thrillist

Video games are typically played at home, or at arcades surrounded by people whose tally of high-scores is inversely proportional to the number of times they've scored. Placing video games in a more social venue, Kung Fu Saloon.

Conceived by the owners of Annie's West, Kung Fu's a classic-gaming themed watering hole with a shamelessly cheesy dose of martial arts thrown in, decked out in reclaimed Chicago brickwork shaded into Space Invader patterns and pixelated paintings of Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee, who appears not at all impressed with all those Chuck Norris jokes. Wasting-your-life-away options include pre-video games like skeeball and shuffleboard, stand-ups like Street Fighter 2, Moon Patrol, Joust, Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong, 1942, and NBA Jam, and tabletops of Centipede, Galaga, Space Invaders, and Ms. Pac-Man, with all games costing only a quarter, much to the consternation of your laundry. Because this is a bar and not your parents' basement, there are over 20 taps, from the everyman's $2 Pearl Light to the Belgian man's Chimay, plus a menu of specialty sake bombs; there's also a giant gong, struck nightly at 1:45am to remind you that it's nearing time to go home...to your parents' basement.

In the future Kung Fu plans to host DJs, live music from gaming-inspired acts like The Mysterious H, and movie-themed nights celebrating cult-classics like Hackers, released back before Angelina Jolie reached the top of the high-score list.

Add this to My Thrillist

Reserve a table for their New Year's Eve blowout