Fighters
A proper row, cabinets side by side so you can talk trash sideways. Quarters on the bezel means you've got next.
Einstein’sArcade
A revival of the arcade that stood at 2310 Guadalupe, 1989–2008
We’re building a new one. Austin, Texas.
Attract mode
Nineteen years of black carpet and low light.
There was a room on Guadalupe where a quarter bought you three minutes of being someone else. No windows. No clock. You went in between classes and came out when the light outside had changed.
The original Einstein’s opened on the Drag in 1989 and won Best Video Arcade in the Chronicle’s readers’ poll the next year. It ran through five console generations while every other arcade in town shut down around it. Then, at 3:00 PM on New Year’s Day 2008, it closed — no notice to the regulars, no notice to the staff.
Austin never really replaced it. So we’re building a new one, on the same principle: cabinets, quarters, and nowhere else to be. We’re scouting rooms now — when the lease is signed, the address goes out to the list first.
To be clear about what this is: we are a new, independent business reviving a name Austin missed. We are not the original Einstein’s, we’re not connected to the people who ran it, and we don’t claim its history as our own. Every date on this page before 2008 is their history, not ours.
The original’s record, 1989–2008
- 1989Opened on the Drag at 2310 Guadalupe
- 1990Won Best Video Arcade, Chronicle readers' poll
- 1989–2007Ran on quarter play through five console generations
- Jan 1 2008Closed with no notice, 3:00 PM
- 2008–Austin has been short an arcade ever since
The record of the arcade that operated at 2310 Guadalupe. Not ours.
Select your game
Four rows, one room.
No address yet and no floor plan — we’re still looking at rooms. This is what we’re building toward.
Rhythm
Pads that are actually calibrated, bolted to a floor that doesn't bounce, with room behind you for a crowd.
Pinball
Real machines, levelled and maintained, with the tilt set honest. Silverball is the loudest thing in the room.
Classics
The upright cabinets that started it. Original hardware wherever we can find it and keep it running.
Player one