A new arcade bar called The Lucky Flipper is aiming to open in early December at 915 Central Avenue, filling a 1,600-square-foot storefront in the EDGE District of downtown St. Petersburg with 16 to 18 pinball machines, a handful of classic arcade cabinets, and a bar built around Florida-made beer.
The venue is taking over the former home of Machine Shop Barber Company, according to St Pete Rising, which first reported the plans. The space will include three to six classic arcade cabinets alongside the pinball lineup, and owner Matthew Scott wants the whole thing to feel bright, approachable and unmistakably St. Pete, right down to branding that leans on coral and teal colors and a roseate spoonbill.
What $14 Gets You Through the Door
Daily admission is currently planned at $14, covering unlimited play and the ability to come and go throughout the day, per the same outlet's reporting. Scott is also weighing discounted date nights, memberships, military discounts and other special offers, though none of that is locked in yet.
The opening machine lineup is expected to include modern titles tied to Jaws, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Dungeons & Dragons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Venom, Avengers, King Kong and X-Men. There will also be a refurbished 1993 Judge Dredd machine, a nod to Scott's own introduction to the hobby. Scott expects to rotate machines, add newer releases and bring in older games as he and his son become more familiar with maintaining them.
Explaining the appeal of licensed machines to newcomers, Scott said, “if they like watching Stranger Things, they're more likely to like banging around on that machine.”
Beer, Byob Food and No Kitchen
The bar will pour six beers on draft, including one national domestic option alongside what will likely be local or Florida brewery selections, with a broader focus on local and Florida-made beer overall. Canned and bottled beer, wine, seltzers, nonalcoholic beer, soft drinks and malt-based canned cocktails round out the drink menu.
There's no kitchen planned. Scott is leaning on the neighborhood instead, saying, “the EDGE District has plenty of great food that customers can bring in and enjoy.”
Scott also plans learn-to-play nights, likely on Mondays or Tuesdays, and hopes to eventually host tournaments, youth leagues and events for both experienced and new players.
From the Army to the Arcade
Scott, 44, spent 18 years in the Army before retiring in 2023 and has volunteered with Team Rubicon, a disaster-response nonprofit largely made up of veterans. He moved to St. Petersburg's Crescent Lake neighborhood earlier this year.
He and his wife, Jessica, started playing pinball during the pandemic on a Judge Dredd machine that belonged to her late father, the machine that inspired the refurbished cabinet planned for the new bar. Scott began considering opening an arcade of his own back in 2021, and in researching the idea he visited Replay Amusement Museum in Tarpon Springs and Three Daughters Brewing in St. Pete.
Replay, located at 119 E. Tarpon Ave. in historic downtown Tarpon Springs, offers a much larger collection than what's planned for The Lucky Flipper, with more than 100 playable pinball games, video games and other amusements, according to Visit St. Pete/Clearwater. A visitor review on that same profile put admission there at $16 with in-and-out privileges included. The museum was founded in 2014 by Brian and Becky Cheaney, and by one count featured 66 arcade cabinets and 67 pinball machines, according to Creative Pinellas. The Tarpon Springs museum keeps regular hours Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., per the same magazine.
Anyone hoping to open an arcade business in the region should expect scrutiny of how machines are operated. Last month, the Florida Gaming Control Commission, with assistance from the St. Petersburg Police Department, carried out enforcement operations at two separate locations in St. Petersburg, according to a St. Petersburg Police Department news release describing the operations as dismantling illegal arcades.
