Usually when you think of arcades, there a few things that come to mind...the assholes who would stay for hours on the one game you wanted to play...the group of cool kids in their Sergio Valente and Calvin Klein and Izod and Polo and all manner of trendiness crawling across their chests or plastered to their butts crowding around to watch one of their own excel in yet another activity that you don't...and those creepy older guys trolling for that certain misunderstood Joust fan that they can lure into a black van parked just around the corner...

Forget all that! Portland has this place called Ground Kontrol and it is the most fun I've had in a long time. Imagine an arcade that is also a nightclub and bar. It has all the goods- TMNT (if you don't know what this is, just stop reading now), Streetfighter, Ms. Pac Man, Centipede, Frogger, etc. The bar has displays of all the old gaming systems behind plexiglass. The variety of pinball games is awesome. And they had a dj the night I went, spinning old skool rap. Big Daddy Kane, NWA, The DOC, Fu Schnickens (FU-effing Schnickens people!!)

I can't wait to go back. I am taking a pocket full of quarters and my entourage.