The High Score Saloon

This past winter a new geeky destination opened up on the Main Street Walkway in Evansville, The High Score Saloon. A "barcade" serving up local craft beer, wine, and snacks. For the uninitiated a barcade is a bar that offers a large variety of classic stand up arcade machines, pinball, and even retro console games. As soon as I heard about it on social media I wanted to go, well a few days ago I finally did. After a delicious birthday dinner at Turoni's we headed there for some good old fashioned arcade action.

This particular arcade bar is located at the bottom of two sets of stairs on the Main Street Walkway. An unassuming chalk board easel marks the way in, and down those stairs is a gem of downtown. Two rooms with original exposed brick, a bar in the back corner in the first room which houses many classic arcade cabinets, and a few cocktail arcades set inside brick archways between the two rooms. At the bar is a Nintendo 64 set for four player Mario Cart and the classic game Duck Hunt for NES. The second room houses all of the pinball machines, several arcade cabinets, and a round table with barrel chairs has two monitors hooked up to Super Nintendo Classic and a Nintendo Classic.

The bar serves beer and wine, sodas are available for non drinkers. The rotating beer selection highlights local and regional craft beers as well as domestics. The Evansville based Carson's Brewery makes one just for them, The High Score Saloon Arcade Ale, and yes its good. Cheap, but classic arcade style snacks fill the menu, soft pretzels, popcorn, hot dogs and the like. The decor is the kind of geek chic I dig, light up arcade marquees line the upper walls, a Back to the Future inspired picture lines a back wall, and a full size portrait of Vigo from Ghostbusters 2 hangs near the back of the bar. I highly recommend visiting this local geek haven, and I look forward to the next time I can make it out.

Location:

323 Main Street Suite F

Image taken from the High Score Saloon Facebook Page