Bloody hell. We weren’t quite prepared for it, but it seems Brisbane was ready for an arcade bar. We’ve just hit the one month mark (already) and have had a hell of a time finding our feet and getting a feel for the odd creature that Netherworld will evolve into over time.

We’ve seen hoards of folk come down to play board games with friends over a few pints of beer, partners taking Point Blank way too seriously, parents bringing their kids in to show them the games they played in their day, hungry dwellers navigating the Hellmouth Diner’s menu and solo adventurers coming down to spend hours straight quietly playing pinball.

We can’t thank everybody who ventured into the depths of the Netherworld enough, especially those champions that lined up (because nobody likes a line). The support has been unbelievable. There were a few teething problems over the first couple of weeks, namely air conditioning, lack of drink benches, faulty mechanical coin mechs and at one stage, a flood in the Hellmouth Diner during a big thunderstorm. At least the weather is respecting our terrifying theme and we’ve upheld what we understand is a strong, wet tradition of 186 Brunswick St.

Now that we’ve moved past our trial by fire (flood), Netherworld will be settling into its regular existence. We’ll have Netherworld trivia every single Wednesday, bonkers pinball events, arcade showdowns, live music, once a month mornings called ‘Little Monsters’ for guardians and little ones, fortnightly movies and occasional one off, weird events that you should definitely keep an eye out for. Beyond that, we’ll just be a strange place you can always get a feed, a good drink and play a freaking game or two.

We’ll be slowly adding more consoles, board games, shelves and oddities throughout the venue as we go. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice many of the arcade and pinball machines have already rotated. There’s lot of different reasons why, but the obvious one is that these machines are old and require constant maintenance when played this heavily. If something is sick, it leaves the venue and something takes its place. Since we opened, we’ve added Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and a brand new Stern Batman ’66 pinball as regular features, which is just the start of our stubborn need to cram as many games as we can into the dark corners of the Netherworld. We’ve had guest machines in the form of Karate Champ, Magic pinball, Whirlwind pinball and Tron Legacy pinball.

We’re excited to share some of the things we’ve got in store for Netherworld, but in the meantime, we’re going to to sit down, catch our breath, have a damned beer and try to beat Jimmy’s high scores on all the pinnies.

 

  • Ben Jungles