Boxcar Bar + Arcade

It's open! The long anticipated Boxcar Bar + Arcade on Foster Street downtown

is ready for business, and a lot of fun is to be had. 

Parking is on the street, which in downtown Durham means paid parking so take note. When you walk in you'll notice the long row of pinball machines to your right and arcade games in front of you, dozens. Everyone needs to check in with ID but kids are welcome with an adult until 9pm.  Then you can buy one token for a quarter, with each game ranging from 1 to 4 tokens to play. 

Behind the arcade machine row is a place to order fresh pizzas (whole, no single slices). Prices are pretty reasonable and they looked really tasty!

Behind the front desk is a private event space which looks like a great opportunity for a unique get together for a group.

Farther down you'll see skeeball, foosball, and basketball games, framed all around by tall windows, giving it a lot of natural light. To the right and outside will be space for outdoor lounging. Dogs are welcome inside and outside (but no bearded dragons, birds or cats please haha - believe me, people have tried at other locations according to one Boxcar employee). The outdoors gravel picnic table area is not complete yet but I can imagine it will be fantastic in the spring. 

Turn around and there's a long bar with plenty of friendly bartenders. Lots of drink options abound, with mixed drink specials around $8-10 and beers from $3-7.

To the right of the bar are more games, including air hockey, dance dance revolution, racing simulators and even a couple nintendo consoles set up where you can play such games as Super Mario Bros 3 for free!

I love the view from the main part of the bar, overlooking the old Bulls stadium. Today a college team was warming up while we watched, a great scene.

Hanging out at Boxcar was really fun. We spent about an hour there, spending $20 in tokens and drinks. Good time had by all!

What we liked: Lots of options with games, and people were ready to help when we had questions or when a machine went down unexpectedly and they gave us our coins back. Drinks were tasty and the place was clean, welcoming and fun.

What we would change: The music was a bit... cheesy and poppy. We heard Smashmouth's AllStar and personally, I could go a lifetime without hearing it again. Maybe all 80's music would be better? But that's a wee complaint, all in all a great time. ;)

The details: 

Boxcar Bar + Arcade

621 Foster St, Durham, NC 27701
(984) 377-2791

https://theboxcarbar.com/