Temple: Arcade bar opening in 2020

Bit Bar is opening a new location in Temple in March featuring 30 arcade games from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

The bar is in the side building of Dynasty of Airport Rd in Temple.

Guests will pay a small fee at the door to have access to all the games for free.

The owners say, for them, the games bring back nostalgia.

"I used to work in the Temple Mall at Tilts back in my freshman year of high school at about 20 years ago," Johnny Huang said. "Who would have thought I'd own my own arcade today."

They hope their business will bring gamers back together, in person, like when they played them growing up.

"When we play at home we play connected online so we don't get to see each other. Just coming together to a different location to a neutral location is something different and then we meet new friends all the time," Huang said.

They plan to have 30 games in the bar, but they say acquiring the retro systems is harder than it used to be.

"When the machines were losing popularity you would see them as cheap as a few hundred dollars but with the popularity of arcade bars, these machines are becoming more and more popular," Huang said. "Now I've seen them sell for double, triple, even quadruple times the original price."

Bit Bar will tailor to the 21-and-over crowd, but the owners say the plan to have special hours for younger gamers to enjoy the space as well.