I know I’m running way behind, as this event is about a month ago by now. Nevertheless, there is some arcade gaming to share as part of this event, as well as the “party animal” side of me that most people will not even know existed.

Ordinary bar crawls are exciting enough. A bar crawl where everyone is rocking their favorite onesie/kigurumi is that much more exciting, at least to me. I’ve wanted to go to such an event many years, and finally, on Saturday, 2023 January 14, the day finally came.

Check-in was at the Front Porch Pub. Now, I didn’t research everything as well as I should have beforehand, and so I actually wound up a few blocks past the bar and had to walk back. I didn’t really notice if I got a higher-than-usual number of strange looks; how often does one see a guy in a raccoon onesie walking down (West) Gray Street? The little foot traffic I shared the sidewalk with apparently paid me no mind.

So I arrived at Front Porch Pub, checked in, and cashed in my ticket for my choice of either of two different types of shots (mine was a grape-flavored one which I forgot the exact name of). I then quickly settled in with a small group for a short while before we were due to head off on our own adventure. (I had assumed that the “choose your own adventure” type of evening that was explained on the website and, I think, an email as well, was the order of the day. This was actually not the case as I found out later.)

After a brief stop at an ATM inside a CVS drugstore (hey, even raccoons have to stop to get cash), I decided to go ahead and check out a small barcade called FAO I had seen mentioned as part of the event itinerary. It’s still early but I notice the entire time I hang out at FAO, none of the rest of the crowd are there. Zip. Nada. Zero. It’s me in a raccoon onesie and the rest of the bar’s ordinary clientele wondering who the heck this guy is. I play a little of everything: Space Invaders Frenzy, some Galaga knockoff/update I can’t remember the name of, Crossy Road, and Skee Ball.

At this point I’ve had enough of being the only raccoon in the bar and decide to try to find a bar with more onesie wearers from our group. My luck is a bit better at Dogwood, where I hang out for a little while, and then Electric Feelgood, where I hang out a little while longer. At this point I start feeling the munchies, and make my way back to Christian’s Tailgate. This is where I find a good portion of the rest of the group right as they are about to leave for Dogwood (from where I just came). I do my best impression of a hungry trash panda eating nachos, settle my tab, and then skedaddle on back to Dogwood. After hanging out at Dogwood for a while, we move on to Electric Feelgood; this is where the slide video was taken. I went down the slide a good five times at least, but only one was on video thanks to one of the other attendees (whom I unfortunately completely forgot the name of).

And then we go to FAO (back to, in my case). (The photos are best scores per title across both of my visits. I don’t play a whole lot of easily documentable games during the second visit; the novelty of Crossy Road wore off for me rather quickly but I think 135 is a damn good score.)

Finally there’s what turned out to be a very brief visit to Playground for me, sometime well after 11:00 pm (our afterparty was supposed to start at 10:00 pm). Basically, as most of the group had dispersed, I as there to cash in my drink ticket (lemon drop shot) and then call it a night.

I am looking forward to next year’s event assuming I am able to attend. All of the mentioned venues are great places to visit; FAO is good for a video game fix if you like the games they happen to have, but unfortunately there is no pinball. The slide at Electric Feelgood is also fun if you’re into that kind of thing.