Owners of the Phoenix-based Cobra Arcade Bar have announced on Facebook that their new location in downtown Tucson will officially open this Friday, June 29.
The bar, which pairs classic and hard-to-find arcade games with alcoholic beverages, will inhabit the 5,000 square feet of space at 63 E. Congress that was once home to JunXion Bar at the Congress and North Scott Avenue intersection.
More than 50 arcade games and pinball machines will be spread across two levels, Cobra’s regional manager Topher Bray said in an interview in April, including titles such as Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Galaga and Frogger.
“Opening in Tucson is like a dream come true for me,” Cobra founder and co-owner Ariel Bracamonte said in April. “I was born in Tucson. I have family there. Tucson has a really good feel to it. The minute I opened Phoenix, I wanted to do Tucson.”
The space, meant for the 21-and-older crowd, will have more of a club atmosphere on the weekends, complete with dancing and local DJ sets, Bray said.
Cobra’s Phoenix location opened in January of 2016
Its Tucson spot joins the national entertainment chain Dave & Buster's, which opened on the city’s south side in 2017.
A second chain, Round 1 Bowling and Amusement, which features arcade machines, karaoke rooms, billiard tables, bowling lanes and ping pong tables at its locations across the country, has signed a lease to replace the Sears department store at Park Place mall on Tucson’s east side by 2019.
