Nerd in the Know: Keg and Coin hits high score for '80s arcade nostalgia

The upbeat intro music of dozens of arcade cabinets sets the relaxed ambiance of Keg and Coin, an expansion of Beer:30 on King Street.

Along with Beer:30’s selection of craft beer and soda, the new gameroom offers a mix of original 1980s arcade games, extreme sport racing games of the 1990s, a wall of pinball machines and traditional staples like foosball and skee-ball. Exchange dollar bills for quarters at one of its two change machines, drop a couple of coins into a game and press start.

It’s a labor of love as well as a nostalgic tribute to what Brooks Whalen, partner of Keg and Coin, and Matt Schulman, Keg and Coin managing partner, call the “glory days” of arcades in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Long before home gaming consoles became a fixture in living rooms, arcades were the place to play video games with friends or beat your personal high score.

“We really tried to touch on the cultural trends of the time,” said Whalen. “You look around, a lot of the art in here, the games, the T-shirts, it will bring back memories for different people, but coming in here they’ll see something that reminds them of their childhood in a good way.”

The idea for Keg and Coin began about a year ago when one of the owners of Beer:30 approached Whalen about bringing an arcade to Jacksonville after visiting one on a trip to San Diego.

They knew that they wanted to open it on King Street in Riverside, and after looking at other storefronts along the street they realized that the Beer:30 King Street location would be a perfect fit. They bought the closed laundromat next door and spent the next several months tearing down the wall between the two businesses and making the renovations needed to bring the space up to code.

While Whalen focused on the new space, Schulman dove into hand-picking the games for Keg and Coin’s arcade. A fan of 1980s pop culture, he wanted to create an arcade that combined his favorite games growing up with games that have stood out as ‘80s arcade classics.

He started his search by visiting businesses throughout Jacksonville with arcade cabinets to get a feel of what games were already in the city. It quickly turned into to a group effort as he talked about the idea with friends and local gaming groups like 904 Pinball Zine. Schulman said he started getting messages about arcade cabinets for sale from friends or offers from private collectors to sell arcade cabinets to Keg and Coin.

The complete arcade is made up of some pinball machines donated by 904 Pinball Zine, game cabinets bought from Jacksonville-based coin-operated game distributor Coleman Music and Entertainment, and games from private collectors across the United States. The “Missile Command” game was shipped from Indiana, and Schulman drove to Savannah to pick up another game cabinet for the arcade.

One of Schulman’s prized arcade cabinets is “Tempest.” He found the 1981 Atari game in its original cabinet through a friend of a friend, who had it stored in a basement. The game still had the original wiring inside the cabinet from the early ‘80s and took took two months to get working again.

For Schulman, Keg and Coin has become his outlet to share everything that he loves about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture. Along with the arcade cabinets, he also hand-picked the merchandise in Keg and Coin. and most of the artwork around the bar is part of his personal collection.

He’s planning events around the music, movies and TVs shows of the decades, such as an “MTV Unplugged” night and a weekly event called Keg and Coin’s Saturday Morning Cartoons, where the bar will play cartoons of the ‘80s and ‘90s every Saturday morning on its TVs and feature a cereal bar and doughnuts.

He’s also planning high-score competitions around some of the arcade’s classic games such as “Ms. Pac Man,” “Dig Dug” and “Galaga.” Other monthly events in the works include a Cosplay Night and VR Bar with VR Junkies in Orange Park.

“That’s just always how I’ve been with music, movies, games, all that stuff. I’ve always really been into it and I could just never forget about any of it,” said Schulman. “Now, this is an avenue to put it all out somewhere and put it to good use. It’s really just making people happy with all this nostalgia stuff.”

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Tiffanie Reynolds writes about nerd culture twice a month. Reach her at tiffanie.reynolds@jacksonville.com. You can also reach Nerd in the Know on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @nerdknowjax.