NEW BEDFORD - Adam Katz and his wife Lauren loved coming to Downtown New Bedford to visit its restaurants and bars, but they were longing for something else to do.

When it wasn’t developing on its own, Katz said the couple decided they would bring something new to Downtown themselves and the idea for PLAY Arcade, an 80’s style arcade offering a full service bar with craftmade drinks and food, was born.

“An arcade bar just seemed like an environment I wanted to be in every day,” Katz, 44, said at a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the business on Tuesday.

That environment includes walls and windows painted with colorful murals of popular arcade game characters like the ghosts from PacMan and Bowser from Super Mario and a rooftop with its own bar and a view of the city’s working waterfront.

The road to the grand opening has had its challenges for the Katzs.

They began demolition on their 34 Union Street location, which housed Slainte Irish Pub until it closed in March of this year, right around when the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down at the end of March.

Katz said the pandemic limited the amount of materials they were able to get and their ability to use contractors.

“We had to do everything ourselves,” Katz said, which slowed things down.

The pandemic pushed back their opening about a month, Katz said, and it put a lot of financial strain on the couple.

Though the grand opening ceremony was Tuesday, PLAY Arcade opened to customers last Wednesday and on Friday and Saturday nights Katz said they were operating at their full socially distanced capacity of 70 seats.

Seeing the business full felt fantastic, Katz said.

“It felt good, the kitchen staff was excited, everyone was excited,” he said.

Now that they are open, the pandemic is still impacting their business though because in addition to it limiting their capacity, it has forced them to act only as a restaurant.

Katz said initially they were given permission from the city’s Board of Health to let customers play their arcade games, but two days after opening they were told by the state that they weren’t allowed to.

Some customers have been disappointed the games are off and called and cancelled their reservations, according to Katz.

Katz estimated not being able to turn the games on cuts the business’ revenue in half.

But, Katz said they have taken the opportunity to “step up our food game.”

Katz described Play Arcade’s menu as pub-style food including burgers, fried chicken, personal-sized pizzas and mac & cheese.

The menu also includes several vegan options like crabless cakes— artichoke and chickpea cakes served with remoulade sauce, nachos made with vegan queso, and blackbean burger sliders.

Katz said he knows there are many plant-based eaters in the area, including his wife, and he wanted the menu to cater to them.

Once the state allows them to open up the arcade, Katz said customers will be able to enjoy over 40 games including pinball, Skee-ball, Mrs. Pac Man, Asteroids, Donkey Kong, and many more.

Customers can also expect to see a rotating lineup of games.

Katz said they co-own the games with another arcade bar, Bit Bar Salem, and they will rotate in new games for people to play.

The games are token operated, and most cost two tokens.

The token themselves cost 25 cents, Katz said, with a goal of getting back to “old-school” prices.

Once the arcade is up and running, he said he hopes to start holding competitions where whoever gets the highest score will win prizes or get extra tokens.

In the short time he was able to see customers play arcade games at his business , Katz said he saw adults come in and child-like excitement spread across their faces when they saw the games they used to play as kids.

Councilor-at-large Ian Abreu and Ward 1 Councilor Brad Markey attended Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony and gave Katz a citation from City Council in recognition of the grand opening.

Markey thanked Katz for opening a business in New Bedford, calling small businesses vital to keeping the city alive, especially in times like these.

“A lot of folks are saying it's tough to open a business in this climate with everything going on in the state and the country and the world with this pandemic,” Abreu said, “but I actually think this is the right time in a way because people could use a reprieve...this is an outlet where folks can come and be happy.”

Abreu also made sure to say that despite being from Fairhaven, the Katz have roots in New Bedford.

According to Abreu, the couple was married in the Seamen’s Bethel and Lauren works downtown at Boutique Fitness.

Katz does have a long history in the area, he graduated from Fairhaven High School in 1993 and then from UMass Dartmouth with a degree in Fine Art Sculpture before moving to Los Angeles to work as a stuntman.

Katz said he then returned to Fairhaven to run a contracting business for 15 years, while he also worked as a call firefighter for the Fairhaven Fire Department.

Play Arcade isn’t his first foray into providing people with unique forms of entertainment.

Katz also runs Mass Axes, a mobile ax-throwing business, where customers can try their hand at throwing an ax at a target, that's made appearances at AHA! Nights in the city and at events like Buzzard Bay Brewing company’s release of its Lizzie’s Famous 81 Whacks IPA.

Katz said he is interested in opening an indoor version of his ax-throwing business, but he’ll have to wait until he has the time to find the right location.

Play Arcade is open Wednesday-Sunday from 12 a.m. to 10 p.m.