The Grid Arcade Bar

The Grid Arcade

New Barcade Opens in West Pensacola

by Nicole Willis

There is a new business in town, and it combines two beloved activities—playing nostalgic arcade games and drinking tasty beer. The Grid Arcade Bar is a “barcade” that offers a variety of vintage and vintage-style arcade video games and also features a package store that sells a variety of beers and other beverages.

Daniel Demeter is the brain behind this creative new business venture. Demeter has been restoring and collecting old games for a number of years and recently decided to share the joy and nostalgia that these games provide with the Pensacola community.

“The primary focus is to bring people back to their younger age where they played arcade games,” Demeter explained. “Then they get to pass that along to their kids, friends, or whoever it is to experience what was early technology.” The barcade opened its doors this past month at 2414 North Pace Boulevard in Pensacola, which previously served as home to a company called Pensacola Automatic Amusement that restored old games and other types of machines. Demeter said that the primary reason for selecting this location for the barcade was because there were already many old games inside of the building that were left behind by the old owners

Demeter had been restoring vintage and antique games for a number of years and has since amassed quite a collection; so, he purchased the building, finished restoring the existing games in the building and brought in some games from his personal collection as well. It took Demeter about eight months to prepare the building and restore enough games to officially open for business.

Prior to opening The Grid, Demeter worked as an automotive technician for BMW and for his father’s vending

machine company, where he also repaired machines.

“I’m basically the 9-1-1 technician when stuff breaks,” Demeter remarked. “I’ve just always been mechanically inclined and had a strong interest in electronics, so I always wanted to repair stuff, take stuff apart and figure out how it works.” He decided to put the technical skills he gained to good use and eventually began restoring old and broken arcade games. Demeter strives to keep the vintage feel alive for each of the games featured in the bar, with each of the restored games running the original board sets and technology. Because of this dedication to preserving nostalgia, the restoration process can take quite some time.

“New games are easy—you can just go online or call the distributor and order parts. Old stuff is a completely different story. It takes dozens of hours of research sometimes on these older games to track down parts,” Demeter explained.

The oldest games at The Grid are from the early 1970s. Guests will also find a selection of new games that are vintageinspired to keep up with the bar’s nostalgic vibe. “I got two brand new pinball machines, Godzilla and Star Wars Mandalorian. The Godzilla Pinball is actually the original Godzilla. It’s got all the video and artwork and stuff from like the early Godzilla films,” Demeter said. “Anything that I get that is new is always going to be a throwback type of thing.” The theme and décor inside The Grid also reflects this “throwback” style. Demeter describes the bar’s vibe as “a mixture of Tron combined with a futuristic 80s vibe.” The gaming area features lines of brightly-lit LED lights that run across the ceiling, and the walls are adorned with a plethora of gaming-themed neon signs. Of course, the flashing lights, bright graphics and unique sounds of the many different arcade games also add to the ambience and throwback vibe. The interior space features minimal, clean design elements that give the space a futuristic touch.

Despite having the word “bar” in the name, The Grid is open to all ages until 9 pm. Demeter does, however, warn parents of the not so child-friendly game tokens that are used. The tokens are a reproduction of a World War I brothel token, which depicts an image of an unclothed woman on it that reads, “heads I win, tails you lose.” After 9 pm, only adults are allowed to enter the bar.

As for the drinks, The Grid operates like a package store, offering guests a selection of more than 50 craft beers, ranging from ales and sours to seltzers, malt liquors and more. Demeter is working to obtain a license to serve draft beverages. Guests can also enjoy tasty bites from different food trucks, which typically park at the bar one to three times a week.

The Grid Arcade Bar is open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 pm to 12 am, on Sundays from 12 pm to 8 pm and is closed on Mondays. For more details on The Grid Arcade Bar, visit thegridarcadepensacola.com or follow @TheGridArcadePensacola on Facebook.