I love exploring new areas, but I also love seeing someone new experience something for the first time. The boyfriend came to see me this weekend and even though he has been to the Twin Cities 4 times now, there is still so much he has yet to visit. Yesterday, we spent a full day in Uptown which is a beautiful area of Minneapolis. There’s Lake Calhoun to walk around, there’s plenty of smaller restaurants and plenty of stores to wander through. Our soul purpose of this visit was to check out this arcade bar titled Up Down.
Up Down is a video game hub, but also a great place to relax. Skeeball was immediately next to the entrance. Unfortunately, it was super popular so I wasn’t able to challenge my boyfriend for a round. There’s also two isles of arcade games plus pinball. Did I mention that Fix it Felix was there? Fix it Felix is actually pretty frustrating to play thanks to Ralph constantly dropping bricks on my head. I succeeded in playing Family Guy Pinball by somehow having three balls in play at once. I think I get my pinball skills from my dad. Finally, I have to talk about my all time favorite arcade game: Dig Dug.
Dig Dug reminds me of my childhood because I used to have a PC version a long time ago. I remember devoting one day to getting to level 100. I did succeed, but it took a couple hours. As I played Dig Dug at Up Down, I set a record! That’s right AAM scored around 14,000 points and was the highest score. Up Down has only been open for less than a month, but clearly I need to go back soon to maintain my Dig Dug skills and keep my high score.
Eventually the boyfriend and I made our way to the bar to order drinks. The boyfriend ordered a Pineapple cider whereas I ordered a Pale Ale. I kept stealing sips from the boyfriend’s cider because it was fantastic. After paying around 5 bucks for coins and 6 bucks for beer, it was time to call it a day. This bar was so amazingly geeky and I can’t wait to go back.
Bizarre Brunette 
I’ve been to the barcade in my city before, it’s really fun. The place gets insanely busy though late at night though, so I prefer happy hour timing.
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Yeah this place wasn’t as busy as I thought it was going to be. So thankfully I got to play a lot of the games!
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So, it’s kind of like Dave and Busters…only much cooler! Hahah I love it!
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Yeah it was definitely x100 million times cooler than Dave and Busters 😛 😛
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I’ve been in a bar, I’ve been in an arcade room… never mixed those two together though. But I guess it would make both the kid and the adult in me very happy ^^ This sounds like so much fun!!!
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It was pretty cool. I mean what’s nice about it is a gaming atmosphere for adults. I mean regardless of the alcohol, it’s a place for adults to hang out and enjoy retro video games. I loved it.
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WHAT?? I must find this place! I live up in Duluth and have never heard of it. I’ll be down in the cities for Ren Fest in September -might have to make a side stop. What else is down there I need to know about?? -educate me 🙂
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Haha yeah Up Down Arcade Bar is in Uptown like right in the center of everything. OMG I’ll be at the Ren Fest too this fall! 😛
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This is so cool!! I’ve always wanted to go to an arcade bar but there’s nothing close to me
Gaming + drinking sounds like the best combination.
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It really makes for a nice atmosphere. Plus Dig Dug is pretty much my favorite. Also Pinball comes to a close second.
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We have a bar like this near us and it’s so much fun!
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There needs to be a barcade in my townnnnn 😦 BOO! Looks like so much fun!
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I loved it! 😛 😛
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