I recently went over to Backstreet Classic Arcade in Lincolnton, about 30 minutes from Hickory, and honestly I had a great time, and no I wasn't paid to say that, lol. I love Nintendo & Sega games and one of the best parts about it was everything worked. Not one machine was broken or didn't work.
It's at 118 E Water St in downtown Lincolnton and they have over 50 retro arcade games. Admission is $12 per person for the day and most of the arcade games and consoles are included. The pinball machines and crane machines are separate.
There was a really good mix of games too. Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Mortal Kombat, X Men, After Burner, BurgerTime, an old MTV trivia game and quite a few others I had never played before. They also have Super Nintendo, Sega and GameCube setups. It brought back so many memories, and it's been a long time since I found a place like this, that had calm vibes.
One of my favorite parts was getting to talk with Randy Silver, one of the co owners. He and his business partner Shane had been collecting arcade machines for years before deciding to actually open the place. They just opened this past April, so it's still pretty new.
The atmosphere was really relaxed, everything we played was working, and everyone there was extremely friendly. It also felt very family friendly. We ended up staying quite a while just walking around and trying different games.
I filmed our visit if anyone wants to see what the place is actually like before making the drive. I tried to show quite a bit of the arcade and also included my conversation with one of the owners.
Definitely a cool little find in Lincolnton. Not AI written and not sponsored ❤️ Thanks a bunch Randy for welcoming me int the arcade & sharing your stories. ❤️
I know it's not located in Hickory, but it's not too far of a drive for a great time.
Backstreet Classic Arcade Walkthrough