When you enter the Archives, downtown Burlington's new classic-game arcade, the first console you see is Tapper. The 1983 game, in which a garter-sleeved bartender must keep up with his patrons' increasingly frenzied demands for mugs of beer, is an apt and savvy choice for a gateway game here. It brings together the Archives' two raisons d'être: vintage video games and sudsy brews. In this milieu, the game practically demands to be played. And play it I did when I visited the Archives on a recent weekday evening. I remember Tapper from my days as a preteen arcade denizen, though the game I played was probably the closely related Root Beer Tapper. The original, Budweiser-sponsored game was cleaned up in 1984 in response to panicky bluenoses' fears that arcades were creating 12-year-old alcoholics. I savored the irony by sipping a Lost Nation Brewing Gose between games. The handsome, five-inch-wide wooden drink rails placed between the consoles are just one sign that the Archives is not your childhood arcade — the kind epitomized in Burlington by Upton's, once located at Church and Main streets. Back then, it was totally awesome if the video arcade had a tub of "cheez" sauce so the kids could dress up their curly fries. Nowadays, the average patron of the Archives is likely to be more interested in its 24 craft beers on tap. The kids who frequented arcades in the '80s are now, like me, fortysomethings who enjoy grown-up beverages with their evening's entertainment. As an arcade with alcohol, the Archives pointedly — and by law — does not cater to underage gamers. The games may get people in the door, but the bar menu, carefully crafted by general manager and restaurant-industry vet Matthew Marrier, encourages them to linger. Drafts from Brattleboro's Hermit Thrush Brewery and Woodstock's Beanery Brewing join cocktails such as the Tennis Elbow (Strega, Cynar, Shacksbury Cider, lemon and lime) and the Business Time (cognac, absinthe, amaro, grenadine and grapefruit bitters). And, in what must be a nod to the Japanese origins of many games, the Archives offers a selection of fine sakes. Matthew Walters, one of the bar's four co-owners, noted with some surprise that the sakes have been very popular with customers. Marrier and Walters remarked independently that the crowds at the Archives had exceeded expectations — though both acknowledged that the venue's novelty might have something to do…
When you enter the Archives, downtown Burlington's new classic-game arcade, the first console you see is Tapper. The 1983 game, in which a garter-sleeved bartender must keep up with his patrons' increasingly frenzied demands for mugs of beer, is an apt and savvy choice for a gateway game here. It brings together the Archives' two raisons d'être: vintage video games and sudsy brews. In this milieu, the game practically demands to be played. And play it I did when I visited the Archives on a recent weekday evening. I remember Tapper from my days as a preteen arcade denizen, though the game I played was probably the closely related Root Beer Tapper. The original, Budweiser-sponsored game was cleaned up in 1984 in response to panicky bluenoses' fears that arcades were creating 12-year-old alcoholics. I savored the irony by sipping a Lost Nation Brewing Gose between games. The handsome, five-inch-wide wooden drink rails placed between the consoles are just one sign that the Archives is not your childhood arcade — the kind epitomized in Burlington by Upton's, once located at Church and Main streets. Back then, it was totally awesome if the video arcade had a tub of "cheez" sauce so the kids could dress up their curly fries. Nowadays, the average patron of the Archives is likely to be more interested in its 24 craft beers on tap. The kids who frequented arcades in the '80s are now, like me, fortysomethings who enjoy grown-up beverages with their evening's entertainment. As an arcade with alcohol, the Archives pointedly — and by law — does not cater to underage gamers. The games may get people in the door, but the bar menu, carefully crafted by general manager and restaurant-industry vet Matthew Marrier, encourages them to linger. Drafts from Brattleboro's Hermit Thrush Brewery and Woodstock's Beanery Brewing join cocktails such as the Tennis Elbow (Strega, Cynar, Shacksbury Cider, lemon and lime) and the Business Time (cognac, absinthe, amaro, grenadine and grapefruit bitters). And, in what must be a nod to the Japanese origins of many games, the Archives offers a selection of fine sakes. Matthew Walters, one of the bar's four co-owners, noted with some surprise that the sakes have been very popular with customers. Marrier and Walters remarked independently that the crowds at the Archives had exceeded expectations — though both acknowledged that the venue's novelty might have something to do…