We were headed to a place I'd read about that I knew Bert would love...
This place is located a few steps away from the Chinatown gate...
It's also near this sign. Read it. Uh huh. Yeah...that's what she said.
Sadly, we did not eat at Hung Far Low. I totally dig this sign. There is another Hung Far Low on SE 82nd but their sign is not as cool as this one!
No, Chinese food we did not have. Remember, we were still full from our Slappy Cakes breakfast and our snack at Viking Soul. I wanted Bert to relive his junior high school days by taking him (well, all of us) to Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade! It's a veritable museum of golden era 80's era stand up video games as well as pinball machines.
By the way, "Couch" is pronounced "Cooch" (hee hee).
The nondescript exterior...
Where your eyes are immediately deadened by the initial onslaught of darkness but your ears are assaulted by the all video game noises (crashes, pings, explosions, robot sounds, etc). After awhile, your eyes will become accustomed to the dark.
There are over 90 classic video arcade games here. Check out their complete list with this link...
TC wanted to try "Frogger"...
She got through the first few screens but was "run over" several times, thus ending her run.
Both Bert and KDB were enjoying themselves. Bert took a shot at one of his favorites, "Tempest".
You turn a knob left and right and shoot at things with your other hand. Shoot at what? I have no idea but it seems like a lot of these old video games are shoot 'em up. This game always confounded me. My bro used to play this a lot as well...on our ATARI! Do the math. Yeah, we're old, ha ha.
TC and I both tried "Centipede". Just as I learned back in the early 80's, my video game playing skills are pretty much the same - sucky. KDB was having a good old time with this game. He lasted pretty long too.
Bert couldn't pass up an opportunity to play "Joust"...
Here's KDB doing "Centipede"...
Bert got the high score! (Forgot what game this was)
and the 2nd highest score (Centipede)
Oh shit...this is the old school "Star Wars" game! We used to have this on our computer. The computer graphics you see are exactly the same as you see in the first movie, "A New Hope". Gotta blast that Death Star!
The arcade recently started serving food and at night, they do serve alcohol. There is also a DJ that spins tunes ever night (different themese nightly as well). There is an upstairs/mezzanine area where you can play vintage pinball machines.
Meanwhile, Bert was blowing some quarters on "Galaga"...
while I enjoyed the view from above...
Some of the pinball machines (these are newer judging from the titles)...
More classic videogames! I spy "Dig Dug"!
It was kind of funny that KDB and I were on the same wavelength. I had both this place and Mike's Movie Madness as places to see and they turned out to be places he liked too and thought we would like.
Ground Kontrol Arcade
511 NW Couch St.
Portland, OR
GroundKontrol.com
Up next, we scream for ice cream!
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