Player 2 Arcade Bar - Green Bay — Restaurant in Green Bay

Went to Player 2 in downtown Green Bay tonight for my friend birthday party. This location has a jukebox machine on the wall where you can insert money or link your app to play music. I put in $20 for 50 Credits (roughly 25 songs) I didn’t realize I would get so many credits in the moment but I went with it. My friend and I started queuing up music that our friend would enjoy for their birthday celebration. We had about 8 out of 25 song queued up and only 1.5 had played before the machine displayed a “Paused” screen and stopped playing our music I had paid for. We waited a minute to see if the machine was having technical issues, then brought the issue to the attention of the bouncer who told me that the bartenders paused the music to listen to their own stuff. Fine, if they don’t want to listen to my music I’d like my money back. I asked a bartender about it and they told me they are required to skip certain kinds of songs or music giving metal as an example. The songs that had played were “Crave” by Paramore and about half of “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan, both very far from “metal music” They explained to me that they had to pause the music and they could manually play whatever I had queued up, I would just have to tell them what to play. I explained to them how that was the best plan because I had at least 20+ more songs I had already paid for and it wouldn’t be easy for me to tell them what song to play next that many times, so I asked for my money back. They explained that they couldn’t do that and then eventually just unpaused the machine after I wouldn’t stop complaining. In the time I had been talking to them, someone else had queued up a Pierce The Veil song that would be considered “metal” About 20 seconds into that song they paused it again and received a little “Boooooo” from the crowd at the bar. They then put up an “Out of Order” sign (pictured below) and told me that they’re leaving it paused the rest of the night and still refused to give me a refund. The sign mentions “overuse” but only 2.5 songs played before they paused it. If it would’ve been less than $5 I would just cut my losses, but $20, cmon. I can only describe the people that I interacted with as such- A middle aged woman with reddish hair in a green shirt, and a young African American woman with long braids and a Denver Broncos jersey. These were the bartenders I had less than favorable interactions with. And the bouncer, a tall blonde man with facial hair. He explained this isn’t the first time an incident like this has happened and he was very understanding with me in my situation. No fault to be placed on the bouncer, he even offered me a shot as...

I know where I'll be spending a lot of my time when I get down to Green Bay :)

In all honesty, I didn't eat here because I arrived late and had already had dinner. I hear the food is good but I hadn't come to eat, it was all about the games for me. I grabbed a Mountain Dew and a cup of tokens and hit the machines.

They have a really nice selection of pinball and video games. A lot of places claim to have a old video games but when you go there, they only have stuff from the 90s but these folks go all the way back to Space Invaders. I spent about 3 hours playing Frogger, Tron, and Dig Dug along with a variety of other great games.

My only disappointment was that the sound on Tron wasn't working and I had been humming the music from the game all day once I knew they had one and I was really looking forward to hearing it. That may sound weird but if you're an old school gamer, you'll probably understand. But in the big scheme of things, that was a non-factor. This place is awesome.

The only real thing that I will say to watch out for is something that has nothing directly to do with Player 2 and I'm willing to bet that they hate it too, but you need to know if you visit. The first night I went there, I arrived about 10:30 and hadn't planned on staying for 3 hours. When I was done and went outside, I found I had a $40 parking ticket. It was my fault. The sign said that the parking was only good until midnight and I left my car there so the ticket was legit. I just can't help but wonder how the city thinks they are encouraging people to come downtown and enjoy local businesses when they ticket people parked in front of those businesses after midnight on a Friday. Like I said, I can't imagine this is good for business so I'm guessing they hate this as well.

That being said, don't let that keep you away. Just be careful where you park and get down there, get some tokens and a soda and have a blast.

For informational purposes, these folks have two locations. The one in Green Bay and one in Appleton and if you want to know what games they have, they are listed on their website.

My pics don't really do the place justice but you can get a little idea of the amount of games the...

I stayed in GB for two weeks for work and came here almost every night. Staff is amazing, food was fantastic, and the atmosphere was perfect. They have a huge selection of old school arcade games but I came here for the pinball! 2:1 coins on Wednesday kept me there later than I should’ve been most nights! On my last night there Zack and (I think?) Alex expertly fixed machines and were super friendly the whole time, despite one of the instances being my own doing (got a ball stuck!) Kristina did a great job working the bar that night and drinks were great, even when I asked for cocktails that weren’t on the menu she did not hesitate! She was also a great conversationalist and didn’t seem bothered at all at my chattiness. At the end of the night I intended to walk back to my hotel which was only a few blocks away, as I had several nights before over the two weeks. However, this night there was a man acting weird on my path and I felt uncomfortable. The staff had been so friendly over the last 2 weeks I felt safer just going back and waiting a bit longer despite having to travel the next morning. I turned and walked back to the bar and asked if I could stick around for a few minutes in hopes he would leave the area. They said I absolutely could but also offered to have someone walk back with me. I didn’t want to be a bother but they insisted and Justin walked me back to my hotel and made sure I got there safely. Very protective when we approached the area where the questionable character was and otherwise a perfect gentleman the whole way.

I come to Green Bay probably once a year or so but I will always remember the kindness the staff showed me. Anytime I am in the area I will happily patronize this bar and will recommend it to all my friends, family, and colleagues when they are in the area!

Thank you! (A whiskey cocktail on the menu would be...