Following in Dad’s Footsteps
Oregon’s Game Over Arcade Keeps Getting Better
By Matt Harding
Chris Donner’s father, the late Darrell Donner, started a little arcade route in the Portland area when Chris was growing up in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Citing the prevalence of the instant-hit Golden Tee as a memorable piece, “It was always around our house,” he said,
That childhood memory is part of what ultimately led to him and his wife, Jennifer, to launch Game Over Arcade in 2013.
While his dad got out of the biz, Chris always maintained that interest, and bought the 4-player NFL Blitz ’99 at an auction along with a couple other games for his garage in 2005. He eventually got the idea to open up a place with “beer and video games,” so he kept on buying vintage machines throughout the years, including in 2009-10 when both he and Jennifer were deployed in Iraq.
“While I was over there searching for games online, my dad would help me and pick them up,” he said. They would get stored at Darrell’s house, with friends and some event went on location here and there (for beer money, Chris explained).
By 2012, Darrell, Chris and Jennifer had found and purchased a building in Lincoln City, on the Oregon Coast about two hours southwest of Portland, which would soon become the home of Game Over Arcade.
They opened in 2013 with just over 100 machines, mainly classics but also about a dozen pinballs and roughly 7-10 modern games. “We’re trying to diversify and get a little bit of everything,” Chris said, adding that thanks to Jennifer’s love for pinball, they started focusing on getting more of those into the mix. “We’ve got pretty much every new limited-edition machine now.”
The arcade space of the arcade-sports bar is about 5,000 sq. ft. “We were probably at about 4,000 sq. ft. before Covid, but we ended up taking some tables out,” Jennifer noted.
While the classics are still an important piece to the puzzle, they’ve cut the number down to about 30 today in favor of those pins and more modern games. But you’re still sure to see the likes of Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-Man, Paperboy, Joust and others.
You’re also going to see Down the Clown (Coastal Amusements), Mario Kart (Bandai Namco) and Skee-Ball (Bay Tek Entertainment) units, as well as games like Super Bikes 3 (Raw Thrills), Asphalt Legends 9 (LAI Games) and modern basketballs.
Thanks to the installation of the Embed card system just over two years ago, they’ve also been able to add 10-15 pieces of redemption and Bay Tek’s Prize Hub. “The tickets automatically get loaded to the cards and they can redeem them right at Prize Hub,” Chris said of the ease for players. They also have Pearl Fishery and Rick and Morty: Blips and Chits (LAI Games), SpongeBob Pirates of Bikini Bottom and Basketball Pro (Andamiro), Bop It! (Sega) and a series of crane machines.
Jennifer added that virtual reality has also been a recent, thriving addition to the arcade, with King Kong VR II and Godzilla Kaiju Wars from Raw Thrills leading the pack in terms of revenue. “In the future, we’re probably looking to find some more VR pieces to incorporate,” she said.
In total, they’re running more than 120 games on the Embed system, which they raved about. Game Over ran on a quarter system previously. “We instantly went from $60,000 in our best month in eight years to the following month breaking $100,000.
“It was definitely the way to go. Embed has been incredible. We were new to it, so we talked around and shopped around. Every step of the way, they’ve been good to us. They treat us like family.”
Speaking of family, Game Over Arcade is a family-friendly venue “all day, every day,” the Donners said. Beer, wine and food are served for the sports bar crowd. Chris described Lincoln City, located right on Highway 101, as a tourist and retirement town, so they cater to a wide clientele. And things have been going well.
“We made it through Covid and have been thriving since,” Chris said. “Every year, aside from Covid, has always been better than the previous year. We keep expanding and doing more.”
Within this year, the duo is getting ready to open up Game On Adventure Park, a soft play-arcade space for kids ages 2-12, just a few blocks away from Game Over Arcade. It’ll feature modern soft play attractions that have interactive gameplay incorporated into the structures.
As for Game Over, the couple said going down the VR route has been a huge boon to business and noted that their party business has been a major success.
They’ve been doing more and more off-season birthday and corporate parties (fall and winter) as well as field trips, end-of-school-year and sports events in the spring.
“Before, when we were doing quarters only, we weren’t able to exactly do packages per se,” Chris said. “Now, we actually offer packages, and guests get the space and unlimited game cards.”
For info on their game selection and more, visit www.gameover-arcade.com.
