CityCade Classic Arcade and Pinball Game Bar, Gastonia NC — Restaurant in Gastonia

I finally got a chance to check this place out. Most of the barcades are in Charlotte so it's nice to have one close to home. I went on a Thursday night which is "guys night" and was welcomed as soon as I walked in, both the owners and the guests were very friendly. For Thursdays, about all games were free (at least for dudes) except for pinball, which were .50 a game. Normally it's $5 a person for unlimited play and pinball is $1.00 a game (ouch to $1.00 pinball!). There were maybe 6 to 12 people rotating in and out while I was there, so not crowded at all. Parking was abundant. It's about a 5 minute walk from Freeman's. Bar can turn cash to quarters or can give you quarters from your bar tab for a 10% surcharge. Bar had food and drinks at fair prices. There are 2 gender neutral restrooms. There are a few TV's playing sports and comic book movies and YouTube videos. Place was open until midnight on a weeknight which was cool. There was one tv hooked up to a Nintendo 64 with a pretty large assortment of games. There were a couple party/board games sitting near a table. There was a fairly large area for outdoor seating as well. I think what made this visit special was how friendly the owners and guests were, felt like you were just visiting old friends instead of strangers.

EDIT: Citycade did a reconfiguration and brought in a racing game, a shooting game, a beer pong game and a couple of pay to win games disguised as games of skill. I believe at this point they've gotten rid of the $5 cover entirely and just made the machines take quarters, which I think was a good move. Pinball is still a buck which is a bummer since there are better options out there for $.50 a game, but it's close to home at least and the price point isn't uncommon. Pinball seems maintained and Citycade has occasionally swapped out for different pins, which is nice. Bathrooms are always clean which is a plus. Only complaint is that sometimes it can get a bit hot in...

I came and checked this place out on a karaoke night. It was very lively. Many people were participating in karaoke singing a wide variety of music styles. The arcade area has a pretty good selection of games that you play with quarters. I was able to win 2 giant dum dum suckers from the claw machine. The bartender was friendly and was serving drinks fairly quickly even though it was busy. He was very knowledgeable about the craft beer selection. There are some food options. I had the pretzel but it was a little smaller than I was expecting. The food took awhile to come out. Overall it was a good time and a fun...

CityCade Arcade hosted our Wedding After Party, where we had a blast doing karaoke and playing pinball and arcade games with all of our guests. They even let us rent out the space so it would be private for our special event. I cannot recommend CityCade and DJ Smirk enough, they made our wedding day extremely special and memorable for all of our guests. Thank you again to the owner, Byron, for helping us plan and making it all happen. It was everything we could...