Old North Arcade

An older, small business arcade bar that leans heavily on the video gaming vibe. With cocktails named after video games and a bar full of free games to play, it can become the star of your evening.Note: Virtually all of their cocktail menu is sugar-heavy. Not a lot of complex, bitter, or boozy flavors to be found in their cocktail menu. That's not necessarily a bad thing; just something to be aware of. Definitely order a classic cocktail if you're looking for something less sweet.PROS:-MOST of the games are free. This lets you try most of the games in here as long as you're getting some sort of drink from the bar.-Their cocktail prices are very reasonable too. As it seems every cocktail and brewery in Columbus is getting pretty pricey, you can still enjoy some great drinks here without spending a ton of cash. -Speaking of, they have a great list of mocktails too. They're all pretty sweet (like the cocktails), but they are adorably garnished, and they have just as much attention as their alcoholic counterparts. CONS:-I'm more-than-happy to play some of the paid-for games, but getting money to do that was pretty difficult. Both change machines were out of money, and we were told to go out to the laundrymat to get change. -The paid-for games can be pretty pricey too. In some cases, 75 cents or a dollar a play. Happy to pay for games, again, but if we wanted to play two player, we're looking at $1.50 or $2 for a single game. -I'm a bit spoiled by other arcade bars, but I really, really, REALLY need tables next to the arcade games. There's very few tables available to put my drinks on aside from the gigantic tables in the center of the bar. I really don't want to put my drink behind me, out of my line of sight, and I haaaaate putting my drink on top of the arcade game itself. I don't want to accidentally spill it. -Some of the games weren't working or were partially working - like a Playstation emulator who had a controller that the left button wasn't working on it. This can make some games unplayable.-In classic older bar fashion, some of the tables and surfaces were sticky. None of the controls to the games were sticky, though.

I stopped in today for my first time to play some games and try some of the new pizza they started selling a couple weeks ago.The games are awesome, as they have many of the old classics. For those of us who go way back to remembering spending tons of quarters on this games, this place is a blast.They even have a vault, withONE game in it....TRON. How perfectly fitting for an arcade. As for the pizza....wow is it good. I had the pepperoni Detroit style pizza. The sauce was spicy, the crust was soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. They even top off every pizza with extra sauce, pecorino romano and basil. This is truly some great pizza.

Old North Arcade, sometimes affectionately called "the barcade" is a wonderful, nostalgic hangout spot where you can sip from a variety of themed drinks while playing your favorite arcade or console games. The bar has a decent selection of drafts and and even better assortment of themed beverages from starter Pokemon to Mario characters, the teenage mutant ninja turtles, and even Loki from the MCU.Most of the games are free (air hockey and a few others cost a few dollars) and in warm weather there are outdoor tables for larger groups.

Old North Arcade was a really fun experience. We went for my friends 21st birthday and had a pretty good time. I really appreciated that they enforced the mask mandate. They have a menu of drinks that are named after different video games and movies. I found that the drinks were so sweet that I couldn't finish them, and they often made my stomach hurt. I did however really appreciate that they made my friend and our entire friend group a free cupcake shot for her 21st birthday which were delicious! The staff were nice and most of the games were free to play. The only issue was that there were times where people would not leave a specific game for extended periods of time and you had to ask them if they were going to finish up soon so others could play. Make sure that you bring $1 bills to this bar so you can play games but I would recommend it was fun! It would make a great cute date!

Very nice classic arcade with pinball with a great staff, drink selection and pizza as well.

Best bar in Columbus. Found out a bit post-haste that most of the games don't even require quarters to play (had been putting quarters in shamelessly). The drinks are strong (so, good) and all of them have fun themed names. Recommend the Yoshi's island. Drunk air hockey is totally underrated. Sweaty but underrated.

Pretty positive experience. Drinks were pretty good and the selection of games was nice! I especially liked that there was an air hockey table and skee ball. I was looking forward to the cocktails but they were a little bit uncreative to me? They were pretty and very cleverly named, but a bunch of them just seemed to be long islands in disguise. I will say i'm here for any beverage that features gushers though so that was a plus.

This is THE Barcade. Atmosphere is spot on, all the staff is extremely friendly, and the cocktails are delicious.

Loved it! Great atmosphere, fun drinks, attentive service and awesome classic game selections.

I never take the time to write reviews and Usually I really like this place and the atmosphere and games, but the most recent time I went, pretty much all of the best games were down (tron, galaga, ddr, etc..) and on top of it all, I was harassed by the bouncer as soon as I walked in. Didn't really make me feel very safe, so I don't know if I will return, which makes me sad because I've had good times here before! They need to make changes.