Insert Token Here: The 1up Debuts Massive Fourth Arcade Bar in Westminster

Get your pocket of quarters ready: It's time to slip one into a coin slot and hit the 1up button, now in Denver's north suburbs.

That's right, Donkey Kong devotees: The 1up Arcade Bar, our 2022 Best of Denver pick for Best Bar for Playing Games, has expanded. Now, in addition to the original on Blake Street, the second on Colfax and the third in Greenwood Village, there is a fourth 1up location; it debuted on January 14 at 4750 West 120th Avenue in Westminster, near the intersection of 120th and Sheridan Boulevard.

It will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, with the kitchen closing at 10 p.m. each night. As always, kids (accompanied by an adult) and those under 21 are welcome every day until 7 p.m. After that, the place is 21+ only.

Why the northern suburbs? "It just seemed like the logical place to go," says owner Jourdan Adler. "Our Greenwood location was sort of our experiment in going to the suburbs; it's been so good post-COVID that it only made sense to us to head north." Adler says the spread out of downtown was purposeful. "Slowly but surely, it's seemed like little bits of Denver have sprinkled their way out into the suburbs," he says. "But it seemed to us that this part of Westminster hasn't gotten its share of that. We wanted to be one of the first. You know, we're near the ViewHouse in LoDo, across the street from the ViewHouse in Greenwood Village — but we beat them up here!"

Adler was always a fan of arcade games — he grew up with them, he says, and has had a Ms. Pac-Man in his living room since the late ’90s, when he was still frying wings at the downtown Denver Hooters. But he came to the idea for the 1up by way of his other love: tacos.

"I was an arcade kid, but also a taco guy," Adler laughs. "I worked for Wahoo's Fish Taco for a while, and then got the franchise rights to open my own in Austin, Texas." So he moved there, started up his shop and began collecting old arcade games to attract customers. By the time he moved back to Denver with the idea for the first 1up in 2010, he had 28 machines and counting.

Around the same time, Adler met Jon Jamshid, who's a co-founder and the "game guru" of the 1up. "I'd heard Jourdan was looking for a Tron game," recalls Jamshid, so he looked Adler up and got in touch, which hit the start button on the whole enterprise.
"Jon's a tech wizard," Adler says. "He's the one that finds a lot of the games, and he was the guy already in the middle of the collecting culture that allowed us to put together the original games for that first location. "

Longtime fans of the 1up might remember that the Colfax location was originally called the 2up, which would logically mean that the Greenwood Village location would have been the 3Up and so on. But Adler says they had to revert to the 1up for all locations because some patrons didn't get it, instead thinking the 2Up was a knockoff competitor of the OG.

"We'd have people coming out of the Fillmore and starting in the door of what was then the 2up, and we'd hear their friends say, 'Don't go in there — you want to go to the 1up downtown.' So when the 2up expanded, taking over the former Kitty's Adult Shop space next door, they decided to streamline the brand and call all the locations by the same name. Still, vestiges of the nomenclature linger: The Westminster's wi-fi is called 4up.

The 1up has gone through various permutations from the very start. Adler's planned first location wasn't where he ended up on Blake Street downtown. "Originally, I had a location at 33rd and Tejon," he says. "I sunk a lot of money into that place before I realized, for various reasons, that I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore. I told my now-wife that I had to pivot or I was going to blow it. I ended up finding the Blake Street location only five or six weeks before the baseball season. We did a liquor license transfer and put as much lipstick on the place as we could and got it open."
From those humble beginnings has come a growing and successful brand, and Adler says the Westminster location is the crown jewel — the extra life, the bonus ball, the score multiplier. "It's just awesome," he notes. "The space lends itself to let us do something we've not been able to do before."

The space is essentially divided into three separate rooms, he explains. The main bar area is strictly ’80s machines in their original cabinets. "I think I have 55 games in that room alone," says Adler. "There's nothing impeding on the sights and sounds of an ’80s arcade experience."

What Adler calls Game Room One is where players will find the '90s stuff. "The fighters, the driving games, the newer experiential games like Jurassic Park and Halo, along with Pop-a-Shot Basketball and Skee-Ball."

The last area, Game Room Two, is devoted to fan-favorite pinball. Forty-five pinball machines in cherry condition — the most of any location so far — grace the floor, with full-field cameras mounted overhead so onlookers can share the experience and watch gameplay with ease.

There's almost too much to see, and Adler clearly loves talking about it. "It's something, I gotta tell you," he admits with pride. "I just feel lucky to be here and get to share this with everyone who loves these games as much as we do. And I love that when you're sitting in the bar, it sounds exactly like the arcades where so many of us grew up," he says, with the familiar audio of Pole Position in the background.

"Prepare to qualify," it says.

Heed that call, arcade lovers. Buy a beer, insert your token, hit that player one start button.

The 1up Westminster is located at 4750 West 120th Avenue and is open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. For more information, visit the1uparcadebar.com.