Retro gaming arcade opens in Huntsville

Young people and the young at heart, who love games, have a new option in town.

On December 1, Dan Taylor opened The Portal Retro Arcade on Brunel Road, down the road from the high school, and around the corner from Main Street. There is no sign above the door just yet but their logo is on the door and people are starting to notice. “It’s been going pretty good. We’ve had a lot of interest and people coming to check it out.”

Taylor said some of the more popular games include Ninja Turtles, Turtles in Time, Smash Brothers and Mario Kart, and Duck Hunt, to name a few. “We have the computers for kids to log into their own accounts so they can play whatever games if they don’t have a good system or internet at home,” he said.

“All the kids have been very respectful too, they turn everything off.” Taylor said he’s hoping to get other computers in, not just for gaming but for kids to do their homework. “I just want to give them an option there,” he said.

The arcade works on a membership system. Regular membership is $50/month and for students, it’s $25. Both get you 30 preloaded hours of play.

Taylor said they are slowly going to be adding more features like a dart league. “We’ve had a lot of people show interest in it so hopefully we’ll start that up in a week or two.”

“It’s not just for nerds,” said Adam Sawyer who is helping with the project. There are also comics, board, and card games, and they’ll be starting a D& D club as well. “A lot of kids are interested in Stranger Things, but they don’t know how to play it so we have a few people that are going to come in and teach everybody,” he said.

Taylor said since opening they’ve sold about 30 memberships but they hope to sell many more.

The Portal is open from 3 to 11 p.m. daily. Check it out.

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