owner Paul Kermizian and a few friends founded Barcade in 2004, after Kermizian's own arcade collection had outgrown his apartment. Now the bar is home to 40 classic video games, and that's not counting the offerings at the Chelsea and St. Mark's Place locations. Along with all the Pacman machines, the bar offers an extensive list of locally brewed brews with 25 beers on tap. Check out their website for special beer events with featured breweries and themed tastings.
Barcade is located at 388 Union Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at 148 West 24th Street in Chelsea, and 6 St Mark's Place in East Village (718-302-6464, barcade.com).
BUSHWICK COUNTRY CLUB: This dive bar is a country club gone rogue, with a jury-rigged six-hole mini golf course in the backyard. And what putput course would be complete without a motorized PBR windmill? Other amenities include boozy slushies, free cheese puffs and a plastic membership card for discounts and free drinks for the night if you bring a crowd (15+ people). To qualify for membership, just show up and ask.
Bushwick Country Club is located at 618 Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-388-2114, bushwickcountryclub.com).
ACE BAR: Ace Bar's got a little bit of everything—pinball machines, skee-ball, and pool for $1-a-game. You can also play a round of darts or show up to Sunday trivia night for free. All games have their own leagues, with skee-ball and Buckhunter as the most popular. While you're there, peruse the retro lunch box collection spanning 40 years of lunch box history. The collection holds several hundred lunch boxes, including a few from Quentin Tarantino. If you happen to be holding on to your own childhood lunch box, bring it in. They'll trade you a drink for it.
Ace Bar is located at 531 East 5th Street in the East Village (212-979-8476, acebar.com).
BUNGALOW 18: Hone your hand-eye coordination while under the influence for this sports bar's all-encompassing collection of games. Bungalow 18 currently offers the boozy 'n bro-ey standby, beer pong, along with darts and a shuffleboard league. The bar also hosts a themed Sunday Breakfast Bingo, with sex toys from Nitecap Megastore and photographed sports merch as prizes. Sadly, this deal only runs from February until mid May, but it should return next winter— it costs $2 a card and goes all day.
Bungalow 18 is located at 18 Nelson Avenue in Staten Island (718-605-0018, facebook.com/Bungalow18NY).
FLOYD
: Bocce ball is one of those games that even the least talented sportster can pretend to be good at, since the rules are easy to pick up, and there's only one move for you to worry about—rolling the ball. This Brooklyn Heights bar boasts a free bocce court, and if you're really determined to improve your game, join the league. While you're there, try their famous beer cheese appetizer and signature drink, a Makers 8 made with Kentucky specialty Ale-8-One ginger soda as a homage to the owner's home state.
Floyd is located at 131 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn (718-858-5810, floydny.com).
THE UNCOMMONS: Did your family hate playing you in Monopoly because you always bought up the best real estate? Have you actually managed to finish a game of Risk? If so, you'll probably find a home at this Greenwich Village play cafe, thanks to its collection of over 750 games. $5 per person gets you an all day pass, with popular games including Cards Against Humanity, Settlers of Catan, and Magic: The Gathering. The cafe serves self-described "college food" with pizza bites and pigs in a blanket on the menu. The drinks list includes coffee, wine, and over 20 craft beers. The Uncommons is open from 8:30 a.m. until midnight so you can make your friends suffer through round after round of Sorry.
The Uncommons is located at 230 Thompson Street in Greenwich Village (646-543-9215, uncommonsnyc.com).
(Tien Mao/Gothamist)
THE GUTTER: This well-loved bowling establishment boasts eight vintage lanes adjacent to their well-stocked bar, so you can booze heavily while waiting for your spot. If you're tired of rolling a gentleman's 0, you can try your luck with the bar's pool table and a pinball machine. And to top it all off, The Gutter often doubles as a music venue, with live shows every Thursday through Saturday.
The Gutter is located at 200 North 14th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-387-3585, thegutterbrooklyn.com).