Arcade bar opens in downtown San Angelo with free vintage games

A new arcade bar in downtown San Angelo offers free play on vintage games, shuffle boards, ping pong, a full bar and more.

Circuit Breaker Arcade Bar opened May 6 at 109 S. Chadbourne Street next door to Fuentes and Chadbourne Tavern.

Co-owner Kevin Navolanic said he and his business partner Erik Borrego have been working on the business for more than a year and finally opened three weeks ago.

The arcade has a full center bar, three custom-made, double-length shuffleboard tables, two ping pong tables and 28 operating arcade games.

"Right now we have a mixture of old classics and some refurbished games, but the majority are vintage original bodies from late 70s to early 90s," Navolanic said.

All the games in the bar are set for free play.

"We don't take a profit off any of the actual games," Navolanic said. "We're more entertainment and fun oriented, not profit driven. People can come in and have an enjoyable experience, maybe get a drink or two and hangout. We aren't trying to nickel and dime everyone for every penny they have."

The bar also hosts gaming tournaments offering box prizes and other winnings. People can stay updated on the bar's Facebook for tournaments.

The business has fluctuated business hours since opening, trying to find the best times for customers and the bartenders.

"After the first couple days of operating we realized that we were putting too much load on the bartenders and servers, and the amount of foot traffic during the weekday that late at night just wasn't there," Navolanic said. "We just made a quick alteration to basically lessen the load on the bartenders and to operate at more peak hours, so we're not having a ghost town in there."

At the moment, the hours of operations are 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. on Friday, 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday, 2-10 p.m. on Sundays and they are closed Mondays.

"We think this arcade bar will be a big hit and a big change of pace for downtown," Navolanic said.