Retro Game Bar in Portland: Pinball, Arcade Cabinets, and Cold Beer at The Back Patio

Cully isn't the first neighborhood people think of when they picture a Portland night out, which is part of why The Back Patio works. Tucked at the five-way intersection of Cully and Prescott, just off NE Sandy Blvd and across from the Albertsons shopping center, it's a bar arcade and food cart pod built around a garden patio that runs year-round. Strip away the string lights and the fire tables and what you've got underneath is a genuine retro game bar: nine pinball machines, a row of vintage arcade cabinets, and a taplist that rotates often enough to keep regulars guessing.

Nine Pinball Machines, Real Quarters

The pinball lineup at The Back Patio reads like a tour through three different decades of the format. There's Iron Man and Demolition Man for the newer, denser rule sets, World Cup Soccer '94 and No Fear for players who like their machines loud and physical, and Fish Tales, FunHouse, and Earthshaker! for anyone chasing that classic Williams feel. Pokemon and The Simpsons Pinball Party round things out for people who want a licensed theme with their flippers. Games run $0.50 to $1.00 a play, no app, no card reader required, just quarters and whatever's left in your pocket after a round of drinks. The full rundown lives on the arcade and play page, including which machines tend to be free on a given night.

The Vintage Arcade Cabinets

Pinball isn't the only thing drawing people in from the parking lot. The cabinet row includes Golden Tee, Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Super Pac-Man, and Defender, all set at a quarter a play, which is about as close as Portland gets to arcade pricing from the era these games actually came out in. It's a short list on purpose. Instead of packing the room with every cabinet available, The Back Patio keeps a tight rotation of games that hold up, the kind you'll actually see someone standing in line for on a Friday night. Outside on the patio there's foosball and cornhole too, plus a board game library for groups who'd rather sit at a table than feed quarters into a machine.

Beer and Wine to Go With Your High Score

A retro game bar still needs a reason to linger between games, and that's where the taphouse side comes in. The rotating line of Pacific Northwest craft beer has recently included Rosenstadt Dunkel, Boneyard RPM IPA, Great Notion North IPA, and Pfriem German Pilsner, alongside wine and sake by the glass, cider, NA beer, and kombucha for anyone sitting out the alcohol. Check the drinks page before you come if you've got a favorite brewery you're hoping to see on tap, since the lineup shifts often enough that it's worth a quick look. There's something fitting about nursing a Pfriem Pilsner between rounds on Earthshaker! instead of staring at a phone between songs at a bar with no games at all.

Food Carts Fuel the Marathon Sessions

Pinball burns more calories than people expect, mostly from standing and swearing, so the food side matters. The patio hosts a rotating pod of carts, including Saucy Beast for burgers, Wanda's Thai, and Joshua's taco truck, while the in-house kitchen covers things like Meat & Cheese boards, Salmon Lox, and Pretzel Sticks for anyone who wants something to share at the table between turns. The food page lists what's parked on a given day, since the cart lineup changes and it's easy to show up hoping for tacos and find the burger cart instead. Either way, nobody's going hungry during a long session on the cabinets.

Kids, Dogs, and the Garden Patio

The garden patio itself is the reason a lot of regulars keep coming back even on nights they don't touch a single machine. It's set up with fire tables, heaters, and string lights, built to work in February as much as in July, and it's dog friendly for leashed, well-behaved dogs. Minors are welcome in the dining room and on the patio until close every day, which makes it a realistic option for families who want pinball and tacos on the same outing rather than splitting the evening between two different stops. The families page and the patio page both go into more detail if you're planning around kids or pets specifically.

On Vinyl Night Mondays, which run 6 to 8 PM, it's not unusual to see the same few regulars show up early to get a few rounds in on Earthshaker! before the first record even drops behind the bar. By the time the music starts, the machine's already warm and somebody's chasing a personal best. It's a small, repeatable ritual, but it's the kind of thing that makes a bar feel like a neighborhood spot instead of a stop on a list.

Private Events and Group Play

The patio and the games aren't limited to walk-in nights. The Back Patio books private events for 15 to 80 guests, covering birthday parties, corporate events, wedding receptions, and holiday parties, all arranged through the private events page. Groups looking for a low-key happy hour with a built-in activity have used the pinball and cabinet row as the entertainment rather than renting anything extra. If you're weighing options for a work gathering, it's worth asking what a private patio booking actually includes before you commit elsewhere.

Getting to Cully

Finding The Back Patio is straightforward once you know to look for the Cully and Prescott five-way intersection rather than a storefront on Sandy itself. The address is 3944 NE Cully Blvd, directly across from the Albertsons shopping center, and TriMet line 71 stops just steps away if you'd rather not deal with parking. It's open seven days a week, Monday through Thursday and Sunday from noon to 9 PM, Friday and Saturday until 10 PM, with no reservations required since seating runs first come, first served. The visit page has the hours and directions laid out if you want them handy before you head over, and the events page covers the regular schedule, from Rip City Trivia every other Tuesday to live music on weekends and monthly bingo.

A retro game bar lives or dies on whether the machines actually work and whether anyone wants to stick around after the first game. At The Back Patio, the answer to both tends to be yes, helped along by a patio that doesn't shut down just because it's raining and a kitchen situation flexible enough to satisfy a table that can't agree on tacos versus burgers. Whether you're chasing a high score on FunHouse, splitting a Meat & Cheese board, or just looking for a place in Northeast Portland where a quarter still buys you a game, Cully's got it covered.