ABOVE: Brandon Goode, Danny Wynn, Max Eiss and Kitana Geminion on stage for The Dating Game at Joysticks Arcade Lounge & Retro Bar’s “Gayme Nights” in Orlando July 1. (Photo by Jeremy Williams)
You don’t have to look much further than TV shows like “Stranger Things” and “The Goldbergs,” movies like “Ready Player One” or any faction of pop culture to know that all things 80s and 90s have made a huge comeback.
The neon colors, the vinyl records, Throwback Thursdays; it is all about kickin’ it old school.
Joysticks Arcade Lounge & Retro Bar in downtown Orlando has built a paradise to those geekers, gamers and retro lovers who want to recapture that feeling of hanging out with your friends at the arcade. They have a “Goonies” parlor where you can do some shots with One Eyed Willy, a “Star Wars” lounge were you can enjoy an out-of-this-galaxy drink surrounded by lightsabers and you can close out your weekends with the community at the bar’s official LGBTQ “Gayme Nights” every Sunday.
“Gayme Nights” offers free 80s arcade games, specialty retro drinks for the night including “The O-Strong” which benefits the onePulse Foundation and two live shows of “The Gay Dating Game” hosted by the androgynous club kid Kitana Gemini and the fashionable Brandon Goode.
So dust off your high-waist jeans, oversized blazers and anything with sequins (you know you kept them all) and do a little dance, make a little love and get down tonight. More information on Joysticks “Gayme Nights” can be found at Facebook.com/JoysticksOrlando.
