Picture this: it’s Friday night. You head out with your friends to a trendy bar and end up squished in a corner, shouting over the music and breathing in enough secondhand cigarette smoke to make your coat smell for days. As the night goes on, you stumble into another – almost identical – bar.
Then before you know it you hear someone mention a guestlist and suddenly you’re at the club… You wake the next morning with techno ringing in your ears and a pounding headache. As you shakily sip your electrolyte water you wonder: isn’t there more to life than this? Enter Electric Social, the new “arcade bar and restaurant” at Alexanderplatz, offering punters a different kind of night out.
Whether you’re Generation Pac-Man or Generation Mario Kart, with over 50 games on offer, there’s bound to be something that’ll give you a hearty dose of nostalgia. Founders Antonio Bruccoleri and Tom Boerman created the venue to “bring out the inner child in everyone”. Electric Social operates on a credits-based system, with games currently priced between €1.20 to €2.40, and if you fancy a mid-week hangout, there’s 50% off arcade games on Tuesdays.
Don’t go in expecting your typical sticky-floor, retro arcade; Electric Social is a decidedly modern venue, with a swish interior and high tech “social games” like virtual darts and Pac-Man on a giant five-metre screen. The venue also has an onsite restaurant and bar, and even free karaoke on Thursday nights. Turn your nose up at arcade games all you want, but when that Dance Dance Revolution mat calls your name, we dare you not to jump in and join the fun.
- Electric Social, Grunerstr. 13, Mitte, details.
