Classic Video Games, Craft Beer, and Pizza - Great Combo

I've been in Kansas City for the last few weeks handling my Mother's funeral arrangements and taking care of her estate, but despite the somber reason for the trip back to K.C. my daughter took me to a place she thought I would really enjoy. She hit the nail on the head with this suggestion and I thought I would share it.

UpDown is a fantastic place to visit if you are in Kansas City. It is a craft brew bar that features a variety of entertainment options at very reasonable prices.

Let's start with the retro, throwback fun of watching 80's films on big screen televisions mixed in with the Winter Olympics and WWF playbacks (before the WWE name change). You walk into the place and their are t.v.'s everywhere. You can't find a seat without a good view of set. I was treated to Return of the Jedi on one screen and Cruel Intentions on another. Of course they had the Olympics and Pro Wrestling on as well. So, I'm immediately right at home and was getting into my nostalgic mood.

My wonderland sentiment didn't stop there. We stopped at the bar and there was a cornucopia of craft beers on draft from local and national brewers. I chose the Martin City Blonde (Martin City is a local suburb). Price? Only $5 for 16 oz (about .5 liters).

Next stop: Video games! At least 100 80's and 90's era coin-op games. I was like a kid in a candy store. The toughest part was choosing where to start. Even better, it was Thursday and tokens for the games were 10 for a dollar (2.5 x's the normal price). We took 10 dollars worth and went to work.

My first stop was Asteroids. I immediately started thinking back to the days I would hang out at the 7-11 near my home in La Mesa, California with my quarters up on the machine waiting for my turn while sipping on a Slurpee trying to avoid a brain freeze. Asteroids was my first true arcade love. Before Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Missile Command. So, I put my tokens in and started shooting up white lined images of rocks floating through space while dodging the errant attacks of UFO's. After a warm-up game, I got back into form and started owning the High Score Board. LOL

At my daughter's urging, we moved on to other games including Frogger, Ninja Turtles, and Tron. Great fun. Nothing like killing zombie like creatures and aliens with your daughter in a 2 person shooter. We also enjoyed some Skee Ball and the Star Wars Trilogy flight sim. Great stuff!

At some point I grabbed a huge slice of pizza to go with my beer. It was delicious and well worth the $4. We sat for a bit and ate while taking in Commando with The Arnold on the t.v. simultaneously keeping an eye on the biathlon on another screen.

One of the great parts of the UpDown concept is that they have outdoor games on their patio as well. These include huge versions of Jenga and Connect 4. Additionally, they have a rooftop bar with a dancefloor and it overlooks the Crossroads area of K.C. I can imagine that Summers at UpDown are packed with guests. There is so much to offer in a cool, retro environment and it appears to be well managed. The staff were friendly, fast, and helpful.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my daughter for getting me out of the funk of dealing with estate issues and taking me out for a great evening. Also, special thanks to her girlfriend for agreeing to be the designated driver and joining in the Cowabunga Ninja Turtle beat down on Shredder.

Final note: I didn't leave until I had all the top scores with most of them in the 20 thousands but didn't take another pic ("JR" is me). Some things never change.

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