NEWPORT, Ky. -- Gamers, rejoice. The owner of Arcade Legacy has announced his third classic game shop will open in the Newport Shopping Center on Friday.
Jesse Baker made the announcement on the Arcade Legacy: Bar Edition Facebook page.
“I wanted to be far enough away that we weren’t drawing our customers to a different place,” Baker said when he revealed plans for the Newport arcade in June. “That spot is the one that felt like the right spot. I just wanted to be there.”
The third Arcade Legacy is located in the strip mall at the corner of Monmouth Street and Carothers Road in Newport.
In 2009, Baker opened his first Arcade Legacy inside the Cincinnati Mills mall with mix of arcade and console games that he found and refurbished himself. People can still play those games all day for a flat fee.
“We weren't really sure if the initial one was going to last," Baker said of the store, which sits inside the mostly empty mall in Forest Park.
Baker then opened Arcade Legacy: Bar Edition, a full service bar and arcade, at 3929 Spring Grove Ave. in Northside in 2015.
Related: See inside Arcade Legacy in Northside
Baker said the Newport location, at 5,200 square feet, is smaller than the original Arcade Legacy but larger than the Northside bar. The Northern Kentucky arcade will open with more than 50 arcade games, five pinball machines, projection screens and old and new game consoles, Baker said. Some of those games include arcade classics such as "Pac-Man," "Super Mario Bros." and "Popeye."
The Newport arcade, which will not serve alcohol, will sell $10 all-day game play passes to adults and $6 passes to children ages 11 and under. It also will sell old and new games.
The new arcade will host special gaming events for Northern Kentucky players similar to those held at the Cincinnati Mills location, Baker added.
“We’ve done all sorts of things to grow little communities of gamers together,” Baker said.
