FlashBack RetroPub brings 1980s fun to Oklahoma City's Film Row

A version of this story appears in Sunday's Outlook special section of The Oklahoman.

FlashBack RetroPub brings '80s gameplay to Film Row

If it hadn’t been for Sundays at the coin laundry playing “Donkey Kong” with his dad, Jose Rodriguez probably wouldn’t have worked for nearly five years to open his own business.   

“My parents moved to Oklahoma when I was 6 years old from Puerto Rico. We pretty much moved here with the clothes on our backs, so we didn’t have a lot of things. We didn’t have a washer and a dryer at home, so we used to go the Laundromat. Sundays was our family time at the Laundromat, and there’s really not much to do at a Laundromat for a kid. But this Laundromat we used to go to had three specific games: They had ‘Pole Position,’ they had ‘Donkey Kong’ and they had ‘Centipede.’ Well, I didn’t like ‘Pole Position’ because I couldn’t drive very well, and ‘Centipede’ I never understood when I was little. But ‘Donkey Kong’ I got, and it was my dad’s favorite game,” he said.

“So, we would always play ‘Donkey Kong.’ Every Sunday afternoon when we’d go do laundry, my dad would bring some quarters, and we’d sit there for about half an hour until the quarters ran out and play ‘Donkey Kong.’ It was something for us that kind of brought our family together, because my parents made the best of what could be a tough situation for a kid.”

Rodriguez, 35, is now the proud owner of FlashBack RetroPub, a 1980s-theme arcade bar that opened in October on Film Row and serves up beer and nostalgia along with classic gameplay.

“You go to arcades now and the games that they have are so different than what we grew up with, so you typically don’t see a lot of parents going to the arcades anymore. They may take their kids, but I don’t see a lot of parents playing in the arcades," he said. “This is kind of an adult arcade in a sense, where you can come, hang out, have some drinks and play some of the old-school games.”

Developing a concept

Inside FlashBack RetroPub, red metal lockers form the liquor cabinet, Lite Brites are used for the “order here” signs, and Strawberry Shortcake toys donated by his wife adorn the bar area. Clips from 1980s music videos, television series and movies play on giant screens, and along with local and regional beers, specialty cocktails like the “Purple Rain,” the “Papa Smurf” and the “Ferris Bueller” are on the menu.

Rodriguez built the bar decorated with cassette tapes and the Rubik’s Cube coffee table with his own hands. He said he has a special affinity for the ‘80s since TV shows like “ALF,” “The Smurfs” and “Fraggle Rock” helped him learn English growing up.

“I don’t know a decade that triggers more memories and more reaction than the ‘80s for so many people. Because there are so many things that took place in the ‘80s whether it was music or movies, it was such a growing time for our country … and as a society expanding on the things we enjoyed,” he said, chatting to the tune of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

“Of course, there’s some ‘90s games, but for the most part, the majority of the games here are ‘80s games.”

Rodriguez pitched the idea for an arcade bar to his partner, Mark Temple, about five years ago after he was inspired by a visit to The Max Retropub in Tulsa.  

“It just really kind of sparked everything from there. I started doing my research, started looking across the country and seeing what other type of arcade bars there were,” he said. “Obviously, I didn’t just want to copy off what they did. I wanted to make something that was more my own.”

Making plays for games

The first step in developing his FlashBack was to gather up old-school arcade games. It’s taken him more than three years to collect the 45 games in his arcade bar, and he said he hopes to eventually get at least 50 standing machines, plus a couple of tabletop games.

“I didn’t realize how tedious it was going to be to find these games. I was like, ‘surely people still have these.’ No, a lot of people don’t, and the ones who do they’re for the most part collectors,” he said. “I logged over 10,000 miles picking up games.”

But patrons won’t need quarters or tokens to play them.

FlashBack RetroPub offers free game play with a two-drink minimum – drinks can be alcoholic or soft -- and no cover is charged Sunday through Thursday. The bar is closed Mondays.

“From what I’ve seen that’s what no one else is really doing. We’ve gotten a lot of great reception and great feedback over the fact you can play for free,” he said. “We just want people to come in here and have fun. It’s something different that’s not in this area.”

Oklahoma City filmmaker Kyle Roberts said free game play is a rare bonus for arcade aficionados, who can expect to spend as much as $40 in a single visit at other amusement stops. Roberts shot his short film “Heroes of the Realm” at FlashBack, created the bar’s video package and has since become a player at its Wednesday night arcade league.

“It’s no secret that I’m just a huge nerd, and just about any city that I visit, if I have time, I try to find an arcade there or whatever. … And RetroPub is one of the best ones,” Robert said. “One of the ways you can really tell good arcades from bad ones is the selection they have – and they have a great selection there – but also on top of that is just how well the games play. … A lot of arcades you go to, even the expensive ones, like only one in every five or six games works properly.”

Along with the arcade league, the pub boasts an exclusive User Lounge where players who are willing to pay for a User Pass can play rare arcade games like “X-Men,” “Sinistar,” “Joust,” along with a “Tron” machine that not only inspired the back room’s name but also took Rodriguez three years to find.

Going beyond the games

Although the arcade games are the main draw, Rodriguez said he wanted his arcade bar to appeal to more than just avid players, who are primarily men. The bar offers karaoke on Tuesdays and ‘80s trivia on Thursdays, and a disc jockey spins ‘80s tunes from a booth shaped like a boom box on Fridays and Saturdays, when the pub charges a $5 cover starting at 8 p.m.

“Friday and Saturday nights, our dance floor is packed,” he said. “So you have couples that come in, and the girls can go dance and the guys can go play arcade games.  Everyone is happy because they’re still kind of hanging out – they come back and hang out and sit down and talk – but they each have something to do.”

He’s also found that many women prefer the more communal experience of console games to traditional arcade machines, so he has some boxy old TVs hooked to Nintendo 64s and Super Nintendos and flanked by couches for groups who prefer to sit, chat and play “Mario Kart” and the like.

“We already have so many regulars that come in here two or three times a week,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve built a really great following social media wise … and people are continuing to bring their friends out and spread the word.”

Blazing new territory

On a recent Wednesday, the first customers, still dressed in business suits and button-down shirts, arrived 10 minutes after the pub opened at 5 p.m., and by 5:30, a sizable crowd had gathered after work for drinks and games. Although he looked for locations in Automobile Alley, Uptown 23rd and the Plaza District, Rodriguez said he is happy to be a part of the burgeoning Film Row community.

“It’s been uncharted territory for us, but the response has been great. The Film Row district has been great backing us and always promoting us and always trying to include us in everything. We’re the nightlife right now on Film Row since we stay open until 2 o’clock,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else anymore. This building just fit exactly what we’re looking for.”

The arcade bar is currently anchoring the west end of Film Row until construction is complete on the 21c Museum Hotel. Between the pub’s concept and location – his bar is the only one in walking distance – he hopes the hotel will bring him even more customers.

He also hopes that his business will honor the sacrifices his parents made by moving to an unknown land where they didn’t speak the language to give him a better life. Although his mother, Catalina, frequently visits FlashBack, he said his father died 2 ½ years ago, before the pub was open.

“‘Donkey Kong’ is actually the first game that I got. My dad before he passed away, he went and helped me get the game. … I didn’t tell him what game I was getting; I just said, ‘Hey, I need your help going to get this game,’ and he’s like, ‘OK, cool,’” Rodriguez recalled.

“We went to pick the game up and when he saw it, his eyes just like lit up. He’s like ‘A “Donkey Kong?!”’ I was like, ‘yep,’ so we went back to my house and set it up and played it for probably like two or three hours with my son … and it was great.

“It’s still here, but as soon as find a new ‘Donkey Kong,’ that one’s getting out of here and going home with me.”

ON FILM ROW

FlashBack RetroPub

Where: 814 W Sheridan Ave., # A.

Hours: 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. to midnight Sunday.

Information: www.facebook.com/FlashBackRetroPub.

-BAM