In a city full of arcade and video game lovers (and perhaps some folks stuck in a sort of infantile fixation), bar-goers may begin to wonder where to find the nearest bar and turn those games into prizes.
This year saw the departure of long-standing entertainment venue, The Alley, but luckily, there are other arcade bars where gamers can get their fix.
The founding principle when opening a new bar comes from a simple question: “What things would I like to see?” Game bars are no exception, and if anything, may be the most ambitious examples of the query.
Pinky and Clyde’s
1044 E Montague Ave. Park Circle
You’ve heard the name, even if you don’t know it.
Pinky and Clyde’s Arcade Bar was opened in Park Circle in September 2023 by four friends who wanted to create a space their 12-year-old selves would love — a place that honored the Golden Age of Arcade video games.
For these four friends, this wasn’t their first rodeo by a longshot.
Part-owner Art Perry explained, “It’s me and my wife (Erin Tyler, who’s owned and operated Tin Roof for 12 years), and Ryan Hendrick and Sarah Henderson, who are also engaged. They’re our best friends. Ryan is part-owner of the Brew Cellar in Park Circle. So we kind of know what we’re doing in the food-and-bev world.”
This arcade bar is full of authentic ’80s consoles. How could visitors be so sure? Well, most of the fixtures belonged to the owners as kids.
“I don’t know how it happened, but all of our parents either hung on to our stuff, or somehow, we kept so much awesome stuff from our childhoods,” Perry said.
The games aren’t the end of the 1980s wistfulness, though. The bar menu was designed by Kwei Fei’s former general manager, Aneel James, who created nostalgic cocktails to remain in alignment with the brand. One example is the Ecto Cooler served in a pouch which Perry said are like the old Hi-Cs — but with some booze in them.
Insider info: Pinky and Clyde are characters from Pac-Man. Clyde is the orange ghostly character while Pinky is — fittingly — the pink one.
High Score
8120 Windsor Hill Blvd., Suite 203. North Charleston
Tony Williams and Chris Shelley opened High Score Brewing in December 2023, but Williams has been brewing since about 2015. During the pandemic, he and Shelley began to consider what they might like to do professionally long-term. Williams works remotely for a tech company in California while Shelley’s background is in health care.
“He [Shelley] was feeling a lot of the COVID stresses during that period,” Williams said. “So we started thinking about it: We liked making beer, and we like video games. So it kind of seemed like a perfect blend of those two things that we liked.”
He said the stars aligned when they found the space off Ashley Phosphate Road in summer 2022. At that time, the space was just the foundation but the structure began to take shape in June 2023. Williams and Shelley took over the space shortly thereafter and began to convert it into a brewery.
The goal for the brew-cade was to be able to share nostalgic pieces of their childhood with friends and family, particularly the younger folks. Both partners have “a bunch of nephews” and saw this project as a way to connect their upbringing to them.
All of High Score’s games are free — a fact the partners are most proud of — and can be played by anyone. Besides consoles and beer, High Score has board games, pinball and a rotating group of food trucks.
The Break
778 Folly Road, Unit F. James Island
We’d be remiss not to mention one of the Charleston area’s longer-standing video game bars.
Matthew Gardener opened The Break on James Island in 2014, but his history with the space started some time before that.
Gardener, who owned an arcade-operating business called Boardwalk Games at the time, had a bar called Oasis on his route which would later become the location for The Break.
Seeing potential in the space, Gardener told the bar’s former owner to give him a call if he ever sold the place. It came out of the blue about a year later, and he jumped at the opportunity to put his professional background to use in creating a space he would enjoy.
“Basically, my idea for building the place was just to build a place that I would want to go to myself,” Gardener said. “If the place failed and nobody came here, at least I liked it.”
The Break has made itself known as a sports and game pub. The business shies away from live music or DJs preferring to retain a chill atmosphere. Instead, it does its own thing, allowing its clientele to engage in competitions like pinball.
“I figured that as long as I don’t have terrible taste, then it should work out. And it has for 10 years, so I can’t complain.” Gardener said.
Additional area bars and restaurants to get your game on
- Gene’s Haufbrau, West Ashley
Come for the extensive beer list, stay for the shuffleboard. - Ireland’s Own, West Ashley
Come for the 12+ Irish whiskeys, stay for the Pac-Man.ar - Garage 75, James Island
Come for the pickle fries, stay for the Mario Kart. - The Basement, Mount Pleasant
Come for the smoked wings, stay for the 14 arcade games. - Burns Alley Tavern, Downtown
Come for the slushies, stay for the skeeball. - Recovery Room Tavern, Downtown
Come for the PBR, stay for the pool table. - The Brick, Downtown
Come for the college football, stay for the corn hole. - Mac’s Place, Downtown
Come for the Guinness Beef Stew, stay for the pinball.
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