NEWS & OPINION SECONDARY
PINBALL WIZARD Zach Pulliam opens Super Abari Game Bar despite obstacles
Pg. 6 MAY 18 - MAY 31, 2022 - QCNERVE.COM
BY RYAN PITKIN
Sitting in Super Abari Game Bar during a May 7 preview event of the new business, watching nearly 100 people move about the new space that he’s spent the last two years pouring his life into, owner Zach Pulliam still couldn’t claim victory just yet. Pulliam, who was forced to close his original Abari Game Bar location in 2020 due to COVID-19 and rising rent prices at the Optimist Park site, said he was relieved but still anxious about the opening of its successor, Super Abari Game Bar. “It’s great to finally see people in here,” he told me. “It’s great to finally have an actual night of service, but it’s still kind of the beginning in a lot of ways. We got a lot of stuff we still need to get done. So I’m still stressed, but a little bit more relieved now that things are kind of running and I can see where I need to fix certain things.” Pulliam faced a number of obstacles in opening Super Abari, located on Seigle Avenue between Belmont Avenue and Van Every Street in north Charlotte’s Belmont neighborhood. The rezoning process alone dragged on for seven months before he could even start on renovations and new construction. But on Monday, May 16, Pulliam and his team saw all their work come to fruition with the grand opening of Super Abari Game Bar. The name fits, as the new location features expanded versions of everything that made the original Abari location so popular. If you count the new patio, the 5,500 square feet of space at Super Abari nearly doubles the 2,800 square feet that was open to patrons at the last spot. That allows for a bigger arcade to fit the 60+ games and 35 pinball machines, a roomier console lounge, a larger bar, and a patio that’s a breath of fresh air for those who remember the glorified stairwell that served as the porch in Optimist Park.
community that Abari cultivates among Charlotte gamers. Michael Zytkow, founder of local gaming and civic engagement organization Potions & Pixels, could barely hide his excitement at the May 7 preview event. “I think it’s crucial for the gaming community and for people in general to have venues like this where they feel comfortable, where they know they can be themselves so they can have a good time,” Zytkow said, signaling to the people around him. “The thing that we all share in common in the gaming community — as you can see that we all get along very well — is that we recognize games have the power to bring people together like nothing else.” To that point, the preview event was hosted by Charlotte Gaymers Network (CGN), a local LGBTQ gamer organization. Co-founder Jonathan Barrio told me he helped launch the organization in 2020 partly because he was inspired by the inclusivity at Abari Game Bar. “Abari was one of the only places in Charlotte where LGBTQ gamers could go and feel welcome before the Charlotte Gaymers Network was created,” Barrio said. “So we have a lot of love and respect for Zach and what he built and being so inclusive to all different creeds of people, cultures, diversities, everything. That’s why we really wanted to throw our support behind him.” In May 2021, Barrio enlisted the help of his fellow CGN members to show up at the original Abari months after it had closed to help Pulliam wheel out the dozens of arcade games and cabinets that remained inside. More than 80 people showed up that day in a show of solidarity that inspired Pulliam to keep pushing to open Super Abari. “I wasn’t expecting that,” Pulliam recalled. “I was just expecting a few friends to come and help. An atmosphere of inclusivity It was insane.” More important than any new expansion is That day also inspired the May 7 preview event. the return of something more visceral: the sense of “Basically I made the promise, I was like, ‘Hey,
A SUPER ABARI PATRON FIGHTS IT OUT ON ONE OF THE BAR’S 60+ ARCADE GAMES. PHOTO BY JONATHAN GOLIAN
whenever we open the new spot, I am going to Abari, admitting that he sometimes regretted it. invite all of you out and you’re going to get to enjoy I asked if, now that he could see his efforts start it before everybody else because you helped me do to come to fruition, he finally felt like it was all this.’” worth it. “It feels good, but it’s one of those things where Roadblocks and pressure for Pulliam it’s still early. I think it’s nice to see all these people Things didn’t always come together so smoothly having fun, and it definitely makes me feel better, for Pulliam, however. Even after the lengthy but it was a huge investment for me, way more than rezoning process that continuously pushed back the first time,” he told me. “I’m happy I did it because his plans, he ran into months-long delays with I love doing this … but I think COVID did a lot to really kind of instill that fear in me because I get that architectural drawings and other obstacles. In social media posts over the past year, he this could happen [again].” For those who have been rooting him on from was candid about feeling pressured into reopening the sidelines and stepping in to help when they can,
