1-up Orlando — Restaurant in Orlando

Great atmosphere and decent collection of games, but there's a few catches that hurt the experience..

The first time I was here was in January of 2018, and it was a lot of fun. This was my first time back in 18 months, and I just don't see myself returning any time soon for a few reasons.

I go to a bar for fun and conversation, and I go to an arcade bar for the full experience of what it was like during those retro times. However, the music on this visit was WAY too damn loud. Felt like I was at a concert, except no live band playing. Extremely hard to hear conversation and the games may as well have been silent, taking away from the focus of the bar. Music needs to be at half the volume it was on to have this be an enjoyable place. I was there for 4 hours and my ears were still ringing the next day. The music should be additive to the experience to an arcade bar, not dominate it.

If you're going to have an arcade bar and want to maximize fun and profits, you must have enough places for people to set drinks to play games. I only ordered 2 drinks over 4 hours due to wanting to play games and few places to put my glasses. The 2-drink stands need to be at almost every machine, not one per 2-3 machines.

Resulting from players putting drinks on machines from my previous point, half a dozen machines had buttons sticking, including the right flipper of the pinball machine. Solve the lack of places to put drinks, please!

The bar was SLOW, which isn't good when there were only about a dozen people around the bar when I arrived around 8pm. I watched a bartender spend at least 5 minutes making one of those specialty drinks, and all I wanted was a beer. This, combined with a lack of places to put drinks, means I spent a lot less $ on alcohol.

The same set of games are still there, and I'd hope they're tracking gameplay to understand which ones are candidates to replace. Some games, like Galaga, always had a line. There's definitely space for a half a dozen more games, so removing the low-play games and adding more of genres that are played frequently would be a plus. With limited space, why have both Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man with such similar gameplay? There are so many great games that could fill that Pac-Man slot..

I want to love this place, but the volume of the music is by far the #1 issue and easiest to resolve. I see that as a frequent complaint in reviews, so I'm a bit surprised that hasn't...

Enter Joysticks Arcade Lounge and Retro Bar a concept and creation of Addie Hassel and Jeffrey Stelter. As you first enter through the front door you don’t know what to expect. As you arrive to the top of the stairs you see a brilliant sight of people laughing with Joysticks very own Sock Stars (in time era neon costume). There is a main stage for live music to the immediate right when walking in. As you look to the left you see something familiar, something from your childhood. The music is a cross between 80s / 90s and movie soundtracks. Stayin’ Alive by the Bees Gees from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack was playing as I walked in. The wall is lined with your most favorite childhood games.

There are a number of lounge areas, notably the Joysticks Light Saber Lounge and The Never Die VIP lounge. There is also a stage for live music which will feature local performers. The main bar features a donkey Kong type display for bottles available. Walking in along the wall there are a variety of games including my favorites: Space Invaders, Mortal Kombat, Mario Bros., Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong – all in vintage arcade fashion. However, I would say the main attraction and a personal favorite is the “Fire Storm Blacklight” air hockey table.

The crowd is not your typical downtown crowd very friendly, you can tell everyone is generally relaxed and having a really good time. Grease was playing on the TV with John Travolta smiling just adding even more to the positive vibe here. Even ran into a couple of friends from middle school I haven’t seen in years.

The very best thing about Joysticks Arcade besides the atmosphere is that all the games are in FREE PLAY MODE! There is so much more to say, but you have to see it for yourself. Personally, this is my new favorite...

I was excited to try this place out but it was honestly disappointing. The themed rooms are a big let down, interesting idea but they’re very small and not very private with very little going on in them. There is no coverage charge but you must be 21+ to enter, games are only free if you buy a drink. People were getting up on the stage and not following directions, it was annoying that the bar tenders had to keep yelling across the bar so maybe put like some kind of barrier or fence or something to make it more obvious then a tiny sign that says to stay off the stage so you don’t have to keep shouting. The man who made our drinks was nice, but not very helpful at all and had no opinions on the drink menu or suggestions. The drinks are overpriced for how small they are, either they’re overly sweet or lacking in flavor completely, and we’re very weak. I’d rather pay a cover charge for a decent sized drink that’s better quality, but that’s just me. I didn’t see anything really that special about these themed drinks compared to others to feel the desire to try them all out or to return for them again, they’re just average. Maybe it was just the bartender that was on that night and had made our drinks, but it wasn’t great.There are only two consoles, both are always being used and the people aren’t fair about sharing them so good luck trying to play, and I didn’t see any other consoles. The space was very small and lacking in the seating department. There aren’t very many arcade games either in my opinion... Air hockey is $1.00 so it’s not free... The atmosphere was alright. In my personal opinion, it’s ridiculous to charge $50 to take a photo on the Iron Throne...