Video Arcades Are Basically Kept Alive by Alcohol
For anyone who's spent more than 15 minutes in Barcade, this should come as no surprise, but it seems that alcohol is the reason the bar has been successful enough to expand to Jersey City and, this summer, Philadelphia. 
Game over.
This news comes courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, which reports that while many video arcades have fallen victim to PlayStation, XBox, and their ilk, Barcade has managed to thrive because it plies its patrons with booze. Since it opened in 2004, the original Williamsburg location of Barcade has taken almost all of its revenue from the sale of beer and drinks; according to its owner, proceeds from the games don't do much more than cover the cost of their maintenance. So Donkey Kong, it seems, is pretty much only good for nostalgia -- and an excuse to get drunk.
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