The Best Arcade Bars in the World

The best arcade bars in the world have figured out something most venues miss entirely: nostalgia is a cocktail ingredient. We have spent time in over forty cities tracking down the rooms that get this balance right — where the drinks are genuinely good and the machines are properly maintained, not dusty props pushed into a corner. These are the ones that made the final cut.

The Best Arcade Bars Worth Going Out of Your Way For

The arcade bar format has matured considerably since its early 2010s novelty phase. The best operators now treat the games as seriously as the bar programme — with regular maintenance contracts, competitive pricing, and a genuine curatorial eye for which machines earn floor space. What follows is our global shortlist.

Pixel & Pour

Shoreditch, London $$ Low-lit / Competitive

Fifty machines across two floors in a converted railway arch, and a cocktail menu that changes quarterly with names pulled from classic game titles. The Pac-Man Sour — yuzu, gin, egg white — has been their signature since opening. Go on a Tuesday when the after-work crowd thins out and you can actually get on the Street Fighter cabinet without a queue. No cover charge before 8pm.

Order: Pac-Man Sour — yuzu, gin, egg white, citrus foam

Insert Coin(s)

Downtown Las Vegas $$ Loud / High-energy

The original serious arcade bar and still the benchmark for the format. Located on Fremont Street away from the Strip's manufactured energy, Insert Coin(s) runs over eighty machines, four DJ nights per week, and a drinks menu that holds its own. The Wii bowling section in the back draws groups who stay for hours without touching a cocktail, which says everything about how well the space is designed.

Order: The 1-UP — raspberry vodka, lime, ginger beer, served in a classic cup

Meltdown Paris

Pigalle, Paris $$ Gamer-focused / Relaxed

Paris's most serious gaming bar, with twenty-plus consoles, a projector wall running competitive streams most evenings, and a craft beer selection that outperforms most dedicated beer bars in the city. The staff know their machines — ask them which cabinets are running original hardware versus emulation and they will tell you without hesitation. Open until 2am Thursday through Saturday.

Order: House IPA from Brasserie de la Goutte d'Or, or a Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc on draught

Arcade Bars That Take Their Drinks Programme Seriously

The strongest arcade bars are those where the cocktail programme would hold up on its own in any serious bar environment. The machines are a draw, not a crutch. These rooms attract a slightly older crowd who want both the nostalgia hit and a genuinely well-made drink.

Joystick Cantina

Wicker Park, Chicago $$ Neighbourhood / Comfortable

Sixty machines in a former warehouse space with exposed brick and a mezcal programme that sits alongside the retro hardware with surprising elegance. The bar manager previously worked at Randolph Row cocktail bars before joining, and it shows in the precision of the drinks. Free play on Tuesday nights draws a regular crowd who come as much for the neighbourhood atmosphere as the games.

Order: Oaxacan Old Fashioned — Del Maguey Vida, agave nectar, mole bitters

Konbini Arcade

Shibuya, Tokyo $$$ Immersive / Design-led

Tokyo already has serious arcades on every street, so Konbini had to find a different angle. They did it through a combination of imported Western machines — rare Midway and Williams cabinets that Japanese gamers rarely encounter — and a highball programme that puts most hotel bars to shame. The Suntory Toki highball here, made with house-carbonated water and served ice-cold in a branded tall glass, is worth the visit alone.

Order: Suntory Toki Highball — house-carbonated water, precise ice, branded tall glass

Level One Bar

Fitzroy, Melbourne $$ Casual / Eclectic

Melbourne's Fitzroy neighbourhood has a bar for everything, and Level One does the arcade-cocktail format better than anywhere else in the southern hemisphere. Forty working machines, a pinball row that is properly maintained and not just for show, and a natural wine list sitting alongside the classic arcade drinks. The crowd runs late-twenties and early-thirties — professionals who grew up with the original hardware and are happy to pay for well-made drinks alongside it.

Order: Anything from the rotating natural wine board, or the house aperitivo spritz

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North American Arcade Bars Worth the Trip

The US and Canada have the deepest arcade bar scene globally, partly because the machines are easier to source domestically and partly because the format resonates strongly with the thirty-to-forty demographic that has the most spending power for nights out. These rooms have earned their reputations over years, not months.

Ground Kontrol

Old Town, Portland $$ Vintage-focused / Authentic

Portland's most celebrated arcade bar has been running since 2007 and has never lost the thread of what makes the format work: real machines, real drinks, real people who care about both. Over one hundred arcade and pinball games on two floors, with a beer list heavy on Pacific Northwest craft. The vintage Tempest cabinet in the corner is the best-maintained example we have encountered anywhere in the world.

Order: Burnside Brewing IPA on draught, or the rotating seasonal cocktail special

EightyTwo DTLA

Downtown Los Angeles $$ Upscale / Designed

The most design-conscious arcade bar in Los Angeles, with a warm industrial interior that photographs well and also functions properly as a bar. Fifty machines spanning the golden age of arcade hardware, plus a cocktail programme with serious hospitality credentials. The entrance includes a credits card, which removes the constant coin-fumbling that breaks the flow in inferior venues.

Order: California Negroni — local gin, Campari, aged vermouth, orange peel expression

Arcadia Kensington

Kensington Market, Toronto $$ Community-driven / Warm

Toronto's best arcade bar occupies a former auto shop in Kensington Market, with the original concrete floors and steel beams left intact beneath the neon signage. Thirty-five machines, a changing food menu from a rotating kitchen residency, and a draft beer list that pulls heavily from Ontario craft breweries. The pinball tournament on the first Sunday of every month draws serious players from across the city.

Order: Collective Arts IPA on draught — Toronto-brewed, always fresh

Our Verdict on the Best Arcade Bars Worldwide

The best arcade bars share three qualities: machines that actually work, drinks that stand on their own merits, and a crowd that came to stay rather than tick a box. Pixel & Pour in London and Ground Kontrol in Portland represent the format at its most refined — both have been operating long enough to have worked out every operational kink, and both take the curation of their machine libraries as seriously as their bar programmes.

If you are visiting Tokyo, Konbini Arcade is the single most interesting room on this list — the juxtaposition of rare Western hardware in a Japanese bar context is genuinely unlike anything else we have encountered. For cities not covered here, the single best indicator of a quality arcade bar is machine maintenance: if the cabinets are dark or posting error messages, walk out.