Beercade: the arcade game that rewards winners with beer

By on April 14, 2013

beercade

Developed by the McKinney creative agency, the Beercade replaces the coin slots on a traditional arcade machine with beer taps and encourages players to compete for some frosty, ice cold beer. Featuring a custom made game called The Last Barfighter, two players battle in a Street Fighter style of game featuring a dive bar setting, a crazy group of silly characters and a ridiculous set of fighting moves that include hurling fire, butt smacks and impaling characters with unicorn horns.

To start, the players must first place their cups underneath the blue and red taps. The developers of the machine have included two sensors within the taps that are triggered once the cups are in place.

beercade-taps

Players battle up to three rounds and the first person that wins two rounds will trigger their tap. The loser gets nothing and has to wait for another player for a shot at a free beer.

The arcade machine can house one full-sized keg and is set to dispense approximately three ounces of beer for sample tasting. However, the machine could easily be tweaked for longer pours.

The machine was specifically created for Big Boss Brewing Company, a brewery located within Raleigh, North Carolina. While it can be found at the brewery on a regular basis, the Beercade is displayed at local festivals, fairs and other events in the area.

The CheckOut Wednesday Giveaway has ended! Congrats to Michael G. as our grand prize winner of the iCade Arcade! Also, congrats to Tom A. as our runner up! Both of you should have emails in your inbox from us. To everyone else, tune back in tomorrow morning for a new giveaway. (and bring your lightsabers, hint, hint)

About Mike Flacy

Editor-in-Chief for The CheckOut. During my free time, I love to write about pop culture, home theater, digital photography, social media, mobile technology and cool gadgets!

110 Comments

  1. Bcndblcheefbrgr

    April 25, 2013 at 8:53 am

    Defender/battlezone/gorf still rock.

  2. Jacob LaFountaine

    April 24, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    Pole Position. First great racing game

  3. Robert

    April 24, 2013 at 8:49 pm

    Donkey Kong

  4. Mike Flacy

    April 24, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    The CheckOut Wednesday Giveaway has ended! Congrats to Michael G. as our grand prize winner of the iCade Arcade! Also, congrats to Tom A. as our runner up! Both of you should have emails in your inbox from us.

    To everyone else, thanks for entering! Tune back in tomorrow morning around 9 a.m. PT for a new giveaway. (and bring your lightsabers, hint, hint.)

  5. Richard

    April 24, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    Defender – The sounds effects were great on this fast action game.

  6. Derek

    April 24, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    Galaga was by far the game to play. As a teenager back in the 80’s I worked at a grocery store bagging groceries. I would spend my entire paycheck playing this arcade game in the back of the store. I never was too good at Mrs. Pac Man.

  7. thriftychristy

    April 24, 2013 at 5:01 pm

    I would have to say Galaga or Pac-Man. My grandmother had a little building with a couple of arcade games and a jukebox. I would play for hours on Sundays when we went over to visit. Ahh, the good ol days!

  8. Scott Kimura

    April 24, 2013 at 5:00 pm

    There are too many. Rip Off, Galaga, Robotron, Sinistar, and …

  9. nick

    April 24, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    Definitely street fighter 2.

  10. Marc Reynado

    April 24, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    Heavy barrel, best part was getting the big ol’ gun! 2 player action was awesome.

  11. Jafafa Hots

    April 24, 2013 at 4:25 pm

    Star Castle was my favorite… I preferred the vector games over the raster games, and Star Castle was the most challenging with a freedom of movement that only vector games allowed at that time.

    Marble Madness would be a close second, but it ENDED, so replay value was less.

  12. kaisho99

    April 24, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    That is awesome! I’m old…originally Space Innvaders, but…

    Xevious !
    Elevator Action
    Spy Hunter
    Zaxxon

  13. tony

    April 24, 2013 at 4:17 pm

    the original pacman not the remakes

  14. Kegger99

    April 24, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    I’m afraid this is gonna date me (but hopefully too much), but I enjoyed Battlezone, Star Trek (sometimes called Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator) and Zaxon……but the one I threw the most quarters at was Tempest. Still enjoy playing it today (with the help of an old Win3.1 era program Microsoft Arcade).

    HOWEVER, thanks to this post (and looking up old names to refresh my memory), I found a Google Chrome app (free!) for Tempest! Thanks Ben!

    Count me in for the ION iCade Arcade for iPad!

  15. bruce wood

    April 24, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    loved Galaga, spent hours trying to make the cheat where you could make them stop firing at you wprk

  16. badreligionnc

    April 24, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    My favorite was Mappy!

  17. g-mab

    April 24, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    Pacman & ms pacman.

  18. Mark

    April 24, 2013 at 3:25 pm

    Defenders is the greatest game… oh, and Centipede!
    Defenders and Centipede! – our two greatest games… oh, and Tanks!
    Defenders, Centipedes, and Tanks! our three greatest games… and an undying devotion to the Pope! Our four greatest games…

    Oh.. should I start that again…?

  19. dgsinclair

    April 24, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    Asteroids, pacman, ms. pacman, joust, stargate (loved those Williams games, great sound effects), Dragon’s Lair. Dropped out right about when fighting games like Street Fighter came in.

    • showdoc

      April 24, 2013 at 3:28 pm

      originally – missle command, with the giant track ball…what fun

      later i was hung up on GALAGA – shoot those bugs!!!!

      morelater
      the show doctor

  20. Mike

    April 24, 2013 at 3:20 pm

    I missed arcade game, Street Fighter.

  21. Ken M

    April 24, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    Pole Position was the best. Used to race my friends for hours.

  22. David Voorhies

    April 24, 2013 at 3:13 pm

    Double Dragon baby.

  23. W K

    April 24, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    Tough choice. Either Star Wars or Tron. Both lets you relive yourself in movies scenes. In Star Wars you fly and shoot through 3 different scenarios. Tron is pretty cool to be able to play 4 different mini-games inspired by the movie.

  24. Peter Nims

    April 24, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    It was Altered Beast for my brother and me at a local Shakey’s Pizza place. For me, I liked it because of the special powers.

  25. Larry Hughes

    April 24, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    Definitely Pac Man. It was the first game to break the threshold in graphics, challenge, music and entertainment all in one package.

  26. Sunny

    April 24, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    Shoot! I forgot …. “DOUBLE DRAGON” !!!! yes !! An adventure of a game. ALSO TRON !!! both excellent games that you could not stop until you dropped.

  27. Sunny

    April 24, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    Though I loved Battle Zone (amazing new concept and world) and Super Punchout (interesting/diverse characters and competition), the game Narc was something addictive. It was probably the first big shoot them up game with an INCREDIBLE sound set and super wacky characters. You never stop… and you always hope you can continue. As you play, in time, the sounds and action compound and build. You reach a threshold when you are overwhelmed, in the Porsche and the sound of a Helicopter fires up to hunt you down.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPIfsPgTSFc

  28. Scott K.

    April 24, 2013 at 2:19 pm

    720 – SKATE OR DIE

    Hands down my favorite game of the 80’s!

  29. Chad Okada

    April 24, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Asteroids

  30. Howard

    April 24, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    It had to be Tetris. It was the only game where the high scores are stored permanently.

  31. Bill

    April 24, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    Stargate FTW!!!! I could play for hours on a single quarter… next runner up was Robotron… loved that game

  32. Ezequiel Pozo

    April 24, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    Tetris drove me crazy, even dreamed Tetris for long time… Has that not happen to all of us?

  33. Rich

    April 24, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    My favorite old school video game has got to be Tapper!

  34. Michael Gorzik

    April 24, 2013 at 1:32 pm

    My absolute favorite arcade game was battle zone. I use to have to walk to Jr. High School, I would buy a hot chocolate at 7-eleven and a big chocolate chip cookie before school and drop so many quarters into battle zone before class started.

  35. Jim Fitz

    April 24, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    Absolutely loved Terminator 2: Judgement day!

    It was just something about the guns and how friggin tough the game was! oh and it helped if you had two players too!

  36. Sand

    April 24, 2013 at 1:18 pm

    Pac-Man was my favorite. It was fun but challenging as a kid.

  37. Tom

    April 24, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Jackal, Ninja Warriors, Crossed Swords, I remember being a kid and loving the challenge of these 3 and having such great memories with them. Seeing these games on youtube I laugh, because in my mind they still seems so much better.

  38. Basel Girth

    April 24, 2013 at 1:10 pm

    Joust or Turbo were my favs!

  39. Alex

    April 24, 2013 at 1:04 pm

    Space Invaders. Or Tempest.

  40. Gina

    April 24, 2013 at 12:49 pm

    Favorite game was Ms. Pacman! This game was addicting and took alot of my quarters.

  41. George

    April 24, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    I loved playing either Donkey Kong or Burger Time. The local pizza place had a few machines. Those were always my favorite as I waited for my food to be ready.

  42. Lotusstyle

    April 24, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    My favorite old-school video game would have to be Sinistar. It was one of the first video games to feature real voices. It scared the crap out of me when Sinistar would appear on the screen screaming at you while trying to kill you. I’ll never forget that voice.

  43. Kevin

    April 24, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    any of the original multiplayer ones, Simpsons, TMNT, or X-Men. Awesome addicting games where it was hard has hell playing individual, but still hard even playing with a full team.

    Best part was the ones w/ the multi 3 screen, back then i thought that was the best way to play any arcade game! Now you can set that up easily on your home PC. i should know, i have 6 monitors for my setup 😀

  44. Grape Ape

    April 24, 2013 at 12:28 pm

    As a former game tech I have played a lot of games through the years.

    STILL a space invaders fan as it was the first handheld I owned, Frogger had its place in time but if its my last quarter and I have to choose….. Street Fighter is where my coin would go.

  45. Jay

    April 24, 2013 at 12:28 pm

    Final Fight! It was cool tossing around bad guys and beating up badass bosses!

  46. K

    April 24, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Pac-Man and Street Figher II

  47. Trent Scott

    April 24, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    I loved Galaga, but played Ms. Pacman with my wife. 20 years later, she is still a Ms. Pacman devotee.

  48. Paul

    April 24, 2013 at 12:14 pm

    Galaga 🙂

  49. Sliver

    April 24, 2013 at 12:12 pm

    My favorite-ever arcade game was Galaxian. Despite Galaga’s supposed improvement and enhancement of the basic Galaxian gameplay, it never gave me that “just one more game” feeling like Galaxian. For years I wished Microsoft would update “Return of Arcade” so I could play it on PC. It wasn’t until the Sega Remix release for Wii that I was able to scratch that itch again. Ahh.

  50. Sergey Morozov

    April 24, 2013 at 12:09 pm

    Pacman! Pacman!! PAAAAAC-MAAAAAAN!!!!

  51. C Turner

    April 24, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    My favorite from the first home console era would have to be Miner 2049er for the Atari 5200. I wore out four or five controllers on that game. You had to stay on your toes and hop around the board like a jack rabbit, sqaushing mutant animals and flinging Bounty Bob across terrifying four inch chasms, but at the same time, you needed strategy and patience to learn the patterns and the tricks. Each level gave you some new toy to play with (and probably get splatted by until you mastered it) like the transporters or the moving platforms. It was simple enough for a ten year old to play yet had a wicked sharp learning curve for a kid weened on Space Invaders. Maybe one of the greatest things about it was the fact that you could actually beat it at long last, instead of just the sitting there helpless while, level after level, the insurmountable forces accelerated their attack until all hope was removed and you were casually obliterated, like in Galaga and Asteroids.

  52. Hans Wang

    April 24, 2013 at 12:07 pm

    Sinistar because it was hectic and just odd.

  53. Allan

    April 24, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    All time favorite was the original mario brothers. 2 players and addicting!

  54. Bill Murray

    April 24, 2013 at 11:49 am

    Ms. Pacman! Similar to Pacman but better because each level had a slightly different configuration. The bonus food bounced around the screen, and looked so tasty (especially the pretzel).

  55. Greg Hull

    April 24, 2013 at 11:48 am

    The game that got all of my quarters was Galaga! I still love and play it today at 53!

  56. kennyboy

    April 24, 2013 at 11:48 am

    Donkey Kong all the way

  57. dc

    April 24, 2013 at 11:48 am

    With so many out there, I think the one that stands out the most is AD&D’s Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mysteria.

    With the different classes you can choose, a choose you own path style and 4 player so you can all work together, it was the best times I’ve had with my friends, loved the Cleric. Best is when you figure out the different paths that give you the different endings.

    Can’t wait till it is re-released.

  58. Adam

    April 24, 2013 at 11:46 am

    Street Fighter!

  59. Mat Schlemmer

    April 24, 2013 at 11:38 am

    My hands down favorite was Time Soldiers! Awesome weapons, shirt ripping power ups, and ahhhhhh which portal do I choose!?

  60. Chris

    April 24, 2013 at 11:33 am

    Arkenoid or Golden Tee…but both used the roller ball, so this little gizmo won’t do them justice

  61. Rene

    April 24, 2013 at 11:29 am

    My favorite game when growing up was Robotron 2084. No need to frantically press a button to shoot. Just save the humans. Word.

  62. Adam

    April 24, 2013 at 11:29 am

    Best childhood arcade game for me was The Punisher. My brother and I would go to Straw Hut Pizza after a little league game and play the arcades until our father yanked us away by the collars. Close runner up was Street Fighter II!

  63. Pete Borini

    April 24, 2013 at 11:22 am

    I really loved an obscure arcade game called “King and Balloons.” It was similar to Galaxian, except the object was to prevent the King from being carried off by a never-ending barrage of hot-air balloons. Some of the audio was produced in Japan, and was unintentionally hilarious.

  64. Joseph Tullis

    April 24, 2013 at 11:21 am

    RoadBlasers!

  65. TomasS

    April 24, 2013 at 11:20 am

    My favorite was “way out”.

  66. Ross Williams

    April 24, 2013 at 11:19 am

    Donkey Kong, my bike rides were heavy due to all the quarters in my pockets.

  67. Joseph Tullis

    April 24, 2013 at 11:18 am

    OMG, how could I forget Frogger?.

  68. DA

    April 24, 2013 at 11:17 am

    Pac Man and Normandy Landing!!

  69. Joseph Tullis

    April 24, 2013 at 11:16 am

    Oh, Double Dragon was great too. What was that car game that was kinda like Rad Racer, but you had thumb buttons on the yoke?

  70. adg

    April 24, 2013 at 11:16 am

    Street Fighter was my favorite arcade game because I could play for hours on 1 quarter. “Attack me if you dare, I will crush you!”

  71. Azam

    April 24, 2013 at 11:15 am

    The Simpsons. It was at every movie theater I went to as a kid, and we had to have multiplayer games so everyone could play. I only beat it once with my two best friends. We ended up missing the movie and spending all our popcorn money, but it was so worth it.

    X-Men and TMNT tied for 2nd.

    Memories.

  72. Joseph Tullis

    April 24, 2013 at 11:13 am

    Galaga, Golden Axe, and Shinobi come to mind.

  73. Tyler Pew

    April 24, 2013 at 11:10 am

    Street Fighter for sure. I liked it because I could actually figure out how to use each of their powers to fight.

  74. Ben

    April 24, 2013 at 11:09 am

    Gotta be the old TMNT scrollers. Loved having friends jump in with coins at the last minute!

  75. velder dixon

    April 24, 2013 at 11:05 am

    pac man-i even bought the desk set one

  76. John

    April 24, 2013 at 11:04 am

    My favorite was 1942, cause it was one of the few games I could last a long time without dying.

  77. Ben

    April 24, 2013 at 10:58 am

    favorite had to be either the original Japanese version of Street Fighter (with only a joystick + 2 really large buttons, one blue for kick and one red for punch).

    runner up has to be Paperboy…always loved hitting/breaking things on my delivery route.

  78. Dan Linden

    April 24, 2013 at 10:53 am

    Zaxon, man I could fly.

  79. Armando

    April 24, 2013 at 10:53 am

    My favorite game was Galaga and Mrs. Pacman.. The greates games ever made. Still I play them both..

  80. Anthony

    April 24, 2013 at 10:49 am

    Gradius was always a favorite of mine. The different weapon upgrades kept it interesting.

  81. D

    April 24, 2013 at 10:43 am

    karateka because of the roundhouse kicks

  82. George

    April 24, 2013 at 10:40 am

    Lunar Lander. Yeah, it was before your time.

  83. Sabrina

    April 24, 2013 at 10:40 am

    Basically any fighting game (e.g. StreetFighter, King of Fighters, Tekken) that I could get my hands on. I could never figure out how to do the fancy combos or intentionally tag team (if the game allowed it), but I loved seeing the screen explode with colors and sounds.

  84. Han

    April 24, 2013 at 10:36 am

    Ms. Pac-Man definitely, with the speed hack. I loved Galaga as well, but I preferred not having to mash a button and simply use one joystick. But my favorite thing about old school arcades in general was the pride of racking up the high score, even if your name wasn’t on the list. It was just unfortunate when there was a power outage at the arcade or someone accidentally unplugged the machine.

  85. curtis

    April 24, 2013 at 10:35 am

    nfl blitz

  86. alvin

    April 24, 2013 at 10:29 am

    moon patrol, never figured out why i liked it so much. i think i just liked putting quarters in the machine.

    • Bcndblcheefbrgr

      April 25, 2013 at 8:58 am

      that soundtrack and the bouncing debris when you blew up was cool.

  87. Jeff Hardwick

    April 24, 2013 at 10:28 am

    My favorite old arcade game was Galaga.

  88. jsp9999

    April 24, 2013 at 10:25 am

    Definitely street fighter. all the punches and kicks and fireball.

  89. cody chy

    April 24, 2013 at 10:19 am

    the street fighter series

  90. Raphael Salgado

    April 24, 2013 at 10:18 am

    I would have to say Rad Mobile. I used to play that endlessly at the arcades down in Atlantic City.

  91. Du

    April 24, 2013 at 10:16 am

    The best old school arcade game?, well there wasn’t just one. there was so many like Galaga, Street Fighter, TMNT or The Simpsons to name a few. It would have to be the TMNT teenage mutant ninja turtles were you can play 4 player co-op as a team almost like the X-men arcade game also. I love the way it was setup so anyone can jump into to instant action. and the graphics was super awesome still i will i had one of the 4 player co-op arcade cabinets stand at my place.

  92. John

    April 24, 2013 at 10:15 am

    My favorite arcade game was Steet fighter 2. The concept was unique for its time and fun to play.

  93. Fritoeata

    April 24, 2013 at 10:03 am

    My favorite would totally be Donkey Kong. That’s what a video game was made to be!

    • Fritoeata

      April 24, 2013 at 3:39 pm

      …It was fun, and it blew my mind at age 4!
      The memories!

  94. Matt

    April 24, 2013 at 10:03 am

    My favorite was the original star wars x-wing game with the flight yoke. It was pretty sweet for the time, and it was fun pretending and feeling like I was an x-wing pilot.

  95. Danny

    April 24, 2013 at 10:01 am

    It got to be Pac-Man.

  96. Anthony Webb

    April 24, 2013 at 9:58 am

    Without a doubt Mat-Mania!!!

  97. Shawn

    April 24, 2013 at 9:54 am

    PAC-MAN for sure.

  98. Steven

    April 24, 2013 at 9:52 am

    Pac-Man. First arcade machine I played, and kept playing for years. Classic!

  99. Rudy

    April 24, 2013 at 9:49 am

    I love Rampage! I play that every chance I get! I used to play that with my friends at a local 7-11.

  100. unxman

    April 24, 2013 at 9:44 am

    My favorite old arcade game was Galga. Could play for hours.

  101. Brian

    April 24, 2013 at 9:44 am

    Pole position 2. I learned how to drive at age 6 playing that game

  102. Steve

    April 24, 2013 at 9:39 am

    I loved Tempest..Crazy ball around and around with diamond pixels on my tail…yikes!

  103. Justin Miner

    April 24, 2013 at 9:34 am

    My favorite old arcade game was “Kung-Fu”. That machine would eat all my quarters and frustrate me to no end! Good childhood memories. =)

    ..

  104. schmoe90

    April 24, 2013 at 9:30 am

    Defender – fast side scrolling FTW

  105. Larry Whittaker

    April 24, 2013 at 9:10 am

    My favorite game to play back in the day was Black Tiger. It wasn’t a blockbuster hit but it had all the elements of a great RPG game. You could upgrade weapons and armor, find hidden objects in walls, enter creepy dungeons, and choose your own path. The boss monsters at the end of each level grew increasingly tougher and more interesting until the final battle with a huge dragon at the game’s end. It was one of the only arcade games I could beat with just 2 quarters. I still play it today when I can find a retro-game arcade machine. Cheers!

  106. Jabba's Ex

    April 24, 2013 at 9:09 am

    I am old enough that I played the first video game released, so each new game was an adventure which it hard to choose just one. The top three are Berserk, Robotron 2084, and Donkey Kong Jr. If I have to choose one it would be Donkey Kong Jr. because of the variety of challenges, and the tie-in to the original Donkey Kong.

  107. Linda C

    April 24, 2013 at 9:05 am

    My fave old school game to play was Pac-Man, it was so addicting!!

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