After a brief delay, Playfield ’76 opened Sept. 21 in Downtown Reno. The 4,500-square-foot arcade-themed business is a remodel of the former Imperial Bar at 150 N. Arlington Ave.
Playfield ‘76 features anywhere from 30-35 arcade games, including a collection of top-20 rated pinball machines. According to past reports, Hassan Mahmood and business partner Carver Wright, co-founders of Disco Science Collective, shut down Imperial in 2019 and were beginning the remodel and permitting process in early 2020 before the pandemic put a pause on their business plan.
“We had a pretty big shortfall of funding and were left in an uncomfortable position of how do we continue with this?” Mahmood said in a June NNBW story. “We had already collected most of these games and started reorganizing our process and getting our tenant improvements done. There was anxiety and numbness when you didn’t have a lot of control when it first hit.”
As pandemic-related delays subsided, the business got back on track, and after initially planning to open in July and August, the business launched Sept. 21.
“I am very excited about the synergy in this neighborhood,” Wright said in a statement. “With the future activation of Jacobs Entertainment & Fourth Street, the history of Imperial and lovely neighbors such as Our Bar, The Eddy, Pignic and Liberty Food & Wine, just to name a few, we hope to further establish the Entertainment District as a premier destination for good food, drink and entertainment.”
The interior design, featuring a ‘70s vibve, was led by George Vincent Rivera of George Vincent Design. Reno-based Bareknuckle Branding and Mouse Pad Reno helped with brand marketing and graphic design, and much of the furniture was designed in partnership with Haus of Reed in Sparks and EVCO Interiors, as well as other local vendors.
Along with craft beer and cocktails, Playfield ’76 serves pizza, wings, sandwiches, salads and more from chef Johnny Dolan, a recent Reno transplant. The business is open 4-midnight Sunday-Thursday and until 2 a.m. Friday-Saturday.
