A longtime Portland retro gaming staple is setting up shop just across the Columbia River. Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade and Bar is building out a 5,500-square-foot space on the first floor of 415 Columbia St. in downtown Vancouver, tucked into a recently built apartment building at the corner of West Fourth Street and Washington Street.
Ground Kontrol is planning a Vancouver location outside its Portland home base. The Columbian reported the project. A city planning permit issued in August shows the new space will include an arcade, office, kitchen and dining area, giving the first real look at what Vancouver gamers can expect once the build-out wraps.
A Portland Institution Since 1999
Ground Kontrol has been a fixture of Portland's gaming scene since it was founded in 1999, according to oregonlive.com. The arcade moved to its current Portland location in 2003, and it has only grown from there — a 2017 expansion added a second bar, doubled the square footage and nearly doubled the number of games on the floor, per the same report. That same coverage described the bar as a long-running favorite for Portlanders chasing their retro gaming fix.
Ground Kontrol's own site lists its arcade as open noon to midnight daily during its fall hours, with all ages welcome until 5 p.m. and a 21-and-over, ID-required policy kicking in after that, according to groundkontrol.com. The Portland location also keeps its calendar busy with an Indie Game Night spotlighting independently developed titles in its lounge, and the site lists a Killer Queen PDX Mixer Tournament for November.
Vancouver Already Has Its Own Gaming Hangout
Ground Kontrol won't be the only videogame-themed watering hole in town. Vault 31 Bar and Cafe, located at 316 SE 123rd Ave, Suite D4, already bills itself as a unique videogame and geek-themed hangout in Vancouver, according to visitvancouverwa.com. Vault 31 mixes creative cocktails and handmade pizza with coffee, board games, gaming consoles, PC gaming and esports events, per the same listing.
Whether Ground Kontrol's downtown footprint will directly compete with Vault 31's offerings or carve out its own niche remains to be seen. For now, the details tied to the new Vancouver space are limited to what's spelled out in the August planning permit — the arcade, office, kitchen and dining area that The Columbian's reporting confirmed.
