The Star Chamber Arcade opened at 74 N. Court St, Suite 001, this month with a soft opening beginning Oct. 2 and a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 16.
The arcade has a diverse selection of new and old games, the oldest being a 33-year-old “Getaway!” machine. It also has the classics: “Galaga,” “Donkey Kong,” “Ms. Pac-Man” and more.
In addition to the assortment of games, there is a bar and eight flavors of hard-scoop ice cream served.
The owner, Nick Muntean, was born and raised in Athens. He said he remembers a time growing up when there were numerous arcades in the area. Since then, those arcades have shut down, and Muntean wanted to fill a gap he saw in the community.
“If somebody else was doing this, not even on Court Street, but wherever, I would be happy to play there,“ Muntean said. "I'd be happy to be a patron."
Muntean spent well over a decade in healthcare administration and consulting in the Athens area, but now he said he’s “all in” on The Star Chamber Arcade.
Patrons pay a rate of $7-10 an hour, depending on the day and time, for unlimited access to all of the games on the floor. Muntean said cost was an important decision for him as it ensured a greater level of accessibility.
“If you haven't experienced it, you haven't experienced it,” Muntean said. “You're not gonna get into pinball if you're burning $1 a play, right?”
Muntean said he hopes the space will help remedy the decline of third spaces and provide people with a place of relief in a commercialized world.
“The whole trajectory of modern culture and society has been one of atomization,” Muntean said. “The atomized consumer of just micro-commodifying every moment of interaction in the attention economy, and people are sick of that.”
Muntean said he does not self-identify as a “gamer," but believes there is still social value in the experience of arcades.
“There's something just like the ludic phenomenology. It's like sensual,” Muntean said. “The experience of the controllers and the lights and the sounds and the interaction and the nostalgia.”
After Muntean obtained all of the funding in early July, he amassed a collection of 70-75 arcade games and pinball machines, driving 16,500 miles in seven weeks to do so.
Muntean also works on and maintains many of the arcade machines himself, and works on the pinball machines alongside a pinball technician. He said the collection will be rotated through the floor frequently “to keep things fresh.”
Since opening the doors, Muntean said he has seen a passionate reaction from kids and adults alike. He hopes the arcade provides a good experience for the wide variety of demographics it draws in.
“Being on Court Street, I have to make college students happy,” Muntean said. “Because I care about kids having a place to go, I’ve got to make 8-year-olds happy. Then, because hipsters love pinball, I got to make 45-year-olds happy, right?”
The Star Chamber Arcade is currently working on hosting weekly International Flipper Pinball Association events.
Maija Thomas, a junior studying psychology, went to the arcade during the soft opening and said the arcade has a great environment and provides a new option in Athens’ nightlife.
“If you don't want to go out to the bar to just like stand around and do nothing, you can go to this arcade and stand around and play cool games,” Thomas said.
Liv Spencer, the assistant manager, has experience in the service industry and said they have enjoyed the unique opportunity this job presented them with.
“I definitely love the culture of it,” Spencer said. “I only more recently started getting into gaming because I wasn't allowed to have a console and stuff as a kid, so definitely living out my childhood dreams being around all this stuff.”
Spencer said they think the arcade provides an enjoyable experience outside of the traditional bars.
“There are plenty of watering holes and drinking spots and places that sell liquor on Court Street,” Spencer said. “So we're just trying to provide a balance for people who enjoy that as well as those who don't maybe feel as comfortable in those spaces.”
