As Nex noted yesterday, Ground Kontrol reopens tonight with a party to show off their remodeled digs. Three bucks gets you in the door, the games will be set to “free play,” and attendees can check out the renovations that’ve been made with the $25,000 of sweet, sweet Stride Gum money that Ground Kontrol—with no small amount of help from its customers—won last June.
While you suckers have to wait until tonight to see the new and improved Ground Kontrol, I swung by last night for a preview of the remodel. It was awesome. But don’t worry, guys—as ever, you were never far from my thoughts. So I took some pictures for you. You’re welcome.
- Whoa, it’s Pac-Man Battle Royale!
- Photo by Grant Peterson
- The bar’s much the same—except now they have booze—but there’s now a chill, lounge-y type space against the west wall.
- Photo by Grant Peterson
- I like it. It’s a solid spot to hang out when you want a bit of space from the arcade cabinets…
- … and there are tables that’ve clearly been stolen right out of Ten Forward. Guinan’s gonna be pissed.
And now for the bathrooms, which, weirdly enough, might be my favorite part.
Alas, I was unable to trick my way into the women’s bathroom—hey, your loss, ladies—but I’ve heard rumors that while the men’s room has a Pac-Man theme, the women’s has a Ms. Pac-Man theme.
ANYWAY. Pretty cool, no? It still feels very much like the old Ground Kontrol, but everything has a cooler, slicker, more grown-up feel. I’d recommend checking it out—tonight’d be a pretty good night to do so, what with the cheap admission and free play—and I’d also recommend rounding up three people and giving Pac-Man Battle Royale a shot, ’cause it was pretty damn fun.
Why is everyone moving Pac-Man with the wrong hand?
Do they have air hockey yet?
I’m on that like stink on poo.
My worry: less space for the games. It looks like they lost a good 1/4 or more of their floor space for cabinets. Is anyone really going to go there for cocktails and/or food?
Five words and I’m sold on the remodel: “except now they have booze”.
Looks cool, hopefully it smells better now that the carpet’s gone.
What tk said.
I’m glad that they changed that sign outside from “Barcade” to “Arcade.”
There are a couple less pinball machines than before – but, that’s ok… they still have a lot.
I didn’t do a cabinet-by-cabinet or pinball-by-pinball check (though I bet ROM did, at least on the latter), but thanks to some reorganizing on the eastern side, I don’t think they lost any games. There might be a few less, but nothing was gone that I noticed, at least during my casual wandering around/occasionally totally embarrassing myself while playing Street Fighter and/or Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
@Another Portland Blog – Heck yes, I totally would!
Hello again, PBR tallboys and Sunset Riders!
HELLS YES.
Addition of food makes it more likely I’ll get to go. My stomach is in constant demand of entertainment; but my mind is always amused.
Hey all! Art from Ground Kontrol here. Just want to clarify… booze is not quite yet offered at GK. We are working on it – have to get the food service finalized & approved first – and hope to offer it soon. It all depends on how long it takes the OLCC to approve the change once we are comfortable applying for it!
Thanks – hope to see you soon!