Four Quarters - an arcade cocktail bar brand - launched its new bar here in Bristol last year. Located on Park Street, it was the company’s first outside London and in the year since it opened, it seems to be popular among locals with a 4.6 star rating on Google.
Specialising in sourcing and the restoration of original arcade games, it has two floors filled with original arcade games. Like the name of the bar suggests, the games require 'quarters' to play, which you can buy there - so no need to find your own. With four quarters costing £2 or a deal of £7 for 15, it really doesn’t cost too much get going. Intrigued to see what was there, I decided to head down to see what old gaming treasures it had.
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As you walk in, the first game you come across is an old classic that was well-loved at the time and many still play the phone version today. Tetris has been around since 1985 but the arcade version was developed three years later by Atari Games.
The next game that caught my eye was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball machine. I used to play this when I went to arcades on holiday and they are such good fun. With all the flashing lights and moving pieces, it was a game that held my attention for ages.
Another childhood favourite I saw was the Daytona USA car driving machine. Car driving games have been popular for years and are still some of the most used games to this day. While the old driving game is a popular one amongst arcade users, it has a slight difference to those we are used to seeing now - there is no seat.
Two-player games are also highly popular and one that seems to not have aged a day is the duo shooting games. Four Quarters has an old Time Crisis II machine that friends can play together. Complete with the classic red and blue, this will take many back to their childhood days.
The final game I found that will be a flashback for some was from an old games console. In a room off the main area, there was a Nintendo 64 set up with a game ready to play. Gamers in the 90s will remember the console that was first released in Japan in 1996.
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