HLA Review – Yestercades Red Bank

Arcade Info
Yestercades
Location: Red Bank, NJ
Main Arcade type: Retro-gaming and Pinball
Parking: Street Parking and Lot Parking
Number of Basic (non-rhythm) Cabs: 81
Number of Rhythm Cabs: 0 (however available on consoles)
Pinball Cabs:16
Extras: 1 pool table, 1 ice hockey table, 4 tvs exclusively for retro console play, 2 cocktail tables, and boardgames
Staff: Friendly and readily available
Noted Age Group: 8-40 year olds
ATM: Yes

Why We Chose This Arcade
We had heard from a friend Yestercades had some of the best retro cabinets anywhere. After doing further research, we discovered it is literally across the street from Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Why not have a geek fest and visit both in one day! Their claim to “Play the Best Video Games from the Golden Age of Gaming” also peaked our interest. I mean, honestly, how many could they have have in great condition?

The Good
They had a lot of games in immaculate condition. Where do we begin? We were overwhelmed by the sheer number of games as soon as we walked in the door. First things first though, payment. What??? So normally we aren’t OK with payment up front until we really get to see what they have. However, the front of the arcade was so promising, we decided to get our hourly wristbands, which essentially says that we promise to pay $8.95 each per hour to get free play on every game. The staff behind the register promised all the cabs were working and they charge every quarter hour after the first hour. The smart thing to do. . . pay the $25 for a full day of gaming. Yestercades did not disappoint in the retro-gaming category. The love and care of these machines was obvious. Let’s start will the pinball.

Above is just one pinball wall of the two they have at Yestercades. Every single pinball game was balanced. Internals of the pinball machines were all there. This may sound like not a big deal, but metal balls can abuse the inside of a pinball cabinet. Many times the balls jump and destroy certain areas that get hit or repeated gameplay can wear down an area over time. This was non-existent in these machines.

The rest of the retro cabinets were just as gorgeous as the pinball machines. We were even surprised to find this Super Mario Bros. pinball.

If you look at the marquees and buttons on every cabinet they are perfect.

The other wonderful thing about Yestercades was the general 80’s-90’s atmosphere. They have movie posters on the walls, music videos playing from the era, boardgames, and retro consoles. What they do, they do well.

Notable Games
Qbert Cocktail Table
Space Invaders II Cocktail Table
BurgerTime
Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker
Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s Super Off Road
Sinistar
Tempest
TRON
Robotron
Revolution X
Punch Out!!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Galaxian
Fix It Felix Jr
Back to the Future Pinball
Super Mario Bros Pinball
Metallica Pinball

The Not So Good
We loved how well they nailed the retro-gaming arcade. We would love to see a level of each type of arcade done by them. Yes, we get their name is Yestercades. It’s more of a compliment than anything else that we would love to see them branch out and do more. Remember our ultimate comparison is the multi-level Taito arcades in Japan. Our only major complaint was the lighting on the pinball machines. There were two or three pinball machines that were under bright skylights. The glass on the machines was so clean, the direct overhead lighting lead to a glare that made it somewhat hard to play. One machine in the corner even had glare from an overhead light. We do understand, if you are going to fit that many machines in a single building, you are going to have to make some sacrifices. The lighting wasn’t too irritating, but it was noticeable. If we went later in the day or at night, it probably wouldn’t be as noticeable.

If there was one downside, and it’s not Yestercades’ fault at all, it would be the inherent lack of authenticity with free play. While it’s awesome that you can play as much as you like for one low price, there is something about the physical act of putting quarters in a machine that makes you try harder. With free play, you can just Zerg rush it, and die over and over again with no real consequences. In fact, you’re usually rewarded with limited invulnerability and a reload of your special weapon. It’s still a great way to play and opens up games that would be impractical to beat otherwise (Terminator 2 for example), but it’s not as satisfying. We also missed getting in line with quarters, the act of physically placing your quarter up on the machine to let people know you were next in line. In all honesty, we would have killed back in the day to have free play on arcade cabs. If you play any MAME cabinets or retro stuff on consoles, that is essentially free play as well, so Yestercades isn’t the only one using the “free after you pay” system. The upside as a business is this is one less object on the machines to fix. You don’t have dirty coins going into the machine and junking it up. However, with some of the pinball machines people would just walk away from them and they would have multiple “lives” with multiple users on it when all we really wanted to do was start fresh. Like any non-quarter system it has its flaws and benefits. If you stay all day and play, it is certainly worth your money.

Broken or Unplugged Cabs and Pinball
First trip to Yestercades – No machines were down

Second trip to Yestercades – Elevator Action

We want to point out that games do not stay broken long here, as they have a designated tech that takes care of their broken machines. Our guess is Elevator Action probably is up and running by now. We do appreciate how they tag their games as broken:

Summary: Yestercades

8.5/10

Had we been scoring Yestercades strictly as a retro arcade, a score of 9.5 would have easily been given. We’d love to see them get in something like the Virtual Boy that is playable at the front area. Otherwise, Yestercades, with its near mint machines, sheer number of games, technical upkeep, and awesome prices, displays the understanding of what a true gamer is looking to experience. At one point, we had even joked that the place should have been called “We have no idea what time it is and we don’t care”. You can easily get lost and caught up in the opportunity to play retro games in the condition they were intended to be played. We were skeptical when we got our wristbands, but it was well worth the cost.

We saw a number of parents our own age teaching their children the games we had all grown up with. There was not a single ticket winning game to be found. Staff was very helpful and knowledgeable. The play areas, the floors, the restrooms, everything was super clean. The hours of operation are awesome. They were open on Memorial Day. If this arcade was down the street from us, we’d probably never leave. It felt like the closest we’d ever get to playing at Flynn’s Arcade. They also offer party packages and a frequent players club. We actually took a lot more photos at Yestercades. If you want to see the rest of the photos, check out our Facebook. They also have a second Yestercades location in Somerville, NJ. We will definitely be making a stop there in the near future. Photos we’ve seen of the place show a completely different batch of retro games! We are excited to visit that Yestercades soon. We give Yestercades in Red Bank a 8.5 out of 10. ‘Til next time. . .

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