Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.

Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Welcome! We hope that you enjoy our free content.

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.

Thank you for signing in! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable..

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.

Drew Herron, owner of Zoltar’s Arcade at 51 Pleasant Street in Claremont, stands in front of some of his machines. The store plans to open on Thursday, July 14, 2022.

Drew Herron, owner of Zoltar’s Arcade at 51 Pleasant Street in Claremont, stands in front of some of his machines. The store plans to open on Thursday, July 14, 2022.

CLAREMONT — When walking into Zoltar’s Arcade at 51 Pleasant Street, you cannot help but be hit with a wave of nostalgia. The neon lights, old school gaming cabinets, and vintage toys bring you back to a time when your friends played with action figures after school, and the best place to go on a Friday night was downtown to play Dig Dug. This feeling was a piece of what urged Drew Herron to bring this arcade to Claremont. “When I was a kid, we still had arcades. Me and my friends would ride down to the arcade to play,” said Herron.

According to Herron, who moved here from Wisconsin almost two years ago, the idea for this business has been brewing for many years. “I bought a broken Pac-Man machine and started there,” he said. From there, he became a collector, accumulating a few pinball machines and arcade cabinets at his home about seven years ago.

One problem with these older machines, Herron found, is that they easily break and are often left broken. This led him to become a self-taught repair man, watching Youtube videos and reading repair forums to learn how to fix the rundown mechanisms. He states that approximately 90% of the games in his arcade were not working when he bought them, but he was able to bring them back to life.

Herron, whose favorite games growing up included Operation Wolf and Pinball, has accumulated a strong mix of games and pinball machines to attract audiences young and old. The arcade’s first game lineup will include 23 games, with titles like NFL Blitz, Centipede, and Metal Slug X. Pinball machines on offer will be Batman 66, Class of 1812, Middle Earth, and a rendition of the ever-popular Stranger Things. Classics like Pac-Man and Tetris are said to be coming soon.

One goal of Herron’s is to expand. “We will be taking the money we earn and investing into fixing and buying new games,” he said. If demand is high, there are dreams of expanding to a larger building, in order to provide larger games like Skee-Ball and having more pinball machines with an eye towards hosting pinball tournaments. Herron states that he has had discussions with local store owners, including One Last Life owner Chris LaClair, centered around possibly bringing gaming tournaments to the venue in the future as a way to reach out to local youth.

In addition to the gaming side, Zoltar’s Arcade doubles as a retro action figure and toy store. On the shelves are many classic toys such as Star Wars and X-Men action figures, alongside newer toys like Funko Pops and Fortnite Nerf Guns. These toys have been selling online at www.zoltarsarcade.com and will continue to be available both online and in-store.

While Herron says he was not aware of the effort to revitalize Pleasant Street when he began work on his business, he sees his arcade as another step in the right direction. “I am hoping it will bring in lots of people,” he said. “People are dying for stuff to do; our notifications have been blowing up since I made the post about us opening.” Herron says he has lived in two separate cities where similar revitalization projects have been conducted, and while it may seem slow moving, he says that they always turn out great for the surrounding community.

Zoltar’s Arcade will hold its Grand Opening on Thursday, July 14, 2022, with the arcade being open from noon to 9 PM. Regular business hours will continue to be noon to 9 PM, Thursday through Sunday. Most games will cost two tokens, with the newer pinball machines costing four. There is an ATM, and a token machine to assist customers in getting their gaming started.

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article. Allow up to 24 hours for comment approval.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.