Roxy’s A4cade Makes Your Snack-Fueled Bar Arcade Dreams Come True

Games at a4cade by Area Four. / Photo by Zac Wolf Photography

Remember the days when you spent Saturday night at the local arcade, feeding tokens into the Ghost Busters pinball machine with one hand, and stuffing your face with fries with the other? They’re back. Roxy’s A4cade, the burger-and-booze-fueled playground from two local favorites, officially opens Saturday, January 28.

The Central Square hangout is party in the front, party in the back, with the latest outpost of Roxy’s Grilled Cheese fronting on Massachusetts Avenue. The counter-service restaurant will debut the same, expanded menu Roxy’s brought to Lynnfield earlier this month, with daily loaded tater tots and fries, signature grilled cheeses plus new varieties, like hot honey bacon; a new Double Fried chicken sandwich, new decked-out hot dogs, and more.

Guests can pull up a seat in the bright new dining room, or they can order in at A4cade, the 21+ game room-cum-cocktail bar hidden through the door to a faux-walk-in cooler. In addition to a direct line to the kitchen, the A4cade bar “features an expertly compiled cocktail list disguised as childhood memories,” consultant Augusto Lino (Hungry Mother, Area Four Boston) told Eater Boston.

That means more whimsical drink vessels have landed in the Boston bar scene—at this nostalgic hideaway, that means sippy cups, toy Dr. Who call boxes, and a hot toddy called Your Mom’s Basement, kept toasty in a Thermos, packed inside a lunchbox complete with a snack and a note from Mom (!). Bar manager Tainah Soares, most recently at Trina’s Starlite Lounge, is also behind fun tipples like a house-bottled Aperol Spritz, a frozen painkiller riff, and more “one player” and “two player” options. Exclusive house brews by Notch, and Westborough gem Cold Harbor will flow into yellow Solo cups, and there are wine options, too.

And the games. The joint partnership is the divine result of two, “a little nerdy” restaurateurs, James DiSabatino (Roxy’s) and Michael Krupp (Area Four), who found out they were eyeing the same property near the MIT Campus, both intending to open a similar concept. The duo co-curated the gaming selection.

It includes cabinets like Galaga, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Deluxe, and NBA Jam, and ’80’s pinball machines, including a Dr. Who-themed game. There is also an 18-foot shuffleboard, skeeball, and foosball, plus TVs with Xbox hookups.

“Now that it’s officially ‘game on,’ we couldn’t be happier to introduce this specific style of arcade bar,” Krupp says in a press release. “We are fully confident that the combination of Roxy’s food, Area Four cocktails and a variety of games equates to an unbeatable combination for Central Square.”

Those of us saving spare change for the past year to trade for Roxy’s-emblazoned tokens agree.

Roxy’s A4cade opens Saturday night at 5 p.m. Eventually, hours will extend from 11 a.m.-midnight daily, and until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

292 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge, Roxy’s: 617-945 7244, A4cade: 617-714-3960, roxysgrilledcheese.com, A4cade.com.

The door from Roxy’s Central to A4cade by Area Four. / Photo by Zac Wolf Photography

Shuffleboard at A4cade by Area Four. / Photo by Zac Wolf Photography