Stop four on the recent Knapp Arcade Spring 2022 Road Trip brought Rob and I to a fairly new location, the Aftershock Classic Arcade in Madison, Wisconsin. Despite the fact that Aftershock only recently opened in December 2021 everything was in full swing there, which makes sense given the fact that the original Aftershock arcade, dates back to 2000 and was actually Wisconsin's very first retrocade.
Aftershock is packed with games and cool decor...and describing the decor as "cool" is an understatement. There was things there that I have never seen before (and I've seen a lot), from the giant Atari 2600 bar top to an entire ceiling laid out as an exact replica of the maze from Pac-Man. Some really cool touches.
Aftershock contains a great mix of classic arcade games and pinball machines. On the vid side, there was a number of rare games, including the controversial Exidy games Death Race (1976) and Chiller (1986). They also had a very rare Data East DECO system running one of my favorites, BurgerTime. I did a short write-up on that one yesterday: https://www.knapparcade.org/post/sighting-of-the-first-interchangable-arcade-system-data-east-deco ). And of course, Aftershock has all of the popular classics like Donkey Kong, Frogger, Galaga, Gauntlet...and on and on.
On the pinball side, Aftershock has a solid lineup of 15 machines. Here's its current pinball lineup, courtesy of Pinball Map:
The Addams Family (Bally, 1992)
Black Knight 2000 (Williams, 1989)
Comet (Williams, 1985)
Doctor Who (Bally, 1992)
Funhouse (Williams, 1990)
High Speed (Williams, 1986)
Monster Bash (Remake) (Chicago Gaming, 2018)
PIN-BOT (Williams, 1986)
Phantom of the Opera (Data East, 1990)
South Park (Sega, 1999)
Stranger Things (Pro) (Stern, 2019)
Tales from the Crypt (Data East, 1993)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Williams, 1991)
Theatre of Magic (Bally, 1995)
Twilight Zone (Bally, 1993)
As an added bonus, Aftershock has a liquor license (which is a huge plus for me lol). There was nice selection of draft beers, bottles and mixed drinks. While you're enjoying your beverage at the bar, you can play the neat video games that are built right into it.
Not only is the current lineup at Aftershock great, they supposedly have some awesome games in the queue that will land on the floor in the future, including the highly sought after Discs of Tron, Paper Boy and one of my personal favorites Off Road. It's nice to see them keeping things fresh. Aftershock is a great place to visit for both fans of classic arcade games and pinball. If you find yourself in the Madison, Wisconsin area definitely make sure to check them out.
Below are my video walk-through and tons of pictures. Taking pictures at this particular venue was a little trickier than normal for me. While the blue Pac-Man maze on the ceiling looks amazing in person, the blue lighting makes taking my normal style of photography a little challenging. I think that I did a pretty good job at cleaning the pics up.
Thanks for reading and Enjoy!
For the next report from the road trip, we're off to the main event...The Midwest Gaming Classic!
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