Quarters Brewing Co. bar + arcade (aka a game bar) will open in downtown Melbourne

MELBOURNE — Quarters Brewing Co. — which bills itself as Florida’s first video arcade-microbrewery combo — will soon replace the shuttered Island Pasta in downtown Melbourne.

Inside the darkened former restaurant, old school cabinets "Street Fighter II: Champion Edition" and "The Simpsons" await players near the New Haven Avenue windows. "Galaga," "Dig Dug," "NBA Jam" and "Vindicators" are lined up near the old kitchen, which will be converted into a 3.5-barrel brewhouse.

Longtime best friends Brock Tucker and Tyler Griffiths grew up playing tons of video games before graduating from high school in 2005 in Vermont. Six years later, Tucker founded Brock’s Homebrew Supply in West Melbourne. Griffiths helps manage the beer-making business, which shares an Industrial Road building with Lost Shirt Brewing Co.

"We both love places like the Archives in Burlington (Vermont). There's a few different barcades in Orlando. There's a pinball lounge in Orlando that we visit all the time," Tucker said.

"It’s great playing those nostalgic games. We were looking at the idea of doing a barcade for about eight months now. And when we saw Island Pasta was gone, we knew that location — man, that would be so easy to turn that place into a brewery," Tucker said.

Thursday night, the Melbourne Planning & Zoning Board unanimously recommended a pair of alcohol-related permits for Quarters Brewing Co. The Melbourne City Council will cast decisive votes April 10 and 24.

Tucker hopes to start brewing his first batch of beer by May 1, then open the vintage video venture in early June.

Quarters Brewing Co. will also occupy Island Pasta's adjacent storefront that formerly housed Calilou and Florida Keys Piano Bar. Each storefront will contain 40 to 50 seats and accommodate up to 80 people, said Todd Corwin, city planner.

"Across the courtyard, we're going to be filling that (Calilou) space with games and rotating games between them. Primarily, that space will be a private event space so people can rent it for office parties, receptions, birthdays, whatever you can imagine," Tucker said.

In addition to beers brewed on-site, the venue will offer “a curated selection of ciders, wines, meads and sours.” The bar-arcade combo will offer snacks, and patrons can order food from nearby downtown eateries. Minors will be admitted until 6 p.m. with a parent or guardian.

Tucker hopes to install roughly 20 arcade games, set at 25 cents per play. Quarters Brewing Co. is targeting classic video machines from the early 1980s to the early '90s.

"Our plan is to be constantly purchasing and refurbishing games to have new stuff in there. We’re really rescuing them from people's garages and storage spaces right now," Tucker said.

"I've been driving all over the state with a trailer behind my truck, and just hauling these things out of apartments," he said.

Neale is South Brevard watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638

or rneale@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @RickNeale1

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