Neon Retro Arcade

How it started vs How it’s going. We did our best, but after a year of forced closure and months of sleepless nights we’ve made the difficult decision to close our Northridge location. With partnership & cooperation from our landlord in *Pasadena*, we hope to make it to the other side of the pandemic at our original location. Neon-Northridge was a really special place and we are so grateful to everyone who supported us over the past 3 years. We feel like we’ve let so man...y people down and we’re sorry this is the way it turned out. We hope you know we really tried to hang on, but it simply isn’t possible to continue incurring massive debt with no opening date in sight or meaningful assistance/legislation from the local governments that forced us shut. *Please don’t misconstrue this.* We know it was necessary to close for a period of time in the interest of public health, but many businesses like ours that have been adversely affected by the shutdowns for A YEAR have clearly been forgotten or deemed expendable. That’s a really tough pill to swallow given all the hard work & sacrifice we put into building our business. It’s also incredibly frustrating that local governments haven’t done enough to help the businesses they shut indefinitely. Many small businesses are being choked by legal & financial strain simply because we don’t have lobbyists advocating for us. We recognize there are many sides to this issue but this is our experience and we feel it’s important for people to hear about it. RIP Neon-Northridge. Thank you for the memories. We’ll miss the team and community we built here most. We hope to see you in Pasadena where we’ll continue fighting to make it to the other side. Mark & Mia

Use promo code LASTCHANCE for 50% off site-wide! Many thanks to everyone who supported us over Black Friday, Small Business Saturday & Cyber Monday! Due to ...the success of the weekend we are running low on merchandise but it’s actually perfect timing. As we mentioned recently, after many months of forced closure we had to find new opportunities to help make ends meet. As of now, we’re stretched really thin and have decided to take a pause from online sales. We’ll be closing our online shop on 12/12 or as soon as we sell our remaining stock. The good news for you: now is the perfect time to score some cool gifts or stocking stuffers at 50% off! Use promo code LASTCHANCE at checkout. Head over to shop.neonretroarcade.com ASAP so you don’t miss out on some great deals. Thanks for your support!

Shop Small 30% Off Sale To say this has been a challenging year would be an understatement, but we're still kicking (for now)! To celebrate we're getting Bl...ack Friday, Small Business Saturday & Cyber Monday started early. Save 30% site-wide now through 11/30 with promo code: SHOPSMALL. Bonus: We'll include a free mystery gift with every order through 11/30/20 to thank you for shopping small & local! We recently restocked our tees and we also added tons of fun gifts & stocking stuffers for our people: gamers, nerds, & anyone who loves the 80s & 90s. Shop here shop.neonretroarcade.com Checkout tip: You don't need a PayPal account to make your purchase. When you get to the payment section, click the "Pay with Paypal" button and you will be given the option to finalize your purchase with Paypal OR a credit/debit card. Thanks for shopping small with us! --Mark & Mia

Have you voted yet? Today (Tue 11/3) is the last chance to get your ballot cast/dropped off/postmarked. Be safe & vote! : Old Pasadena

Check out these little pieces of American history. Over the weekend we found this redemption ticket and token in our Moonwalker machine. They’re from John Ascu...aga’s Nugget which is now the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, NV near Reno. We assume the game must have been in the hotel’s arcade at some point, probably in the early 90s when the game was brand new. We got curious about the elephants on the ticket and the back of the token since the names Bertha and Angel are on their headdresses. Apparently, Bertha was the Nugget’s main attraction from 1962 to the late 1990s (see comment section for a photo of her). Angel was the 3rd and final elephant owned by the Nugget and there are adorable baby photos of her that I’ll link in the comments. I know we think of animal captivity much differently today , but it’s still cool to uncover a little bit of history from a 30 year-old arcade game. Have a great week, y’all!

Voting may look different this year, but no matter what, be sure to be counted! In-person voting has begun in LA County and there are several other safe ways to... vote. We just got done voting in-person and it took us less than 5 minutes because we prepped our ballot in advance using isb.lavote.net. You make your selections online and get a QR code to scan at the polls. Super easy! Since we went early, there was no waiting, we just got to our voting center, stopped at a hand sanitizing station, checked-in & voted. You can find out about all the safe ways to vote in LA county at lavote.net. Hope it’s helpful! Photo Credit: @thesexyvegan (Instagram)

Check out these little pieces of American history. Over the weekend we found this redemption ticket and token in our Moonwalker machine. They’re from John Ascu...aga’s Nugget which is now the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, NV near Reno. We assume the game must have been in the hotel’s arcade at some point, probably in the early 90s when the game was brand new. We got curious about the elephants on the ticket and the back of the token since the names Bertha and Angel are on their headdresses. Apparently, Bertha was the Nugget’s main attraction from 1962 to the late 1990s (see comment section for a photo of her). Angel was the 3rd and final elephant owned by the Nugget and there are adorable baby photos of her that I’ll link in the comments. I know we think of animal captivity much differently today , but it’s still cool to uncover a little bit of history from a 30 year-old arcade game. Have a great week, y’all!

TOMORROW (Sun 10/11): Come visit us at Retro Madness 7 hosted by @_gametower #Northridge (location tagged) from 10am-2pm. Outdoor buy/sell/trade event - face masks required. Stop by our table to say hi and pick up some cool merch on sale, plus a free gift with $20+ purchase. #Retrogaming

Hello Neon Fam, We know we've been pretty quiet on here lately, so we wanted to check in and provide you with an update. As always, we wish we were reporting exciting news about a re-opening date. Unfortunately, we remain closed. Arcades in California won't be allowed to open until the latter part of the fourth (yellow) tier and LA County is still in the first (purple) tier...so it's going to be a long while. We, along with many small businesses in our community, are doi...ng our best to stay afloat during these challenging times and we wanted to remind you about the importance of shopping small & local this holiday season. As many of you know, we have an online shop that we've stocked with merch and fun 80s/90s/game-inspired gifts. To help make your holiday shopping more efficient, we've also curated sections to help you easily find: Arcade Merch Retro-inspired Gifts Unique Stocking Stuffers "Shop Local" items You can check out our shop here -> https://neonretroarcade.bigcartel.com/ If you prefer to shop in-person, we'll be participating in some outdoor pop-up events over the holiday season. Speaking of which, this Sunday, October 11 from 10am-2pm, we'll be at Retro Madness 7, an outdoor buy/sell/trade event organized by Game Tower (Northridge) at 19719 Nordhoff St, Northridge 91324. Admission is free & face must be worn. Be sure to stop by our table as we'll be offering a free gift with purchases of $20+. Also, if you're looking for an extra special holiday gift in light of this crazy year, we'd love to bring an authentic arcade experience to your home/garage/office! If you'd like some information about renting a game from us, please complete the "book your game" on our website -> http://neonretroarcade.com/rental.html Thanks so much for your continued support of our small business! Stay safe & we miss you so much. --Mark & Mia

Next Sunday (10/11) come see us at this outdoor buy/sell/trade event at Game Tower in #Northridge! We’ll have lots of great merch & a FREE gift for all purchases of $20+ Hope to see you there!

Had a great time delivering game rentals to some awesome supporters today! One of the main reasons we opened Neon was to see these classics get the love they deserve instead of gathering dust somewhere. They’re meant to be played and if it can’t be inside our arcades right now, we’re happy to find them good homes away from home.

Last chance to pre-order one of our new tee/hoodie designs is Sun 9/13 - don’t miss out! Link to online shop in comments.

New merch available in youth sizes by pre-order only! LAST WEEK to grab some cool gear for you or you kiddos - but why not both? Free US shipping on orders of $50+ with promo code TEAMNEON. Shop online neonretroarcade.com

Super important. Please share.

Have you been to the drive-in yet this summer?? Tickets are going fast for the upcoming San Fernando Valley Summer Drive-In dates and our good friends @myvalleypass are generously donating a portion of your ticket purchase to help us out during our temporary closure. Make sure to grab your tickets while they last at MyValleyPass.com & we’ll see you at the drive-in!

2020 couldn’t get in the way of our annual tradition to commission a new tee design from Jango Snow - Geek Art & Design. The work was so good, we ended up wit...h several new tees & hoodies for our online shop! Personally, I’m loving the OG Game Boy vibes of the Hexagon Glow-in-the-Dark tee! Pre-orders will be open for 2 weeks to be sure no one misses out! Online Shop https://neonretroarcade.bigcartel.com/ Thanks to all who have picked up merch, rented games and donated to our GoFundMe to support the arcade during our temporary closure! Fingers crossed we get some updates about our reopening soon(ish). Stay safe & healthy, all!

Love it when a good theme comes together! Thank you to The Wrestling Guy store for providing the perfect home away from home for WrestleFest. And how ‘bout ...that gold t-molding added as a subtle nod to a championship belt?? To claim a game for your home/office/shop, complete the Rental Request form on our website (link in Comments) and we’ll get back to you ASAP!

Want an AUTHENTIC retro arcade experience brought to you? We’re renting out our games!! Check out the comment section to see a list of currently available games and email us for more details. Please share to help us spread the word!

T R O N - yes or no?