Retro Arcade Could Be Coming to the Area

It was a simpler time then, a time of backwards caps, bright neon shirts, and acid washed jeans, when friends gathered around colorful cabinets, wielded joysticks and dropped quarters by the fistful all in search of a high score.

It was a time before polygons and processors, when pixilated sprites navigated ladders and jumped over hurled barrels and balls of fire, all to save their best girl from a giant ape.

Though the era is past – the reality long enough forgotten that suddenly it’s become cool again – Ken Kalada is hoping to tap into the nostalgia of adults who were the first generation to grow up in arcades. With the OK from the Red Bank Zoning Board, Kalada has been cleared to open up his dream business, a retro arcade he’s already got a name for: Yestercades.

The new arcade will come with a distinct old school feel, filled with 60 classic arcade games as well as 15 pinball machines. All the games Gen X kids grew up playing will be represented, Kalada said, including classics like Donkey Kong, Pac Man, and Space Invaders, among others. He imagines a place with an atmosphere where people come to return to their childhoods.

“If it’s only for an hour or two, people can escape. It’s an escape, a way to return to your childhood for a bit,” he said.

Yestercades will be located at the site of a defunct clothier on Broad Street near the Monmouth Street intersection. Kalada’s got all of the machines, got all of the merchandise already and is shooting for a mid-September soft opening. The next step is getting some of the cabinets out of his parent’s garage.

Kalada has been ready to go for about two years. That’s when he accumulated his complete arcade collection and started looking for a place to set up shop. A Red Bank resident, the 29 year old decided the best fit for a retro arcade was right in his own backyard.

The move wasn’t that easy, though. In order to open the arcade, Kalada needed a variance from the zoning board, essentially the overturning of an arcade ban in downtown Red Bank. All it took was answering a couple of questions and providing a few assurances and Kalada was sent away from the zoning board with handshakes and messages of “good luck.”

An issue presented by Red Bank RiverCenter was whether the arcade would attract loiterers and rabble-rousers, or, more accurately put, unsupervised young people and teenagers. Kalada said that wouldn’t be the case. In addition to having staff on hand and being vigilant about misbehavior, Kalada said this arcade serves a different demographic: mostly those between the ages of 25 and 45 with an interest in nostalgia and retro gaming.

Yestercades also differs from most arcades in another way: there aren’t any quarters or tokens. Much like pool halls, players at Kalada’s arcade will pay for time rather than per game. There’s no just watching or hanging out, he said. If you’re in Yestercades, playing or not, you’re paying. A similar payment structure is featured at Silverball Museum Arcade in Asbury Park, he noted.

The arcade would be open seven days a week, he said, and as late as 2 a.m. on Friday's and Saturday's. The "boutique" arcade would also have a few flat screen televisions for use in playing game consoles.

Though he won’t serve food or drinks, Kalada is hoping to host parties and corporate events and to partner with other area businesses, mostly restaurants, in co-branding efforts.

“I plan on working with the (business) community,” he said. “Everyone needs to co-exist and I think this could be a benefit.”