‘Five hidden treasures I found at Bristol’s retro arcade bar’

Four Quarters, an arcade cocktail bar brand based in London, launched their new bar here in Bristol last year. Located on Park Street, the place was the company’s first outside the capital and in the year since it opened, it seems to be popular among locals with a 4.6 star rating on Google.

Specialising in sourcing and the restoration of original arcade games, Four Quarters has two floors filled with original arcade games. Like the name of the bar suggests the games require quarters to play, which you can buy there – so no need to find your own. With 4 quarters costing £2 or a deal of £7 for 15, it really doesn’t cost too much to play, especially when each game tends to require only one quarter.

Intrigued to see what was there, I decided to head down to the bar to see what old gaming treasures they have.

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As you walk into the bar the first game you come across is an old classic that many loved at the time and many still play the phone version today. Tetris has been around since 1985 but the arcade version was developed three years later by Atari Games. While most people will have played the mobile version, this old arcade classic was popular at the time and is definitely something people today would still try their hand at.

The next game that caught my eye was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball machine. I used to play this game when I went to arcades on holiday and they are honestly such good fun. With all the flashing lights and moving pieces, it was a game that held your attention for ages.

Another childhood favourite I saw when exploring was the Daytona USA car driving machine. Car driving games have been popular for years and are still some of the most used games to this day. While the old driving game is a popular one amongst arcade users, it has a slight difference to those we are used to seeing now – there is no seat.