A new downtown Huntsville hangout above U.G. White Mercantile will be a haven for classic arcade game and pinball lovers in north Alabama.

Pints and Pixels will launch April 9 in the former Crossroads Music Hall facility on 115 Clinton Ave. The 7,500-square-foot space will also serve as a second home to Anaheim Chili, which operates a restaurant on Cecil Ashburn Drive in Huntsville.

The business will have more than 50 token-based vintage arcade games and pinball machines when it opens in the former Mason's Pub building across from the parking deck. It will also offer an assortment of craft brews, bottled beers, cocktails and wine for customers.

"It's kind of unbelievable; it's scary, too, because there's been a lot invested in this not just financially but all the hours of work and the emotion and everything that's gone into it," said co-owner Richard Moss. "We feel like this is something that's for us but it's also for the community, for downtown Huntsville, for all the people who want downtown Huntsville and have a vision for it to be a certain way."

What will it offer?

Moss, who collects and restores old arcade games, is running Pints and Pixels with business partners Sherry Wallace and Phil Wendling. Moss is also one of the founders of Huntsville-based DealNews, a popular comparison shopping website that serves millions of users around the world.

Anaheim Chili will offer everything from its Cecil Ashburn Drive menu, except for loose meat sandwiches. Wallace said a new Pints and Pixels specialty item -- the Bat Out of Hell meatloaf sandwich -- will be available for guests.

The games and pinball machines are from Moss' personal collection, which varies from Pac-Man and Joust to The Addams Family and Galaga. The computer engineering graduate said he began his collection with the Pints and Pixels concept in mind.

"You have to have a certain amount of games to get started, so I started collecting games in parallel with researching the business model and doing some market study here to see how well we think it would work here with the idea if we decided not to do the business, we could sell off the things that weren't that personally interesting and just keep a small collection for myself," he said.

More details

Pints and Pixels will have murals from local artists and televisions featuring music videos from the '70s, '80s and '90s. The non-smoking facility will accommodate smokers on its backdoor patio overlooking downtown Huntsville's growing skyline.

Wallace said a private console room offering old Nintendo and Atari games will be available for rent for $5 per hour. The facility will be closed Monday, open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Pints and Pixels is currently open to both kids and adults.

"But we do require those under 16 to be accompanied by an adult," Wallace said.

Moss believes the timing and location of Pints and Pixels will be great for business, especially with the nearby development of The Avenue, The Garage at Clinton Row and CityCentre at Big Spring.

"We wanted to be a part of what's going on in terms of the redevelopment," he said. "It's great. There seems to be a lot of demand (for us) based on the phone calls we're getting and the Facebook messages we're getting every single day."