The Archives: Burlington, VT

When I was a kid, my mother got a pretty magnificent gift for my father: an arcade machine. Not just any arcade machine, she bought him Asteroids. Vintage, Atari, buzzing and beeping in all its glory. Truth be told, I think it turned out to be a bigger deal for eight-year-old Jenna, her little brother, and all of her neighbors... we definitely maybe spent more time playing that than anyone else ever did.

The arcade machine has since moved on to a new home, but the memories remain.

While visiting some friends in Burlington, VT a few weeks ago, I was introduced to one of my new favorite adult things: good drinks and arcade games.

So, to start with the drinks; there were pages and pages of both local and non-local brews. The Vermont specialties being some of my favorites, I went with one from Lost Nation: their Gose. They also had a stylish bar, fully equipped for some seriously tempting cocktails and a cheese platter that I'm sure would have been worth every penny.

Side note: if you're in Vermont and in the mood for some cheese, you're in luck... they've got all kinds of incredible and delicious locally-made cheese.

I then moved on to check out the games. In true arcade fashion, they have custom tokens to use their machines.

Most arcade machines require one token (per player) to play, the pinball machines require two. The first machine to stand out to me was, of course, Asteroids... soon followed by Street Fighter II and Dig Dug.

You'd better believe I played all three... several times. I'm proud to add that I earned top scores on Asteroids and Street Fighter.

To make it significantly easier to enjoy your drink and keep an eye on it while playing your games, there are small counters in the slim spaces between machines; just the right width to hold your glass, can, or bottle.

Once you've run through all of your game tokens and just want to enjoy a drink, they have seats next to big, open, garage-style windows that are so perfect for people watching. It's located just off of Church Street, so you know that you'll see plenty of comings-and-goings.

If you're in the area and looking for some light-hearted fun and refreshing, delicious, local brews, I highly recommend The Archives.