By Kelly
Kung Fu Saloon opened on Dec. 29 as one of the only bars in downtown Austin where you can enjoy cheap drinks while playing vintage arcade and other video games, cheaply. Each game is a quarter and all games, except Golden Tee, are free during Freeplay Sundays, which includes Skee ball, Ms. Pacman, NBA Jam, Street Fighter II, Galaga, Mortal Kombat 3, Space Invaders, Centipede and more, with many featured in vintage table-top style.
This bar also features happy hours everyday from 4 to 9 p.m. and the shuffleboard and table games are always free.
“There isn’t a bar ‘just like’ ours, in the nation,” said founder Nick Adams. “There are bars that have the vintage games, but we have the Sake bomb menu, 24 beers on tap and the play on Kung Fu themes,” said Adams referring to the pixilated images on the wall of figures Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, etc. “We just thought it was a fun and very Austin-friendly concept.”
When it comes to collecting the current games, that was the job of Jourdan Andler, owner of Wahoo’s and Dirty Bill’s, who was given an arcade “wish list” and found them all. “He was a huge help,” said Adams, though the current game collection is not set in stone. “We’re waiting to see which games are popular and listening to input from our patrons,” said Adams. “I’m sure we may have a couple of additions/replacements.”