An Up-Down Experience at the Up-Down Arcade

Last weekend my buddy Jeff and I visited Oklahoma City’s Up-Down Arcade. Up-Down is a barcade (21 to enter) with a full bar, a kitchen that sells pizza by the slice, and sixty(ish) arcade games. Jeff and I were hanging out in arcades together years before either of us were old enough to drive, and nearly 40 years later we’re still doing the same thing.

There are seven Up-Down Arcade locations; the other six are in Des Moines, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Nashville. This was my second time to visit our local Up-Down, and Jeff’s first. Up-Down has different specials every day of the week. Some days they offer discounts on beer and on others they offer discounts on tokens. Saturdays (the day we went) are two-for-one token days, which means a fiver will get you 40 tokens — more rounds of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong than most people want to play in a single visit.

As a guy who collected arcade games for many years, I’m pretty sensitive to the condition of games in places like this. Of all the games we played, 95% were in perfect working order. A few of the games we played had minor issues. The Tetris machine has a dim monitor, one of the triggers on Spy Hunter doesn’t work, and some of the controls on the Ivan Stewart 4×4 Off Road machine don’t work. The last time I went to the Up-Down Arcade was two years ago with my buddy Robb Sherwin, and all those same things were broken. That being said, I don’t recall any non-working machines on the floor. Along with the arcade games, Up-Down has eight pinball machines and all of them were in perfect working order as well — no easy feat.

During our visit, we bought a round of draft beers and two slices of pizza. Two beers were $17 ($20 with tip), and ordering two slices of pizza was a complete fiasco. Up-Down offers six different types of pizza by the slice. We ordered a slice of pepperoni and a slice of meat lover’s and were told they were out of both. The employee suggested we try the macaroni and cheese pizza; when we ordered two slices of that, we were told he only had one. Out of six different types of advertised pizza, they had a total of two slices available. The employee apologized for not having more pizza available, explaining “I’ve only been here for an hour and a half.” I must have looked really confused because then he added, “I’m sorry, I’m really stoned.”

A few minutes later while sitting at the bar, we saw the same stoned employee walk behind the bar and refill his beer from the tap. Can you say “dream job”?

Jeff and I had a great time playing pinball and hopping from game to game, trying our hand at Moon Patrol, Q*Bert, and Mortal Kombat, among others. I still have 30-40 tokens left over and I’m sure we’ll be going back again.

Next time, we’ll eat before we go.