Arcade Super Awesome is the newest arcade to open in Columbus this summer, but it’s also already been around for the past five years. John Geiger launched the home-based project to host semi-monthly private parties for friends to come and enjoy retro video games together.

“Our free play parties have built up a pretty dedicated following of casual players, world record holders, and people just looking for something unique to do,” explained Geiger. “Everything has been word of mouth or promoted through our Facebook page and in the process we have made a lot of great friends, locally and nationally. We are rather proud of the fact that we have been operating under the radar with such great success and have become part of the national arcade scene.”

This summer, Geiger is ready to take Arcade Super Awesome to the next level (pun intended).

“I’ve been a fan of Yellow Brick Pizza for a long time now — and I especially like their dedication to their customers, employees, and the neighborhood,” he said. “When owners Faith and Bob approached us last year about collaborating on an arcade upstairs it was hard to resist. We had looked at a few other locations in Columbus, but Yellow Brick and Olde Towne East were the perfect cultural match for the arcade.”

The new location will allow Arcade Super Awesome to host regular hours open to the public for the first time, as well as continuing to host private parties. The collaboration with Yellow Brick allows for the addition of food and drink as well.

“Our shared vision is that this will be an arcade that happens to have a bar, not a bar that happens to have arcade games,” said Geiger.

Columbus is no stranger to the bar/arcade concept with 16-Bit having kicked off a wave of new additions in 2013, followed by the newly opened Old North Arcade, two coming-soon additions Level One and Blinky’s Revenge as well as smaller-yet-noteworthy arcade machine lineups at Gotcha Gatchapon and Ethyl & Tank.

“There is definitely a wave of arcade nostalgia right now that I think will fade a bit over the next few years,” stated Geiger. “However, there is also a true renaissance of the arcade as a place to play games, casually or competitively, and have a great social and cultural experience. Across the country, for every bar arcade there are one or two non-bar arcades opening. Arcades like The Place Retro Arcade in Cincinnati, and Superelectric Pinball Parlour in Cleveland are showing that there is more to the recent return of the arcade than alcohol sales.”

Geiger’s personal collection of games includes over 100 arcade machines and 20 pinball machines. Some of his favorite pinball machines in the lineup include Twilight Zone, Addams Family, White Water, and Tales of the Arabian Nights.

“We are also really excited to be one of the few locations in the country to have Killer Queen, which is a new 10 player arcade strategy game that has been gaining momentum through leagues in Chicago, New York, Portland and San Francisco,” added Geiger. “It is an independently developed five-on-five retro arcade game with lots of strategy and game play. We will be hosting league nights and hopefully sponsor teams in some of the national competitions.”

Arcade Super Awesome is open for pop-up free play parties at 892 Oak Street with plans for a grand opening sometime this summer.

For more information, visit www.arcadesuperawesome.com.