I played the early 90s classic arcade game, NBA Jam, against Jeremy Fitzgerald, one of the owners of Toledo’s new bar arcade, Reset. Late in the game, my hall-of-fame Center, Patrick Ewing, caught fire and started draining 3-pointers— an example of the suspended ultra-reality that video games can offer. Despite my run, Fitzgerald told me, “I never lose at this game,” and with 4 seconds left, his Golden State Warriors hit a deep-corner shot to pull ahead. Fitzgerald shouted, I slumped, and we both walked over to the serve-yourself draught beer wall.
Connected to Bar 145, at 5305 Monroe Street, Reset has over 25 stand-up arcade games, 32 draft beers and over 50 video games you can play at your own table while you eat. It is a blast of nostalgia for those who remember the games, and a fresh hit for young adults who are discovering the retro games for the first time.
Kid in a candy store
Fitzgerald said that designing Reset “felt like being a kid in a candy store.” He had visited bar arcades in other cities, and this was his chance to put his own spin on it. Fitzgerald bought all of the games locally from Champion Amusements and Dr. Scott’s Pinball, and refurbished them. They have some of the earliest arcade games like Centipede and Asteroid, and 90s multi-player games like Street Fighter II and NFL Blitz, as well as semi-forgotten relics, like a Baywatch themed pinball machine.
There is a graffiti wall featuring Super Mario characters, hand-painted by local tattoo artist Tony Touch (of Infinite Art). Another wall has vintage game controllers hung along various pieces of America’s cultural past, like a Footloose poster and Superman comics. The bar itself is clear resin, hardened with 90’s artifacts like CD’s and decades-old high school photos of random people who grew up around here. It even includes a prom photo of Fitzgerald’s co-owner, George Simon, teen-aged and fresh-faced, emblazoned in a white tux.
Behind the bar is a visible walk-in cooler that shows the kegs and ducts that pour the 32 draught beer choices. Bartenders in Pac-Man-styled t-shirts serve half of them, and the other half are along the self-serve wall. The wall features a dozen choices with LCD screens and pull-levers. All you do is insert an access card and pull to fill your glass. You are then charged by the ounce, from $0.15 for Pabst Blue Ribbon, to $0.45 for a Goose Island Imperial Stout.
Unique playing style
Fitzgerald grew up in Fremont, and then spent 15 years working in bars and entertainment venues at Put-in-Bay. Four years ago, he and Simon opened Bar 145, an instantly successful gastro-pub with live music. Reset connects directly to Bar 145 and feels like a bar within a bar, a place where adults— it’s 21-and-over to enter— can hang out like kids. “We’re trying to bring something new to Toledo,” said Fitzgerald.
My friend, Brad Kripke, has gone to bar arcades around the country, and went to Reset on its opening weekend in November. “As an avid fan of retro gaming culture, I really appreciated all the detail they put into it,” said Kripke. “I loved that I could order games a la carte, directly to to my table. It totally blew me away.”
I was there on a Saturday, near midnight. It was dimly lit, like a nightclub, and full of people. A table ledge held my drink while I raced four-wheelers in the 90s game, “Off-Road”. A new hip-hop song by Fetty Wap came on the digital jukebox. People began singing along, mixing the old with new.
Open daily, 11:30am-2am
Reset, 5305 Monroe St.
419-593-0073 | facebook.com/resettoledo
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Dorian Slaybod is an attorney happily living in Toledo.