The games have begun—again—at Retro City Arcade in Evans.
After a month-long hiatus renovating its 5,000-square foot Shoppes at Camelot storefront, the entertainment center opened its doors with a ribbon-cutting and VIP event on Thursday, followed by a grand reopening on Friday.
The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce helped the business kick off its comeback with ribbon-cutting, where Commissioner Connie Melear said, “This is the coolest [ribbon-cutting] I’ve been to in a long time.”
Owners Kathleen and Robert Owens meant to take the whole space of what used to be Huntington Learning Center when they selected it for the arcade in April of 2023. They first opened it in September of that year, planning to eventually expand.
Before the remodel, the Owens had to fit some 50 arcade consoles and pinball machines within a 1,400 square foot space, turning 12 by 12 former testing rooms into game rooms. They started renovations, tearing down walls and moving equipment to the rest of the space, in August, closing on Sept. 1 of this year.
“It was tight,” said Kathleen. “The county only allowed us 40 people, so we would have a busy Friday, or Saturday or Sunday, and we’re like, ‘you can’t come in until three people leave.’ Because we couldn’t, we’d be shut down.”
Now there’s plenty of room for its 100 machines, including the giant Hercules pinball game, along with classics like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade.
There are even console machines with multiple games programmed for players to choose from, called multicade and ultracade.
“Multicade machines have 60 games,” Robert explained. “The ultracades have 15,000. Basically, the ultracades have everything back to the Atari 2600 up to now.”
Unlike traditional arcades, there are no tokens, tickets or redemption games. Rather, patrons pay by the hour, or can purchase an all-day pass.
Since Retro City’s initial opening, its most popular games with customers have been The Simpsons arcade game, originally released in 1991, and the “Stranger Things” pinball machine.
The arcade has enjoyed a wide variety of age groups joining in on the fun, from parents bringing three-year-olds who can barely reach the controls all the way up to those in their 70s and 80s, the Owens said.
Retro City Arcade is located at 4446 Washington Road, Ste. 7. For more information, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RetroCityArcadeEvans.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
