Are you a bar, a restaurant, or an arcade?
YES! We are a full service bar, innovative restaurant, and classic arcade with amazing titles from the golden age of gaming.
What does your bar menu look like?
Our drink lineup features beer and spirits from some of greater Boston’s best breweries and distilleries. With such an amazing craft selection available locally, why wouldn’t we? View our unique specialty cocktail menu◂
What kind of food do you have?
‘New-Comfort’. You will be delighted with the creations Chef Hammer is whipping up from scratch. Casual and creative, with unique proteins and clever takes on old favorites. Great vegetarian and vegan options are available. See the menu page for our current offerings! Check out our tasty menu◂
What games do you have?
We are bursting at the seams with a rotating selection of approximately 30+ arcade games and pinball tables from the late 70s through the early 2000s, with a focus on the 80s and 90s. All our games run on real hardware, no emulator trickery here. Just don’t expect to find any ticket games, Golden Tee or Buck Hunter :-). Preview our games list◂
How much do games cost to play?
Arcade games cost 25 cents, just as they did in 1982! Pinball tables are 50 cents. Inflation be damned!
Where are you located?
We are in the old Salem jail on St Peter Street at Bridge Street. Very close (2 blocks/2-minute walk) from the commuter rail station and downtown. Just four stops from North Station on the Commuter Rail! Get directions◂
Where do I park?
2 blocks/2-minute walk (seriously, we timed it!) from hundreds of long term parking spaces in the Church St lot and the public garage. Bonus! The city of Salem has committed to creating 17 new public parking spaces right out front on Bridge Street later this year. Find parking◂
What are your hours?
We will be open for lunch and dinner with 21+ hours later in the evening. Hours◂
Are you hiring?
It wouldn't be any fun without you! We will be needing some intelligent, charismatic, and dexterous front and back of house staff soon. Please monitor our employment page for updates, or send your resume to jobs@bit.bar.
Are you buying arcade games or pinball machines?
We keep fixing up games! Our mad scientist is always on the lookout for interesting and unusual arcade games and solid-state pinball machines. If you have an old working or busted cab or pin table in your garage collecting dust that you would like to send to a better place, reach out and let us know!
Where did you come from?
Dedicated classic game enthusiasts, we met talking about old games online. We are the folks who built Bit Fest — a brewery-based, pop-up video game festival that was arguably the best thing to happen to Boston since Evacuation Day. A totally impractical concept where we would wrangle 30+ arcade machines, literally “tons of fun,” to pop-up in local breweries, a cafe bookstore, and even a hair salon for a day or two. The reaction was amazing. So far, we have done this on a shoestring budget. Using the small proceeds from our events, we found and fixed up more games and eventually rented some warehouse lab space. We started to dream about opening our own permanent arcade restaurant and bar—a place where friends can gather to play the classics, grab a craft local beer and delicious food. Bit Bar Salem is our next move! Read more about our adventures◂
Will you still be doing Bit Fest?
Yes! We will still be doing Bit Fest events both at Bit Bar and at other venues around the Boston area.
Don’t miss out!
Sign up for our very infrequent email list to make sure you don’t miss our events! What games do you feel like we NEED to have at Bit Bar? Dust off your double denim, folks. You don't want to miss this!
Media Inquires
Please contact info@bit.bar.
